The moment Yoona slammed the door in my face, the sound felt like it echoed straight into my bones.
I just stood there on her porch, staring at the wood like it would magically open again if I waited long enough.
It didn't.
Of course it didn't.
"What happened? She didn't budge?" Joon asked from behind me, voice small.
I didn't turn. "Let's just go."
"That's it?" He jogged up the steps. "Chaeyoung, we came all the way to another city to find your sister, and you're just-"
"If you're not going, I will."
My voice cracked more than I wanted. "She's adopted. Legally. I can't drag her away. What's the point?"
I walked off, each step heavier than the last.
Powerless.
I hated that feeling the most.
And the worst part?
Lim Yoona wasn't just some girl from school anymore.
She had my sister's mole.
The same one Yeojin had when she tried to pronounce "unnie" for the first time.
God.
Why her?
Why did it have to be her?
Joon followed close behind me as we walked down the dead, silent street.
"Wait," he said suddenly. "Let's stop by that internet café we passed."
I stopped. Barely. "For what?"
"You need proof. Whether she is your sister or not... you deserve to know."
I didn't argue.
I didn't have the strength to.
We walked.
***
YOONA'S POV
I leaned against the door, breathing hard as if my past had just clawed through the wood.
"Chaeyoung?" I whispered again, but this time with anger.
Of all people.
Of all days.
Why her?
The same girl who humiliated me.
The same girl who took everything from me with a single glare in the hallway.
So why did she look... scared today?
I shook the thought away.
I didn't have time to feel sorry for someone like Park Chaeyoung.
Not again.
***
The glow from the old computer screen painted Joon's face blue as he scrolled through encrypted adoption records.
I kept my arms crossed, pretending I wasn't shaking.
"There," he whispered, clicking open Yoona's file.
Birth name: Min Seo-yeon.
Not Kim Yeojin.
My breath left me all at once.
"So she's not—"
"No," Joon said softly. "She isn't."
Relief hit first.
Then guilt.
Then disappointment.
But Joon wasn't done.
He clicked again.
"My hack picked up a hidden log."
He pointed at another file—sealed, restricted, buried.
Kim Yeojin.
Alive in the logs.
Marked dead only in the official documents.
My heart skipped so hard it felt painful.
"She's not dead?" I whispered.
"I think someone made it look that way."
The room felt smaller.
Hotter.
I grabbed my jacket, breathing too fast.
"We're finding her."
Joon nodded.
***
JAEHWAN'S POV
Chaeyoung wasn't responding.
She never ignored me.
She always sent something... even though it was a cold emoji, a "K," even a dot.
Tonight: nothing.
I scrolled her socials.
Dead silent. What was I thinking? She's not even a social person.
My jaw tightened.
Something was wrong.
Then my secretary arrived with a brown envelope.
Inside: a photo.
Chaeyoung.
Outside a run-down house in Dongducheon.
And on the back:
"The dead don't stay buried. – E."
My heart plunged.
***
Rain started falling as soon as we stepped outside.
Quiet, heavy drops.
"I shouldn't have come," I muttered.
"Chaeyoung," Joon jogged up, showing me his screen. "There's another name tied to the orphanage's hidden records."
Kim Yeojin.
Restricted placement.
Eleven years ago.
"I think someone hid her," he said breathlessly.
My throat tightened.
My sister.
Hidden.
Buried.
"Why would he do that to me? Or to his biological daughter?" I thought.
"We're not stopping," I whispered.
***
YOONA'S POV
Minseo, my dearest sister, fell asleep next to me, curled up like a kitten.
I couldn't sleep.
Yeojin.
Her name hadn't been spoken in years.
Not since...
No.
She wouldn't go there.
Not tonight.
But Chaeyoung's eyes kept replaying in my mind—wide, desperate, breaking.
Why did that bother her?
Why did she care?
She shouldn't.
She didn't.
She wouldn't.
***
JONGNAN & EUNJI
"Cheers to a quiet house and no scandals!" Jongnan laughed, toasting Eunji.
Music drifted in the background.
Eunji smiled sweetly, resting against him like the perfect wife she pretended to be.
Then Jongnan's phone buzzed.
Anonymous message:
Nice house. Hope the past doesn't ruin it.
The glass fell from his hand, shattering into crystal pieces.
Eunji froze.
She recognized the timing too well.
"He knows," she whispered.
Her voice trembled for the first time in years.
"Who?" Jongnan rasped.
"Someone who shouldn't."
Her smile faded.
Her mask cracked.
"We need to move her."
"The girl?" he asked.
"No."
Her eyes sharpened.
"The real one.
Yeojin."
***
The motel smelled like old soap.
I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Joon typed on his laptop nonstop.
"Why didn't you tell Jaehwan?" he asked suddenly.
"Tell him what?"
"That you were leaving. Doing something this big."
"He doesn't get... personal stuff," I muttered. "He'd try to fix it with money."
"And me?"
"You're annoying... but you get it."
He didn't answer.
Then he gasped, turning the laptop toward me.
A photo.
A little girl.
The mole.
Her smile.
Yeojin.
Held by a woman whose face was blurred.
"Nari Choi," Joon said. "She used to work at the orphanage. Then vanished."
I sat up.
"Find her. Now."
The next day, we slipped back into the orphanage during visiting hours like ghosts.
The room we found was unused.
Dusty.
Forgotten.
Inside:
Boxes.
Sealed files.
Old photos.
And a drawing.
Crayon.
Two girls holding hands.
One labeled: Seoyeon
The other: Yeojin
My breath hitched.
"They knew each other," I whispered.
"They were here together," Joon added.
But... shepretended she like she didn't know what I came for... or rather, who.
Why?
Why hide that?
My heart sank.
I hated being confused.
I hated not knowing.
But most of all—
I hated that Yoona might hold the one truth I needed the most.
***
YOONA'S POV
The rain had stopped but the air was thick.
I stood under the church's awning, fists clenched inside my coat.
Yeojin.
The girl who promised to buy her things "when she grew up."
The girl who disappeared.
The girl who died.
And now her sister was knocking at her door.
Park Chaeyoung.
The one who ruined her life.
But today...
Her eyes were terrified.
And that scared Yoona more than anything else.
Because when someone like Chaeyoung is scared—
It means something very, very big is coming.