The city lights blurred as I kept walking.
I didn't know how long I'd been moving—
minutes, an hour—
but my legs hurt, my throat ached, and I still couldn't get Jun-seo's voice out of my head.
"You disappeared… don't do that again."
I pressed a hand over my eyes.
I shouldn't have gone to see him.
I really shouldn't have—
But I did.
And it changed everything.
Not because of what he said.
Not because of what he implied.
But because of something far more terrifying:
Someone had been following me since I left his building.
I could feel it.
A cold prickle down my spine.
Soft footsteps behind me, never too close, never too far.
I turned once.
Nothing.
I walked faster.
The footsteps followed.
My heartbeat quickened until it buzzed in my ears, drowning out everything else. I reached a bus stop and pretended to search for money in my bag—just to glance around.
That's when I saw it.
A figure across the street.
Black cap.
Long coat.
Head down.
Watching me.
No—studying me.
As though they knew me.
As though they had been waiting.
I froze.
My breath hitched.
It couldn't be.
Not him.
Not after all these years.
Not after everything he did.
The bus arrived, its doors hissing open. I climbed inside without looking back—until the engine roared.
And in that split second before the bus pulled away…
The figure lifted his head.
Just enough.
Just enough for me to recognize the shape of his jaw.
The small scar under his lower lip.
The eyes that once watched me with calculation disguised as affection.
My blood turned to ice.
Seo Jae-min.
My ex-fiancé.
My childhood nightmare.
The man who destroyed my career, my reputation, my trust, my safety—
and the real reason I ran from the industry.
The real reason I hid Mina.
The real reason Jun-seo and I broke apart.
He was supposed to be gone.
Far away.
Blocked, erased, forgotten.
But now…
He was back.
And he had found me.
The bus jolted forward, my breath shattering in my chest.
I gripped the cold metal pole with white knuckles.
"Mommy?"
The voice wasn't real.
Just memory.
But it steadied me.
I pulled my phone out, needing something—anything—to anchor me.
A message notification blinked.
Unknown Number.
My stomach dropped.
I opened it.
One sentence.
"You look even better when you're scared. Let's talk soon, Ajin."
The bus stopped.
The world stopped.
My heart stopped.
No.
No.
NO.
He shouldn't know where I am.
He shouldn't know my number.
He shouldn't know anything about my life.
But he did.
He always did.
And then—
my phone buzzed again.
Another message.
A photo.
My breath punched out of me.
It was a picture of me… standing outside Jun-seo's studio.
Taken just minutes ago.
From across the street.
From where he must have been watching the entire time.
The caption was even worse:
"Meeting him again? How cute.
Does he know the full story yet?"
A tremor ran through me so hard my teeth clicked.
Because Jae-min knew.
Everything.
What happened with my family.
What happened that night.
Why I started manipulating people.
Why I cut Jun-seo off.
Why I hid my daughter.
Why I lost everything.
He knew because he caused half of it.
And he wasn't done.
Not even close.
**The twist:
Jae-min was the one who manipulated the industry against Ajin—
and now he's come to reclaim the power she stole from him.
And worse—
he knows about Jun-seo and Mina.**
The bus stopped near my neighborhood.
I stumbled off, legs trembling, barely able to breathe.
My hands shook as I climbed the stairs to my apartment.
I opened the door.
Mina ran toward me with a bright smile.
"Mommy! You're home! You look pale—did you run?"
I knelt down, pulling her into my arms so tightly she squeaked.
"Mommy's okay," I lied into her hair.
But I wasn't.
I wasn't okay.
I was terrified.
Because the one man I feared…
The one man who made me into a monster…
The one man who could tear my entire world apart…
had finally returned.
And this time,
I wasn't the only one he could hurt.
Of course, Yuna 🌙 — here is the continuation and expansion, picking up exactly where Ajin walks away from Jao, Mira, and Eun-hee…
with a major twist woven in.
We stay in Ajin's perspective, but the world shifts beneath her feet.
The city lights blurred as I walked—neon streaks smeared by the tears I refused to let fall.
My hands were cold.
My chest felt hollow.
And every footstep felt like I was wading deeper into something I had been running from for years.
Their voices—
Jao's quiet disappointment,
Mira's venom,
Eun-hee's sharp judgment—
echoed in my skull long after I left them behind.
But even that wasn't what made my fingers shake.
It was the silence that followed.
The silence that came before danger.
I knew that silence too well.
I reached the crosswalk. The red light glowed against my skin, reflecting off the wet pavement. Cars rushed by, leaving trails of cold air in their wake.
I tightened my coat around myself and—
My phone buzzed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Unknown number.
My heart stopped.
Not metaphorically.
Not dramatically.
It simply stopped.
I swallowed hard and swiped to open the message.
A single photo loaded slowly, line by line:
First, Mina's small shoes.
Then her little legs in pink leggings.
Then her coat.
Her round cheeks.
Her tiny hands holding a plush fox.
A live, time-stamped photo.
My throat closed.
Then the next message appeared.
"You think you can walk around freely?
Pretending your past is buried?"
Another photo.
This time, it was her school gate.
The time stamp was three minutes ago.
My blood ran cold.
I looked around desperately, scanning every corner, every shadow, every passing face. The world suddenly felt too crowded and too empty all at once.
My fingers trembled as I typed back:
"Who are you? What do you want?"
The reply came instantly.
"Don't pretend you don't know.
You took something from me."
Something icy crawled up my spine.
"...No," I whispered.
"No, this can't be—"
Then the third message arrived:
"Say hello to your daughter for me.
