The hours crawled by like a restless shadow stalking the walls of Hanwol High.
The sun dipped low, stretching long fingers of dying light across the city—but Suho barely noticed.Every sound. Every flicker of movement. Each one felt like a whisper of warning.
He hadn't spoken a word since that black card slipped from his locker that morning.
Five words—simple, but heavy with meaning:
"We saw what you did."
"Come find us."
Beneath the Bell Tower. Midnight.
The message pulsed in his mind like a second heartbeat. Constant. Unrelenting.
Throughout the day, Suho felt eyes on him—not just curious or frightened glances, but something colder. Sharper.Like invisible blades slicing through the air around him.
At noon, he passed beneath the bell tower. Its crooked shadow stretched long over the cracked pavement.The clock's hands were frozen at 3:33—a detail that sent a chill crawling down his spine.
He clenched his fists.
The marks on his skin weren't glowing now, but they moved—shifting like ink with purpose. Like they were waiting for something.
At lunch, Suho sat alone again.
Only this time, it wasn't social exile. It was fear.No one looked at him. No one whispered. No one came near.
It was as if they believed even a glance might invite ruin.
In the quiet between classes, his thoughts drifted back—to that day. The book.The leather cover. The whispers. The moment power bled into his bones.
"Because you wanted it."
He had wanted something.A break in the numbness. A reason. A purpose.
But now he understood.
Nothing comes without cost.
Night fell faster than expected. Clouds swallowed the sky, cloaking the city in shadows.
The bell tower loomed above him like a monument to forgotten gods.Its weathered stones shimmered faintly with runes that hadn't been there before.
The courtyard below was empty. Silent.
Except for the soft shift of movement.
Suho stepped forward, heartbeat thundering in his chest.
The air had changed—thick and charged, like the world was holding its breath.
A figure emerged from the dark.
Tall. Cloaked. Their face hidden beneath a hood that swallowed even the moonlight.
"You came," the figure said.Their voice was low, smooth—like silk sliding across steel.
Suho stopped a few feet away. Swallowed hard.
"Who… are you?"
The figure smiled, slow and unreadable.
"We are the Watchers. The ones who stand between gods and men."
Another shadow moved.
This time, a woman stepped forward.Eyes glowing faintly. A thin scar trailing down her cheek like a whisper of war.
"You've crossed a line, Ahn Suho," she said, voice calm. "The trial you face isn't just survival. It's power. Sacrifice. Truths buried deep beneath the surface of this world."
Suho's jaw tightened.
"What do you want from me?"
The woman unsheathed a small blade from beneath her cloak. It shimmered like moonlight on still water.
"Proof. Show us what the book gave you."
The Watchers formed a loose circle around him—silent, still, waiting.
Suho felt it—the thing inside him stirring.
The marks flared. Blue, then violet—casting eerie shadows across the courtyard.
Power rushed through him, raw and molten. It clawed its way up his spine, crackling in the air around him.
The ground beneath him trembled.
The woman nodded.
"Stronger than expected," she murmured. "But this is only the beginning."
From somewhere deeper in the shadows, a whisper rose in his mind:
"Use me. Become the blade."
The wind tore through the space between them, carrying the bell's low toll.
"We will meet again," the hooded figure said—before vanishing into darkness.
And just like that, they were gone.
Suho stood alone beneath the tower, the silence humming with energy.
He was no longer just a boy who found a cursed book.
He was a challenger now.
And the world was watching.