What’s the reason?

Sana sat hunched in the hallway, staring only at the door of Doha’s house. If she had been easy to dissuade by being told to get lost, she wouldn’t have wandered through Gangnam searching for him.

‘Muryeong no longer exists. So you, too, can live freely, finding what you wish to do.’

Mooyoung had said that on the day Muryeong was disbanded. It meant she was no longer a shaman of Muryeong, so she shouldn’t be bound by dreams.

‘There must be a reason why you were given that ability. Even if you don’t find the answer right away, there’s no need to be impatient.’

However, it was also Mooyoung who, when Sana first went to Muryeong, didn’t deny her dreams and comforted her, saying they would be useful.

Even so, it was a half-baked ability. Sana’s dreams were beyond her control, and the subjects were not specific. People she didn’t know by face or name appeared in her dreams and died.

There was nothing Sana, as a shaman, could do for them. That’s why Sana, unlike others, couldn’t accept ‘requests.’ Since she didn’t take requests, there was no reason for her to leave Muryeong.

Very occasionally, truly rarely, there were moments when Sana saw the death of a famous person whose face she recognized. At such times, she would tell Mooyoung, and Mooyoung would listen with a serious expression.

She didn’t know if the stories about dreams helped anyone or what preparations could be made. Mooyoung simply thanked her after hearing everything.

With that alone, Sana would find reasons for her existence within Muryeong. It was Mooyoung who comforted her, saying it was okay to dream of someone’s death yet be powerless to do anything, that a moment would surely come when her dream would be needed.

Because of him, she learned how to let countless deaths pass by.

And just once, Sana was able to prevent a death she saw in a dream.

‘Yeon… Yeon is dying. There was an accident… Yeon was in an exploding car!’

It was the first time since her parents that she had seen the death of an acquaintance. Unlike all her other dreams, which were one-off visions of someone’s death, the same dream repeated.

It had been the same with her parents. Perhaps it was different because her parents and Yeon were acquaintances, people Sana already knew.

At any rate, Sana watched Yeon’s recurring death and eventually found a way to save Yeon within that dream.

It was only with Yeon that she was able to change the future, not just observe someone’s death.

And now, Sana was having a recurring dream again. For over a month, she had been witnessing the death of Choi Doha, a complete stranger, not an acquaintance, whom she had never even met once.

What was different about Choi Doha from others? Why was his dream repeating?

At first, she despaired at the death itself, then wondered why his dream, not of a close acquaintance, was repeating. After a month of this, she now desperately wanted to save him.

Since she had been able to save Yeon, a question arose: could she save Choi Doha from her recurring dreams? And if she could save him, she wanted to do so, no matter what.

She wanted to believe that this was the reason she had dreams, that they weren’t just for letting things pass, but could be dreams of saving someone.

“I didn’t realize it would be this hard to get close to someone else.”

Remembering Doha, who had coldly driven her away, made her heart ache. On what grounds had she thought he wouldn’t reject her? Unlike Yeon or Mooyoung, Choi Doha would obviously only see her as strange.

‘That child said she dreamt of her parents’ death. How creepy.’

‘Does she have some kind of spiritual power? Even so, to prophesy her own parents’ death… it’s awful.’

Before, no matter how many times she spoke of it, everyone just laughed it off as nonsense, but after her parents died, everyone whispered that Sana was a cursed child.

That Sana’s dreams were a curse, and that’s why his parents had died.

Even at a young age, the fear and hostility were palpable. Whether she liked it or not, she had to realize how others viewed her, someone who saw death in dreams.

That’s why she couldn’t tell Doha the truth… because if she did, he would surely avoid her.

Beep-boop. At the sound of the lock disengaging, she looked up, and the front door opened. Doha, coming out, frowned fiercely as soon as he spotted Sana.

“Finally coming… Ugh!”

Sana, trying to stand up, almost tumbled forward as her leg cramped.

She couldn’t properly balance due to the numbness in her leg, but she managed to brace herself against the hallway wall, ending up in an awkward position, neither standing nor sitting.

“Are you a stalker? Did someone tell you to watch me?”

Doha asked in a sharp voice. ‘Watch?’ She looked at him with a blank expression, wondering who would tell her to do such a thing. Doha then sighed, as if realizing his own words were absurd, and turned his head.

