The next morning, Ji-hyeon awoke with the words of the boy echoing in his mind:
> "You'll remember everything…"
He sat up in bed, staring at the wooden ceiling. The feeling in his chest—like something ancient was stirring—wouldn't go away.
He had tried to forget about the stone, the runes, and the boy. But it was useless.
So, he returned to the clearing.
This time, however, someone else was already there.
A girl. Around his age. Dressed in rough linen but with eyes sharper than steel. She was brushing away the leaves from around the stone, as if she had done this before.
Ji-hyeon stepped forward cautiously. "Who are you?"
She didn't flinch. "You can see the runes too, can't you?"
Ji-hyeon blinked. "You know about them?"
The girl stood and faced him. Her gaze was calm but unreadable.
"My name is Areum," she said. "And I've been watching you."
---
> Watching me?
Ji-hyeon's thoughts raced.
Areum knelt beside the stone again, tracing one of the marks with her finger.
"These symbols," she whispered, "they respond to people who carry… traces of magic from the past. Very old magic."
Ji-hyeon froze.
"Who are you?" he asked again, more firmly this time.
"I'm a Seeker," she replied. "A descendant of those who remember the truth of the world. And you—" she looked at him, as if seeing something beneath his skin—
"—you are not who you think you are."
---
The wind shifted.
Birds quieted.
Ji-hyeon stared at her, unsure whether to feel threatened or… understood.
For the first time, someone else hinted at the truth he feared to believe.
That he used to be someone else. Someone powerful. Someone… dangerous.
> The Demon King.
The thought crossed his mind again—but it didn't feel foreign. It felt like a name he had once owned.
---
Areum stood. "I'll return tomorrow. There's more to show you."
Then she left, disappearing as quickly as she'd come.
Ji-hyeon stood alone in the quiet clearing, heart pounding.
Something was beginning.
Something that had waited for lifetimes.