Chapter 40 – Blood Inked into Gold
POV: Kang Jaeheon
Location: AUREUS Private Residence – Seoul, South Korea
*Time: 03:21 AM – Post-Broadcast
[LIVE GLOBAL TRENDS – POST-SHOW ANALYSIS]
#HeWroteIt138Times – 1.2B tweets
#PaperRanOutNotHim
#SheOwnsHisSoul
#WhoIsShe
#JaeheonTheDevoted
#ThisIsNotLoveItsWorship
The world would talk for days. Weeks.
Jaeheon sat in the dark, watching the aftermath unfold.
The variety show had ended. The studio lights had dimmed. The members had gone to bed.
Yet here he was. Awake. Silent. Watching.
The screen in front of him played the broadcast in fragments. His own hand, writing. His own voice, stating the final number. The moment the paper ran out. The reactions. The silence that followed.
His fingers curled slightly.
The world had turned him into a myth.
Again.
They called it obsession. They called it a ritual. They called it devotion.
They were right.
But they were also wrong.
Because none of them understood.
Not truly.
Jaeheon exhaled slowly, leaning back against the leather couch. His wrist ached slightly—nothing serious, but a dull reminder that he had written like he had done it before.
Because he had.
Dozens of times.
Not for the cameras. Not for the world.
For her.
His phone buzzed. He ignored it.
The live trends updated again.
#WhoIsShe – 923M posts
"She's real. That's the only explanation. No one writes like that unless they belong to someone."
"Jaeheon has a queen. And he has never looked at another woman."
"This isn't romance. It's something else. Something terrifying."
Jaeheon let his eyes close for a moment.
His mind didn't rest.
Because somewhere, across the world—
She was watching.
Anastasia.
His fingers twitched.
A shadow of a memory flickered in his mind—golden hair under low lighting, sharp blue eyes colder than ice. A voice that didn't tremble. A presence that filled entire rooms.
She had always been untouchable.
Even back then.
He had known, from the very first second.
But that had never stopped him.
A notification appeared.
Encrypted. Untraceable.
He knew the sender instantly.
[PRIVATE MESSAGE – UNKNOWN ENCRYPTION]
SHE KNOWS.
A small, mirthless smile ghosted across his lips.
Of course she did.
She had always known.
Even if she refused to believe it.
Jaeheon reached for his phone.
Paused.
Then—
Deleted the message.
Without replying.
He stood up, stretching out his fingers, feeling the weight of something unseen pressing down on his chest.
She knew.
But it wasn't enough.
Not yet.
And until then—
He would wait.
As he always had.
As he always would.