He didn't scream.
He couldn't.
The mirror didn't move. But something inside it pulsed.
A presence.
Ji-hoon closed his eyes. Just a dream. Just a nightmare.
When he opened them again, the figure was gone. The mirror was just a mirror.
He washed the blood off his face. But it didn't feel like his.
That morning, Dr. Kim came again. Smiling as if nothing was wrong.
"We'll begin the cognitive scans today. Don't worry—nothing invasive."
Liar.
In the corridor, Ji-hoon passed other patients.
A man speaking to a mirror. A woman scratching the wall until her fingers bled.
They all saw something.
They all heard something.
He sat in the scan room. Electrodes on his head. White noise in his ears.
Silence was no longer empty.
"Close your eyes," Dr. Kim said.
He did.
And the world fell inward.
Flashes—his mother's eyes, Su-yeon's warning, The Shadow King's voice.
They are coming.
They are already here.
Inside you.
When Ji-hoon opened his eyes again—The reflection in the monitor wasn't his.
It smiled. And whispered, "Soon."
→ [To be continued in Episode 37]
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