This is my final for my Illustration 2 class, where we worked all semester on Afterlight: a story about a vampiric alien who disguised themself as a human named Hyunseo so that they could be a K-Pop star, whos groupmate was then mysteriously murdered, leaving them as a likely suspect.
For the midterm, we were randomly selected by a wheel to handle each part of the story, and that part was no different for our final! I was chosen to handle part 11, the second-to-last, where Hyunseo decides to begin their solo career out as an alien after their "friend" Dalgi released a video of their alien form that she had intended to use as blackmail.
Also, unlike the midterm, we were allowed to use words!
So I used them.
...about 1833 of them, to be exact.
I wanted to make my part be an illustrated novel! And to do that, well, you need a novel to illustrate. So I wrote a short chapter and brushed up on my InDesign formatting skills!
Anyway, click the readmore if you want to read it, and see the images i interspersed through the chapter up close!
This dead bastard’s been haunting me for too long. Even before he was killed, Yujun’s effortless smile snagged my ire and flaunted every shred of advice I tossed at him to get him to please, please be more professional. The mess of his side of the room always creeped closer and closer to mine, possessing our shared space with useless personal affects and clothing of various states of cleanliness. He doesn’t even have to be alive to keep hogging attention. The sprawl of photographs, newspapers, and contract copies across my wall, connected by a haphazard web of red yarn, all proved that.
Well, today, I would either throw things out or pack them up. It would finally be clean, and I could move on from all of… this. My phone started ringing, warning me of an incoming call, but I silenced it. It was time to get this over with.
Meanwhile, the perpetrator was living in the spotlight, slinging singles like her life depended on it. Could I really begrudge her that? Dalgi was smart, gathering up cards to play as she pleased. Maybe I should’ve done the same thing as her, then I’d be out there instead of in here, silenced by a short video of my own stupid, stupid trust. I’d been an idiot, outplayed by someone who I had forgotten was a prey species. I can never slip like that again. What would humanity do, knowing an ultimate predator had been in their midst all along? Would they betray me, again?
My membrane chafed as it rubbed against the fabric of my shirt. I felt every thread in the weave and weft, each one burning with the fury of atmospheric entry. I was hungry, again. I ignored it, again.
This wasn’t worth thinking about. It’d never happen. If Dalgi wanted me to stay quiet, which she did, she’d have to keep quiet too. So, this situation wasn’t all bad.
The buzz of my phone gave me a momentary break from this anxious reverie. I didn’t answer, of course. I was busy finally exorcising Yujun from my life.
But it kept buzzing.
And buzzing.
And buzzing.
What kind of needy punk wanted to get a hold of me that badly? I looked down at the screen. Right on cue, a text message from the old IEZ group chat popped up. Huh, I thought they’d abandon that? The issue of my departure aside, It was only a matter of time until Yujun’s number would go to some lucky rando, and then the whole chat would be leaked.
But the most shocking thing was the contents of the message.
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU
WERE YOU A MONSTER THE WHOLE TIME
That… couldn’t possibly be addressed to me, right? I certainly couldn’t respond to that without drawing suspicion! Maybe they’re accusing someone…else…in the group chat of being a monster? And Dalgi would never let it slip, she needed me to keep quiet!
Unless…
Unless she didn’t.
Hurriedly, I checked the news. A new article, short and only minutes old, confirmed my biggest fear.
Dalgi had been arrested, but the article didn’t use her face as its headlining photo.
No, no. That honor was reserved for me. Open and vulnerable, captured by the grainy eye of a webcam.
I scrolled numbly through the rest of the article until I hit another image, that of Dalgi, being led away with the police. The little RGB display only spewed a pitiful portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, crunching my vision down to a human level. Though I couldn’t take advantage of any infrared or psychic cues here, a morphological analysis of her face revealed enough… no, it revealed too much.
Both corners of her mouth, turned down. A slight unevenness in the contours of the lip, belieing a sneer. Furrowed brows. Her sclera were redder than I’d ever seen, veins burdened with blood, just like her puffy eyelids. That face was as flushed as prey. She wasn’t even looking at the camera.
I could barely recognize her. Where was her perfectly symmetrical smile? Her poise, her control, that let her keep up with me?
What was this utterly human failure? Why did she have to slip up, and drag me down with her? There was no logic here, revealing that I was an alien wouldn’t benefit her, or anyone for that matter. It was a purely vindictive act.
Why couldn’t we keep pretending? Together, forever?
My phone kept buzzing. Call after call. My entire contact list was roaring down the antenna. They were left unanswered, abandoned in a corner of the room.
My membrane itched again, boiling. chafing. Taut. The way I bubbled and roared under the surface was ignored, just like always. I needed to keep it together.
My thoughts whispered to me, isn’t our cover blown? We could drop it all. We could go to the next planet, take a break from this disgusting humanity. But I didn’t run.
My hands returned to packing away Yujun’s things.
I had a task to do today. I was supposed to exorcise him. Whether or not his ghost had reared its head again, I’d keep him in line. Just like I did when he was alive.
I put item after item in beige boxes. Slowly, the room appeared from under his crust.
I’d keep him in line. Just like I did when he was alive.
Emptiness filled the room. I couldn’t tell if it was working or not. My insides still trembled, but I kept myself steady.
I’d keep him in line. Just like I did when he was alive.
Yujun’s things were all put away, neatly stacked in boxes that were, themselves, neatly stacked. The room was finally cleaned.
I’d keep him in line. Just like I did when he was alive.
Searching for satisfaction, I looked between my side and his side. You could hardly tell the difference. All was set to rights, to order. Yujun could finally be as neat as me, in death.
I was as neat… as a dead man.
Why was this what it took?
