– Park Seonghwa ⁰¹

The siren split the night open - long, hollow, inescapable. It echoed between the buildings like something alive, something hungry. She froze mid-step, keys still clutched between her fingers, breath caught somewhere too high in her chest. “Commencing the annual Purge…” - the words bled through the speakers, distant but unmistakable. Laws suspended. Emergency services unavailable. Twelve hours. Her feet moved before her mind did. Faster. Then faster still. The quiet street she knew so well twisted into something unfamiliar, something wrong. A shout rang out. Then another. Glass shattered. Somewhere, a gunshot cracked the air like thunder. She stopped. It was a mistake. Fear rooted her in place as shadows shifted at the far end of the street - figures gathering, masks catching the faint glow of flickering lights. Laughter, sharp and jagged, cut through the noise. They were coming closer. She couldn’t breathe. Suddenly - hands. Rough, urgent, pulling her back. A gasp barely escaped before a palm pressed firmly over her mouth, dragging her into the darkness of a narrow alley. Her back hit cold brick, heart slamming violently against her ribs as she struggled, panic clawing its way up her throat. “– Shh.” Low. Close. Footsteps thundered past just beyond the alley entrance - too many, too loud. Masks, voices, chaos spilling through the street she had just stood in. If she had stayed... Silence crept back in slowly, like the world holding its breath. The hand eased, but didn’t leave completely. She swallowed, forcing herself to look up, to see. Dim streetlight barely reached them. Just enough to catch the outline of his face. The sharp line of his jaw. And his eyes... Dark. Reflective. Like black glass catching fragments of light. Familiar. Too familiar. Her breath hitched. It was her ex