When the Clock Strikes|Pi Han Ul x Reader|

(S02) Chapter 37

I didn’t open it until I was alone.

The words were printed in block letters. Cold. Distant. Calculated.

“Take one more step toward him and you’ll have no one left to stand beside you.”

No signature. No name. Just a message left like a shadow—something only I could read in the dark.

They thought it was a suicide note. That maybe she left it herself.

But I knew better.

It wasn’t about Ha Ya.

It was about me.

About Han Wool.

About the choice I made to say yes.

First Harin.

Now Ha Ya.

Both lost their life because of me.

I stared at her lifeless face, the corners of her mouth that always teased me, the lashes that fluttered every time she was being mischievous, the hands that once shoved me playfully during night shifts. All stilled.

I should’ve stopped. I should’ve stayed away from him. I should’ve known it wasn’t over.

Because I did know. Deep down, I always knew there was something darker chasing us. A shadow that hadn’t finished taking.

I wiped my tears with the sleeve of my coat, but it was useless. They kept falling, hot and endless.

This is my fault.

How am I supposed to tell them that it is all my fault?

They won't understand.

Except the person who wrote that note.

They knew what I feared most. They knew how to break me.

Not by taking me.
But by taking those I loved.

I reached out and touched Ha Ya’s hand—cold, still, gone.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, curling my fingers around hers. “I should’ve kept you safe. I should’ve seen it coming. I swear to you, Ha Ya... I’ll make it stop.”

Because now it was war.

I don’t know how long we stayed there.

Time had no edges in that room. It folded in on itself like a blanket of grief. I don’t even remember if I blinked. My eyes burned too much. My throat had long gone dry from crying.

I still hadn’t let go of her hand.

“Ye Na,” Seok Kyung said softly.

I didn’t respond.

She crouched beside me, her eyes rimmed red, tear tracks glistening across her cheeks. “They need to take her now.”

“No,” I whispered. “Just a little longer.”

Woo Joon stood a few feet away, his arms crossed tightly, staring at the wall like he couldn’t let himself look down again. He was always quiet, always calm—but right now, his silence felt like something was screaming inside him.

She was hurting. And I missed it.

Or maybe... maybe she wasn’t.

Maybe someone just didn’t let her live.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand again, though it barely helped. “She deserved so much more than this.”

“Yeah,” Woo Joon murmured. “She did.”