Chapter 1 — The Invitation
Rain tapped softly against the windows of a small editing studio in the outer district of Tokyo. It was 2:17 a.m.
Sitting in front of the blue glow of her screen was Aiko Nakamura — a documentary editor. Dark circles shadowed her eyes from exhaustion… but her curiosity never slept.
On her timeline played footage of an abandoned village — a drone shot… fog… a broken torii gate… and in the center, a red symbol — shaped like a lotus, but with its petals turned upside down.
Aiko paused the video.
“This symbol… again…” she whispered.
It had appeared in the background of her last three projects. Different locations. Same mark.
She zoomed in.
At the center of the symbol was a human eye.
Suddenly, the screen flickered.
The footage began playing on its own — an extra frame appeared that wasn’t in the original video.
A man stood extremely close to the camera.
He was smiling.
His eyes — completely black.
Aiko immediately rewound the system — the frame was gone.
“A glitch…” she told herself.
Just then — ping.
A new email appeared in her inbox.
Subject line:
“You’ve already been chosen.”
Sender — no address.
Attachment — coordinates and a photo.
The moment she opened the photo, her throat went dry.
A mountain village… two people standing in the fog… holding hands… dressed in traditional white clothes…
And the two people looked like Aiko and Ren.
“Impossible…”
Ren — her former research partner — had been declared missing a year ago during a field shoot in Korea.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
After hesitating, Aiko answered.
From the other side came only a faint whisper:
“Love stories die incomplete… unless offered properly.”
The call disconnected.
The room suddenly felt colder.
Morning — production office.
Documentary director Kenji Mori slammed a printout onto the table.
“This invite could be fake — but if it’s real — this is gold.”
The coordinates matched an officially abandoned border village in the Japan–Korea mountain belt.
“Urban legend says there was a love cult there,” Kenji explained, “that sacrificed couples for an eternal bond.”
The crew consisted of twelve people.
Camera operator. Sound engineer. Researcher. Fixer. Medic.
And a new addition — a replacement field analyst.
The door opened.
He walked in.
Black coat. Tired face. An old scar near his left eyebrow.
Aiko’s heartbeat stopped.
Ren.
“You…?” Aiko’s voice trembled.
The room fell silent.
Kenji said, “He was found last month. No memory of what happened. But he knows the terrain. He’s in.”
Ren looked directly at Aiko — there was recognition… but no warmth.
“Have we met?” he asked.
It felt like ice filled her chest.
That evening, before departure, Aiko received a courier package — no sender.
Inside was an old red thread bracelet.
A note attached:
“Tie it when you choose who dies first.”
That night, Aiko had a dream.
She was standing in a temple. Red candles. Blood lotus symbols. People chanting.
Ren was tied to an altar.
A priest handed her a blade.
“True love proves itself through offering.”
Aiko refused.
Everyone turned toward her at once.
Their eyes — completely black.
“Then you will be the offering.”
Aiko woke up screaming.
On her wrist — in the real world — the red thread was tied.
She hadn’t even worn it.
The next morning — the crew van climbed the mountain road.
The GPS kept losing signal.
The driver muttered, “Strange… there aren’t even any birds.”
Ren stared out the window — completely expressionless.
Aiko quietly asked, “You really don’t remember… we used to work together?”
Without looking at her, Ren replied:
“Some places erase people… some people erase places.”
The van drove into thick fog.
On the GPS screen, one last line blinked:
WELCOME BACK — CRIMSON LOTUS
Signal dead.
The engine shut off on its own.
And above the mountain — through the fog — a giant red lotus symbol was burning.
As if it had been waiting for them.
