The night had grown heavy by the time Jaegun realized he needed to pee. The fire had burned down to orange embers, half the crowd already asleep in the grass, the other half too drunk to notice anything. The forest around the clearing pulsed with quiet life—cicadas, the faraway hoot of an owl, the faint hiss of the wind through dry leaves.
He got up, rubbing his neck, muttered something to Dara who was half-dozing beside the fire, and wandered off toward the darker stretch of trees. His sneakers sank into soft dirt, the smell of pine thick in the air.
He'd been here so many times before that the woods felt almost like an extension of his own backyard. He knew which trees had roots that could trip you, which paths looped back toward the creek, which ones led to the highway fence. The moon was bright enough that he didn't bother with his phone's flashlight.
He unzipped, relieved himself against a bush, and was just about to turn back when he heard it—a rustle, fast and desperate. Not an animal. Too heavy.
Then came the sound of someone stumbling. A body breaking through branches.
Jaegun froze.
At first, he thought it might be one of his drunk friends wandering off, but the voice that followed was faint, female, and breathless. "Help…"
He turned, squinting through the dark. "Hello?"
A figure emerged between the trees—a woman, older, maybe in her forties, hair tangled and dark with what looked like dirt or blood. Her white blouse was torn at the shoulder, and one arm hung limply at her side.
Before he could move, another noise came from the distance—footsteps. Several. Fast. Male voices shouting in low, sharp tones.
She looked at him, eyes wide, desperate. "Please," she whispered, almost collapsing. "They're coming."
His body moved before his mind did. He caught her under the arm and half-dragged her toward the narrow path leading behind the ridge. He knew these woods—every dip, every shortcut—and he knew how to make people lose themselves here.
"Come on," he muttered, guiding her through the underbrush. "Quiet."
They reached a shallow ditch behind an old oak. He helped her crouch there, her breath ragged and fast.
"Stay down," he whispered.
He slipped away, circling back toward the noise. Through the trees, flashlight beams sliced the darkness. Three men, maybe four. All wearing dark coats, their voices rough and foreign-sounding.
"Find her! She can't have gone far!" one barked.
Jaegun picked up a stone and flung it deeper into the woods. It crashed through the brush, loud enough to draw attention. The men turned instantly, shouting, running toward the sound.
He waited until their light beams vanished, then looped back toward the ditch.
When he reached her again, the woman was half-conscious, clutching her arm. Up close, he could see the blood soaking through her sleeve.
"Hey," he whispered. "They're gone. For now."
She didn't answer, only exhaled shakily. He hesitated, then took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
"Can you walk?"
She nodded weakly.
He helped her up, leading her toward the small clearing where his group had set up camp, but stopped short before they reached it. If anyone saw her like this, there'd be too many questions.
Instead, he brought her to an old wooden shelter near the creek—a forgotten ranger hut where he and his friends used to stash beer.
He sat her down on a broken bench. "Stay here."
Then he sprinted back toward the camp, moving quietly. Everyone was either asleep or passed out. He found Dara's backpack, rummaged through it until he found a first aid kit, and slipped away unnoticed.
Back at the hut, she was barely upright. He opened the kit and went to work, as best as he could remember from years of YouTube tutorials and scraped knees. Cleaning the wound, wrapping it tight.
"Sorry," he muttered as she winced. "I'm not really good at this."
Her lips curved faintly, the ghost of a smile. "You're… doing fine."
Up close, her face was striking despite the exhaustion—fine-boned, lines at the corners of her eyes, streaks of silver in her hair that caught the moonlight. There was something about her presence that felt wrong for this world—too sharp, too deliberate.
When he finished bandaging her arm, she seemed to stir, eyes fluttering open properly for the first time.
"You…" she breathed.
"Yeah, it's me. The guy who pulled you out of the woods."
Her gaze unfocused, but her hand trembled upward, pointing to the bracelet on her wrist—a metallic band etched with strange symbols.
"Take it off," she whispered. "Please."
He frowned. "What?"
