You Look Better Broken

Seo Minjae’s POV

The next morning, the rain had stopped, but a cold drizzle still hung in the air.

Minjae moved through campus like a ghost — eyes lowered, headphones in, barely noticing the crowds rushing past him. His mind was a battlefield of fragments and shadows. The stranger’s words echoed, as relentless as the persistent drizzle.

“I’ve seen you before.”

“I do know you.”

“You’re starting to remember.”

He tried to shove them away but failed. Like a splinter lodged beneath the skin, it throbbed constantly.

“Minjae!” a voice called.

He stopped. It was Jisoo — his only friend on campus. Bright, warm, always talking, and annoyingly persistent.

“You’re skipping breakfast again. You’re going to crash.” She caught up to him, holding out a paper cup. “Coffee. Black. Like you.”

He accepted it silently. The bitter warmth grounded him for a moment.

“Who was that guy yesterday?” Jisoo asked casually.

Minjae tensed. “What guy?”

“The transfer student. Kang Raon. You seemed… tense around him.”

He downed the coffee in one gulp and sighed. “I don’t know him.”

“Uh-huh. But he knows you.”

That made Minjae flinch. “That’s impossible.”

Jisoo smiled, ignoring his resistance. “Be careful, Minjae. People like that don’t just show up by accident.”

He wanted to say, You don’t understand. But the words stuck in his throat.

---

Kang Raon’s POV

He watched Minjae from a distance — the way the boy moved, precise and controlled. Like a panther stalking unseen prey. His neat black hair slightly damp from the drizzle, collar raised to hide his throat, eyes flickering like fractured glass beneath the hood.

Perfect.

Raon had done his homework. Minjae was brilliant — too brilliant, maybe. A prodigy haunted by pieces he tried to shove deep underground. That was why Minjae was vulnerable. That was why he was interesting.

Raon slid a hand into his pocket, feeling the thin metal of his keycard and the folded note beneath it.

“Project M — Phase 1 complete.”

He smiled. The game had begun.

Raon’s phone buzzed silently. A message from an unknown number:

> “Target observed. Does not suspect. Proceed.”

He typed back:

> “Patience. I want him broken before he knows I’m the one breaking him.”

Raon turned his gaze back to Minjae. His heart beat faster — not from fear, but anticipation.

---

Seo Minjae’s POV

Later that day, Minjae found himself sitting alone in the library, the faint scent of old books and cold air conditioning wrapping around him.

He tried to focus on his notes, but the scribbled lines blurred as his mind wandered back to last night’s vision. The boy in the mirror — the rain, the blood. The whispered promise to “remind you who you are.”

He closed his eyes, breathing deeply.

You don’t remember because it didn’t happen.

You’re safe now.

But the unease wouldn’t leave him.

His phone vibrated. A message from an unknown number:

> “We all have shadows, Minjae. Some are darker than others.”

He froze.

The text was unsigned.

His heart hammered.

Who was watching him?

---

Kang Raon’s POV

Raon leaned back in his chair, the dim light casting shadows across his sharp features.

He remembered the first time he saw Minjae — standing alone in the pouring rain at the library’s entrance, face pale and eyes distant. Something about him tugged at Raon’s own broken edges.

They were mirrors — shattered and dangerous.

Raon reached into his bag and pulled out a small photo album — worn, dog-eared, and filled with faded pictures of two boys.

One was smiling, bright and alive.

The other was Minjae, but younger. Vulnerable.

Raon’s fingers traced the edges carefully.

“I promised,” he whispered, “I’d remind you.”

He closed the album and packed it away, heart pounding with a dangerous hope.

---

Seo Minjae’s POV

That evening, Minjae tried to sleep, but shadows haunted his room.

His phone buzzed again:

> “You’re not as forgotten as you think.”