A Book Drawn at Night — Chapter 1

A Book Drawn at Night Chapter 1 opens with a violent night raid that defines Kim Seo-un's guilt and survival. Soldiers hunting for the crescent moon birthmark on the wrist demand that fugitive Kim Seo-un come out, and her disciple Nam-gil chooses to hide her and take her place. Despite her warning that Seok Moon-gyeom has a persistent and cruel nature and will not spare a substitute, Nam-gil insists, thanks her for everything until now, and declares himself to be Kim Seo-un before being dragged away. Five years later, Seo-un is still haunted by that sacrifice, waking from a dream of Nam-gil on what she calls that child's death anniversary. She recalls fleeing from Seorabol, where Seok Moon-gyeom holds power, to a distant island, meeting Nam-gil there, and then losing him to her pursuers. Her attempt to live quietly and buy groceries for a memorial is interrupted when villagers report that a new lord has been dispatched from Seorabol, which immediately makes her fear that Seok Moon-gyeom has extended his reach. A Book Drawn at Night Chapter 1 uses that arrival to collapse her sense of safety, as she is watched and followed, then decides she must leave at daybreak because the island is no longer safe. That fear proves justified when the new lord's men stop her to check her identity and find the crescent moon on her wrist. She is seized despite her protests and brought before the lord, where she begs to be overlooked and allowed to live as if she does not exist. The encounter turns intimate and shocking when the unseen man speaks in poetic, possessive language and then addresses her directly, asking how she has become even more beautiful and calling her Master. A Book Drawn at Night Chapter 1 ends on that revelation, tying her capture back to the disciple she believed dead for five years.