“You said I could stay if I changed my clothes…”

Her heart ached with disappointment. She wasn’t unaware that she wasn’t in a position to feel hurt, but because he had acted as if he would accept her, then suddenly changed his mind and pushed her away like flipping a hand, she felt on the verge of tears.

“Speak clearly. I never said you could stay. I said change because you were distracting.”

“You said I could be your lover.”

“When did I…! Haa, let’s just stop. I’m the crazy one for even bringing it up.”

Doha shook his head and looked at Sana.

“Are you gay?”

At his question, Sana only blinked, looking at him.

“What am I doing, getting involved with such a young pup… Haa, never mind. Just get lost.”

“Wait a moment…!”

She hastily took a step to grab Doha, who was turning away, and stumbled, falling forward. It was because the cramp in her leg hadn’t fully subsided, and she had overexerted herself.

Thanks to Doha extending his arm and catching her just in time, she avoided a headlong fall, but her leg really hurt, making her face naturally turn into a pout.

Tsk. Doha clicked his tongue.

“Why be so unnecessarily stubborn…”

Gurgle. Doha’s words were swallowed by the sound coming from Sana’s stomach. Come to think of it, she hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday.

She had been working at the club all night, and then had fallen asleep as soon as she arrived at Doha’s house, so she hadn’t eaten anything for a full day.

Even so, the sound from her stomach was too loud. Embarrassed, she couldn’t even look properly at Doha when she heard a deep sigh.

‘How exasperated must he be…’

“Let’s go eat.”

At the words from above her head, she looked up in surprise and met Doha’s eyes, who had a strange expression. She had expected him to be exasperated, but his expression was more complex than that.

“Follow me.”

He said abruptly and started walking. While she stood there blankly, watching his back, he was already standing in front of the elevator. The elevator door soon opened, and as he stepped inside, he looked at Sana.

“Not getting in?”

“I am. I’m getting in.”

Sana quickly started walking. One leg still tingled, but a smile touched her lips because Doha was waiting for her.

The place Doha took Sana was a gukbap restaurant not far from the officetel. Perhaps because of the odd time, Doha and Sana were the only customers.

“What’s the reason?”

When they had finished eating to some extent, Doha, who had been quietly eating without saying much until then, asked.

Sana raised her eyes to look at him, wondering what reason he was suddenly asking about.

“The reason you’re so desperate to be by my side.”

Doha added an explanation. ‘Ah…’ Sana swallowed a groan and put down the chopsticks she was holding.

“Money? Nowhere to sleep? That’s a lie, isn’t it?”

Doha said firmly. His gaze slowly swept from Sana’s head to her toes.

“The clothes you’re wearing aren’t cheap.”

At Doha’s remark, Sana also looked down at her clothes. Since she hadn’t bought them herself, she didn’t know the price. In Muryeong, everyone wore such clothes, and there was a specific person who made Muryeong’s clothes.

Most of Muryeong’s clients were prominent figures in the political and business world.

Mooyoung used to say that to deal with such people, their attire had to be proper, so they were probably made of high-quality silk.

“Someone who has no money and nowhere to go doesn’t walk around in clothes like that. Unless you’re playing the role of a chaebol’s second-generation lover or something.”

It was true, and she had nothing to say. Even as she kept her mouth shut and dropped her gaze to the table, she felt Doha’s intense stare.

“What’s your reason for approaching me?”

Doha asked again, his tone devoid of inflection.

“Who is it?”

At the next question, Sana looked up at him. Doha’s gaze, as he looked at her, was colder than ever.

“I’m asking who sent you.”

‘Sent…?’ Sent for what? Her blinking speed increased as she failed to understand. Doha stared at Sana silently.

‘Does he think someone sent me to watch him?’ At the belated suspicion, Sana quickly shook her head.

“No. It’s not that. No one ever sent me to do that.”

“So no one sent you, and you have no personal interest in me, yet you’re unusually persistent about staying by my side?”

“That’s…”

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. She couldn’t guess how he would react if she told him the truth.

But trying to vaguely deflect, as she was doing now, didn’t seem like it would work either.

“Stop working at the club too. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I have no intention of keeping a suspicious person by my side.”

“So, if I become your lover, then…”

“Stop with the nonsense.”

She tried to argue that she could be his lover, but Doha cut her off abruptly.