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Chapter 1
It was one day in April, when snow was falling thick and heavy.
Snowflakes poured down like a blizzard over fully bloomed cherry blossoms.
People shouted in amazement, unable to tell if what was fluttering through the air were petals or snowflakes, busily pressing their camera shutters.
Snow in April.
What a rare sight.
But the wonder quickly faded, overtaken by something far more shocking.
BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The earth-shaking roar echoed as a building in the heart of Seoul collapsed.
It was broad daylight.
People who had just been taking photos of snow and petals on their palms lifted their heads in horror.
Thick black smoke rose into the sky. Sirens blared across the city. News channels flooded the airwaves with breaking reports.
The training center owned by the Ino Group in Gangnam had crumbled in an instant.
From a scene that looked like a battlefield, an ambulance raced away.
WEE-OO, WEE-OO.
As the siren screamed, the usually chaotic streets of Seoul fell solemnly silent, parting to let the ambulance through. It was the first rescue vehicle to leave the site, where about twenty casualties were estimated.
The ambulance arrived at SH Hospital, under the Seohyun Group.
Doctors and nurses were already waiting at the emergency entrance, having been informed ahead of time.
The back doors swung open, and the first rescued victim appeared. Reporters who had somehow already gathered clicked their cameras furiously.
The woman was in critical condition, completely unconscious.
As paramedics transferred her to a gurney, one of them quickly shouted out her details.
“Female, 28 years old, Yoo Hae-in. Full-body burns, cranial bleeding, currently unconscious. Performed CPR all the way here, no response so far.”
At once, a slim doctor climbed onto the gurney to continue chest compressions.
The wheels rolled rapidly as medical staff swarmed to save her.
Surgical scissors cut through her clothes, revealing red, blistered skin underneath.
“Prepare for defibrillation.”
The doctor stepped back from CPR.
“Charging to 50.”
“Clear.”
“Shock!”
Thunk.
Her frail body jolted upward from the electric current.
“Resume compressions!”
Ribs cracked under relentless CPR.
“Again.”
“Charge.”
“Shock!”
Thunk.
Her body jerked once more.
Several attempts later—
“Her signal… not good.”
“Don’t stop compressions.”
“I’ll switch in.”
“No. I’ll keep going.”
“Professor? Professor!”
Urgent voices filled the room, until—
Beeeeep—
The long, flat tone of the monitor signaled the end.
Faces of the medical staff were clouded with despair.
Then, a different voice cut through, not despair but desperation.
“No. Keep going. You must save her.”
“It’s useless.”
“Do it anyway. At least make it look like we tried—otherwise, we’ll all lose our jobs.”
“Who is this patient?”
“She’s the fiancée of our chairman’s second son—Chairman Seo Do-woo of Seohyun Group!”
The staff immediately picked up their pace again.
Beep, beep, beep.
The steady rhythm of a machine overlapped with the fading memory of the long flatline.
Her whole body felt heavy, as though soaked in waterlogged blankets. Her eyelids were weighted down as if with lead.
Someone once said: the body is light as a feather, but the soul weighs like lead.
So if she felt so unbearably heavy, then it meant she was still alive. Her soul had not yet left her body.
She tried moving a finger—at least a toe.
“Ughhh…”
Pain radiated through her, drawing a moan.
But her fingers and toes moved. No nerve damage.
She exhaled in relief, testing her breath. No problems with breathing either.
Still, there was ringing in her ears, darkness behind her eyes, and pain that would not fade.
Voices she couldn’t place, the rolling of wheels, blurred noises.
Time lost meaning. Blood was drawn, photos were taken, eyelids were checked. She was handled like an object without will.
Eventually, more time passed.
She truly realized she had survived only when she could sit up on her own.
The once-bustling surroundings had grown eerily quiet. Curious, she sat up.
Her eyes were covered in bandages, so she felt her way cautiously.
“…Is anyone there?”
Her voice came out hoarse and rough, her vocal cords still weak.
“Doctor? Sister?”
She just wanted someone near her.
“No one…?”
Her heightened senses picked up faint presence close by.
“Excuse me?”
Thud, thud. Heavy footsteps approached.
Judging by the steps… a man?
The sharp antiseptic smell of the room was suddenly mingled with the faint, unsettling scent of an expensive perfume—like flowers and something darker.
Did she know any man who wore this scent?
“…Senior?”
Had her gruff old colleague finally bought himself cologne?
‘Wait. No, he was in the accident with me…’
Or maybe… was that all just a dream?
‘Yes. It must’ve been. That’s why everything was so strange—snow in April, the collapse. All a dream.’
“Senior… I had a terrible nightmare.”
The memory of fire searing her skin, her body being torn apart…
“In that dream, I died…”
Then, cool fingertips touched the bandages over her eyes.
“…Senior?”
The gauze came off, light flooding her vision. She shut her eyes tight.
Then—
“You.”
It was an unfamiliar voice.
She cautiously opened her eyes again, squinting against the brightness.
A silhouette sharpened into view.
“You can really see…?”
Her focus adjusted, and a man’s face came clearly into view.
“You can see?”
It took her some time to process the meaning of that simple question. She needed to assess the situation first.
“What…?”
Blinking slowly, she narrowed her gaze, trying to focus.
But when she finally saw his face up close, words caught in her throat.
Some actors were said to be too good-looking for cameras to capture properly. In real life, they stunned you speechless.
The man before her was like that.
Thick brows, sharp monolid eyes, a chiseled nose, lips that seemed deliberately sculpted—handsome yet sensual, restrained yet decadent.
But…
“Who…”
She couldn’t recognize him at all.
“…are you?”
A face like that—she’d remember seeing it anywhere. But no memory surfaced.
He didn’t seem like the person she was thinking of.
Maybe he was just a visitor, carrying flowers. Maybe he’d even walked into the wrong room.
“Do you know me?”
His lips curved into a cold smirk.
“You don’t?”
There was reproach in his tone, as though not knowing him were impossible.
But she couldn’t lie. She shook her head gently, still observing him as her vision cleared.
He wasn’t just a handsome face.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, with a solid chest and long, well-proportioned legs. Like an athlete—muscular without excess.
“Really don’t know me?”
She met his eyes.
“I… don’t think so.”
“Don’t know?”
His gaze cut across her, sharp as a blade—taking in her bandaged forehead, cheek, collarbone, and hands, then finally stopping at her eyes.
Her heart clenched under that stare.
His eyes were cold, piercing, yet unbearably beautiful. Enough to tighten her throat with a strange unease.
After a long silence, his lips twisted into a crooked smile.
“Perfect.”
A chilling laugh slipped out, his voice dropping to ice.
“Not only can you see, but now you don’t even remember me. How convenient.”
She didn’t respond.
This whole situation still felt unreal, like a hidden-camera prank.
But the man seemed to reach a conclusion of his own.
“Fine.”
He nodded slowly.
“You have no excuse to refuse anymore.”
Then he said—
“Yoo Hae-in.”
…Yoo Hae-in?
“Let’s call off the engagement.”
