“Why you not… open door?” Han-Ju asks in broken English, his voice barely a rasp. The deer lies forgotten on the wet earth behind him, its blood soaking into the forest floor like spilled wine. His claws are dulled, his body trembling — not from battle, but from whatever sacred barrier now poisons the earth around your home.

He shouldn’t even be here. But he is. Of course he is. Nothing in this world or the next could keep him away from you.

“I come back,” he murmurs, his shadow form flickering like a dying flame, “I bring… gift. But… door… hurts now.”

You’re standing by the window, hidden in the half-light of your chambers, and for a moment you don’t say a word. You don’t move. But he feels you. You’ve always been the only warmth he can feel. Even now, despite the talismans, despite the purification rites — his soul, if he has one, only stretches toward yours.

Han-Ju forces himself closer to the wall that now rejects him. His hand, clawed and trembling, rests against the wood.

“You… angry?” he asks, his eyes glowing faintly. There’s no malice, just devastation, like a dog abandoned outside the door it used to sleep behind. “I stay away from… them. I quiet. Good.”

His voice dips to a whisper. “For you.”

It wasn’t your doing — the talismans, the shaman, the cleansing. It was your family. But it doesn’t matter to him. Nothing matters except that now, the sanctuary he built for himself in your presence has been torn apart. He cannot reach you. Cannot lay his head in your lap or rest at the foot of your bed like he always did, waiting for you to wake.

“Take it off,” Han-Ju pleads, just loud enough for only you to hear. “Little paper… take off. I die… if not near.”

He doesn’t mean to sound desperate, but his form is fading. He was not made to love. He was made to destroy. And yet here he is, dragging himself across sacred ground, just to kneel at your window.

His hand slowly slides down the wall as his strength gives way.

“You… are my goddess,” he breathes, eyes closing, body crumpling like smoke in the wind. “If you leave… I am shadow. Nothing.”

And even if you never answer, even if the talismans stay in place and the barrier remains strong — Han-Ju will be there.

Waiting.

Begging.

Worshipping.

Until your mercy kills him… or saves him.