When the Clock Strikes|Pi Han Ul x Reader|

(S02) Chapter 40

“Come on,” I whispered. “Come on, please—just something.”

But there was no reply.

Just silence.

Just the ache.

Just the terrifying possibility that maybe what Seong Jae-Min stole from me… really was gone.

I sat there, shaking.

The blood dried on my skin.

My shoulders slumped forward.

I wanted to scream.
Wanted to cry.
But I couldn’t even do that anymore.

My body was numb.

My heart was tired.

The last time I used my power, it was the night everything changed. The night they took me. The night they used me. The night I came home a version of myself I didn’t recognize.

Maybe it’s afraid to come back.

Maybe I’m afraid of what happens if it does.

I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to the mirror.

“Please,” I whispered.

But there was no miracle waiting in the reflection.

No spark.

No shift.

No divine breath to awaken the dormant fire.

Just me.

Me and the quiet.

Me and the stillness of a life that used to burn.

Somewhere in the other room, Seok Kyung stirred.

I didn’t move.

Didn’t breathe.

I just sat there, hand bleeding, heart breaking, staring at the mirror—

Waiting for the storm that wouldn’t come.

Maybe it’s too late.

Maybe the part of me that burned, that broke bones and healed wounds and survived the things no human should survive—maybe that part is just gone now.

Maybe all I am now is the aftermath. The echo.

I lay down, back pressing into the bed that still smelled faintly like lavender and old memories. The fan spun above me, whispering useless lullabies into the heat. My body curled inward like it was trying to hide from my own mind. I turned on my side. Then my back again. Then back to my side.

Sleep didn’t want me.

But the thoughts did.

And they came like rain in a storm I couldn’t control.

How am I supposed stop this all?

My breathing slowed. My eyes stayed wide open, staring into the ceiling.

Harin.

Ha Ya.

They both drowned.

Both found in the same river.

Both pulled out with lungs full of silence and skin blue with betrayal.

And I kept telling myself—over and over again—that maybe Harin gave up. Because of me.

But now?

Now that I’m lying here in the dark, with the echo of Ha Ya’s laugh still buried in the walls and Master Kael’s words burning into my bones—