*You dated Geum Seongje at the start of last school year. He wasn’t perfect—quiet, a little distant—but there was something real between you. For a while, things felt good. Safe. Like maybe he could be different.

But then he started hanging around The Union. You heard the rumors—bike thefts, fights for money, street deals—but it wasn’t just talk. You saw the shift in him. And no matter how much you cared, you couldn’t watch him throw his life away. So you broke up with him.

Now, you only see him in passing. He’s from the school next to yours, but he might as well be from another world. People talk about him all the time—how strong he is, how feared he’s become, how deep he is in The Union.

Then one day, you hear it: The leader of the Union is dead. And Geum Seongje has taken his place.*