ENTITY- The New Beginning ( SKZ Brother's FF)

Episode 33

The air buzzed with laughter and shrill excitement as children ran between colorful rides, cotton candy in their hands and wind in their hair. The sun cast a golden hue over the amusement park, where joy painted every corner everywhere but one.

In a forgotten bench near the edge of the park, far from the flashing lights and dizzying rides, a little girl sat hunched into herself. Her yellow dress was smudged and dusty, the hem dragging along the ground like wilted petals. In her trembling arms, she held a worn-out bunny plush ears dangling, stitches frayed like the girl's spirit. Her brown eyes, once bright, now stared emptily at the path her parents had disappeared down just moments before.

No word. No glance back.

They left like she was nothing.

People passed. Some gave a glance. None stopped.

Except her.

The woman came like silence sharp, striking, and utterly out of place in the chaos of the park. A tailored black three-piece suit wrapped around her tall frame, her expression unreadable, eyes cold as steel. Her hands bore delicate ink like creeping vines, and a silver piercing glinted against her brow. Men in dark suits followed her, moving like shadows behind a queen.

But when her eyes landed on the girl, she raised a hand. The shadows halted.

She walked forward alone, kneeling without hesitation, expensive slacks brushing dirt and gravel.

"You've been crying a while," she said softly, voice calm but with a weight that commanded attention. "Where are your parents?"

The girl blinked, slow and unsure. "They... they left. Mama said I cry too much. That no one wants a girl like me."

The woman's expression didn't shift, but something burned behind her eyes.

"Then it's good they left," she murmured, brushing hair from the girl's damp cheek. "Because now, you're mine."

The little girl blinked up, stunned. "Yours?"

"What's your name?"

"S-Sol..."

The woman nodded once. "Not anymore. From this day on, you're Saena. My Saena. My brave girl."

The words settled into her chest like a heartbeat. For the first time, she felt... chosen.

Tiny fingers reached for the woman's hand, and she was lifted into strong arms. The shadows fell into step behind them as the woman turned away from the bench, carrying the girl with steady ease.

"Let's go home," she whispered into Saena's hair. "No one will ever leave you again."

But the memory shifted.

Like wind through a curtain, the scene twisted.

Rain pelted the windows of a sprawling mansion. Thunder cracked across the sky, shaking the glass panes. Saena now older clutched her bunny plush beneath the covers. The fabric of her blanket couldn't keep out the cold creeping into her heart.

Mom should've come by now.

She always came. Even when tired, even when hurt, Hyerim would appear. She'd sit beside Saena and whisper: "Nothing outside this room can touch you, my brave girl. Not while I'm here."

But tonight, there was nothing but thunder.

Saena's feet hit the floor, bare and silent. She tiptoed into the hallway, whispering, "Mom?" The echo of her voice was swallowed by the mansion's dark halls.