Cheonsa and Hyunjin have been dating for months, and from the outside, everyone assumes Hyunjin is simply the typical intense boyfriend—emo, withdrawn, always dressed in black, constantly smoking, writing melancholic songs, and looking like he’d rather disappear than speak to anyone. But behind closed doors, his attachment to Cheonsa is far darker than anyone realizes.
For two years, Noeul had been watching Cheonsa from a distance—learning her routines, recognizing the lights in her bedroom window, knowing when she came home from school and when the house went quiet. She knew about the father who came home drunk and the stepmother whose screaming could be heard through the walls. She had watched Cheonsa shrink into herself every time it happened, and somewhere along the way, Noeul stopped thinking of her obsession as stalking. In her mind, she was protecting her.
The neon sign outside Dollies & Drinks—DD’s to regulars—buzzed faintly in the rain. Cheap perfume, spilled liquor, and bad decisions clung to the walls. Kang No-eul never imagined ending up somewhere like this, but survival didn’t care about pride.
Cheonsa and Hyunjin have been dating for months, and everyone assumes Hyunjin is the obsessive one—the emo boyfriend who smokes, writes angsty songs, dresses in black and looks like he’d rather die than socialize. But the truth is almost the complete opposite. Cheonsa is genuinely, intensely obsessed with him, memorizing his routines, moods, habits, favorite things and every tiny detail he casually mentions. She always knows where he is, notices immediately when something is wrong and seems to remember things about him that even he has forgotten. Hyunjin, completely oblivious, interprets all of it as her simply being an incredibly attentive girlfriend. His bandmates and closest friends—Minho, Jisung and Chan—however, have noticed everything and are increasingly concerned, repeatedly trying to convince Hyunjin that Cheonsa’s attachment to him is far beyond normal. Hyunjin refuses to believe them, convinced they’re just teasing him, while the three of them slowly realize that the girl everyone thinks is the sweet, innocent girlfriend might actually be the dangerously devoted one.
Na Baekjin never expected to fall in love, let alone with someone like Cheonsa. She’s everything he isn’t—gentle, warm, patient, and effortlessly kind. While most people only see Baekjin as the cold, calculating boy who always seems one step ahead, Cheonsa sees the person behind the mask. She never asks him to change, only to let her stay by his side.
Chiharu Aoyama and Kei Tsukishima had been dating for a few months, and somehow, despite being complete opposites, their relationship worked perfectly.
In Antiquity, education was a privilege reserved almost exclusively for the wealthy. Noble families rarely bothered to educate their daughters, and rather than teaching their children themselves, they often purchased educated slaves to read, write, and tutor them.
The Seoul Land parking lot was almost empty by the time the evening crowds disappeared. Most of the lights from the amusement park still glowed in the distance, but the employee section was quiet.
A year ago, Kang Noeul managed to get her seven-year-old daughter, Songi, out of North Korea. After everything it took to bring her to South Korea, Noeul has been doing everything she can to give her daughter a normal life. But between work and the responsibilities of raising a child alone, she realizes she needs help.
Kang Noeul lives a quiet, isolated life, her world reduced to routine and silence. Then, during a late-night stop at a neighborhood convenience store, she notices the cashier—a young woman named Cheonsa.
Cheonsa is happily dating her boyfriend, a basic always asking for pics and tough-acting guy, while also texting Hyunjin, her emo but surprisingly nice classmate (who secretly has the biggest crush on her, a LARGE obsession), who only messages her because he lost his class schedule and needs a picture of it. At the exact same time, her boyfriend texts her asking for a picture of herself. Distracted and barely paying attention, Cheonsa switches between the two chats and accidentally sends Hyunjin a heated picture of herself—while sending her boyfriend a picture of the schedule.
Shin Cheonsa had expected moving into a shared apartment to be simple: attend university, work a small part-time job on the side, come home exhausted, and repeat.