Meeting a failed mage.

At the height of her fame, Haerin Moon has everything-wealth, talent, beauty, and a name that opens every door. Then she wakes up with a strange mark burned into her skin after a night she cannot fully remember.

By morning, the world has begun to forget her.

Invitations vanish. Cameras turn away. Indifference replaces recognition. What should be impossible becomes terrifyingly clear: Haerin has been cursed, stripped piece by piece from the socialite throne she fought to build, condemned to fade into irrelevance.

The curse traces back to a first date she never meant to accept-and the man who sat across from her, elegant, enigmatic, and unmistakably peculiar. Yoru Tsukishima was never just a patron of the arts, nor merely a charming eccentric. He is a doorway into a hidden world.

Now, caught between vanishing influence and growing power she doesn't understand, Haerin must navigate a web of secrets and a romance that feels as dangerous as it is irresistible. Because in a world where magic is real and attention is currency, losing everything may be the price of becoming something more.

And the question is no longer whether Haerin can break the curse-but whether she still wants to.

‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊ ♡ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙☾°̩̥☽·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ °̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥ ♡ ‧̍̊·̊‧̥°̩̥˚̩̩̥͙°̩̥‧̥·̊‧̍̊

Participant of the || Open Novella Contest 2026.

Main prompt: 99. You wake up with a strange mark on your skin after a late-night encounter you can barely remember, and its meaning grows more unsettling by the hour.

Secondary prompts:
44. »May I have this dance?«
»Seriously? Right now, in this situation?«
52. You're on a first date when you suddenly realize the person sitting across from you isn't entirely human.
39. After being cursed, you go from being the most popular socialite to becoming a nobody.

2026 Umi Moriko Original