A DARK OBSESSION (safe)

Story Description

Lisa Jared is good at surviving.

She smiles easily, talks to everyone, and fills silence like it might swallow her if she lets it. On the outside, she's bright-blue-haired, beautiful, and endlessly kind. On the inside, she's constantly rewinding conversations, rereading expressions, and wondering where she went wrong.

When she transfers to Guajang Academy, one of Seoul's most elite and unforgiving schools, Lisa becomes the new girl in a system that values discipline over warmth and excellence over empathy. Struggling to keep up academically and socially, she learns quickly that being bubbly isn't a skill Guajang rewards.

Home offers no refuge. Between a drunk father, a toxic mother, and a house held together by shouting and broken objects, Lisa becomes what she's always been-the emotional buffer, the mediator, the one who absorbs the damage so her younger brother doesn't have to. Even after transferring, she keeps returning home for him, even as things get worse.

As pressure mounts, friendships form slowly and unexpectedly. A quiet kindness from a classmate becomes the first crack in her isolation. Later, a new boy arrives-charming, infuriating, impossible to ignore-pulling Lisa into feelings she never planned to have. When loyalties collide and hearts get tangled, Lisa must confront the question she's been avoiding her whole life:

How much of herself can she give away before there's nothing left?

This is a slow-burn story about friendship, loyalty, love, and the quiet cost of being "the strong one" for too long.