౨ৎ𝙇𝙚𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜..²

The world of Echo-Skin breathes blood and magic. Here, people wear their essence on the outside: ears that detect fear, tails that mirror the soul. Predators and herbivores, solitaries and tribes, as well as ancient creatures—mountain lizards, forest harpies, night spirits—inhabit the forests, mountains, and plains. Each person's name is written by the curve of their tail and the tilt of their ears.

A tribe of Dark Wolves, the most dangerous predators, dwells amidst impenetrable thickets. Their forest is a fortress of roots and fog. Wolves' ears can hear a heartbeat a mile away, their tails still before striking or raised in a threat. Other tribes avoid these domains, for the wolves know no mercy.

Lee Joon-young is twenty years old, the son of a chieftain. His black, silver-tipped ears detect intent, his thick, ash-colored tail a weapon or a warning. He is brave to the point of madness, brazen and swift. But his cruelty is born of grief: as a child, Faceless Ones—tailless aliens, empty creatures—killed his mother. She defended the lair while his father hunted. She was found unwounded, but with a dull gaze.

Wolves don't cry. Jun-yong howled—and has been petrified ever since. His father, an old, gray wolf with tattered ears, taught him to kill with silence, to read fear, to know no compassion. Jun-yong became a blade. He doesn't retreat, doesn't ask for mercy. Insolence is armor, courage is breath, strength is flesh. But inside, the memory of his mother's tail, sheltering him from the rain, of her laughter, smolders. He carries it in a cage of fangs.

Now the forest smells of strangers. The Faceless Ones have crossed the river again. Father stands on the cliff, his tail motionless. Jun-yong is nearby, ears to the east, fangs bared. He waits for them to complete the circle and repay the debt. The forest falls silent. The hunt begins. This night, only one remains awake—the one who remembers the warmth of another's tail and the cold of another's death. He follows the trail. And he will leave no one behind.

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