Yoon's seriousness when she said Eunwoo had been kidnapped.
At first, I didn't put much thought into it. With everything that had been happening around me lately, another shocking news almost felt normal. But as I sat there, my mind slowly drifted back to the woman we had met at the mansion—the way she spoke, the way she watched us, and especially the pictures she showed us.
In none of those pictures was Eunwoo truly smiling.
His lips curved slightly, but his eyes were empty. There was no joy in them. No warmth. Just something that looked like a forced expression, like someone acting under pressure.
That was when it hit me.
Everything about that visit felt staged.
"We need to go back there," yoon said firmly. "Today."
"Back?" I asked, my heart tightening.
"Yes. This afternoon. And we keep it to ourselves."
I didn't fully understand what she meant by that, but I nodded anyway. At this point, I didn't have the strength to argue or question her instincts.
The sun was already sinking when we left the school. I stopped a taxi, but the moment I stepped inside, my heart skipped painfully.
After everything that had happened lately—being attacked, chased, —every small movement now felt like a threat.
The ride was quiet.
When the taxi finally stopped in front of the mansion, my chest tightened.
"Is this the place?" Yoon asked, looking at me closely.
I nodded slowly. "Yes. This is it."
But something was wrong.
Very wrong.
This time, no maid came out to welcome us. No gate opened automatically. No lights glowed inside the compound. The place felt… dead.
Empty.
Like it had been abandoned.
We stepped closer to the house. Yoon knocked on the door once.
No response.
She knocked again.
Still nothing.
We knocked several times, louder this time, but the silence remained thick and unsettling.
"If the woman went to work or out for business," Yoon said slowly, "does that mean all the staff followed her too?"
I froze.
That didn't make sense.
I was about to reply when a young boy passed by the gate, kicking a stone along the road. Yoon immediately called out to him.
"Excuse me," she said. "Do you know where the owner of this house went?"
The boy stopped and stared at us for a few seconds, his eyes moving from my face to Yoon's.
"This house?" he asked, pointing behind us.
"Yes," Yoon replied.
The boy frowned.
"This house has been like this for a very long time," he said. "Nobody lives here."
My mouth fell open.
"What?" I blurted out. "What did you just say?"
The boy looked at me strangely.
"No one has lived here for years," he repeated. "At least six years now."
I felt dizzy.
"That's impossible," I said, stepping closer to the gate. "I was here three—no, four days ago. I came here with my friend. There was a woman here. Staff everywhere. She said this was her house."
The boy sighed and beckoned me closer.
I hesitated, then walked toward him. He pointed at the lock on the gate.
"Look at this," he said.
I followed his finger.
The lock was rusty. Not slightly rusted—completely worn out, as if it hadn't been touched in years. Thick cobwebs surrounded it, layered and dusty.
"If this place had been opened even once in the last week," the boy said, "it wouldn't look like this."
He straightened and walked away without another word.
I stood there, frozen.
Yoon walked closer, her eyes scanning the house carefully.
"Jina," she said quietly, "this house hasn't been used for years."
"I swear this is the place," I said shakily. "I know it is. The cab dropped us here. I stood right there." I pointed to the exact spot Jan had dragged me to when she wanted to talk about Raven.
Yoon looked thoughtful.
"I believe you," she said. "You're not lying."
Fear crawled up my spine.
"Then who did we see that day?" I whispered. "How did they enter this place? The portrait… the staff… everything looked real."
Yoon grabbed my hand firmly.
"We need to leave," she said. "Now. This isn't normal."
As we walked away from the mansion, I couldn't stop staring back at it. The windows were closed. Dark. Empty.
What really happened here?
And how did that woman gain access to this place?
"Jina," Yoon said as we reached the road, "whoever you saw that day wasn't human."
My heart dropped.
"You came here, and you survived. That's the only reason we're standing here right now."
She continued, her voice low and serious.
"That creature planned everything perfectly just to confuse you. They already know who you are. They will do anything to get you—lie to you, manipulate you, frame others."
I clenched my fists.
"I almost believed her," I admitted. "Even though something felt wrong."
Suddenly, another thought struck me.
"She accused Raven," I said. "Why would she accuse Raven? Is he a threat to her… or to them?"
I turned to Yoon, desperate for answers.
But she only smiled faintly and said nothing.
She stopped a taxi, and we got in.
"Yoon," I asked softly as the car moved, "what are we going to do now? What about Eunwoo? Are you sure he's still alive?"
She didn't answer immediately.
"The pictures I saw were recent," I continued. "That means they forced him to pose. Poor Eunwoo…"
Yoon remained silent all the way back to school.
When the taxi stopped at the school gate, she finally turned to me.
"Jina," she said seriously, "this is beyond us now. The first thing you need to do is protect yourself."
She held my shoulders.
"These beings will keep coming for you. They know where you go. The masked person might be protecting you, but you need to protect yourself too—for his sake."
I nodded slowly.
As I walked into the school compound, my thoughts drifted to the masked person.
I didn't care who he was. He didn't want to be known, and that was fine by me. But without him, I wouldn't be here.
Still, fear filled me.
I felt empty.
I didn't know how to awaken my power. I didn't know what triggered it. I didn't even know where to begin.
When I got to my room, I unlocked the door, stepped inside, and locked it again behind me.
I leaned against the door and let out a long breath.
What a day.