She looks just like her father."
My vision blurred.
My breath hitched.
My knees almost buckled.
No.
No.
No.
Not him.
Not him.
I staggered back, my bag slipping off my shoulder.
The world around me dimmed, muffled.
Because only one person alive…
only one person malicious enough…
only one person who knew Mina's birth
and my secrets
and my weaknesses…
could send something like that.
My stepbrother.
The one who hurt me.
The one who ruined everything.
The one I escaped from.
The reason I hid from Jun-seo.
The reason I vanished from the world.
He had found me.
He had found us.
My heart hammered painfully.
I typed with shaking fingers.
"If you touch her—"
"Relax.
I'm not here for her.
I'm here for you."
A fourth message popped up.
A screenshot.
Of my outing earlier.
Me leaving Jun-seo's studio.
With him in the background.
"Looks like someone reunited with an old lover."
"Careful, Ajin."
"I can ruin more than your career this time."
My breath shattered.
No.
He wasn't there.
He couldn't have been.
I would have sensed him.
I always sensed him.
But the screenshot didn't lie.
My legs trembled violently.
The crosswalk light turned green.
People moved.
Cars hummed.
Life continued—
—but mine felt like it had just stopped.
I forced myself to walk, even though every step hurt.
I needed to get home.
I needed to get to Mina.
I needed to—
My phone buzzed again.
"Run, Ajin."
"You're good at running."
"But I always catch up."
My knees buckled, and I pressed a hand against the nearest wall to stay upright.
And then—
A familiar voice behind me:
"Ajin?"
I stiffened.
Slowly—terrified to turn around—I looked over my shoulder.
It was Jao, expression tense, breathing slightly uneven like he had chased after me.
But the real shock was this:
He was holding my dropped wallet in his hand.
And his eyes…
They weren't angry anymore.
They weren't resentful.
They were worried.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
"You look like you saw a ghost."
I swallowed hard.
Because I had.
And that ghost was ready to burn my entire world down.
Here you go, Yuna 🌙 — a direct continuation, expanded deeply, with a major twist woven naturally into the scene.
We stay with Ajin's perspective, immediately after she walks away from Jao, Mira, and Eun-hee.
By the time I reached the bus stop, my throat hurt from holding my breath.
The city lights flickered; cars passed; the world kept moving.
But I stood there, frozen, feeling like a crack in the universe had opened beneath my feet.
Jao's voice.
Mira's accusations.
Jun-seo's eyes.
Everything was swirling inside me like a storm I couldn't outrun.
I pulled my coat tighter.
I needed to go home.
To Mina.
To safety.
The bus arrived with a hiss.
I stepped on, sat near the windows, and tried to disappear into the seat.
But the second the doors closed—
the hairs on my neck rose.
A presence.
Behind me.
Too close.
Someone was watching me.
I didn't turn.
I didn't breathe.
Seconds passed.
One.
Two.
Three—
Then a voice I hadn't heard in four years slid through the air like a blade.
"Still good at pretending nothing's wrong, Ajin."
My heart stopped.
No.
No.
No.
Not him.
I slowly turned—and almost choked on my own breath.
There he was, sitting two rows behind me.
Ahn Ryo.
The reason I fled.
The reason I hid.
The reason Mina had never met her own extended family.
And the twist?
He was smiling.
As if he'd been waiting for this moment.
As if he'd never stopped hunting me.
"Surprised?" he said softly.
"I've been looking everywhere for you."
My pulse roared in my ears.
"You… you shouldn't be here," I whispered.
His smile widened.
"Why not? You came back.
You made yourself visible again.
And the moment you walked into that studio earlier today…"
His eyes glinted with amusement.
"…I knew you wouldn't be able to resist him forever."
Jun-seo.
He had been watching.
He knew.
The bus felt suddenly too small, too quiet, too trapped.
Ryo leaned forward slightly, voice dropping into that calm, terrifying tone he used when he wanted me to obey.
"You left without permission, Ajin."
Cold sweat ran down my spine.
"You disappeared with a child that wasn't yours to take."
My lungs collapsed inward.
He didn't know.
He didn't know—I prayed he didn't know—that Mina wasn't just mine.
But then—
His smile sharpened.
"Don't look so pale," he crooned.
"I've already met her."
My blood turned to ice.
Mina.
A memory slammed into me—
Days earlier.
The café near Mina's school.
The friendly man who said he liked her drawing.
The man with the soft voice and expensive watch.
No.
No.
No.
"You—"
My voice cracked.
"You stay away from her."
Ryo tilted his head.
"Why would I?"
He blinked, amused.
"She looks so much like you. It's adorable."
My stomach twisted.
He hadn't said like Jun-seo.
He hadn't noticed the resemblance.
Yet.
I clenched my fists.
"What do you want?"
Ryo stood up as the bus slowed at the next stop.
He walked past me slowly, his hand brushing the top of my seat—
a silent warning.
Then he bent close to my ear.
"Simple," he whispered.
"I want you back."
My blood froze.
"And if you don't come back…"
He smiled softly.
"I'll take the little girl instead."
The world shattered.
The bus doors opened.
Ryo stepped off, disappearing into the night as calmly as if he'd just said goodbye to an old friend.
I sat there shaking, unable to move, unable to breathe.
And then—
my phone buzzed.
One new message.
From an unknown number.
A picture.
Of Mina.
Today.
Walking home from kindergarten.
A tiny backpack.
A butterfly clip.
Taken from behind.
Close.
Too close.
I nearly dropped the phone.
Below the picture was a single line:
"Choose."