The House That Burned

Ji-Hoon stood at the edge of an abandoned lot, his breath shallow, his hands cold despite the thick coat he wore.

This was it.

The place where his past had turned to ash.

The estate that had burned down in 1989.

Or at least, what little was left of it.

The once grand mansion was now nothing more than a skeleton of blackened ruins. Crumbling walls, overgrown weeds, rusted gates that barely held together. The air smelled of old soot and forgotten memories.

Ji-Hoon felt his pulse quicken.

A home he had never known. A family he had never remembered.

He exhaled slowly. “Lee Seo-Jin,” he muttered under his breath. “What the hell happened to you?”

The wind picked up, rustling the dead leaves around him.

Then—

A snap.

Footsteps.

Ji-Hoon’s body went rigid.

Someone else was here.

His fingers instinctively moved toward the knife hidden in his jacket. He turned his head slightly, just enough to catch the figure standing near the collapsed doorway.

A man.

Tall. Dressed in black.

Ji-Hoon's breath hitched. The same man from the fire.

The man who had vanished into thin air.

Ji-Hoon’s grip on the knife tightened.

The man took a step closer. His voice was calm, almost too calm.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Ji-Hoon forced himself to stay still. “Neither should you.”

The man tilted his head slightly, like he was studying him.

Then, in a voice that sent a chill down Ji-Hoon’s spine, he said—

“You’re not supposed to exist.”

Ji-Hoon’s stomach dropped.

His fingers curled around the photo of his mother in his pocket.

He had spent the last few days piecing together fragments of a life stolen from him.

And now, standing in front of this man—someone who clearly knew more than he was saying—Ji-Hoon knew one thing for certain.

Someone didn’t just erase his past.

They wanted him gone, too.

Ji-Hoon took a slow, measured step forward. “Then tell me,” he said, his voice steady despite the racing of his heart.

“Who the hell am I?”

The man stared at him for a long moment. Then, without answering, he turned and walked into the ruins.

Ji-Hoon hesitated for half a second.

Then he followed.

The air inside the burned-down mansion was thick with dust. Ji-Hoon could barely make out the remains of what had once been a grand hallway. The walls were cracked, the ceiling partially collapsed, but remnants of a life once lived here still lingered.

A shattered porcelain vase in the corner. A rusted chandelier, barely hanging on.

And at the end of the hallway—

A door.

Ji-Hoon stopped.

The man in black was standing in front of it.

“This is the only thing that survived the fire,” the man said. His voice was low, but there was something else beneath it. Something unreadable.

Ji-Hoon swallowed and stepped closer.

The door was sealed shut. No handle, no visible way to open it.

Yet somehow, the wood was untouched by flames.

It looked like it didn’t belong here.

Ji-Hoon’s fingers twitched.

Something was behind this door. Something that held the truth.

He turned to the man. “What’s behind it?”

For the first time, the man in black smiled.

A slow, eerie smile that made Ji-Hoon’s blood run cold.

“Your real identity.”

Ji-Hoon’s heart slammed against his ribs.

Before he could say another word—

The man vanished.

Not walked away. Not ran. Vanished.

Ji-Hoon stumbled back, his breath coming in short gasps.

His mind screamed that this was impossible.

And yet—

He was standing in front of a door that survived a fire.

A door that supposedly held the truth of who he really was.

Ji-Hoon’s fingers hovered over the wood.

Then, without thinking, he knocked.

For a second, there was only silence.

And then—

A knock came back.

From the other side.

Ji-Hoon staggered back, his blood turning to ice.

There was someone—or something—inside.

Waiting for him.

And it knew he was here.

“Some doors are locked for a reason. Some secrets should never be found.”

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***