"I can't share a room with Jess."
They didn't even like each other—who was the genius who made that pairing?
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. The other trainees have already settled into their rooms. You're the only one causing trouble now."
Of course the others weren't paired with Jess. Why did everything have to be so hard? They shoved her weekly schedule into her hands and left.
She sat in the meeting room with her face buried in her hands, looking miserable. She had no desire to go to her room. That short and meaningless conversation with Jess had been more than enough to know what kind of person she was. But there was nothing she could do. Letting out a deep sigh, she dragged herself out of the room and headed toward the dormitory.
When she finally found her room, she was surprised—it was quite spacious and even had its own private bathroom. She had imagined they'd be crammed into a tiny box-like room, but apparently, the setup involved two separate bedrooms with a shared living room. Wow. The owners of Lotus must have been filthy rich. She sat on the bed, and Jackie sat beside her.
"You should've told me. I ended up arguing with people for no reason."
"I've never stayed in a dorm before. I didn't even know there was one until I came here with you."
"Why didn't you stay in the dorms? What's so special about you?"
"I'm the reason they got this rich."
"How humble of you."
"I'm just telling the truth."
"Anyway, while I remember— I came to the company for you, but why haven't I seen the spirit who took over your body?"
"That's what I want to know too. While you're in training, I'll try to figure some things out."
She got up and opened her suitcase. If it were up to her, she would've just left everything inside until the day she left, but she was bored, so she started putting her clothes into the closet just to kill time.
But eventually, even that was done. She looked around the room, restless.
"I'll go back to where I lived before. Maybe I can learn something."
"Should I come with you?"
"You can't."
"Why not?"
"Because no one can see me—I can wander around freely."
"You're right. But be careful. The spirit in your body might be able to see you."
"I'll be back by tonight."
Jackie was gone now, and she felt even more bored. She decided to go out and explore the company a bit. Maybe she'd grab something at the café later.
She headed to the studio section and started wandering through the different rooms—why not? But then she stumbled upon a music video shoot.
Was that Chuwon? Wow… He looked like a completely different person on stage. If she didn't know how he really was, she would've thought he was insanely cool. When the scene ended, the director shouted, "Cut!" and everyone started applauding and thanking one another.
"Fifteen-minute break before the last scene!"
As soon as they heard the word "break," one staff member rushed to the door with their phone in hand. But instead of walking past her like a normal person, they shoved her aside, causing her to lose balance and fall—right onto one of the dancers.
Everyone ran toward the dancer. Of course they did. Who was she, anyway?
"Hyerim, are you okay? Your finger's bleeding!"
Then the director suddenly snapped.
"Who did this?" he barked, looking around at everyone before his eyes landed on her sitting on the floor. His voice turned sharp. "What do you think you're doing? Why are you here? Who are you? What's your name? Why are random people being let in here?!"
She could've defended herself. She could've even apologized. But she chose to stay silent. She couldn't mess this up—her presence here was Jackie's last hope.
"What's going on here?"
"Chuwon, it's nothing for you to worry about. There's been a small mix-up, but we'll handle it. Please, just take your break."
Chuwon knelt beside her.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said, her voice barely audible.
"How did you fall?"
"One of the staff rushed out and shoved me."
Chuwon stood up and spoke sharply to the director."Because of your irresponsibility, a company trainee got hurt. And as if that wasn't enough, you tried to blame someone without even learning the truth."
The director clearly hadn't expected such a reaction."You're right… I'm sorry."
Chuwon turned back to her. "Can you walk?"
"Yes."
"Let's go."
Chuwon walked ahead, and she followed him toward the cafeteria.
"Take a seat. I'll get us something to drink. What do you want?"
"There's no need, sunbae-nim. I can get it."
"I said I'll get it. Just tell me what you want."
"…Then, iced coffee."
She sat by the window. Jess and a few other trainees were in the cafeteria as well, whispering among themselves while glancing her way.
Chuwon came back with two cans of iced coffee and sat across from her. He didn't say anything. He just looked at her—and it was incredibly uncomfortable.
"Sunbae-nim, what you did earlier was really cool. Thank you for protecting me. But… I'd like to ask you to be a bit more distant with me—whether people are around or not."
"What's bothering you?"
"Lots of things. If you look behind you, you'll see how the other trainees are staring at us. I don't want there to be any misunderstandings."
"Why do you care so much about what others think or say?"
She had already been through so much in such a short time. All the traumas she had tried to bury were now resurfacing, one by one. If this kept up, she wouldn't be able to stay quiet much longer.
"There are things about me you don't know… things you probably wouldn't understand."
"Everyone's life is different than it seems. Once the training process starts getting streamed online, people will say a lot about you—good and bad. I get so many hate messages. Strangers telling me I should die. What did I ever do to them? I used to think about that constantly when I debuted. And then there was a group who kept comparing me to Jackie. Saying I should quit, that I'd never be as good as him."
His face twisted slightly as he mentioned Jackie.
"If you don't care about the comments, how do you know what they say?"
He looked like a child caught doing something wrong. She burst out laughing.
"I don't read the hate comments on purpose, but sometimes while checking my fan messages, some of them sneak in. Still, I live how I want. If I give up, they win. If I keep going and do better, they lose. So here's my advice—try to make yourself happy, not them. Talking to you makes me happy. But I have to go back to the shoot."
She was still trying to figure out whether Chuwon was a good person or not. When they first met, he was really rude. But since then, he had stood by her in so many difficult moments. He was a good friend. Still, she had promised herself she would keep a low profile until she solved Jackie's problem.
