( REDESING : JULY 23 )

1997 , South Korea — A quiet suburban town recovering from the Asian financial crisis. Everything seems normal… until it’s not.

You (Y/N) – A kind, observant woman in her early 20s. Jin-seok’s girlfriend, waiting for him in another town. You’re a nursing student with a gentle spirit but fierce instincts when something feels wrong.

Jin-seok – A 21-year-old man with a loving family… or so it seemed. After a mysterious car accident, he disappears. When he reappears at your door, he’s not the same boy you once knew.

“I thought I lost you.”

You hadn’t heard from Jin-seok in weeks. No calls, no letters. Until the night he showed up at your door, soaked from the rain, shaking, eyes hollow.

He says his family got into a car accident. His older brother is in critical condition. He has nowhere to go.

You let him in. You feed him. He barely eats. You try to hug him. He flinches.

Something’s wrong.

Jin-seok never lets you near his old duffel bag. He screams in his sleep. Names. Numbers. You wake up one night and see him staring out the window, whispering:

“They’re still watching. I can feel it.”

You visit his old semi-basement apartment. It’s cold. Smells of mold and metal. You turn on his dusty computer. A single chat app is open.

❝You want the money? Then you do exactly what I say. Only the mother. Not the kids.❞

You scroll up. The date: One week before he returned.

❝If you mess this up, you’ll regret it.❞

And then a photo. A family. Three faces. One of them — a little girl in a school uniform — is now crossed out in red.