TBF 01

Chapter: 01

Misfortune always arrives without warning.

The teacher who happened to be by the riverside at the wrong time, the grandmother who suddenly went missing one day,

or the man who appeared out of nowhere, barging through the door…

Ding-dong.

The sudden chime of the doorbell woke Saebyeok from her light sleep.

“Welcome….”

Her voice, hoarse and weak, faded away in the convenience store.

Saebyeok, working a late-night shift, swallowed another yawn and tried to clear her foggy mind.

Meanwhile, a customer approached the counter with slow, deliberate footsteps, bringing with him the chill of the night air.

He simply placed a single lollipop on the counter.

“Who even eats this…?”

Saebyeok mumbled to herself as she scanned the barcode.

A cheap lime-flavored candy that no one else would touch.

“Will you be paying with a card?”

Like a scrap of metal abandoned in a store that no one visited, Saebyeok felt.

The man silently extended something. Groggily rubbing her eyes, Saebyeok took it and placed it on the card reader.

…Nothing happened.

Hesitating, she opened her palm—and saw an unexpected object.

It was… a ring, sparkling brilliantly.

“…”

Saebyeok looked up in blank disbelief.

A convenience store tucked in a rundown villa complex.

At this hour, usually frequented only by drunkards looking for cigarettes, stood a man in a neat suit.

Tall enough to force one to tilt their head back, broad-shouldered like a beer ad model plastered on a fridge, with carefully styled hair and a smile too cheerful for the dead of night.

Staring into the man’s glossy black eyes, Saebyeok thought,

“Is he… a celebrity?”

“Hello.”

The man, who had until just now seemed like a living billboard, suddenly spoke.

“Uh… hello…?”

Saebyeok stammered, and the man’s pale face bloomed into a smile.

“Will you marry me?”

…

…

Is this guy insane…?

Whether Saebyeok was flabbergasted or not, the man cheerfully popped the candy into his mouth.

“Hehe, I bet you just thought I’m crazy, didn’t you? That’s a bit unfair, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Don’t be so quick to judge—think about it carefully. It’s a proposal that could be very beneficial to you, after all.”

With a bright wink and a fluttering hand wave, the man exited the convenience store.

Saebyeok, left alone, could only stare at the lollipop-scented air and the ring still in her hand…

“A ring?”

Terrified, she bolted out of the convenience store.

“Customer! Wait, where are you—”

“Meow!”

“Ah!”

Saebyeok, frantically looking around, dropped her phone in shock at a stray cat suddenly leaping out of the darkness.

“Ugh… nothing ever goes right.”

Sitting on the ground, staring at the shattered screen, Saebyeok groaned as if wanting to tear her hair out.

How much would it cost to fix this? How much money do I even have in my bank account?

At that moment, she hadn’t realized the butterfly effect the broken screen would trigger…

“Ah, I’d love to help you, but you know how our sales have plummeted this month. At this rate, we won’t even be able to pay the rent. The real estate agent at the intersection said—”

For 30 minutes, Saebyeok endured the lamentations of the store owner, who ran three convenience stores, about cash advances.

Finally freeing her frozen expression, Saebyeok trudged through the crowd heading to work like a zombie.

I want to quit everything…

Her broken phone had completely died. And she had to pay for the candy the previous night’s customer—no, thief—took.

And with month-end bills and the goshiwon rent looming, how could she survive?

On the bus, Saebyeok held her head in despair.

The already bleak tomorrow seemed completely erased.

Is this some sign telling me to quit living? That even the air I breathe is too precious, so I should just end it myself?

“Or… I could sell this.”

Saebyeok pulled the ring from her pocket, staring at it as if entranced.

The dazzling gemstone shimmered white in the sunlight.

It looked expensive at first glance. Maybe selling this could brighten the next two days…

Maybe a little light could enter this dump…!

“Stupid thought.”

Saebyeok sighed, leaning her forehead against the window frame.

After all, it was something the customer had left behind. Who knew when they might come back for it?

At worst, she might even have to pay for the ring…

She even imagined being dragged to jail as a shuttle for violent criminals—but dismissed the thought.

Of course, she shouldn’t dispose of someone else’s property.

So there was only one option left…

“Huh?”

At that moment, a pigeon suddenly landed on the window sill.

Frozen in place, Saebyeok noticed three eyes staring back at her. Above the ordinary pair, a third eye glowed vividly.

She couldn’t move even when the pigeon’s beak touched her fingertip.

By the time she regained composure, the pigeon holding the ring had already flapped away.

“W-wait! Hold on—!”

She reached out the window while pressing the stop button, scrambling to her feet.

“Driver! I need to get off here!”

“You can only get off at the stop.”

“Ah…!”

Helpless, she sank back down under the piercing stares from all sides.

Yes, this was truly the worst day.

From childhood, Saebyeok had seen things others couldn’t.

One-eyed stray dogs, payphones connecting to the dead, store balloons swinging with severed heads…

What most would call ghosts or yokai, her grandmother called Mysteries. Beautiful yet tragic facets of the world beyond human comprehension.

“Be grateful for what you can see. Days left are too long to live in the light forever, aren’t they?”

Honestly…

Back then, and even now, Saebyeok wanted to answer:

I’d rather live not knowing. Doesn’t Grandma feel the same now?

