Ji-eun sat in her room, the soft hum of her desk lamp casting a pale glow over her notebook.
She hadn't written a word. Her fingers hovered over the pen, but her mind was tangled
elsewhere in whispers, glances, and the invisible weight pressing against her chest.
She couldn't stop thinking about Soo-min.
No one mentioned her name. Not the students. Not the teachers. It was as if she had never
existed.
But Ji-eun had seen the photo.
A torn class picture tucked between the pages of a book in the library the same book
Min-ho had tossed aside during their project. Ji-eun had picked it up after he stormed off. She
almost missed it, that folded edge sticking out like a half-swallowed secret.
In the picture, everyone was smiling except the girl in the back.
Black hair. Pale skin. Eyes like hers.
Someone had scratched her face out.
Written below it, in faint pencil: She shouldn't have asked so many questions.
Ji-eun stared at the photo now, her fingers trembling. Who was Soo-min? What had she
asked?
And why did her disappearance feel like a warning?
The next day, the air at school felt heavier than usual. Like something unseen hovered just
behind every corner.
Min-ho didn't look at her when they passed in the hallway. But he muttered something under
his breath.
"Stop digging."
She paused, turning to face him. "What did you say?"
He stared straight ahead, jaw tight. "You heard me."
"I'm not doing anything wrong."
Min-ho turned his head slowly. His voice was lower now. "This school buries things for a
reason. You don't want to be the one to dig them up."
Ji-eun's heart pounded. "What happened to her? Soo-min?"
Min-ho's face changed. For a moment, it cracked not with anger, but fear.
"I don't know," he whispered. "That's the problem."
Then he walked away.
That evening, Ji-eun stayed late in the library again. She told the librarian she was doing
research, but her eyes weren't on the literature shelf. She was looking for anything files,
mentions, yearbooks, names.
The library was nearly empty when she found it.
An old detention log from last year. Crumpled, misplaced behind a filing cabinet. Ji-eun
flipped through the pages until she saw it.
Soo-min. Repeated offenses. Skipping class. Unapproved questioning of staff.
Ji-eun's breath caught at the last note: Referred to Counselor Yoon. Last session: May 16th.
No follow-up.
She checked the date. May 16th was the day before Soo-min… vanished.
The lights flickered above her.
She froze.
Someone was in the library.
She could hear the soft shuffle of shoes on the carpet, the creak of floorboards behind the
shelves. She stepped out from the back aisle cautiously, holding the log close to her chest.
"Hello?" she called.
Silence.
Her heart hammered in her ears. The library suddenly felt like a maze of shadows.
She moved toward the exit then stopped.
A paper had been slipped under her bag.
She picked it up, fingers shaking.
One word was scrawled across it:
"STOP."
To be continued...….