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## **Chapter 10 – A Secret the World Will Never Know**
The apartment was still.
Only the hum of the fridge and the occasional creak of the heating system kept the silence company.
The boy stood in front of the mirror again, shirt clinging to his skin, chest rising and falling with the rhythm of exhausted breath.
Four hours.
He had danced for four hours.
Perfecting not just the steps—but the energy.
The illusion.
He didn't perform like others.
He *became* what others could only pretend to be.
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His phone buzzed once on the nearby shelf.
A silent notification. No name. No sound.
He walked toward it slowly.
Picked it up.
And for a brief second—his eyes fell to the lock screen.
A photo.
One the world had already seen a thousand times.
But for him—it was different.
A woman with blue eyes and golden hair stood in a marble hall, her gaze not directed at the camera but toward something distant.
Unreachable.
Untouchable.
Her skin pale like porcelain. Her expression unreadable.
Flawless.
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He stared at the photo for a moment. A breath. A second too long.
Then he locked the screen again.
Slipped the phone into his pocket.
As if nothing had happened.
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No one knew.
Not the scout.
Not his classmates.
Not even his shadow.
And they never would.
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That photo had never changed.
Not once since the day he found it.
He didn't tell himself why.
He didn't need to.
Because some emotions weren't meant to be confessed.
Only buried.
And carried.
Silently.
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Elsewhere, **Joon-seok** paced inside his office, staring at a new piece of grainy footage—this time, clearer than before.
The boy's voice.
A fragment from a recording he hadn't known was taken.
He spoke only five words.
But they repeated in Joon-seok's head like thunder.
> "I don't want to be known."
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The mystery only deepened.
No records.
No connections.
And not a single soul who could say:
> "That's who he is."
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