Sera's POV~
It was the cold that woke her.
Sharp, biting. The kind that clawed at skin even through clothes.
Her lashes fluttered open.
Everything was dark.
A flickering light bulb above her head buzzed faintly.
She was lying on a cold concrete floor.
Disoriented.
Her head throbbed.
Her limbs felt like sandbags.
"Where… am I?"
She sat up too fast and winced — her throat dry and raw, her nose still burning faintly from whatever had been pressed against it.
She looked around.
A small room.
Windowless.
Concrete walls.
A single door — metal, with no handle on her side.
She wasn't in camp anymore.
Her breath quickened.
Her hands began to shake.
And then she saw it — sitting on the floor across from her.
A folded piece of paper.
Shaking, she reached for it.
Unfolded.
The same handwriting.
Sharp. Precise.
"You should'nt have loved him. But it's okay — you'll be mine now."
Her scream tore from her chest, but it echoed into nothing.
Back at Camp — Chaos Unfolds
"Group C, all present!"
"Group A — one missing!"
The voice of the chaperone cracked.
Students murmured. Some panicked. Some confused.
Flashlights bobbed in the darkness. Teachers huddled, whispering rapidly into their phones. Names were called again. And again.
Minjeong stood frozen.
Taeyang's hand was wrapped around her wrist.
He hadn't let go since he realized.
"She's not answering," he said, voice barely a whisper.
"She'd never just disappear like this—"
Minjeong's voice cracked.
"I should've stayed closer. I knew something felt wrong."
Her hands trembled.
And then—
"What's going on?"
Jisoo's voice.
They both turned.
He was walking toward them, holding a blanket in one hand — the one he'd brought for the picnic. His face was calm. Confused.
"Where's Sera?"
Minjeong stared at him.
Taeyang opened his mouth — then stopped.
She spoke first.
"She's gone."
"...What?"
"She never came back to the cabin. We searched. Everyone did. She's not answering, she's not—"
She broke off with a sob.
Jisoo's face went pale.
"What do you mean she's gone—?"
"You don't get it," she whispered. "There's someone… stalking her. She didn't want to tell you. She didn't want to worry you."
He took a step back.
"What are you talking about."
Taeyang stepped in.
"We found notes. In her locker. Her bedroom. Someone's been watching her."
"And you knew?"
Jisoo's voice cracked like glass.
"You both knew and didn't say anything?"
Minjeong's knees gave out and she sat on the ground, head in her hands.
"We were trying to protect her—"
Jisoo stared at them.
At the chaos.
At the teachers.
At the empty spaces in the night.
His heart dropped into something bottomless.
The blanket slipped from his hand.
"She was supposed to meet me," he said, voice hollow. "She said she would. I thought she forgot."
Silence.
Then his voice again. Quieter. Broken.
"She didn't forget."
and then he was gone in an instant.