POV: Raine
Raine woke with a start, breath catching on nothing and everything at once.
His room was still dark. The glow of his digital clock carved a dim blue line across his desk, and the early pre-dawn quiet settled over the house like a thick blanket. Normally, Raine liked that silence. He lived inside it, worked better in it, thought more clearly within it.
But not tonight.
His heart thudded too fast. A pressure sat low in his chest, like someone had pulled an invisible thread tied to his ribs and hadn't bothered to let go.
Something was wrong.
He rubbed at his sternum, annoyed. "Calm down," he muttered to himself. "It's just a bad dream."
Except he couldn't remember dreaming. He couldn't remember sleep at all.
And the feeling didn't fade.
Raine swung his legs out of bed, the cool floor grounding him only slightly. His mind sifted through the past twenty-four hours: school, tutoring Yerin in the library, walking her to the bus stop because it was getting dark… she'd smiled then. A small one, but real.
And the string in his chest pulled again, sharp this time.
Raine froze.
Yerin.
He didn't know why her name surfaced with the force of urgency, but it did. He grabbed his phone, checking for messages. Nothing. No missed calls. No notifications.
Still, the unease grew like a shadow stretching across his ribs.
He pushed to his feet, pacing. "This is ridiculous," he whispered, but his voice didn't carry conviction. If anything, it exposed exactly how worried he was.
He checked the time again. 4:21 a.m.
Too early to call.
Too late to feel this unsettled.
He hesitated only a second longer before grabbing his hoodie and slipping silently out of his house. The neighborhood was quiet, streetlights flickering over empty sidewalks. His breath fogged lightly in the chill.
Raine started walking toward the bus stop. Toward the last place he'd seen her.
The city felt different at this hour, as though it exhaled secrets when no one was watching. He shoved his hands into his pockets, keeping his stride steady, but the urge to run built with every step.
Then he stopped abruptly.
The air shifted.
Raine didn't know how to explain it. It wasn't wind. It wasn't sound. It was something deeper, a subtle pressure brushing past him like a ripple in still water. His skin prickled.
A single thought pressed cold into his mind.
Yerin is in danger.
He didn't question it. He turned sharply down a side street, letting instinct guide him faster than reason. His pulse raced as he moved toward the river, toward the old road, toward—
He halted again.
The old shrine.
It sat at the end of a narrow lane, half-forgotten, barely maintained. He had passed it dozens of times growing up, never once giving it more than a dismissive glance. But now, something tugged him there with unsettling certainty.
The closer he got, the heavier the air felt, thick with something he couldn't name.
Then he heard it.
A faint metallic hum, almost like—
Chains.
Raine's breath hitched.
He slowed, careful, listening. The sound subsided, replaced by a quiet stillness that wasn't natural. Not threatening, yet not inviting. It felt like the world itself was holding its breath.
He reached the foot of the shrine steps.
Lantern light flickered gently beneath the eaves.
And sitting there, curled up with her knees drawn in, was Yerin.
Raine's chest tightened in pure relief. "Yerin!"
She jerked her head up, eyes wide, startled. "Raine?"
He hurried toward her, dropping to a crouch. "What are you doing out here? I've been—" He cut himself off, swallowing his frantic words. "Are you okay? You look pale."
Yerin opened her mouth, then hesitated. Her gaze flicked not to him, but behind him.
Raine turned.
That was the first time he saw Jin.
A tall figure stood just outside the shrine's boundary, the early gray-blue dawn casting him in sharp silhouette. His posture was still, too still, as if movement was optional for him in a way it wasn't for humans. His eyes, dark and unreadable, locked onto Raine with a weight that made Raine's pulse stutter.
Something ancient sat in that gaze. Something cold.
Raine's instincts screamed.
Yerin shifted quickly, stepping between them. "He's not— he's not going to hurt you."
The stranger didn't speak. Didn't move. He just watched.
Raine forced himself to meet the man's eyes, though it felt like staring into something far older than the world he understood. "Who are you?"
"He's…" Yerin inhaled shakily, struggling for the words. "He's… helping me."
"Helping you with what?" Raine demanded.
Yerin opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her fingers trembled at her sides.
Jin finally spoke.
"Keeping her alive."
Raine stiffened. His hand instinctively reached for Yerin, drawing her slightly behind him. "From what?"
Jin's gaze shifted to the horizon. "From what wakes when she does."
Raine's confusion deepened, but fear sharpened his voice. "What does that even mean?"
Yerin touched his sleeve gently. "Raine… something happened last night."
He turned to her fully then, noticing the faint glow encircling her wrist. A mark. A ring of light.
"What is that?" His voice cracked despite his effort to stay composed.
Yerin looked at him with eyes full of apology. "I don't know. But he says I was someone else a long time ago."
Raine's heart dropped.
"Yerin, you should come home," he said, urgent now. "Whatever this is, you don't have to face it alone. We can go to the police, or a hospital, or—"
Jin's voice cut in quietly.
"If she leaves the shrine now, she dies."
Raine whipped around. "Stop saying things like that. You're scaring her."
Jin's expression didn't change. "Fear is irrelevant. Survival is not."
Raine stepped forward, anger pushing through his fear. "You don't get to decide what's irrelevant for her."
The chain around Jin's torso pulsed faintly, catching Raine's eye. A band of metal that didn't look crafted so much as grown around him, etched with symbols Raine didn't recognize.
Something about it felt… wrong.
"Raine," Yerin whispered, tugging his sleeve. "Please. Just sit with me. I'll explain everything I can."
He swallowed, fighting the urge to drag her away from this place. From that man. From the coldness behind his eyes.
But Yerin's voice was trembling. And she had never looked more lost.
So Raine knelt beside her, his presence protective, steady.
Jin turned his attention back to the shadows beyond the shrine, as if watching for something Raine couldn't see.
And somewhere in the trees, just beyond the morning light, something watched back.