Episode 1: Lee Rang x Hotel Del Luna

Story tags: 🖤Slow Burn ⚔️Enemies to Lovers 🌙Supernatural Fiction 🎭K-Drama Crossover   ✨Fantasy Romance

Note: when the next episode is published, it will show at the bottom of this page.

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The clocks in Hotel del Luna dragged past midnight, each guttural click knocking dust loose from the quiet halls. Candles fluttered in the dim light, bringing shadows to life along the old wallpaper. At the front desk, the clerk sipped his tea, absently turning the pages of a newspaper. The building sat still until a faint tremor brushed through the floor, barely noticeable at first. The clerk paused as the vibration deepened, the cup jolting in his hand, hot tea spilling over the rim as a low groan rumbled through the walls.

The clerk’s gaze drifted toward the dark hallway beyond the front desk, where the door to Mistress Jang Man-wol’s office stood slightly ajar, a faint light bleeding out into the darkness.

She sat at her desk, noting the arrivals and departures with absent interest. Only ten ghosts had crossed the threshold of the towering hotel, blanketed by moonlight. For a Saturday night under a full moon, the kind that usually dragged restless spirits from hiding, the stillness felt unsettling.

Kim Seon-bi stood beside her, hands folded, waiting for her to finish the nightly reports. She took her time, as always, her eyes fixed on the papers, her expression unreadable. After a few minutes, she signed off at the bottom of the page.

“Here you go, Seon-bi.”

He reached for the documents, but before he touched them, the floor trembled beneath their feet again. Both steadied themselves as the tremor deepened through the bones of the hotel.

“Mistress…”

Man-wol, who never startled, lifted her head at last. Her tired eyes, dull with disinterest, flickered over him. Her black dress shimmered with gold thread as she straightened, the weight of her raven-colored hair cascading over her shoulders. She sighed and leaned back in her chair.

“Relax. It’s just King Yama raging in the underworld.”

She paused, a slight tilt of her chin as her gaze shifted to Seon-bi. “But this is the third time this month. What do you think has him so agitated?”

Not waiting for an answer, she lifted a hand and closed her eyes. “Just thinking about him gives me a headache. You may go.”

Seon-bi bowed. “Yes, Mistress. Thank you.”

As he walked toward the door, he heard a sharp intake of air behind him. He turned to see her standing now, one hand braced on the desk.

She stilled, inhaling deeply, then opened her eyes, darker, sharper than before.

“Do you feel that?” she whispered, scanning the room as she stepped away from her desk.

He shook his head, clutching the paperwork.

“A gumiho,” she said softly. “A fox has entered the hotel.”

A sudden thump echoed through the office, and the door slammed open.

Seon-bi stumbled back and only then realized the paperwork was no longer in his hands. Something had moved far too fast for the eye to catch.

A dangerous-looking man was now perched on the edge of Man-wol’s desk, as if he’d been waiting there all night. The stolen papers rested loosely between his fingers.

“Someone talking about me?” he asked, a smug smile curling at the corner of his lips as he leaned in, his eyes gleaming with mischief.

Man-wol took a long look at him, her small face impassive, her almond-shaped eyes revealing nothing that anyone in the room could read.

The fox wore a fitted red jacket over a black silk shirt, dark trousers completing the look of a man who favored luxury.

He exhaled lightly as he skimmed the list in his hands. “Apologies for the disruption. My name is Lee Rang.”

“That doesn’t belong to you, nor do you belong here,” she said as she eyed the documents in his hands.

He laughed and slicked his dark hair back. “You know, I never noticed such a hotel in Seoul. How strange.”

She leaned over him, fists planted on the table. “Give that back now. And get out.”

He lifted a finger to his lips. “No.”

Man-wol gave an abrupt laugh, and in the same breath, a faint breeze stirred the papers, a silver pistol shimmering into her hand as if summoned by her thoughts. Without hesitation, she raised it toward the fox.

His brows lifted. He rose slowly from the desk, a smirk tugging at his mouth. “Well… you are a dangerous little one, aren’t you.”

She pressed the cold barrel to his chest and whispered, “The last person who insulted me died, you know. I killed him with this very weapon.”

His smile faded, and a predatory glint flickered in his eyes, the warmth of their brown fading as they shifted to a deep, burning red. It carried with it a scorching heat, like a flame igniting the entire room. In an instant, the playful air was gone, replaced by something darker. Before she could react, he was suddenly behind her, his body pressing against her back as his hands slid over hers on the gun.

He whispered in her ear, low enough that only she could hear, “You could never kill me with this silly little thing.”

His grip tightened over hers until the pistol slipped from her fingers and hit the floor. He stepped back, eyes fixed on her with such intensity that a sudden heat rose to her skin.

Man-wol turned, her eyes narrowing as the heat in them twisted into seething anger.

He laughed, his fingers brushing the edge of the desk as he leaned back. “If looks could kill…”

In a blink, he was back in her chair, legs stretched on her desk as if he owned it. “Tell me,” he said, studying her with interest, “what is this place? And what are you?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she raised her arms, bringing them down with force. The floorboards groaned as they cracked open, dark vines surging upward and coiling around the chair. They locked his wrists to the armrests with effortless power. A hiss echoed from the shadows, a long, spectral serpent slithering across the floor, winding itself around Rang’s torso. It tightened just enough to remind him that this hotel answered to her, not him.

He started to speak, but she lifted a hand, and the sound died in his throat, smothered by her will.

“Be careful with your next words, gumiho.”

His red eyes narrowed. “All right, woman. Release me, and I’ll tell you why I’m here. It concerns you too.”

She didn’t let him go right away. She lingered a moment longer, just to make a point. Then, with a wave of her hand, the magic unraveled, fading from the room as if it had never been there at all.

He shot to his feet, eyes flashing with the urge to retaliate, but then something seemed to stop him. His posture relaxed, the tension easing from his shoulders.

He stepped closer, until he was a breath away. She met his gaze, her eyes a silent warning. Without breaking eye contact, he leaned in, his voice a low whisper.

“The underworld is coming.”