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From the Author

Giving readers what they enjoyed was a major inspiration for THE GRAY MAN OF SMOKE AND SHADOWS. In the first book in the vampire series, BUTCHERS, the narrative revolves around Sey-Mi, a newly hired vampire in an organization called the Gwanlyo. Whereas the other vampires in the book follow the strict rules of the organization, there is one who rebels against the undead system with everything she can muster: Hyeri, the mad daughter of laughter.

Of all the characters in BUTCHERS, readers loved Hyeri. Out of her antics was born Book 2. In THE GRAY MAN OF SMOKE AND SHADOWS, we see Hyeri attempt to take revenge upon her uncle, a terrible man of terrible deeds who tormented her when she was a human child. Yet things go awry for Hyeri. The Gwanlyo sees her as a fugitive, and they’ve sent vampires to arrest her, and vampires to kill her. What’s an insane protagonist to do?

She redoubles her efforts, joins forces to take on her uncle, and discovers The Gray Man of Smoke and Shadows, a being more terrifying than anything she could have imagined. It’ll take more than a smile and a blade to take this foe down.

Find out who wins in THE GRAY MAN OF SMOKE AND SHADOWS.

The Gray Man Excerpt

Explosive raps on the front door shattered Seok-Jo’s dreams. He inhaled, his heart pounding against his ribs, his eyes flinging open. The banging continued unabated as if the person on the other side planned to break the door in two.

Seok-Jo didn’t want to move, a whimper escaping his lips. Who could be making such racket so late at night? He flipped over his phone and saw it was almost three in the morning. Where was Kyung-Mi? If the late-night caller didn’t stop, he’d wake up Ye Bin.

No, Ye Bin wasn’t here yet, was she, he remembered. He had left her at the hospital with his wife. Except for him, the apartment was empty.

The doorframe buckled. Seok-Jo’s whimper became a low cry as the door splintered. The tear widened with each successive blow, and now Seok-Jo uttered a long moan as the jagged edge of a rock burst through the wood. Whoever held the rock wiggled it out. A moment of silence passed, and then a form filled the hole. An eye peered at Seok-Jo, and a voice that sounded of boulders tumbling down the mountainside commanded Seok-Jo, “Let me in!“

His grandmother! The soju, beer, and haze of dreaming had made Seok-Jo forget to contact his younger brother. He clambered out of the chair and backed away towards the next room, but the banging started again, the hole widening. The ancient woman would not be deterred, and eventually the structure gave, falling in upon itself into broken pieces on the ground.

From upstairs, someone yelled, “What the hell’s going on down there?“

Seok-Jo had backed against the wall. His grandmother, bent over in that familiar perpendicular angle at the waist, shuffled into the room, her gaze fiery in the wrinkled map of her face. The upstairs neighbor ran downstairs and stood at the broken door. “Seok-Jo?“

“Leave us!“ The bellow from the ancient woman rocked the room. The neighbor uttered a high-pitched shriek and darted back up the stairs. Seok-Jo followed the man’s departure with envy, then looked back at his grandmother advancing upon him.

“Where’s Beom-Seok? Why did you return?” he whispered. “Why are you here?”

“You must go to the stone garden,“ she responded. “The gray man of smoke and shadows has Ye Bin.”

Who? Seok-Jo shook his head. “You’re wrong, grandma. Ye Bin is with her mom. She’s resting, I just saw her…“

Before he could finish, his grandmother smashed the jagged rock she’d used to enter the room into his nose. The sound of bones breaking exploded in his head, the force of the blow flinging Seok-Jo against the wall. She struck him again in his temple, and Seok-Jo wheeled away from her and crashed into the table. Bottles smashed beneath him as he flipped over to land heavily on the floor. Seok-Jo saw nothing but stars in the darkness as he lay there trying to catch his breath. The slow shuffle of his grandmother neared him, then a heel dropped on his hand and slowly crushed it beneath incredible pressure.

Pain like nails pierced his fingers, and Seok-Jo screamed. The ancient woman didn’t have to reach far to grab him by the hair and lift his head off the ground. Through the blood leaking into his eyes, Seok-Jo spied a new figure standing in the broken doorway of his apartment.

“Hello, older brother.“

“Beom-Seok!“ Seok-Jo’s voice came out as a hoarse cry. “Help me, please!“

His younger brother shuffled into the room, his legs bowed at the knees. He hadn’t grown taller in the years since Seok-Jo had seen him, body pushed in upon itself as if under a great weight. Muscle filled every centimeter of his limbs and torso giving him a bulky, misshapen appearance.

“I’m not here to stop Grandma, older brother.“ Beom-Seok stopped before Seok-Jo and squatted down. “I’m here to help you rescue Ye Bin from the gray man of smoke and shadows.“

A wail escaped Seok-Jo. “She’s okay,“ he said through the tears and snot leaking to mix with the blood in his mouth. “She’s with Kyung-Mi. Let me up and I’ll take you to the hospital. You can see for yourselves, she’s safe.“

Beom-Seok removed a phone from the baggy pants he wore and pressed the app for KCTV. A woman in a purple hanbok tied by a black belt flickered on the screen.

“The spectacular incident at Hanyang Hospital is being investigated by Seoul Metropolitan Police. The cause for the disturbance still isn’t known. Patients witnessed a man take a young girl from the in-patient floor. Reports are conflicting. Some say he ran. Some say he jumped from the eighth floor. Police have searched the street for the bodies but have not yet found them. No one is confident that what was witnessed is what actually happened. A man took a little girl and jumped through the window of Hanyang Hospital. Her picture cannot be released until we contact her parents. Her last name is Choi.“

“This can’t be right,“ Seok-Jo whispered to himself. “Why would someone do this?“

His younger brother stared at him without blinking, then opened Naver. “There are websites on the outskirts of the hidden web. They’re hard to find, but when grandfather saw a vision of the gray man, I began searching for posts about his lair. You must wade through the desires of those whose hidden selves dwell in the dark. You must follow the shadows of the internet to their source. The gray man has had other girls in his studio, and this is a glimpse of what he has done.“

His younger brother paused, and turned the screen. Seok-Ja saw Ye Bin’s future, and a hoarse howl tore from his throat in successive waves of despair.

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