Chapter 2 Echoes in the Ashes

(Lee Mira's POV)

The locket hasn't left my hand since yesterday.

It sits in my pocket now, warm from my skin, heavy like a secret. Every time I brush against it, the metal seems to pulse faintly, as if it remembers the heartbeat of the girl who once wore it.

I tell myself it's impossible. That the past can't bleed into the present. But the smell of smoke still clings to my hair, though I haven't been near a fire.

The morning lecture slides past in a blur-statistics, cognition, behavioral conditioning. I take no notes. My mind is elsewhere: the park, the engraving, Evan's face when he said I couldn't save her.

When the class ends, I head straight to the university library. The building's old and quiet, the kind of place where sound folds itself away. I sit in a corner cubicle, laptop open, and type Cheongdam Fire into the search bar again.

Most of the results are the same reports I've already read, but one headline stands out:

> "Cheongdam Blaze Investigation-Preliminary Report (Archived 2020)."

The link leads to a scanned PDF. The file is grainy, the margins smudged with handwritten notes from some anonymous bureaucrat. I scroll past the formalities-cause of ignition: electrical malfunction in music room. Estimated casualties: one confirmed.

Then I see a redacted line under witness statements.

> Witness A (name withheld)-reported smoke odor prior to 23:00 hours; noted unusual noise preceding ignition; identified potential accelerant odor.

Accelerant.

That word doesn't belong in an accident report. My throat tightens. I scroll further down. Under "Primary Responders," I find the name Park Evan (volunteer firefighter).

No mention of what he saw. No notes, no interview transcript. Just his name, and a black rectangle where the rest should be.

I lean back, the chair creaking. Someone erased something.

Outside, the sky has turned the color of wet concrete. A dull headache blooms behind my eyes. I close the laptop and whisper to myself, "It wasn't just a fire."

The thought settles like ash in my lungs.

By dusk, I'm standing outside the Cheongdam Police Station, clutching a flimsy excuse for being there: an "academic project on psychological trauma." The desk sergeant barely looks up from his paperwork when I ask about the case.

"Five years ago?" he says. "That's closed."

"I just need access to the public report."

He sighs, waves toward the filing office. "Ask Miss Go downstairs. If she says no, it's no."

The records room smells of dust and old toner. A woman in thick glasses peers up from a mountain of files. "Cheongdam Fire? I remember that one. Sad story."

"Can I see the case file?"

Her lips purse. "Should be public record by now. Wait here."

She disappears between shelves. Minutes pass. The hum of fluorescent lights grows louder. I trace my fingers along the chipped counter, feeling the pulse of my own nerves.

When she returns, her hands are empty. "That's strange. The report's checked out. Hasn't been returned."

"Checked out? By who?"

She shakes her head. "No name listed. Probably a senior officer reviewing old cases. Happens sometimes."

I thank her and leave, but a sliver of unease sticks under my skin. Someone took that file. Recently.

The wind outside bites at my cheeks. The neon of Cheongdam's main road blurs against the fog-liquor signs, traffic lights, the electric pulse of Seoul. I walk without direction, letting the crowd swallow me.

Somewhere between the shops and the shadows, a fire truck idles at a light. My eyes catch on the figure leaning against it: jacket unzipped, phone in hand, head tilted back to the sky.

Evan.

He notices me before I can look away. His expression softens, like he's both surprised and not at all.

"You," he says when I approach, "seem to show up whenever I think about that case."

"I could say the same."

The corner of his mouth curves. "Coincidence?"

"Maybe." I meet his gaze. "You were the first responder at the Cheongdam fire, right?"

His smile fades. "You've been reading up."

"I'm writing a paper," I lie smoothly. "On traumatic recall. Cases where victims-or witnesses-experience residual imagery."

He studies me like he doesn't quite believe it. "Sounds heavy."

"Some memories don't burn away," I say before I can stop myself.

The silence stretches. Then he exhales, looking toward the traffic. "You really want to know what happened?"

"Yes."

He glances around, lowers his voice. "Then don't trust the reports. They're incomplete."

My heartbeat jumps. "Incomplete how?"

"I can't say much. But I know the wiring theory's bullshit." His jaw tightens. "There was gasoline. Traces of it in the piano room. We sent samples to the lab, but the results vanished before the final report."

"Vanished?"

"Someone made it disappear."

A chill crawls up my arms. "Who would do that?"

Evan's eyes meet mine-gray, steady, unreadable. "That's what I tried to find out. Got transferred before I could dig deeper."

"Transferred," I echo.

"Volunteered to move," he corrects, a little too fast. Then, softer: "Sometimes things catch fire because someone wants them to."

He's called away by a radio signal before I can ask more. As he climbs into the truck, he pauses, glances back at me. "Stay away from this one, Mira. Some ashes are better left cold."

The siren screams, and the truck vanishes into the night.

But I can't leave it cold.

Back home, I set the locket on my desk and open my sketchbook again. The drawing of the burned house stares up at me. I flip to a new page and begin a new sketch-Evan's face, lit by the phantom glow of fire. My pencil trembles, but the lines come easily, guided by something older than memory.

When I'm done, I step back. The portrait looks alive-too alive. Behind him, in the faint shading of smoke, another shape forms: a man's silhouette, faceless, standing behind the piano.

I didn't draw that.

My hand goes cold. I close the sketchbook hard.

I don't sleep that night. Instead, I read everything I can about accelerants, building layouts, and fire patterns. By dawn, my room looks like a detective's board: printouts taped to the wall, strings of highlighted text, coffee cups scattered like casualties.

One line from the earliest report catches my attention:

_Source of ignition located near ground-level wiring behind east wall piano. House originally constructed in 1975, architect Kim Dae-jin._

Architect.

