Chapter 2

The nights do not spare me.

Time passes, but not gently.

Nightmares sink into me like roots. Every sleep ends the same way:

Me standing before a black door.

I open it and walk into a dark room. In that room I always end up facing a mirror, my reflection smiling while I scream silently behind the glass.

I wake up every morning drenched in sweat, my heart racing, the echo of whispers still clinging to my ears.

Yet... life goes on.

I learn how to live with it.

I go to college. I laugh when I'm supposed to. I walk beside Nari, pretending the shadows don't follow me.

She talks about classes, assignments, silly dreams. I listen. I always listen.

Nari is soft- too soft for this world. A pure soul untouched by cruelty. And maybe that's why world chooses her.

That day, it happens.

A group of boys block our way near the campus gate. Their laughter is sharp, careless. Words spill from their mouths- mocking, cruel, unnecessary.

Nari stops walking.

Her fingers tighten around my sleeve.

Park Ji-ho: Hey sweety, why so quiet? Cat got your tongue?

Nari: (Nari lowered her head.) I- sorry... We're just going to class.

Cho Seung-min: Going where? (He steps closer. Too close.) At least look when someone's talking to you. He's your senior. Show some respect.

She tries to move back. They move with her.

Nari: Please... excuse us.

That's when I step forward.

Hana: Move.

They turn to me, surprised- then amused.

Park Ji-ho: Wow. You brought a guard dog?

Hana: I said move.

Kim Do-yun laughs and shoves my shoulder.

Kim Do-yun: Relax baby girl. We're just talking.

I push his hand away.

Hana: You're harassing her.

The smile drops from his face.

Kim Do-yun: Watch your fucking mouth.

The first hit comes suddenly. A sharp pain explodes across my cheek. I stagger- but stay standing.

Nari gasps.

Nari: Stop! Please- don't hurt her!

Another shove. Cho Seung-min grabs my arm.

Hana: Don't touch her!

I wrench free, stepping in front of Nari completely now. My heart is pounding so loud I can hear it in my ears.

They hesitate- just for a second.

Then Park Ji-ho scoffs.

Park Ji-ho: You think you're some kind of hero?

Hana: (I wipe the blood from my lip.) No. But you're cowards.

Just then teacher walked toward us and they finally backed off- laughing, muttering insults as they walked away.

Nari's knees buckle the moment they've gone. I catch her before she falls.

Nari: Hana... you're bleeding. I'm so sorry...

Hana: Hey. (I cup her face gently.) You're okay. That's all that matters.

Her eyes fill with tears.

Nari: I couldn't even protect myself.

Hana: (I force a smile.) You don't have to. I'm here.

Nari nods, but her hands are still shaking.

I guide her to a bench near the campus building and sit beside her, keeping my voice low, steady- like if I sound calm enough, the world will listen.

Hana: It's okay. (I tell her.) Breath. Just stay with me.

She wipes her eyes quickly, embarrassed, as if she's the one who did something wrong. I hate that. I hate how this world teaches the gentle to apologize for surviving.

We go to the class together.

I sit closer than usual, my shoulder brushing hers, a silent promise that I won't leave. Nari doesn't speak much the entire day. She stares at the board without seeing it, flinches when someone laughs too loudly.

I notice everything.

I answer questions for her when the professor calls her name. I pass her notes when her hands hesitate. I walk her between classes, never letting more than a step of distance grow between us.

All day, I stay strong.

When evening comes, I walk her home holding her hand. Gently. Carefully. Like the world might hurt her again if I let her go.

At her door she finally looks at me.

Nari: Thank you... for today.

Hana: (I smile.) I told you. I'm here.

I finally let her hand slip from mine and watch as she steps inside. She waves at me while closing the door and I wave back.

Only after the door shuts behind her do I allow my strength to crumble.

The silence presses in.

I turn away and start walking home alone. No one to protect. No one to reassure. No one watching. And this time, there's no one left to pretend for.

My shoulders sag. My breath shakes.

That's when the truth hits me-

Even after everything... I was still too weak. This body is too fragile.

How easily evil walks free. The world doesn't protect the gentle. It feeds on them, rewards the cruel. And cruelty...

Cruelty deserves punishment.

The street is crowded when I head home. Too crowded. People brush past me. Voices overlapping, laughter spilling, footsteps colliding. Life moves loudly all around me.

Yet it feels wrong.

As if the noise is only a shell, and something underneath is holding its breath.

My footsteps echo louder than they should. Not in the street... inside my head.

My thoughts scream over the crowd.

Then I see him.

Park Ji-ho.

Walking ahead of me, phone pressed to his ear, laughing- careless, untouched, alive. The sound of his voice cuts through everything else, sharp and personal.

He doesn't see me.

I stop walking.

People bump into my shoulders, curse under their breath, move on.

The air feels heavier. Thicker. Like the world has narrowed just enough for him and me.

My heartbeat slows- not with fear, but with something colder.

A thought slips into my mind, smooth and poisonous.

"What if he never existed?"

The thought doesn't fade. It echoes. Again. And again. Curling around my ears, sinking deeper with every breath.

Hana: What if he never exists?!

My lips follow the voice. Something inside me... quietly agrees. And it scares me. Deep down, I already know the answer.

I swallow hard, the words lingering in the air like smoke that refuses to clear. Saying them aloud feels like betrayal- of hope, of every quite dreams I've ever folded into my chest and hidden there. Yet the silence after them feels honest. Too honest.

The realization settles slowly- too comfortable. Too right.

As I watch him walk away, I don't notice when my gaze drifts.

The glass door beside the street catches my reflection, fractured by passing bodies and flashing lights.

But it isn't me.

Her smile stretches slow and wide- sharp, eager. Satisfied. Like she's been waiting for my permission and proud I finally understood.

My breath stutters.

When I tear my eyes away and look back at him-

He turns.

For the briefest second, our eyes meet across the moving crowd.

Confusion flickers across his face.

Then-

His body jerks violently, as if something invisible has seized him from the inside. His mouth opens to scream-

But blood spills out instead.

Skin splits. Bones twist.

People are still walking. Still talking. No one notices yet. And then-

He collapses inward. Not falling. Folding. His body vanishes in an instant, swallowed by something unseen. Blood rains onto the pavement, splattering abandoned shoes and staining the ground. His clothes collapse where he stood, empty. The phone slips free and hits the street, clattering loudly. The screen still glows, the call still open. The voice from the other end crackling through the speaker before dissolving into static.

He's gone. No body. No trace of him. Only blood. Too much blood. And his belongings.

The crowd freezes.

A scream tears through the air.

People shout. Someone drops a bag. Someone else runs. Panic spreads like fire.

I can't move. I can't breathe. The world hesitates, as if it's waiting for me to understand what I've just seen.

The shoes remain where his feet should have been. His clothes lie crumpled and empty on the pavement, like an error left unfixed. Blood gathers where a body should have been. Too much for emptiness, too real to deny.

My knees give out and I collapse onto the street, the world tilting violently. Sounds blur. My ears ring. My hands shake so badly I can't feel them.

I turn my head toward the glass.

She's laughing. Soundless. Wild.

My reflection presses her palm against the glass from the other side, eyes glowing with triumph. Like she's been waiting for this moment forever.

Like she's proud of me.

Terror crashes into me all at once.

This wasn't an accident.

Not imagination.

This was a choice.

I force myself up and run.

Through the crowd.

Through the screams.