Morning sunlight streamed through the practice room windows as LUNA5 began another day of rehearsals.
The comeback had been a success.
Their latest song had climbed the charts.
Their performances were trending online.
Fans from around the world filled social media with dance covers and heartfelt messages.
Normally, this would have been the happiest period of Minji’s career.
Instead, her thoughts were somewhere else.
Jiho.
Project Starlight.
The missing records.
The cassette tape.
Every answer seemed to create two new questions.
“Minji!”
The choreographer clapped his hands.
“Focus.”
She blinked and smiled apologetically.
“Sorry.”
The music started again.
Five voices counted together.
Five dancers moved as one.
But even while performing, Minji couldn’t shake the feeling that something important was about to happen.
After rehearsal, the company’s security chief approached her.
“We received a package this morning.”
“For me?”
He nodded.
“It wasn’t mailed.”
“It was left with reception before sunrise.”
Minji exchanged a nervous glance with Hana.
The package was surprisingly small.
Inside was an old music box made of polished walnut.
Its surface was scratched with age, but beautifully carved stars decorated the lid.
There was no note.
Only a tiny silver key.
“What if it’s dangerous?” Yuri asked.
The security team had already examined it.
“It’s safe,” the investigator assured them.
Minji slowly wound the key.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The lid opened.
A delicate melody filled the room.
The tune was soft and familiar.
Minji’s eyes widened.
“I know this song…”
She closed her eyes.
Suddenly, another memory surfaced.
A younger Minji sitting beneath a large oak tree.
Beside her sat Jiho, carefully turning the key of the very same music box.
“When we’re nervous before competitions,” he had said with a grin, “listen to this.”
“It’ll remind us why we started.”
Young Minji laughed.
“Because we love music.”
“Exactly.”
The memory vanished as quickly as it had appeared. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Tears filled Minji’s eyes.
“It was ours…”
Joon, who had arrived for a meeting with his company’s managers, quietly listened from the doorway.
He had never seen Minji remember something so vividly.
That afternoon, the elderly caretaker from the abandoned academy requested a meeting.
His name was Kang Seung-ho.
He had once been one of Project Starlight’s music instructors.
When he entered the conference room, he bowed politely.
“I’ve been waiting many years for this day.”
Minji stood.
“You knew me?”
A warm smile appeared on his face.
“I knew all of you.”
He carefully placed an old attendance book on the table.
Its pages had yellowed over time.
Each page contained handwritten comments from instructors.
When Minji reached the page with her name, she froze.
Kang Minji
“A gifted dancer with extraordinary determination.
Always encourages other students, especially Participant 17.”
She turned the page.
Han Jiho
“Brilliant pianist.
Protects younger students.
Dreams of composing music that gives people hope.”
Minji smiled sadly.
“That sounds exactly like him.”
Mr.
Kang nodded.
“You two were inseparable.”
“What happened to him?”
The room became silent.
Mr.
Kang lowered his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
“He disappeared just three days before the final showcase.”
“His family left without telling anyone.”
“We searched for months.”
“There was nothing.”
“No letters.”
“No phone calls.”
“No forwarding address.”
“It was as though they vanished.”
The investigator placed another document on the table.
“This arrived from the city archives.”
It was an old newspaper article.
The headline read:
Fire Damages Community Arts Center
Mr.
Kang immediately recognized it.
“That happened two weeks after Project Starlight ended.”
“What was stored there?” Hana asked.
“Our student records.”
“Performance videos.”
“Scholarship documents.”
“Almost everything.”
“So the fire destroyed the evidence?” Joon asked.
Mr.
Kang nodded slowly.
“At the time…”
“…we believed it was an accident.”
The investigator looked up.
“Our forensic review suggests otherwise.”
Everyone stared at him.
“The fire was deliberately started.”
The room fell completely silent.
Someone hadn’t just erased files.
Someone had tried to erase the entire history of Project Starlight.
That evening, Minji returned to the practice room alone.
She placed the music box on the floor and wound it once more.
The melody echoed gently through the empty room.
For the first time in years, she remembered Jiho’s face clearly.
His bright smile.
His messy black hair.
The way he always tapped his fingers against his knees whenever he was thinking about a new melody.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
“I didn’t keep my promise.”
A familiar voice answered from the doorway.
“You were never given the chance.”
Joon walked inside.
He sat beside her without another word.
The music box continued to play.
When the melody ended, silence filled the room.
“I think Jiho wanted you to keep chasing your dream,” Joon said quietly.
Minji nodded.
“And I think…”
“…wherever he is…”
“…he’d be proud that you never stopped dancing.”
She smiled through her tears.
“I hope so.”
Across the city, inside a locked storage room beneath the abandoned academy, a hidden light flickered on.
A pair of hands opened a steel cabinet that investigators had never discovered.
Inside rested dozens of untouched files.
Each bore the Project Starlight emblem.
One file was marked with a red ribbon.
Participant 17 — Han Jiho
The mysterious figure opened it carefully.
A photograph slipped onto the floor.
It showed Jiho standing beside an elegant grand piano, smiling confidently.
The figure picked it up.
“You’ve waited long enough,” they whispered.
“It’s time for the truth to come out.”
Outside, thunder rolled across the evening sky.
The secrets buried for more than a decade were finally beginning to surface.
And somewhere in those forgotten files…
Was the answer that would change Minji’s life forever.