Note: Hello! Welcome to my world of imagination. This isn't my first time writing, and although I'm a bit lacking in some areas, do not worry, I plan to stay until the end. The story might seem slow at first but I promise you, it will get better. I'm the original author and I hope even though the setting is in Korea, it won't cause any confusion. Names, ideas, all other things relating to this story are purely fictional. I hope you enjoy this story!
Content Warning: This chapter contains mentions of blood and a brief scene of death. Reader discretion advised.
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"The truth will always prevail no matter what."
Lim Mi Rae had always believed this, no matter what hardship she went through. The sentence was her catchphrase, always lingering at the slip of her tongue. Even when life was throwing her in the mud, Mi Rae clung to the belief that only truth would survive in the end.
But lately, even the truth felt like a cruel joke.
With days of unrest, her eyes looked sunken, her lips chapped, her mind foggy. She looked like someone who could break apart at the slightest touch.
"I can't believe I let you work on this for months!" the chief editor, a man with thick-rimmed glasses, roared, his voice shaking the office walls. "Is your intention to drag this company down? Is this information even correct? Do you even know who you're writing about?"
The last line burned more than the others. Mi Rae stood frozen, her blood cold. She had spent months writing this particular piece, hoping her chief editor would finally get off her back, only to have herself torn apart, her work shredded, her sanity slipping.
When her knees gave out, she wasn't surprised. She had been expecting it for days.
Mi Rae closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was staring faintly at a burst of brightness. Her throat felt dry, clamped shut, and it didn't take her long to realize she was at the hospital.
Minutes later, she was staring blankly at a doctor who looked more tired than she was.
"You fainted from overwork, miss. All you need is rest. I advise you to take some time off work. Your body is weak, you are in a much worse state than you think."
Take time off? She let out a bitter laugh. Work was the only thing keeping her sane. Without it, she might have already drowned in the silence of her apartment… or worse, given in to the darker thoughts that clawed at her chest every night.
She forced a smile, brittle but polite. "Thank you, Doctor."
Rising to her feet, she walked toward the door. She paid the bills with trembling hands, and when she finally turned to leave the hospital, her tired gaze met four pairs of eyes staring intently at her.
She froze.
They looked like ordinary women, but their eyes looked bright, expectant, and were unsettling.
"Are you Rachael Lim?!"
Mi Rae's heart slammed against her ribs. For a second, it felt like the blood in her veins had stopped flowing. That name… she hadn't heard it in years. Of all days, why today? Why now?
Her lips parted, denial rushing out instinctively. "Rachael Lim? I don't know who that is."
"You are! You're that child actress, the one who went viral years ago, right? It's really you, isn't it?!"
"Sorry, you have the wrong person," She said firmly, turning to the opposite direction while working as fast as she could.
Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes.
She had hoped today would be different. Hoped her report would finally be approved by her chief. But life always found a way to drag her into the mud just when she reached for something good.
In just a single day, everything had gone wrong.
Mi Rae wiped her face roughly, forcing her legs forward. She wasn't even paying attention to where she was going until her hand pressed against the cold metal of a door. She blinked, realizing she was at the rooftop exit.
The night air hit her first. It felt cool against her skin and biting at the same time. She stepped out, desperate for a breath of freedom. But the moment her eyes adjusted, she stopped.
There were voices.
She instinctively ducked behind a concrete pillar, her heart slamming in her chest.
"…antisocial personality disorder," a male's voice carried clearly in the silence. "You have to control your impulses Mr. Park. Your condition, if exposed, could ruin you. The public must never know."
"Why are you telling me something I already know?" Another man's voice could be heard. "I've been controlling myself since I was a kid, so there shouldn't be any problem. And it's fine as long as you don't run your mouth carelessly."
"Raven?" The first man spoke again. "I'm not telling you this as your doctor but as someone who has known you for a long time but you need to be very careful. I heard from Mr. Kim that you were behind the fire accident. What if it went worse than that?! You aren't just anyone, Raven. You are the nation's lover boy. You are Raven Park."
Mi Rae's breath caught in her throat.
Raven Park.
She stretched her neck, attempting to confirm she wasn't hearing things. Her eyes landed on two men standing just some meters away from her.
