Tuesday morning was spent at the kitchen table in front of her computer, a mug with steaming coffee next to her. Baëkhyun was in the living room, the muffled sounds of the TV filling her apartment. He had recently acquired a PlayStation 4, probably stolen from somewhere, and spent a lot of time playing various video games. Minji was okay with it since he didn’t annoy or when he was otherwise occupied.

Yesterday, they had spent the entire afternoon hunting leads and visiting the families of the missing women, sometimes even their friends or whoever had last seen them. Minji had collected lots of useful information and felt she had accomplished something after they had returned home. She had been busy writing everything down and hoped making people aware of these crimes would increase the chances of finding witnesses.

The news article was written at record speed, Minji reading over it again a while later to do some last-minute edits before she emailed it to Yixing. He replied soon, sending her his thanks. When she was about to open a new file to write down some more notes for herself, Mochi joined her, lying on her laptop’s keyboard. The feline yawned and eyed the young woman, slowly blinking at her.

Minji was torn between smiling at the cute sight and groaning because she couldn’t work like this. “Come on, Mochi. You can’t stay here,” she sighed, earning a distorted meow. “Are all demons this self-centered?”

“I heard that,” Baëkhyun yelled from the living room.

“Great, you jerk!”

“Stupid human,” she heard him grumble but didn’t grace him with an answer. Minji walked to the living room, lingering in the doorway.

“I’ll go grocery shopping now,” she announced, and he groaned in annoyance.

“Why now? I’m in the middle of something here,” he said, not even taking his eyes off the screen to look at her.

“You don’t have to accompany me all the time—I don’t need a babysitter,” she said in a huff. “I’ll be back later. Do you want anything?”

“No,” he replied curtly.

“Would it hurt to be nice to me for once?” she muttered and walked out of the room to grab her purse and jacket, leaving the apartment. Minji took a deep breath, lungs filling with fresh morning air. She was finally alone. No nagging, no teasing, no flirty comments. It was heaven!

Minji got in her car and drove through the city, heading to the next supermarket to buy everything she needed. It didn’t take long; barely an hour had passed since she left the apartment, and she didn’t want to return yet. The moody demon would survive without her for another hour. She didn’t need him, and he didn’t need her; it was that easy. Glaring at the star-shaped crest in annoyance, she covered it with her sleeve. At least it didn’t glow like radioactive waste when he wasn’t around. Grinning at the thought, she reentered her car and drove off, intending to look at an area that played a significant role in the missing person cases.

She left the car in a parking garage, quickly checking the map on her smartphone to ensure she was on the right track. Minji was back in Geumcheon, intending to visit the place where Kim Yoona and a young accountant named Jung Aecha had disappeared. Usually, the culprit ambushed their victims in different spots in this district, but these women had vanished in the same area. Minji didn’t understand why the culprit had taken a risk like that. He or she had to be confident about not being found…

The mystery surrounding the disappearances, combined with the desperation of the victims’ families, urged her to do something to uncover the truth. The police were already working on it, but she wanted to do her best to support them. Minji had never aspired to be one of those journalists who wrote pointless stories filled with lies, uncovering the private lives of famous people. She wanted to accomplish something, so she chose to work for a reputable newspaper instead of a tabloid.

Her destination was a public green area, a park with trees, colorful flower beds, and a lake in the middle, where people would frequently take walks. Since the incidents, it had become emptier, but to Minji’s disbelief, some people still strolled around without a care.

Minji walked over the gravel path, glancing around attentively until she reached the spot where one of the women had supposedly disappeared. Her purse had been found here, the only evidence she had been here at one point. Minji left the path and ventured on until she spotted something strange. The bark of a nearby tree appeared slightly different than the others nearby. Stepping closer, she narrowed her eyes and used her smartphone to take a photo of it. The bark was tinted a darker color here, the shade looking suspiciously similar to blood. It was roughly at the same height as Minji’s head, so she wondered if it originated from the missing woman. Maybe the culprit had slammed her against the tree? Minji’s stomach churned just thinking about such a violent act, and she suddenly felt very uncomfortable, turning on her heels to leave the eerie spot.

