Annadare arrived at Kyuhyun's lair.

She observed the building from across the street.

No guards.

No security cameras.

No one watching the entrance.

“The loan shark's head was too... lax.”

Her instincts told her something was wrong.

But she entered anyway.

The house was silent.

Annadare moved through the hallway without making a sound.

She eventually reached the living room.

There he was.

Jeong Kyuhyun.

Sitting comfortably on his sofa.

Watching television.

He didn't look toward her.

“Easy work.”

Annadare reached into her bag and pulled out her garrote.

She stepped behind him.

Quietly.

Carefully.

She raised the wire toward his neck.

Then the television suddenly went silent.

Kyuhyun spoke.

“You took your time.”

Annadare froze.

He slowly turned his head.

A cold smile appeared on his face.

“I was beginning to wonder if the famous assassin had lost her nerve.”

Annadare tightened her grip on the garrote.

Kyuhyun finally looked directly at her.

“I know who sent you.”

A pause.

“And I know your name.”

His smile disappeared.

“So tell me, Annadare…”

He leaned back into his chair.

“Are you here to kill me?”

The room fell silent.

The room suddenly came alive.

Doors opened around Annadare.

One.

Two.

Five.

Then ten men stepped into the living room.

They surrounded her from every direction.

Annadare slowly lowered her garrotte.

“So that's why the house was empty.”

Kyuhyun remained seated on the sofa, watching her calmly.

“You walked right into my trap.”

Annadare looked around.

Ten men.

All armed.

She sighed.

“Well…”

She tightened her grip on the garrote.

“I guess I'm the Vice City butcher now.”

Kyuhyun stared at her.

“What the hell does that mean?”

Annadare smiled.

“Forget it.”

Three nights earlier, Annadare had a strange dream.

She found herself standing in a distorted world.

Purple waves stretched endlessly across the horizon.

The air smelled of something burning.

Blue flames erupted from the ground, illuminating the strange landscape.

Eleven demons surrounded her.

Each one was different.

Some had claws.

Others had horns.

Some carried weapons.

But one creature caught her attention.

A massive horned monster sat upon a throne at the far end of the battlefield.

It stared directly at her.

Annadare tightened her grip on her weapon.

“So you're my target?”

The monster rose from its throne.

The eleven demons charged.

Annadare fought.

One after another, the creatures fell.

She eventually stood before the horned monster.

Then—

She woke up.

Annadare stared at the ceiling of her apartment.

Her breathing was steady.

She had seen dreams like this before.

Whenever she dreamed about her targets, something always happened afterwards.

A vision.

A warning.

A precognitive sign.

“Could it be... my precognitive sign?”

Now, three nights later, Annadare stood inside Kyuhyun's living room.

Eleven enemies.

The same number from her dream.

Her eyes widened slightly.

She looked toward Kyuhyun.

The horned monster sitting on its throne.

It was him.

Annadare's hand moved from the garrote to a silenced 9mm.

“So that's what you were warning me about.”

She raised the pistol.

Annadare had single-handedly finished her task.

Eleven men lay scattered across the room.

Kyuhyun was among them.

Annadare stood in the middle of the chaos, catching her breath.

Then she heard sirens outside.

Police cars surrounded the building.

Annadare looked toward the window.

“…I'm busted now.”

Her dream had warned her about the eleven men.

It had warned her about Kyuhyun.

But it had never warned her about the police.

“So much for a perfect prediction.”

The following morning, the news of the dead loan shark and his men went viral across Seoul.

Nafi sat in the university cafeteria, scrolling through the report on his phone.

LOAN SHARK JEONG KYUHYUN FOUND DEAD — ELEVEN MEN ALSO KILLED

His eyes moved down the article.

Cause of death: Multiple gunshot wounds.

Nafi's expression became serious.

He continued reading.

Most of the victims had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Some had been shot at close range.

Others had sustained injuries consistent with a prolonged confrontation.

Nafi stared at the screen.

Something about the case bothered him.

Not because of the number of victims.

