The party had already lost control. The American duplex pulsed with deafening bass, expensive alcohol, and hundreds of strangers pretending they knew each other. Crystal glasses shattered somewhere downstairs, followed by drunken cheers.

Nobody noticed the second floor had gone quiet.

Nobody ever looked up.

The bedroom door clicked shut.

Silence swallowed everything except the steady mechanical buzz of a tattoo machine.

Jungkook sat behind Luna, his forearm resting lightly against the back of the chair. Faint bruises still stained his hands from an underground fight two nights ago, though they barely slowed the precision of his movements.

His dark eyes remained fixed on the back of her neck.

He brushed a few strands of hair aside with practiced care, exposing the smooth skin beneath.

"Stay still."

His voice was calm enough to send a chill through the room.

Tiny drops of crimson surfaced before disappearing beneath a clean black cloth.

Two small Hangul words slowly appeared beneath her hairline.

전정국.

Small enough to stay hidden beneath loose hair.

Permanent enough to survive almost everything else.

Outside the bedroom, music continued to shake the walls. Inside

Time itself seemed unwilling to move.

Jungkook studied the fresh ink for several silent seconds before setting the machine aside.

He should've felt victorious.

Instead

Something heavy settled beneath his ribs.

He hated weakness.

He hated hesitation.

Most of all—

He hated that the only person capable of making him hesitate was the girl sitting in front of him.

No one at the party knew the man called "Luna's boyfriend" had spent years building a lie.

Long before Luna was born

Her father had destroyed everything Jungkook ever called family.

Some houses never forgot the smell of blood.

Some promises demanded generations to repay.

Revenge had been simple.

Find the family.

Destroy them from the inside.

It was supposed to end there.

But fate had a cruel sense of humor.

Because somewhere between late-night drives, shared silences, bruised knuckles, tattoo ink, and the quiet way Luna smiled without asking for anything...

The plan began to rot.

Love infected revenge like a disease.

And Jungkook—who had survived broken bones, illegal fights, high-speed crashes, and men who wanted him dead

Found himself terrified of only one thing.

The day Luna discovered who he really was.

Because monsters were easy to love

Until they stopped pretending to be human.