On top of the hill stood an old two-story house known as the Butterfly Mansion.

The country house, built of white bricks, was the only one in the villa district with a large garden. Colorful flowers bloomed every season, and butterflies, sparkling as they soaked up the sunlight, fluttered about. The Butterfly Mansion had another name as well.

'The Witch's House. Is it true?'

Since he was a child, Hyunjun had heard rumors that one should never go to that house. The reason was unknown. However, he couldn't stop his growing curiosity. He loved ghost stories so much that he would read anything related to them.

Today, he stood outside the black iron gates of the Butterfly Mansion again. The walls were high, so he had to peer through the narrow gaps in the gate to see inside. Walking to the flat ground after school takes 25 minutes to get home, but walking the upper road past the Butterfly Mansion and down the hill cuts it down by 10 minutes. So, he often took this detour as his heart led him.

The Butterfly Mansion always had a mysterious energy that enchanted people. The garden seen through the gap in the gate was truly beautiful. A single cherry blossom tree and the flowers in the beds were blooming more abundantly and beautifully than in a botanical garden. The most fantastic part was the butterflies. White wings, blue wings, red wings, yellow wings. It was his first time seeing a landscape where hundreds of butterflies fluttered amidst the sunlight. Watching it made him feel like a butterfly or a bee drawn to the sweet scent of flowers.

Hyunjun looked around. He had never felt a single sign of a person here. Black blackout curtains were drawn at every window, and he had never even seen a common delivery box in front of the house. A dead house and living nature. Looking at the well-maintained garden, someone definitely lived there. Yet, strangely, no one knew who lived there. Well, perhaps it was natural, considering Jung Hyunjun didn't even know who lived next door to him.

Peeking into someone else's house secretly is a bad thing, but since this was a secluded place, there was no one to scold him. How fun would it be to tend a garden? He remembered enjoying it when he used to plant various vegetables and tend a rooftop garden with his mom. But he couldn't do that now. Because his mom was gone. Hyunjun gazed into the Butterfly Mansion with enchanted eyes. Being among the scattering cherry blossom petals and dancing butterflies would be nothing short of heaven. In a neighborhood full of nothing but concrete, only this house shone brilliantly in full color. He wanted to play in the garden. If only he could live in a house like this just once. Instead of a house with a violent father and nothing but alcohol bottles.

..Uh?

For the first time, he saw someone standing inside the Butterfly Mansion. It was a girl about his age, and she was unbelievably pretty. When a blue butterfly landed on the back of her hand, it looked like a scene from a movie. In the still air, it was a dreamlike atmosphere where light, color, and time seemed to have stopped.