No Exceptions
Seori
There are rules etched into my bones.
Kill without hesitation.
Do not question the order.
Demons lie. Demons seduce. Demons ruin.
And above all — never leave a mark breathing.
I repeated the mantra as I walked the dim marble halls of the Hwaryeong Guild, moonlight pooling through the arched windows. The smell of incense and steel filled the air — comforting in its own strange, disciplined way. This was home. Or the closest thing to it.
At twelve, they handed me a blade and told me demons killed my parents.
At thirteen, they taught me how to make them scream.
Now, at twenty-three, I’m their finest asset.
And still, that name echoed in my skull.
Rheon.
I hadn’t heard of him before — which meant one of two things. He was either dead… or dangerous enough to be buried under blood and silence.
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Grandmaster Sun stared at me from across the stone table, his expression unreadable. Candles flickered around us, casting long shadows across his weathered face.
“You don’t hesitate, Seori. That’s why we’re giving you this one,” he said.
“He's unlike the others.”
I tilted my head.
“You think I’ll fail.”
He smiled — a grim thing.
“I think you’re the only one who won’t fall for his tricks.”
I didn’t ask what kind of tricks. Instead, I opened the scroll again. One name. No photo. Just:
Rheon.
Demon Prince. Possible realm key. Kill on sight.
I’d heard whispers of “realm keys” before. Living conduits. Beings that could open the gate between the demon realm and ours. The kind of power the Guild wouldn’t let survive.
“Why me?” I asked.
Grandmaster Sun’s eyes gleamed.
“Because you’re loyal. And because you’re empty.”
It should’ve sounded like a compliment.
Instead, it burned.
I left the compound just before midnight, Wolhwa strapped across my back, the mark on my left palm faintly tingling — the aftermath of my last kill. It always left something behind.
I didn’t head to the dorms. I didn’t drink, didn’t eat.
Instead, I climbed to the roof of an abandoned Hanok building near the Han River, crouching at its edge, Seoul glowing beneath me like a living thing. Silver traffic. Neon veins. Sirens in the distance.
Somewhere out there… Rheon was breathing.
The name pulsed behind my eyes. I didn’t know why it unnerved me — it was just another job.
But the moment I touched the scroll, something inside me coiled.
Not fear. Not revulsion.
Recognition.
I don’t know his face. I don’t know his scent.
But my instincts are stirring in ways they never have.
And as I stared at the city, the Guild’s mantra repeated itself like gospel in my mind — but this time, I didn’t hear it with conviction.
Instead, I whispered aloud:
They say demons seduce with lies. But what if the real lie is the silence we’re taught to keep?