Walking back to the gravel path, she passed a young woman busy talking on her phone, wearing sunglasses and seeming oblivious to the horrors that had happened in the park. Minji gritted her teeth and moved on, passing a pavilion in the middle of the park. It was white with a dome roof, looking like it was taken straight from a fairy tale. The structure was lovely, but knowing something terrible had happened in the vicinity destroyed the beautiful image in Minji’s eyes. In the case of the second victim, the young accountant, the police found her discarded jacket after searching the green area. It had been left in the pavilion, its edges ripped in some parts, mainly at the ends of the sleeves. Minji walked up the steps and stood in the middle of the small pavilion, an ominous feeling of foreboding creeping over her. She sensed something was wrong but didn’t know what it was.

The pavilion was quite secluded from the rest of the park, surrounded by dense bushes and trees. It would be easy to lure someone to a supposedly romantic spot to ambush the person when they least expected it. Maybe the woman had been caught off guard by the culprit or planned to meet them, not realizing the danger it put her in.

Minji was abruptly ripped from her thoughts when a faint pulse originated from the mark on her wrist. Covering it with her hand, she furrowed her brow. This hadn’t happened in a while, and she wondered what it could mean this time. Was it another warning? Her breath hitched when she realized this was likely true. A numbing coldness seeped into her body, petrifying her. She wasn’t safe here anymore.

Minji didn’t see anyone in the vicinity, but that didn’t mean she was alone. “Oh my God,” she whispered, hurrying back to the gravel path to leave this secluded area fast. Her sneakers made a crunching sound as she ran, her black hair flying after her. Fear made her lose control of her thoughts. She didn’t want to be kidnapped. She didn’t want to be a victim too. Her legs moved faster, carrying her to the end of the green area. The traffic on a busy street became visible between the trees.

However, the pulsing of the mark didn’t stop, not even when she reached the sidewalk with many other people around her. She ought to be relatively safe here; nobody would dare do anything to her with so many witnesses nearby. Nonetheless, she glanced around inconspicuously, meeting the annoyed gazes of some people behind her. She still had no clue where this strange feeling originated from, if someone was after her right now, or if Baëkhyun had something to do with it. Minji knew the latter was unlikely since she had never felt any sensation through the bond. He never hurt himself; he didn’t feel emotional pain either. Compared to her, he was like a brick…

She returned to the parking garage, entering through a door and walking up the stairs to the floor where her car was. The pulsing abruptly intensified, and her steps quickened. The half-broken lamps close by flickered, some having turned off because they were old and malfunctioned. It was an unsettling sight; for once, she would have preferred if it was Baëkhyun messing with her. He liked to play around with the light when he wanted to annoy her, but now he wasn’t anywhere near her. She was alone. Or at least, she hoped she was.

It was hard to tell.

Passing countless rows of cars, her eyes roamed over them, trying to spot her car that had to be here somewhere. An intense fear grew within her when she heard footsteps that weren’t hers. Ice-cold fright flooded her body, her spine going rigid in the process. Tensing up, she looked over her shoulder but again didn’t see anyone. She finally spotted her car and ran towards it as fast as she could. Pressing the button on her key, she unlocked it from afar, ripped the door open, and sat inside, locking the car from the inside. She didn’t take the time to put on her seatbelt, flooring the gas pedal as she raced out of the parking garage, nearly grazing a wall by accident. The pulses of her mark became painful for a moment, and then they vanished abruptly—as if she had imagined the entire thing. She drove down the street, stopped at a red traffic light, and leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. Minji took a deep breath to calm her galloping heartbeat.

This had been a strange occurrence—making her wonder how much danger she had been in just now.

Entering her apartment, she put the heavy grocery bags down and sighed in relief. “Finally,” she breathed, leaning against the door with closed eyes.

“Yes, finally,” a dark voice growled right in front of her, causing her to open her eyes. Baëkhyun looked more than just a little pissed. “You can’t even go grocery shopping without getting in trouble.”

“How did you know? Because of the bond?” she said, swallowing when he put his hand on the door next to her shoulder, his face close to hers. Her eyes were captured by his, red swirling through his iris.

“Yes, of course. I always know when you get yourself in danger. The problem is, if I don’t know where you are, I can’t protect you.” The light in the hallway dimmed. His fingers moved to her neck, where he felt her nervous pulse under her skin. “You keep forgetting that your l