Arkhan had arrived in front of his house.
He glanced toward the yard, still empty, realizing it must have been the housemaid who had turned the lights on tonight.
He opened the door as usual and stepped inside. The house was quiet—most likely the maid was working in the kitchen or resting.
"Khan, you're home."
Arkha, who had just taken off his shoes, instinctively turned around.
"Oh. You're home too," he said.
"Yeah, I just got back from campus. What about you? Why are you home this late?" he asked.
"I had tutoring," Arkha replied.
"Oh, tutoring. I thought you were out messing around," his brother teased.
"Of course not. By the way, you didn't ride your motorbike home?" Arkha asked.
"M-my bike broke down. It's in the shop," he answered.
"Oh."
Arkha walked toward the stairs to go up to his room, but his brother's voice made him turn around again.
"Khan, I sent the maid out to buy some food. Want me to have her pick up something for you?"
"Nah, I've already eaten," Arkha said.
"You're not going out again, right?" he asked.
"No… why?" he replied.
"If you go out, I'll be alone here again."
"You scared or what? Coward," Arkha scoffed.
"That's not what I meant, geez—" he started, but Arkha tuned her out and went upstairs.
Halfway up, something tugged at his mind.
"His motorbike broke down? That's weird. He takes care of it regularly—it never breaks, let alone needs to stay overnight at the shop…"
~~~~~~
The peaceful atmosphere of the library did nothing for Hesa today. He kept flipping through pages without reading a single word.
"Baby?"
He looked up when Winter placed a cup of ice cream in front of him.
"Busy with student council stuff?" she asked.
"Y-yeah… kinda." Hesa answered, flustered.
"Don't stress too much or you'll go crazy. If you need someone to talk to, I'm right here," Winter said sweetly.
Talk?
Hesa swallowed.
With villa incidents still haunting his mind and the strange new resident creeping into his thoughts, there was no way Winter would believe him—she would think he was overreacting.
"No worries, baby. I can handle it," Hesa said, flirting back.
"You're impossible," Winter giggled, pinching his cheek.
Hesa opened the ice cream cup and began eating.
"Oh, babe, I don't think we can go home together today," Winter said suddenly.
"Oh yeah?"
Lucky for Hesa—he planned to stalking someone today.
"Yeah, it's my friend's birthday. I have to rush to the café now. Sorry!"
"It's fine, really," Hesa smiled.
After saying goodbye, Winter left. Hesa stayed behind to finish some assignments.
When the library clock chimed, making him flinch, Hesa realized the sun was setting. He decided to go home.
As he packed his things, he spotted a familiar boy sitting a few tables away.
Perfect.
Hesa didn't leave. Instead, he sat and pretended to play on his phone while watching the boy work.
Almost an hour passed with Hesa analyzing his every move.
"Nothing weird… he doesn't look like the reckless type who'd risk sneaking into abandoned buildings."
So far, Sakala looked gentle, awkward, harmless—exactly what Hesa had expected.
"No mysterious vibes at all. No way he left that sticky note."
Was Hesa simply overthinking?
Then Sakala closed his book, finished with his assignments, and returned it to the shelves.
"He's going home? Guess I should leave too," Hesa muttered, heading for the parking lot.
At his car, he took out the sticky note and stared at it.
"This looks like something from the villa. Could it be that lavender ghost? No… he's not real. Jaehyuk saw the person, and he said they had red hair."
Unbeknownst to him, Sakala watched from inside the library, eyes fixed on Hesa's uneasy expression.
~~~~~~
"Ugh… hungry."
Arkha held his stomach. He had only eaten bread earlier.
He grabbed his phone to order food online.
But his hand froze.
"Wait… is he seriously that tech-illiterate? Why send the maid out instead of ordering online?"
He paused.
"Ah, maybe he sent her to get fried rice in front of the complex. I'll go buy some too."
He headed downstairs—only to find the front door locked.
"Huh? Where's the key? It's always hanging here…"
Before he could turn fully, his "brother" was already behind him.
"Where you going? You said you weren't going out," he said.
"I'm getting fried rice. You told the maid to buy some, right?" Arkha replied.
"I told her to buy lots of things at the supermarket. She'll be gone awhile.
I did that on purpose—so it's just the two of us here."
"Just us? What, you wanna watch a movie or something?"
His brother laughed.
"I didn't expect you to always assume the best."
Arkha stepped back slowly. Danger prickled at his nerves.
"Your brother takes good care of his motorbike. He also knows you always go to tutoring.
And yet here I am, making sure we're alone."
His smile sharpened.
"You really think I'm your brother?"
"W-who else would you be?" Arkha tried to deny it, even as fear tightened his chest.
"Your brother is still on campus."
He snapped his fingers—his appearance warped and shifted until he looked exactly like Arkha.
"You—"
"I came because I was curious about Aganta's replacement.
You're playing his role now, right?"
"What are you talking about?" Arkha's voice trembled.
The double tapped his own forehead.
"Oh right—Heeseung didn't get to explain anything to Rahesa yesterday. He only dropped by to pick up that watch."
"Hesa?! What do you mean?!" Arkha snapped.
"Relax. Heeseung didn't hurt his twin.
Too bad… I'm not as gentle."
Before Arkha could react, the twin grabbed him and slammed him hard onto the floor.
"Argh!"
The twin pressed a foot onto Arkha's chest, crushing the air out of him.
"L-let go…!" Arkha wheezed, hitting the leg above him.
The twin only laughed before stepping away and kneeling beside him.
"That's my gift for our first meeting. Aren't you happy?"
He patted Arkha's cheek mockingly.
"See you, my twin."
He snapped his fingers—and vanished.
"He's the one Jio saw at the villa…"
Arkha lay on the cold floor, gasping. His eyes drifted to the CCTV camera.
"I need to warn the others… he might go after them next.
They'll never believe me without proof."
He forced himself up and stumbled to his room, booting up the computer.
After searching—
"Got it."
He exhaled in relief at the recording of the attack.
Then suddenly, pain stabbed his neck.
"Shhh…"
He struggled to turn his head.
Too late.
His double had already pulled a syringe from his neck.
"Akh—!"
Arkha's body collapsed against the desk.
"Knew you'd snitch. That's why I didn't leave yet," the twin said.
He sat at the computer, tapping keys quickly—deleting the footage.
"Bastard…" Arkha croaked, unable to move. His limbs felt heavy, numb.
"Well hey, good job. You saved me the effort of searching for the file."
The twin ruffled Arkha's hair.
That was the last thing Arkha remembered.