As she tried to finish her coffee, she watched the outside world through the window. One of the trainees had approached her, but she didn't notice until the girl spoke.
"Hi, I'm Shin. And you are?"
"Aera."
"Perfect. Aera, we're throwing a pajama party tonight to help the girls bond. We want you to come too."
That kind of thing really wasn't her scene.
"I don't think I'll be able to. I was planning to sleep early. But thanks for the invite."
"Everyone's coming! Please come too—it's going to be really fun, I promise!"
She ended up saying yes just to make her stop talking. She figured she'd sit with them for half an hour and then sneak back to her room. Honestly, being around people who had clearly been gossiping about her was hard enough—there was no way she could ever be friends with them.
That night, Shin actually came to her room to make sure she was coming. It was absurd, but at least Jackie came with her. She and Jess ignored each other, and occasionally some of the other girls asked her questions about Chuwon. That was it.
She tried to leave a few times, but they kept stopping her. As the night went on, they turned off the lights and lit candles. If Jackie hadn't been there, she might've completely lost it.
Then Shin started talking. "Has anyone heard about the dormitory ghost?"
A few girls said yes. She, on the other hand, felt incredibly uneasy.
"They say a long time ago, a trainee hanged herself in one of these rooms. She worked constantly, trying to debut, but no matter what she did, the trainers never saw her as good enough. She spent the best years of her youth here, only to be dismissed because of her age. Unable to accept failure, she ended her life. Since then, trainees say they've seen her wandering the halls and rooms."
She looked at Jackie in fear.
"There's nothing to be scared of," he whispered. "It's a made-up story. I was one of the first trainees when this company was founded. I've been here ever since. If something like that had happened, I would've heard about it. And even if it were true, you wouldn't need to worry. I'm right here with you."
He was right. As long as Jackie was around, there was nothing to fear.
"By the way… they made up that story just to scare you."
"What? How do you know?"
"They were whispering earlier, so I listened in. They want to scare you and make fun of you. Don't react. They're watching you. Just sit tight and watch what happens next."
She waited eagerly to see what Jackie would do. Suddenly, the candles blew out, and the girls screamed. Jess turned on her phone flashlight.
"Can someone turn the lights on?"
Shin got up and hit the switch. The lights came on—but the girls screamed even louder, all staring at Shin. Her hair was floating in the air. The girls shrieked and ran from the room. Aera could barely keep from laughing. They had gone hunting—and ended up becoming the hunted, thanks to Jackie.
She was exhausted, but her night had been ruined by those idiots. When Jackie was done, he came over and walked her back to her room. She locked the door behind them so no one could barge in.
She threw herself onto the bed, completely drained. Jackie laid down beside her.
"These girls are actual demons."
"They even set up a hidden camera. They were planning to post your freakout online to mock you. I was wondering why they were so fixated on you, but now I get it—it's because of Chuwon. They think he got you into the company through favoritism. They were even talking about seeing you two in the cafeteria today."
"Oh… yeah, there was an accident earlier, and sunbae-nim helped me. We just sat in the cafeteria after."
Jackie's brows furrowed."What accident?"
"After you left, I got bored and wandered around the building. I stumbled into a studio where they were filming a music video. I got curious and went in. Something happened—I tripped and accidentally caused one of the dancers to fall too. Sunbae-nim helped me."
Hearing that, Jackie immediately checked her arms and shoulders in panic."Does anything hurt? Did you fall badly? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I'm fine, really. It wasn't serious."
But Jackie looked furious."If it's Chuwon sunbae-nim that bothers you, I already talked to him about it today. I asked him to keep some distance."
"That's not it. I mean, yeah, he's part of it—but the real issue is you."
"Me? What do you mean?"
"You keep going through one awful thing after another. And all because people are jealous. What if I hadn't been there? What if things had gone according to their plan?
You try to act strong so you don't give up. But there's one thing that's always been true in both your lives—you have a sensitive heart. I know this is all hurting you. And I know that you're enduring it all because of me. My presence brings you pain."
"I won't deny it hurts—especially the way people treat me. But it hurts this much because I spent so many years hiding away. Now, even if someone says something small, it cuts deep. But I need to face it. I need to be strong, or I'll spend my whole life living in fear. You don't bring me pain—you give me strength. If it weren't for you, I'd still be in that tiny room at home. You're the light in my dark life, Jackie. Without you, I'd never find my way."
"By the way… were you able to find anything out?"
"He was at your house, but he looked sick from a distance. I tried to get closer, but if he senses me, he might run."
"If he's too sick to leave the house, he won't come to the company. What do we do then? We need a new plan."
"No, we don't. He has to come. He's got commercial contracts. If he doesn't show up for those shoots, he'll be in serious trouble. And if he wants to keep living in my body, he can't draw attention. So he'll show up."
"There's one more thing I wanted to ask you last time, but I was too mad to bring it up. Can I ask now?"
"I'm listening."
"You said when Arin touched the dark spirit with her blood, it burned. If I'm the same person as Arin, wouldn't my blood work the same way? What if I made you drink it—wouldn't the spirit be destroyed?"
"You want me to drink your blood? Aera, am I a vampire to you?"
"But if just touching it burns, wouldn't drinking it completely erase it?"
"That's… complicated. And honestly, I don't know the answer."
"Then ask your brother later."
She was too sleepy to stay awake any longer. She snuggled up to Jackie and fell asleep the moment she closed her eyes.