When the Clock Strikes|Pi Han Ul x Reader|

(S02) Chapter 33

Hangang River, Seoul

The night was cold. Bitter. Even though it was late spring, a strange chill hung over the Hangang River as if the water itself mourned.

When Han Wool parked the car, neither of us moved for a long moment. The lights of emergency vehicles flashed ahead-red and blue reflections flickering across the surface of the river like a distorted heartbeat.

I slowly stepped out of the car, my legs numb, my lungs barely able to pull in air. The grass crunched faintly under my feet. There were people everywhere-officers, paramedics, the press standing at a distance-but none of it felt real.

Han Wool walked beside me, silent.

And then I saw them.

Harin's mom, sobbing into her husband's shoulder. Her makeup was smeared, her eyes swollen red. Aunty stood a few feet away, completely still, her face pale like wax. Han Wool's mother was hugging herself tightly, whispering something to his father, who stood frozen, fists clenched, staring at the river as if it had stolen his daughter.

And just a few meters ahead-
A white sheet.

Lying unnaturally still on the wet grass.

I stopped walking. My breath caught in my throat.

That was Harin.

That was all that was left of her now.

The weight of it hit me like a truck. I wrapped my arms around myself, but it didn't help. Nothing would. My mind was screaming that it couldn't be real, that she was just being dramatic again, that any moment she'd sit up and say something cruel.

But she didn't.

She never would again.

"She... she really did it," Han Wool whispered next to me. I turned to look at him. His eyes were wide, lost. "She actually-"

"I'm the reason," I whispered, cutting him off.

His gaze snapped to me. "What?"

But I wasn't looking at him anymore. My eyes were on the river.

The last text she sent haunted my chest like a brand-You are the reason. I'll never forgive you. She said I ruined her life. Maybe I did.

Maybe all these years of silence, of pretending her cruelty didn't wound me, of not fighting back when she pushed, twisted something inside her. Maybe I pushed too far without even knowing it. Maybe taking Han Wool back... maybe it was the final thread.

"I killed her," I whispered.

"No-Ye Na, don't say that." Han Wool reached for my hand, but I didn't let him take it.

I took a step forward, closer to the white sheet. I needed to see her. Not her face-God, no. But the reality. That this was what it all led to. All the rivalry. All the stolen memories. All the bitterness we never burned away.

"Miss?"

A calm voice pulled me from my thoughts. A police officer had stepped toward us.

"She is her sister". Han Wool said.

"Oh, i see. We're still piecing things together," he said, glancing behind him where others were roping off the area near the trees. "We found no note beyond one line in her apartment: 'It's better to die than live like this.'"

That was it? That was the final word she gave the world?

"Did anything went missing?" Han Wool asked, his voice hoarse.