One of them was wearing a lab coat and it was easy to tell that this person was a doctor. The other has a cap on and a mask lingering beneath his jaw. His side profile caught Mi Rae's eyes confirming what she had heard.
It was indeed Raven Park.
Raven Park isn't just anyone. He's called the nation's lover boy, a man who had worked his way up to the top in a dramatic manner without trying too much. He was handsome, every teenager's first love, had the face of a Greek god, a man who wasn't lacking in any way… maybe except for the frightening truth Mi Rae just learnt about him.
Disbelief and shock flashed through Mi Rae's face and her first instinct was to get her phone. If she could get enough evidence, write about this… This was the kind of revelation that could skyrocket her career. A story that would prove herself to her editor, to her sister, to the whole world.
She leaned forward carefully, straining to hear every word, to capture something that might change her tragic life.
"I can't believe Mr. Kim told you about this," Raven clicked his tongue at the doctor. "I had to…"
He stopped talking, his head flicking to the direction Mi Rae was. Raven looked at the doctor suspiciously who gave him a 'what's wrong' look.
Mi Rae was breathing heavily against the pillar she was hiding behind. She had been almost caught right now and if not because she was quick, Raven would have seen her.
She hadn't even finished gathering her thoughts when a pair of long legs appeared before her. She looked up, her eyes meeting a pair of stormy grey eyes that looked more darker than anything she had ever seen.
Mi Rae's lips trembled hard, her heart slammed against her ribcage, her eyes went blurry and for a moment, it felt like time stopped and they stopped with it.
She had seen Raven a few times as she had written a few articles about him but every time she saw him again, it was always like they were meeting for the first time again.
But at this moment, the fear in her eyes reflected in his fearless eyes and Mi Rae could have swore she saw that deadly gaze in those eyes like he could break her neck with just a snap of his fingers.
"Look who we have here," Raven's words slipped out of his mouth in that graceful manner he uses in his fan meetings but his cold eyes were detached from the warmth Mi Rae was somehow used to. He grabbed her hand roughly, turning to the doctor who was already coming over. "Doctor Yu, what should I do now? She knows about me."
His voice sounded quite playful like he wasn't worried, deepening Mi Rae's fear.
"What… I…" several thoughts ran through her mind but she couldn't think of what to say.
Before the Doctor could fully walk over, she lifted her leg and kicked Raven in his crotch, emitting a loud groan from him.
Mi Rae bolted as his hand slipped from hers.
Her feet pounded against the rooftop floor as Raven lunged after her. The mask of the perfect moviestar had fallen, and in its place was a man who couldn't afford to let her live with what she knew.
Her breath tore from her throat, her mind screaming at her: Run, Mi Rae, run.
Mi Rae ran as fast as she could toward the elevator, her heart pounding in her ears. The doors took too long to open, so she spun on her heel and sprinted toward the stairwell instead.
Behind her, the footsteps never slowed.
"Stop!" Raven's voice cut through the echo of her panicked breathing, but Mi Rae didn't dare look back.
"Please, leave me alone! I didn't hear a word!" she cried, her throat burning as she stumbled down the endless stairs. "I swear!"
But he didn't answer.
His teeth were clenched, his face twisted in fury. He looked less worried about being exposed and more furious about the kick she had landed in his crotch. His fury kept his legs pumping after her.
Mi Rae's lungs screamed, her legs nearly giving out by the time she burst onto the first floor. She shoved the glass doors open, desperate for the night air.
And then…
SPLAT!!
A sickening thud shook the ground a few meters in front of her and something warm and wet speckled her face.
She screamed.
Her body jerked backward instinctively, crashing into a sturdy chest that caged her in. Her breath came out ragged, almost choked, and when she raised her trembling hand to wipe her cheek, it came away smeared with blood.
The body on the pavement twisted at an impossible angle, a pool of red spreading fast beneath it.
Mi Rae's stomach lurched. Her hands shook violently.
She turned in terror, her back pressed against Raven's chest. His gaze met hers, cold and detached, as though the sight of death meant nothing to him. Not a flicker of shock crossed his face.
Her heart nearly stopped.
They had both witnessed someone die but the only thing more terrifying than the body at her feet was the expressionless darkness in Raven Park's eyes.