Chapter 18: Echoes Behind the Door
Eunha didn't hear Ji-hoo's footsteps behind her. The hallway was too silent, too long — like the air had thickened after what they'd just seen.
The video.
It was grainy, timestamped a year after Lee Sae-jin's reported death. She was alive. Thin. Tired. But alive.
And not alone.
"What do we do with this?" Ji-hoo's voice was low, steady, as if saying it too loudly would break the illusion.
Eunha didn't answer. She was staring at the freeze-frame — Sae-jin's face, eyes darting to someone off-camera, her lips parted like she was mid-warning.
"I need to find the original file," Eunha whispered. "This was compressed. Maybe altered. There could be sound—"
A loud knock at the studio door made them both jump.
Ji-hoo's hand reached for hers instinctively. "Don't open it."
They froze. Another knock. Then a pause. Then a softer tap, like whoever it was knew they were listening.
Ji-hoo moved toward the side wall and checked the security monitor. His breath caught.
"It's her," he said.
Eunha's heart dropped. "Sae-jin?"
"No. Manager Park."
He turned, jaw tight. "From the agency."
A thousand thoughts rushed in. Why now? How did they know they were here? Did someone leak the video?
Eunha grabbed the laptop and pulled the flash drive free. "We're not safe here."
Ji-hoo nodded. "There's a back exit."
They slipped out the side corridor as the knocking turned to banging. As they disappeared into the shadows, neither noticed the figure watching them from across the street — a woman, face half-hidden under a black cap.
Her phone buzzed in her coat pocket.
A message lit up.
> "They have the file. Move to step two."