It’s the second night

Episode 2

From the start, everything was strange.
In April, snow suddenly fell, and then the building that was being investigated exploded.

Flesh was not only torn but also burned, and in an instant, the world disappeared.
Then, deep darkness surrounded her.

For a short moment, there seemed to be a siren sound.
The urgent sound of a car horn also seemed to ring.
But the sounds of the world were only faint.

What clearly stuck in her ears was only—

Beep—

The machine sound that announced her heart was no longer beating.

In the deep darkness where even shadows could not be seen, a thin white line shone faintly.

Hearing the still-continuing beep— sound like ringing in her ears, she reached out and touched the white line with her fingertip.

At that moment—

The thinly connected line squirmed, like a caterpillar crawling, twisting here and there.
It began to form a shape.

Letters…?

They were letters.

The white line created letters.

[You have been invited to a game.]

Will you start the Mafia game?

What is this?

A Mafia game? What does that mean?

Is this the end?

Or the afterlife?

There was no time to think carefully.
The moment the letters appeared, a darker and deeper hole opened beneath the dark space.

The wide-open hole swirled like a vacuum cleaner and pulled her body in.

She instinctively realized—
If she was sucked in, it would be the end.

She reached out and grabbed the letters formed by the white line.

It was strange that she could even hold them.
But what was even weirder was that even while holding them, the letters kept appearing.
—————————————————
[Invitation to the Game]

To the good you, an invitation has arrived from—.

Accept the invitation and turn back the twisted wheel of fate.

Will you start the Mafia game?

YES or NO

This invitation will disappear automatically in 10 seconds.
If the invitation is not accepted, the body will be disposed of automatically.
———————————————-
‘What?

Dispose of the body?
What does that mean?

[10, 9, 8—]

She was flustered, but in that short moment, she thought as hard as she could.

There was an explosion.

The building collapsed and was swallowed by flames.

Looks like she died then.

Yes, it was a situation where she couldn’t survive.

So, this must be the afterlife.

If such an impossible thing is happening, there is no way this is reality.

Then, down there—

Is it hell?

‘Wait a moment.

It said that if she didn’t accept the invitation, her body would be disposed of, right?

Then, she wasn’t dead yet?

If accepting means surviving, then…
I must live.
She still had things to do.
I must find out who made my family like this.
Chased for three whole years, enduring the pain of loss, running forward with only that in mind.
I can’t die so vainly here.
Clenching her teeth, she reached out.
Struggling desperately not to be sucked into the swirling pit, she barely touched the letters.
Yes. Yes!
[As you have accepted the invitation, the game begins.]
At that moment, the pitch-black space was dyed in white light.
And then, she opened her eyes.
Nothing was normal, so she thought she was dead or cut off. That seemed like the logical conclusion.
Even the first person she saw after opening her eyes was too perfectly handsome to have any trace of human warmth. So this must all be a dream.
What nonsense is this? Calling off the engagement?
Mumbling, she recalled the man who had left the hospital room about ten minutes ago.
“This was all just a mishap that happened when you lost your sight. But now that you can see again, our promise should end, right?”
His voice, every syllable, was cold and sharp as if thorns had wrapped around them. Just words, yet they pricked her whole body.
“You said it yourself. Unless the sky splits in two, there’s no way your sight would return. So take responsibility for life.”
The smirk curling at the edge of his lips was wild.
“But look at that, the sky must have split, since you can see again.”
The way his eyes glinted when he said that—if she had reached out, she would have been cut.
“Let’s never meet again.”
Even his final farewell was piercingly sharp.
Throwing a bouquet into her arms as if discarding it, the man turned his back without hesitation.
What a ridiculous dream.
It’s a relief that it’s just a dream.
The idea of such a man existing was laughable, but the thought of receiving such a deep farewell from him would certainly leave a wound.
But at least, it’s a relief. Because it’s just a dream.
Because I’m not Yoo Hae-in.
Still holding the bouquet in her arms, she stared at the door where the man had disappeared.
It’s over. Yet, strangely, the scent he left behind faintly tickled her nose.
A complete stranger, but for some reason, the scent felt oddly familiar.
And then, suddenly—
Yoo Hae-in?

That woman.
The one who told me to come to the training center if I wanted to hear her story.

The Inho Group heiress.

As I kept my gaze fixed and tried to organize my thoughts, a memory flashed through my mind—the words I had heard while trapped in the pitch-black darkness.

“Who do you think this prince is?”

“Our chairman’s son, Seo Hyun. The one Chairman Seo Do-woo treasures like a jewel!”

What?

Instinctively, I lowered my gaze to the bouquet I was holding.

A pale, clean hand.

Turning my palm over, I couldn’t help but be shocked.

It felt strangely different.

No—it was clearly different.

The shape of the nails, the structure of the fingers—even the palm lines were different.

I turned my hands this way and that, examining them closely, but I couldn’t stop my lips from trembling.

The bouquet slipped from my grip as I dropped it, my legs giving out beneath me.

What… what is this?

I barely managed to stand again, leaning against a streetlight for support.

“A mirror. I need to see a mirror.”

Dragging my legs, I stumbled into the bathroom.

Turning on the lights, I staggered toward the sink.

But I couldn’t bring myself to look directly into the mirror.

With my head lowered, I caught my breath, but my mind was in turmoil.

This had to be a dream, right?

Still, why such a bizarre dream?

There was a limit to how much a person could be shocked.

My fingers gripped the edges of the sink so tightly they turned white.

Taking a deep breath, I finally lifted my head.

Slowly, cautiously, my tightly shut eyelids opened.

In the smooth mirror, a woman’s reflection appeared.

Covered in bandages and plasters, she stared back at me.

I raised my hand.

My fingers trembled as they traced her pale cheek, her lower lip, her sharp nose, and her perfectly almond-shaped eyes.

“This… this can’t be real.”

The sensation of my fingers brushing against my skin—this wasn’t an illusion.

It was real.

This was ridiculous.

I touched the reflection in the mirror again, this time more forcefully.

White hands—so delicate.

I shook my head and frantically ran my hands over my face again.

More aggressively this time—until my cheeks turned red, until the bandages started peeling off.

Clutching the sink, I squeezed my eyes shut.

I was mistaken.

Yes, I must have seen wrong.

I opened my eyes again and looked into the mirror.

“I… I’m Yoo Hae-in?”

But no matter how many times I looked, the woman in the mirror wasn’t me.

It was Yoo Hae-in.

The woman I had been chasing for three years.

The key to all these incidents.

No—the very cause of everything.

And she was right there, staring back at me.