I’d spent so much energy yelling at him, telling him to clean up his act. Then I went chasing after his murderer, trying to close a case that stained my reputation. Now I’d finally cleaned him up, completely and utterly. It felt like it should be satisfying. It ought to be my reward. After all, being an idol, especially a leader, is difficult. You have to be the best of the best. You have to make sure everyone else in your group is the best of the best, so policing Yujun couldn’t be a completely bad thing, right? I was being a responsible leader.
The only other person who knew what it took, who understood it, who felt what I felt, was Dalgi. And now she’s broken… No, maybe she had been broken for a while. She beat Yujun to death with a shoe.
Maybe it wasn’t too dissimilar to what I was trying to do to Yujun, or what I wanted to do to him. She was just more heavy-handed about it. We were perfect hammers, hitting nails that stuck out.
The moment I revealed my nails, she brought that force against me.
I looked between mine and Yujun’s sides of the room. Yes, save those posters, my room looked like I’d died too. Except for the music I’d abandoned my biology for, I’d lived like I’d been dead the whole time. Yujun wasn’t messy, or unprofessional, or anything else I called him. He had just been… alive. Unapologetically.
And I’d hated him for it, for doing what I couldn’t.
The burn of my clothing throbbed yet again. I was starving. This form, this… lie! It was all for nothing! My flesh wobbled and melted. I didn’t have to keep it up anymore. I was alive. I am alive!
Oozing out of my clothes, I spun around, the neutral walls being blotted out by colorful streaks of posters. Hundreds of eyes of the industry, watching me, sliding off me, acknowledging me and not the mask I wore. I stopped twirling and gazed into my mirror.
I stared at myself. One last time, like I did thousands of times before, I smoothed my form down into human perfection… and then let it go again. Joy bubbled through my tendrils as they slapped across the room to grab my phone, hurriedly calling back my agent. Before he got the first word in, I spoke.
“I’ve got an idea.”
—
Music and choreography are a carefully-constructed craft, pursuing the pinnacle of beauty coded deep in human brains. I am not a human… but what I am is a being that also pursues beauty. Both of us wear masks for the adoration of others. Both of us get jealous. And both of us can lose the plot, act ugly, and now there were a few less stars in the universe for it.
The audience is almost silent as I walk on stage, the rare cheer being more out of habit than anything else. The venue is booked full. Who could miss seeing an alien? Their eyes scan every inch of my skin, picking my human-looking form apart in a way that once terrified me, searching for a single scrap of evidence that I was that thing from Dalgi’s video. Right now, my anatomy is perfect– I’m always too perfect, to be honest. Most humans have irregularities. The visage of mine that they were familiar with was born from a billion psychic imprints, a statistical averaging of what they thought a “perfect person” ought to look like. The few skeptical fans in the crowd are wondering why I’m alone on stage, without any backup dancers.
What would Yujun say if he saw me? After all, I always brushed off his threats to go solo. I suppose he’d call me a hypocrite… but then again, I think I was a hypocrite all along. Maybe he’d agree with that, with his same left-leaning grin that infuriated me and made the fans swoon.
I’m flashing a mirror image of his grin right now.
“Before we start… I just wanted to say that I’m sorry to Yujun. I’m sorry to Dalgi. I’m sorry to everyone. And I’m sorry to myself. I’m done lying. Thank you.”
The first few beats of the opening song thrum through the audience. I can sense the way it vibrates their flesh, their blood, sweet with potential, as it synchronizes their heartbeats. I do not have a heart to beat alongside them, but this song is mine, set to 100 bpm. We are one.
My exterior membrane sings along in sweet relief as I finally let go of the lie. It glimmers, dances, letting light shine through and bounce back ruby-red. My clothing sloughs off, and my feet leave the floor. I can hear some people scream, and others cheer, both in earnest.
We are excited to inform you on how to pre-order ENHYPEN’s 7th Mini Album “THE SIN : VANISH,” scheduled for release on Friday, January 16, 2026.
You can place your pre-order for ENHYPEN’s “THE SIN : VANISH” from online and offline retailers starting from Monday, December 15, 2025.
<ENHYPEN “THE SIN : VANISH” Pre-Order>
Pre-Order Dates
From 11 am, Monday, December 15, 2025 to 11:59 pm, Thursday, January 15, 2026 (KST)
Pre-Order Retailers
Online and offline music stores where albums are sold
Album Content
“THE SIN : VANISH” will be released in three versions.
- OUTER BOX: 3 versions / 1 type per version / W215 H305 D18
- TABLOID: 3 versions / 1 type per version / W210 H297 · 12 spreads
- LYRIC BOOK: 3 versions / 1 type per version / W90 H130 · 16p
- CD-R: 3 versions / 1 type per version / W120 H120
- CD ENVELOPE: 3 versions / 1 type per version / W125 H125
- FILM PHOTO A: 3 versions / 1 type per version / W100 H150
- FILM PHOTO B: 3 versions / 1 out of 7 types per version / W100 H150
- AD CARD: 3 versions / 1 type per version / W82 H52
- LOGO STICKER: 1 version / 1 type / W140 H18
- STICKER SET: 3 versions
FORBIDDEN Ver.: 1 set of 3 (A: W40 H120 / B: W117.5 H50 / C: W85 H55)
AFTERLIGHT Ver.: 1 set of 3 (A: W48.5 H119 / B: W93 H91 / C: W72 H94)
STORM Ver.: 1 set of 4 (A: W82 H110 / B: W70 H70 / C: W40 H40 / D: W40 H40)
- FLYER: 3 versions / 1 type per version / W148 W210
- PHOTO CARD A: 3 versions / 1 out of 7 types per version / W54 H86
- PHOTO CARD B: 3 versions / 1 out of 7 types per version / W54 H86
- INSTANT PHOTO: 1 out of 400 photos / first press only