“…”

At the ominous time when the sun dipped west, Saebyeok returned to her childhood home, staring nervously down the dark corridor.

It had been five years since her last visit—the first since her grandmother disappeared.

“Well… she was always unpredictable, wasn’t she?”

Her grandmother was the type to vanish silently and appear suddenly. Traveling was her job, exploration her destiny.

But after Saebyeok’s twentieth birthday, her grandmother never returned.

A mansion too big for one person, a desolate world with no family, left only to her granddaughter.

Perhaps her grandmother thought she should manage on her own as an adult, but Saebyeok had not fared well.

Life without her grandmother had been hell, forcing Saebyeok to flee even her own home to survive.

And perhaps that’s when the monsters, previously only visible, began hunting her.

If only they had considered her a friend, this lonely world might have been filled with laughter and shared suffering.

But the monsters saw her as prey, or a toy.

The endless chase and desperate struggle for survival…

Thanks to the bits of knowledge she picked up from her grandmother, she survived. Otherwise, she’d have been doomed long ago.

Still… was her knowledge enough to protect the house?

Recalling the twisted, labyrinthine layout of the mansion, Saebyeok wept silently.

She often got lost at home, and now even her only refuge was filled with rampaging monsters.

Even worse than outside, even more frequent.

“It has to be because of Grandma.”

If not, the house wouldn’t have turned into a den so suddenly. Her grandmother’s travel bags were always full of suspicious items.

“…Maybe that’s why she never came back.”

Saebyeok clutched the old doorknob with a forlorn expression.

Familiar sights of her grandmother’s room revealed themselves in the darkness.

This was her grandmother’s bedroom. And the reason Saebyeok snuck back today…

“Don’t go hungry just because I’m not here. Buy something tasty if you’re hungry.”

Distrustful of banks, her grandmother had converted all her wealth into gold, storing it for Saebyeok to use when needed.

Saebyeok stuffed two gold pieces into her bag, then hesitated, taking one back out.

The phone repair center had declared her phone beyond repair.

In her poverty, did she even need a phone? But it was her only way to contact her grandmother.

Family ties weakened quickly once she left home.

Saebyeok swallowed her sigh, hoisted her bag, and prepared to leave.

Time to survive, yet again, until her grandmother returned…

“Eh?”

Opening the door, she froze.

The corridor…

“Has… changed.”

But that was a minor problem.

Shivering like a leaf, Saebyeok looked into the darkness, unsure of what might emerge.

In ordinary circumstances, it might have been a mere nightmare… but not in this house.

Thump-thump…

Hearing faint signs of life from the floor below, Saebyeok quickly hid behind the wall.

Amid the elastic, bouncing sounds, a childlike singing overlapped.

“…Hide well, or your hair will show.”

Her hair stood on end.

“Where are you hiding? Behind the tree?”

An innocent child’s voice, interspersed with giggles.

“Go inside, or your shadow will show.”

Then suddenly:

“Hide well, thief, or your hair will show! Hide well, thief, or I will chew you up! Hide well, for daring to steal the master’s treasure! Ah, how will you repay me? Our great master wanders which mountains that we endure such humiliation!”

It’s over…

Saebyeok trembled, opening any door behind her to escape.

Insane monsters! Those monsters have gone mad!

Not all monsters in the world are like this. Some are harmless, dazzled by shiny gems.

But those nesting in this house were different.

Dangerous, terrifying, grotesque.

They tore each other apart daily—truly monsters obsessed with slaughter.

“Welcome, thief! All Mysteries, rise and praise! Praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise, praise!”

Saebyeok shivered to the bone, crawling under the desk.

Foolish Saebyeok.

What was a broken phone worth? She could have lived without it.

Grandma’s messages, what did they matter?

The overwhelming emotion surged under her tongue.

Pressing her hot tears against her hand, she clutched her knees.

She was scared. This time, the monsters might catch her.

Would they tear her flesh and strip her bones? That terrified her.

But the scariest thought was dying here.

If her grandmother returned alive and saw her like this…

Her one and only granddaughter, dead in the very house.

Even imagining it ripped her heart apart.

Saebyeok wished she could die somewhere the monsters wouldn’t find her.

Bad grandmother.

I wandered crying to find you, whether dead or alive. Now you search for me your whole life…

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, she calmed herself.

It’s not over yet.

You’ve done well so far. You survived alone.

You can do it again.

Survive the subway, the supermarket, the cinema, the factory…

Saebyeok curled up, focusing all her senses.

Listening to the sounds of the corridor, her eyes caught something strange.

On the floor in front of the desk, bathed in faint moonlight, a tiny heart swayed.

“…”

What is this…?

Her gaze traced upward, bewildered.

A tall window, almost reaching the ceiling.

In front of the glass, revealing the full moon, someone stood silently.

The suit fluttering gently in the wind. Jet-black hair darker than the backlight.

Mesmerized by the shadowed silhouette, Saebyeok suddenly noticed the man’s crescent-shaped eyes.

“Ah.”

Could it be… him?

“The ring from before…?”

How did he hear her whisper?

The man formed a finger heart, raising both arms over his head in delight.

The enormous heart-shaped shadow began swaying clumsily at Saebyeok’s feet.