The morning sun did nothing to warm the chilly air in the high school courtyard.

YN and Rora walked through the front gates together, their backpacks heavy, but their minds heavier. Usually, their mornings were filled with complaints about upcoming exams or gossip about the weekend, but today, an eerie quiet hung between them.

"Did In-ah seem off to you this morning?" Rora asked quietly, pulling her blazer tighter around herself. "She left the house before dawn. She didn't even touch her coffee."

YN nodded, a frown deep on her face. "She didn't sleep either. I heard her pacing her room all night. When I asked her if something was wrong at the precinct, she snapped at me. In-ah never snaps like that."

Before Rora could reply, So-min jogged up to meet them by the lockers. But she wasn't her usual energetic self. Her eyes were wide, and she kept glancing over her shoulder as if she expected someone to be following her.

"Hey," So-min whispered, pulling Da-eun and Rora into a tighter circle near the edge of the hallway. "I need to ask you guys something weird. Are your siblings acting completely insane today?"

Da-eun and Rora exchanged a sharp look.

"Why?" Da-eun asked, her voice dropping. "What happened with Do-hyun?"

"He smashed his favorite racket last night," So-min said, her voice shaking slightly. "He locked himself in his room and hasn't come out. My parents are frantic, but he won't talk to anyone. He just keeps staring at his phone like it's a bomb."

Rora’s grip on her backpack strap tightened. "In-ah is acting the exact same way. Like she’s waiting for something terrible to happen."

As the warning bell rang above their heads, signaling the start of first period, the three girls stood frozen in the crowded hallway. The students around them were laughing and moving to class, completely unaware of the sudden, invisible thread that had just tied the three friends together.

The morning classes passed in a blur of monotone teacher lectures and the scratching of pens, but Da-eun couldn't focus on a single word. Every time her phone buzzed with a mundane school notification, her heart leaped into her throat. She kept looking across the classroom at So-min, who was aggressively biting her fingernails, and Rora, who was staring blankly at the chalkboard, her notebook entirely empty.

When the lunch bell finally rang, the three girls didn't head to the crowded cafeteria. Instead, they implicitly moved toward the old, overgrown courtyard behind the art building—a quiet spot where no one would overhear them.

"We aren't crazy, right?" So-min asked the moment the heavy metal door clicked shut behind them. She sat down on a stone bench, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Something happened last night. Something big."

"It’s not just our families," Da-eun said, leanings against the brick wall and crossing her arms. She looked at Rora. "Remember when we were walking past the main administrative office this morning? I saw the Kim brothers' car parked outside. Min-jun and Seo-jun were inside talking to the principal. They looked furious."

Rora frowned, her eyes narrowing. "The Kims? What do they have to do with a police officer and a tennis player?"

"That's what's driving me insane," So-min groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Our families don't run in the same circles. My brother only cares about tennis. Your sister In-ah is entirely consumed by her police work. And the Kims and Parks are elite corporate royalty. There is zero reason for all of them to have a synchronized mental breakdown on a random Tuesday night."

"Unless," Rora said slowly, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper, "they share a past we don't know about."

Da-eun's mind raced back to her house. "When In-ah rushed out this morning, she forgot to lock her desk drawer. She always locks it. I didn't think much of it then, but..." She looked at Rora, a sudden spark of reckless determination in her eyes. "We need to look inside that drawer. If In-ah is keeping something from us, that’s where it’ll be."

"Are you insane?" So-min gasped, though her eyes widened with curiosity. "She's a literal cop, Da-eun! If she catches you snooping through her official stuff, she'll lock you in a cell herself."

"She won't catch us," Da-eun said, her voice steadying despite the adrenaline flooding her system. "She’s stuck at the precinct all day. We go to my place right after the final bell. Rora keeps watch, So-min stands by, and I open the drawer."

Rora looked at her sister, hesitant at first, before finally nodding. "Okay. Let's do it."

he final bell for fifth period hadn't even rung when the classroom door clicked open. The sudden interruption drew everyone’s eyes away from the chalkboard.

The vice principal stood in the doorway, looking unusually tense. Her eyes swept the room before landing directly on Da-eun and Rora.

"Lee Da-eun, Lee Dain. Pack your bags," the vice principal said, her voice tight and formal. "Your sister is outside. You’ve been dismissed early."

A collective whisper rippled through the classroom. Da-eun felt a cold knot tie itself in her stomach. She looked across the aisle at So-min, whose eyes were wide with sudden panic. The drawer, Da-eun thought. They wouldn't even get the chance to look inside it now.

Da-eun and Rora packed their books in complete silence, the weight of their classmates' stares pressing heavily against them. When they stepped out into the hallway, the air felt thick and suffocating.

Waiting by the heavy double doors of the school's main entrance was In-ah.

She wasn't wearing her usual relaxed civilian clothes, nor was she entirely in her uniform—she wore her police tactical jacket, her keys gripped so tightly in her hand that her knuckles were white. Her hair was slightly disheveled, and the sharp, calculating look in her eyes was entirely replaced by something else.

Fear.

"In-ah?" Rora asked as they approached, her voice small. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"

In-ah didn't answer right away. She grabbed Rora’s arm gently but firmly, pulling both sisters toward the glass doors and out into the blinding afternoon sun. Her eyes kept darting to the parking lot, scanning the rows of cars as if she were looking for a sniper.

"Get in the car," In-ah ordered, her voice a low, gravelly whisper that brooked no argument. "We're leaving. Now."

"Did something happen at the precinct?" Da-eun pressed, resisting the urge to pull away as they reached the black sedan. "So-min said her brother is acting weird too, and the Kims—"

In-ah stopped dead in her tracks, her hand freezing on the driver’s side door handle. She whipped her head around, staring at Da-eun with a terrifying intensity.

"Do not mention that name," In-ah hissed, her voice trembling slightly. "Do not talk to So-min. Do not talk to anyone. Get into the back seat and put your seatbelts on."

As the doors slammed shut and the engine roared to life, Da-eun looked out the tinted window. Standing near the school gates, watching their car speed away, was a sleek, black luxury SUV with tinted windows.

The exact type of car the Kim family drove.