"Take it off. Quickly."
He hesitated, but something in her tone—urgent, pleading—made him do it. The clasp was strange, like it didn't want to open, but after a moment's struggle, it snapped loose.
The instant it came off, she inhaled sharply, her entire body shuddering. Color returned to her cheeks as if she'd been holding her breath for hours.
"Thank you," she said, voice rough. "You have no idea what you just did."
Jaegun blinked, confused. "What was that thing?"
"Later." She leaned back, eyes closing. "For now… stay. Guard me. Just until morning."
He opened his mouth to argue, but then sighed. He'd already gotten himself into this much trouble. "Yeah. Fine."
He sat near the doorway, back against the wall, listening for any sounds outside. The forest was quiet again, almost too quiet. The adrenaline faded slowly, leaving exhaustion in its place.
At some point, his eyes grew heavy.
When he woke, the first thing he noticed was that his neck hurt. He'd fallen asleep sitting up, his back pressed against the tree outside the hut. The sun was filtering through the leaves, gold and soft.
The second thing he noticed was her.
She was sitting in front of him, perfectly still, watching. Her expression unreadable, calm in a way that made the night before feel like a dream.
He blinked, rubbed his eyes. "Uh… morning."
"Who are you?" she asked, voice smooth now, controlled.
"Me?" He stretched stiffly. "I'm the guy who saved you. Remember?"
Her gaze lingered on him, then softened slightly. "Yes. You did."
She looked down at the ground for a long moment, as if weighing something. Then she said, "You're different."
Jaegun frowned. "Different how?"
"You saw me."
"Yeah. You were right there."
"No," she said quietly. "You saw me. A normal human would have walked past without ever noticing. They can't perceive what hides between the folds of the ordinary world."
He stared at her. "You're saying you're… what, invisible or something?"
"To most," she replied simply. "But not to you."
He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, okay. Sure. Guess I've got special night vision or something."
"You don't believe me."
"Lady, I just spent the night hiding from guys with flashlights. I'm not really in the mood for riddles."
Her eyes met his, steady and serious. "You have magic in you, Jaegun."
That made him pause.
"How do you know my name?"
She smiled faintly. "Names leave echoes. And your echo is loud."
He opened his mouth to argue again, but the words got stuck. Something about the way she said it—matter-of-fact, without hesitation—made it hard to laugh off.
"Magic, huh?" he said finally. "Right. Sure. Next you'll tell me I'm some kind of chosen one."
She shook her head. "Not chosen. Just… born aligned differently. You sense what others can't. That's why you could see me, why you could feel where to lead them away. The world bends slightly for you, whether you know it or not."
He sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. "Okay. Let's say I buy this magic thing. What am I supposed to do with it?"
"Nothing. Not yet." She stood, the morning light catching the faint scars along her wrist. "Wait a few days. Someone will come for you."
"Come for me?"
"Yes. They'll explain everything."
"And who exactly are you?"
She paused at the edge of the clearing, the wind lifting her hair. "Someone who shouldn't be here."
Then she walked into the trees.
He sat there for a long while, the sunlight growing brighter, his mind trying to fit the night into something logical. It didn't fit. None of it did.
By the time he made it back to the campsite, the others were stirring. Minho spotted him first.
"Yo, where the hell were you, man? We thought you passed out in the creek."
Jaegun forced a laugh. "Had to take a walk. Couldn't sleep."
Dara squinted at him. "You look like you wrestled a bear."
"Fell," he said quickly. "In the dark. Don't ask."
They laughed, went back to packing up, and just like that, the night became another half-remembered blur of stories. But as Jaegun glanced back toward the trees, a strange unease prickled in his chest.
He couldn't stop thinking about the woman—the silver in her hair, the bracelet's strange weight in his hand, the way she said you have magic in you as if it were a fact.
Someone would come for him, she'd said.
He didn't believe it.
But somewhere deep down, beneath the dull ache of his everyday life, something had shifted—like a door creaking open inside him, letting in a draft of a world he couldn't yet see.