I search the name. The first result is an obituary-Kim Dae-jin, deceased 2019, two months after the fire. Cause of death: car accident. No further details.

The second result is a company record. Kim had designed several houses in the Cheongdam area-high-end, custom-built. One image makes my breath hitch. The façade is identical to Lina's house. The caption reads: Commissioned privately by patron "Vale Foundation."

The Vale Foundation.

My pulse quickens as I type again, Vale Foundation Seoul. Only one hit: a corporate registry entry marked "Inactive." The founder's name: Choi Seung-ho.

That's not Western. Not "Vale."

The surname gnaws at me. Choi Seung-ho-philanthropist, investor, accused once of embezzlement but cleared. The article's photo shows a smiling older man in a tailored suit, standing beside a woman and a young girl. The girl's face is blurred.

A detail in the caption makes my blood run cold.

_Taken at a charity recital for the Seoul Arts Conservatory, 2017._

The same school Lina attended.

I enlarge the image. Behind the trio, a grand piano. On the lid-a faint engraving barely visible through the reflection: LV.

Vale.

My hands tremble so violently I nearly drop the laptop.

Whoever Lina Vale was, she wasn't just a prodigy. She was connected to money, influence, and someone powerful enough to bury a case.

That afternoon, I skip class and take a bus to Cheongdam. The sky is bruised with clouds, the river a sheet of steel. Following an old map, I find the street where Lina's house once stood. Now there's only an empty lot, fenced off, a sign reading Future Site of Hanil Luxury Apartments.

Through the chain-link, I see the outline of the foundation still etched in the dirt. The wind shifts, bringing with it a faint scent-smoke, old and sweet.

I close my eyes, and the world burns again.

Flames climb the walls. Someone screams my name-no, her name. Footsteps on the stairs. A door slamming shut. And over it all, another voice, calm, almost tender:

"You should've stayed quiet, Lina."

I stumble back, gasping. The vision fades. My knees hit the pavement. When I open my eyes, the world is gray again, silent except for the hiss of passing cars.

There's something in the ashes, whispering to be found.

It takes two more days of searching to find my next lead. In a forum for urban explorers, I discover a thread about abandoned houses in Gangnam. One user posts: "Old Cheongdam site. Used to belong to a musician. Found something weird in the basement."

The thread's two years old, but the attached photo shows a door half-buried in debris, a scorched metal lock hanging open. My heart thunders.

I message the user. Hours pass before they reply.

_Don't go there. It's cursed. But if you must, take a flashlight. And don't go alone._

I go anyway.

The next night, I stand before the fence again. The moon hides behind clouds. My flashlight beam trembles as I slip through a gap in the wire. The ground crunches under my boots-ash and gravel mixed like bone dust.

The basement door is real. Rusted, warped, but real. The lock dangles uselessly. I push, and it groans open.

The smell hits me first-mold, burnt plastic, something chemical. My light sweeps across blackened walls, collapsed beams, the skeletal remains of a piano.

Every step feels like trespassing on my own grave.

In the far corner, something glints. I crouch. A piece of metal, half-melted, shaped like a nameplate. I wipe away the soot. The engraving reads: Vale Foundation – Property of Choi Seung-ho.

Underneath, faint initials scratched by hand: L.V.

My pulse hammers. I lift the plate, but there's paper fused beneath it-half a photograph, singed at the edges. I peel it away carefully.

Two people stand in front of the piano. The image is faded, but I recognize the curve of a shoulder, the line of a smile. It's Lina-and beside her, the man from the news photo. Evan.

No.

I hold the picture closer. The second figure isn't Evan. The jaw's different, the eyes colder. Someone else entirely-a man in a dark suit, face half-turned away.

Written in ink at the bottom are three words:

"For the truth, burn."

The flashlight flickers.

I spin, heart in my throat. For a moment, I think I see movement-a shadow crossing behind the charred staircase. The beam steadies, but nothing's there. Only the echo of my own breath.

I shove the photo into my coat pocket and hurry out, the door clanging shut behind me. The night air tastes of smoke and rain.

Halfway down the street, a figure leans against a lamppost. My chest seizes until I recognize the reflective stripes of a uniform.

Evan steps out of the gloom. "You shouldn't be here," he says quietly.

My voice shakes. "Were you following me?"

He doesn't answer right away. "You really don't know when to stop."

"Tell me why you said the reports were incomplete," I demand. "Who covered it up?"

His eyes flash in the dim light. "You don't understand what you're digging into."

"Then make me understand!" I pull the photograph from my pocket and thrust it toward him. "Who is this?"

He looks at it-and his face drains of color. "Where did you get that?"

"The ruins. Beneath the house."

He steps closer, his voice low and urgent. "Mira, listen to me. If you found this, they'll come for you too."

"They?"

He glances over his shoulder, the muscles in his jaw tightening. "Leave Seoul tonight."

Before I can answer, headlights sweep the street. A black sedan slows near the curb. Evan curses under his breath, grabs my wrist, and pulls me into the alley. We run until the sound of the engine fades.

When we finally stop, I'm gasping. "Who was in that car?"

He releases me, eyes shadowed. "The reason the truth burned."

"What truth?"

He hesitates, then whispers, "That fire wasn't meant to kill one person. It was meant to erase something."

The words lodge in my chest like a spark waiting to ignite.

Evan's phone buzzes. He glances at the screen, his expression hardening. "I have to go."

"Wait-"

He looks back once. "Whatever you do, don't trust anyone from the Vale Foundation. Not even me."

Then he's gone, swallowed by the maze of alleys.

I stand there, the city humming around me, the locket heavy against my heart.

When I finally open it again, the photo inside has changed. The background is now flames, and beneath the burned edges, two words have appeared in faint gold script:

"Welcome back."