He is dead.
He deserved it.
And the terrifying part is… some hidden part of me thinks it was meant to end this way.
If he had lived, he would've come back for us. For my family and me. For everything he believed he still owned.
What a fucking narcissist!
So maybe, fate simply blessed me, blessed us.
I stood across the street for what felt like an eternity... Long enough for the smoke to sting my eyes, long enough for the heat to burn through my bones while watching my entire world collapse into flames.
Our house.
Our café.
Our bakery.
All of it was swallowed by the fire that moved like a living creature, devouring memories with greedy hands. The same fate goes to our tenants in both the commercial and residential spaces.
I wrapped my arms around myself when my hands began to tremble uncontrollably. I should be bawling right now. Years of savings, accumulating things to make our lives easy, every recipe my husband and I had perfected, even my childhood pictures, they're all burning in there. Gone.
But my eyes stayed dry.
Because under the exhaustion, under the fear, under the ashes coating my tongue… There was relief.
A sharp, guilty breath of relief.
"Sora!"
My best friend's voice broke through the roar of the firetruck sirens, but I couldn't turn toward her. Couldn't tear my eyes away from the dying blaze. I kept wondering how the fire spread so fast when the walls were made of concrete.
Maybe the universe was helping us?
A warm weight settled on my shoulders as Yejin draped her jacket on me.
"Oh my God, Sora. Please tell me you didn't get hurt… How did this happen?" she asked, panic evident in her voice.
"I… don't know," I whispered, my own voice hollow, like it belonged to a ghost. "It was already burning when I got here."
A cluster of neighbors murmured behind us, their whispers slicing through the air like knives straight to my heart that was already full of scars of the past.
"She's not even crying... If I were her, I would be on the ground wailing..."
"Maybe she's just in a state of shock?"
"I knew this would happen... She's cursed... She brings bad luck everywhere she goes! Poor tenants, they got involved, too!"
I heard them all.
I am used to it.
Yejin glared at them and was about to pick a fight. I grabbed her wrist and shook my head, silently telling her, Don't… Let them be.
"There she is!" An elderly woman pointed directly at me. "That's Sora Han, the landlord's wife."
Here it comes... The questioning and investigation. My brain was not working really; I couldn't think of an excuse or what to say.
The police officer strode towards me, his flashlight beam darting over my face as if searching for cracks or tears. "Ma'am, are you the wife of the owner?"
I nodded.
"We were told you have dogs and a cat. Were any pets trapped inside the building?"
"No," I said softly. "They're at my pet shop."
The officer's brow creased. "Do you always take them there?"
"No, but it's grooming day."
How convenient.
I lied.
They barely survived the fire. But they are safe now. Thank God.
He nodded slowly, but I saw the suspicion flicker in his eyes. "And your husband? Where is he now? He is the only one unaccounted for in our list."
My throat tightened. I forced a swallow, but it barely moved.
"I—I don't—"
But before I could finish, the radio strapped to his chest crackled sharply.
"This is unit 3 reporting—charred remains located in the third-floor residence, in the house at the very end. Assumed male, adult. Please find the family, if any."
The rest of it blurred as my knees buckled.
Yejin gasped, grabbing my arm. "Sora! Hang in there."
The officer steadied my other side, but the world still tilted dangerously.
Because I didn't need them to finish the report.
I already knew.
And for one horrifying, shameful heartbeat, I wasn't sure if the trembling of my body was fear or ease.
The officer's stare pinned me in place, sharp and unblinking. "Ma'am," he repeated, slower this time, "Where is the owner? Where is your husband?"
My throat tightened. "I… I don't know. He called earlier… He said he was going to cook dinner for me and then—"
I stopped. Or maybe I chose to stop.
Because the moment I saw a stretcher emerging from the smoke-choked doorway of the building, my feet moved on their own.
I ran.
"Sora, wait!" Yejin called after me, but her voice sounded distant, muffled, like I was underwater.
I reached the stretcher just as the paramedics placed it over a gurney. Yejin caught up, looping her arm tightly around my waist as if she already expected my legs to give out.
She wasn't wrong.
My hand trembled violently, as if I had Parkinson's disease, as I reached for the blanket covering the body. I even had to hold my wrist with my other hand, but even then, my fingers quivered against the fabric.
The smell of burned flesh was thick, suffocating, horrifying, and was already clinging to the air. I peeled the blanket back slowly. Inch by inch.
I saw something dark, black, and burned. A shape that should have been human.
My breath caught. I couldn't stop anymore. I yanked the blanket off completely.
Gasps erupted behind me. Someone choked. Someone else whispered a prayer. The crowd gathered, trembling, shifting backward, terrified not only of the fire… but of what the fire had revealed.
The description of the officer earlier on the radio was spot on. The body was not just simply burned; it was charred, scorched beyond recognition.
The officer cleared his throat behind me. "Ma'am… do you and the landlord reside in the unit at the end of the third-floor hallway?"
Silent tears streamed down my face before I even realized I wasn't breathing. My voice cracked as I wiped them away, but they kept falling.
"Y-Yes," I choked out. "That… that was our home."
The silence after my words felt heavier than the smoke.
"We found this body inside that unit, by the kitchen area," the officer continued carefully. "Beside him was a cooking pan, a knife, and a ladle. Signs suggest he was preparing food at the time of the fire. Could he be your husband?"
My knees buckled so fast Yejin couldn't catch me. I hit the ground, palms scraping against the pavement, breath tearing out of my lungs.
"No… no…" I shook my head desperately. "H-He's not my husband. He can't be—he can't—"
"Sora…" Yejin whispered while already crying and rubbing my back, but even she sounded unsure and afraid.
Then the officer stepped forward and held a sealed plastic evidence bag toward me. A phone rested inside, burned around the edges, casing melted… but still unmistakably my husband's.
He turned it, showing the burned photo stickers of me and my husband on the back of the casing.
My blood turned to ice. My heart was beating so loud it silenced the cries of our tenants, the blaring sirens, and the noises from everyone's mouths.
"The body was found while holding this," the officer said quietly. "We're very sorry for your loss."
I slapped my hands over my mouth as a scream clawed its way up my throat, splitting me open from the inside.
"No, you're wrong. We just got married last year… That's not my husband—NO!!!"
The word tore out of me, raw, feral, echoing across the street until even the firefighters paused and looked over.
Yejin pulled me into her arms as I wailed, loud, broken. "I'm so sorry, Sora... I'm here... You're not alone."
My best friend tried her best to calm my heart and soul, which are once more breaking into pieces for the fifth time in a row.
She had seen me in this same state before. Because this wasn't the first time I lost a husband to death.
And the murmurs around us grew louder, sharper, colder. Brutal…
"That's her fifth husband, right?"
"Oh my God, again?"
"It can't be a coincidence…"
"Is the curse real…?"
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Let them talk.
Let them fear me.
Tonight, my fifth husband died.
And pretending I had no idea how—was the only thing I could do to survive this curse and save everyone I love.