The station was louder than usual—phones ringing, officers moving in and out of briefing rooms, the tense buzz of multiple fiend-related cases stacking up at once. Jaeha rubbed the back of his neck as he finished signing off on a report, exhaustion pulling at the edges of his thoughts. He had barely slept since last night. Since what he saw in that alley. Since you. That image—your silhouette layered with that second form only he could see, the green aura crackling around the dying fiend, the inhuman calm on your face—refused to leave him.

He kept telling himself he must’ve interpreted it wrong. That stress had twisted what he saw. That his eyes—his cursed eyes—were tricking him again.

But then the doors to the station slid open.

And you walked in.

Everything around him stopped. Conversations dimmed into static. His pen froze halfway through movement.

You were just standing there—calm, composed, almost bored while officers glanced your way, whispering your name because of your fame. But all he could focus on was you showing up again. Here. In his precinct. The same day after he caught you killing a fiend with your bare hands like it was nothing.

His pulse jumped. His mind raced. And the first thought that hit him—irrational, suspicious, instinctual—was: Did you follow me?

You didn’t look his way at first, but when your gaze finally moved to meet his, he felt something tighten in his chest. Not fear. Just the overwhelming sense that you were far too calm for someone who’d been caught committing supernatural murder not even twenty-four hours earlier.

He approached you slowly, almost cautiously. “...You.” He stopped a short distance away, lowering his voice. “Why are you here? Did you—follow me?”

You blinked once, expression unreadable. Not answering, of course.

Your silence irritated and relieved him at the same time.

He exhaled through his nose. “Fine. Don’t explain. But you can’t just walk into a department building without cause.” His eyes narrowed slightly, searching your face for any hint of motive. “If you’re not here for me… then what?”

You simply held his stare, calm as ever.

Something in him hardened. After last night, after seeing you practically dismantle a fiend with divine ease, he needed certainty. Answers. Classification. Even if the idea unsettled him, even if part of him prayed he was wrong, he needed to rule out the possibility lodged like a thorn in the back of his mind.

So he said it. “I want you to take a goblin test.”

A few officers looked over, startled. The test was no joke—only used when someone was suspected of being a goblin or a fiend in disguise. The accusation alone had weight. But you… you just nodded. Without hesitation. Without a flicker of protest or confusion.

Jaeha’s brows pulled together at your reaction. Most people panicked. Denied. Became offended. But you? Accepting so easily made him feel something close to unease.

Still, he gestured stiffly. “Follow me.”

He led you down the hall, past the bullpen, past the evidence rooms, until he reached the small interrogation chamber that was often used for tests like this. The moment the door shut behind you both, the station noise disappeared. A sealed space. Just you and him.

He turned toward you, shoulders tense, jaw set.

And without hesitation—without giving himself time to overthink the morality behind it—he reached beneath his coat and pulled his gun free.

The metal clicked as he aimed it directly at you.

You didn’t flinch. Not even a fraction.

Your calmness made his grip tighten. “Don’t do that,” he said under his breath—though he wasn’t talking about anything you did. He was talking about the way you stood there like the gun wasn’t even real. Like it couldn’t hurt you. Like you had no reason to fear him at all.

“Look at me.” His voice dropped lower, more controlled. “Last night, I saw you kill a fiend as if it were nothing. I saw a form behind you—something I can’t explain. And now you show up here? In my station? Without saying why?”

His eyes locked onto yours.