Not even because of the brutality.

It was the precision.

“Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing…”

He scrolled further.

Then stopped.

A photograph of the crime scene appeared on the screen.

Nafi stared at it.

For a split second, he felt that strange sensation again.

A flash.

Purple waves.

Blue flames.

And eleven figures surrounding someone.

Nafi's phone nearly slipped from his hand.

Nafi opened the notification.

It was a reminder for his next class.

BIOCHEMISTRY — 10:00 A.M.

He sighed.

“Right. Biochemistry.”

Nafi picked up his bag and headed toward the lecture hall.

A few minutes later, he took his seat.

Dr Han entered the room and placed several files on the desk.

“Today, we'll be discussing how chemicals affect the human body.”

Nafi opened his notebook.

The lecture began with enzymes, metabolism, and how certain substances could interfere with normal biochemical processes.

Then Dr Han displayed a case study on the projector.

“Some poisons and drugs can disrupt cellular respiration, interfere with enzymes, or prevent oxygen from being properly utilised by the body.”

Nafi stared at the screen.

Something clicked.

He remembered the news report about Jeong Kyuhyun.

Multiple gunshot wounds.

Eleven dead men.

But one detail in the article had bothered him.

Some of the victims had shown signs of vomiting before they died.

Nafi raised his hand.

“Doctor, could a chemical cause symptoms like that before a person is shot?”

Dr Han looked at him.

“Possibly. It depends on the substance.”

Nafi frowned.

He remembered something else.

The crime scene photograph.

The victims weren't simply lying where they had been shot.

Some of them appeared to have collapsed before the shooting.

“Then this wasn't just a gunfight...”

His eyes narrowed.

Someone might have weakened them first.

The thought made him uneasy.

If that was true, then whoever killed Kyuhyun and his men had planned the entire thing.

Nafi looked back at his notes.

For some reason, the murder suddenly felt connected to his strange vision.

Purple waves.

Blue flames.

Eleven figures.

He slowly wrote one sentence at the bottom of the page.

After the class ended, Nafi walked back toward his apartment.

His mind was still occupied by the murder.

The eleven victims.

The gunshot wounds.

The possibility that something had happened to them before the shooting.

Then he heard a rustling sound from the bushes.

Rustle.

Nafi stopped.

He looked toward the bushes.

Rustle.

“What was that?”

He walked closer and carefully moved the leaves aside.

A small brown rabbit was hiding underneath them.

Nafi crouched down.

“Hey…”

The rabbit didn't run.

That immediately caught his attention.

Nafi looked at its body.

One of its hind legs was bent awkwardly. There was a small wound near the paw, and its fur was dirty.

“Looks like you've been injured.”

He slowly moved his hand closer.

The rabbit remained still.

Nafi examined it from a distance first.

“No obvious bleeding…”

He watched its breathing.

Fast.

But regular.

“Probably scared.”

He reached out carefully.

Before his fingers could touch the rabbit—

His vision suddenly changed.

Bookshelves.

Hundreds of books.

Books flying through the air.

And rabbits.

Rabbits everywhere.

Nafi blinked.

The strange image disappeared.

He was back beside the bushes.

The rabbit was still sitting in front of him.

Nafi stared at it.

Then he slapped his own cheek.

Smack.

“Ow.”

He rubbed his face.

“What was that?”

He looked at the rabbit again.

The animal simply twitched its nose.

Nafi sighed.

“It's probably just an injured rabbit.”

He carefully picked it up, supporting its body and keeping the injured leg still.

The rabbit didn't struggle.

Nafi frowned.

“That's actually strange.”

He looked down at it.

“You're unusually calm.”

The rabbit stared back at him.

Nafi shook his head.

“Whatever. I'll get you checked.”

He carried the rabbit toward his apartment.

For now, he had more important questions.

Why was the rabbit injured?

And why had touching it triggered another vision?

Nafi looked down at his new little patient.

“Don't tell me you're another mystery.”

The rabbit twitched its nose.

Nafi sighed.

“Great.”