The air felt heavy that night too heavy for a girl who had carried too much for too long.
A thin veil of electric tension clung to the riverbank, the kind that warned you something was about to break, inside or outside.
Harin stood at the edge of the Han River, her shoulders trembling, her eyes blurred with tears she couldn't even feel anymore.
The city lights rippled on the dark surface below, trembling just like her heartbeat.
Everything was quiet too quiet.
A silence so thick it felt like the moment right before lightning splits the sky in two.
And in that silence… a voice echoed inside her mind.
A gentle, unfamiliar whisper she could never fully grasp, like a dream slipping between her fingers.
"You're a flower… even if you're hurt.
And flowers bloom again. Always."
His words his voice had stayed with her , like a ghost she never met but somehow remembered.
Yet tonight, the darkness inside her felt louder than any memory.
A sharp scream tore through the night.
Harin froze.
It wasn't hers, yet it pierced her bones, sliding down her spine like ice water.
The wind picked up, violent and sudden, as if trying to push her toward some invisible edge.
She barely had time to take a breath.
Then everything tilted.
Two silhouettes slipped.
Two bodies fell.
The river swallowed them whole.
Cold.
A brutal, knife-like cold that cut through skin, flesh, and bone.
Her breath died instantly.
Her thoughts scattered.
The world shrank into darkness and water and fear.
Under the surface, sound didn't exist.
There was only panic.
The desperate punch of her heartbeat.
The instinct to fight for air for life for anything.
Jahoon had run faster than ever in his life.
"HARIN!!!"
His voice cracked as he sprinted toward the riverbank, lungs burning, legs shaking.
A thousand memories collided in his mind at once him and Harin chasing each other through the garden, laughing until they couldn't breathe, sharing secrets under the summer sun, protecting each other from everything… except this.
He saw her silhouette by the water.
He saw the tremble in her hands.
He saw the way her body leaned forward, surrendering to a storm only she could see.
And he panicked.
He truly believed she was ending her life.
He leaped.
He reached out.
His fingers brushed her hand
Then the ground shifted, slick with moisture.
They fell together.
When they resurfaced, both were gasping, shivering violently, caught between the world of the living and the pull of the river.
Harin's scream ripped out of her like something raw and broken inside her chest.
"Why me?! WHY?!"
Her sobs shook her whole body.
"I didn't do anything wrong! Why this illness?! Why did my life fall apart?! Why did God do this to me?! I never hurt anyone… I wouldn't even kill an ant… I was just a child, jahoon… I only tried to help…"
Her voice cracked, dissolved, drowned in tears.
Jahoon pulled her into his arms, tightening his grip as if he could hold her soul together with his hands alone.
She trembled violently, each sob like a wound reopening.
"I'm here, Harin. I'm here," he whispered, voice shaking with his own fear.
"You're not alone. You never were.
And one day , one day you'll heal. I swear it."
Silence fell.
Then, in a faint breath, she admitted:
"I just… I want my old life back.
No medicine.
No masks.
No pretending I'm okay.
I'm tired, jahoon… I'm so tired."
Jahoon cupped her cheeks gently, forcing her to meet his gaze.
"Then listen to me.
We start small, okay?
Tomorrow, I'll teach you boxing.
Not to fight someone…
but to free everything you're holding inside.
Your anger, your fear, your pain
you'll turn all of it into strength.
I promise."
For years, Harin had carried guilt like a shadow.
If only she hadn't trusted that person.
If only she hadn't reached out.
If only she hadn't been so naïve… so kind.
But now she knew the truth.
She didn't deserve what happened.
She didn't break herself , someone else did.
And every tear she had shed since then had rebuilt parts of her the world tried to destroy.
She wasn't ruined.
She was reborn.
Back home, exhaustion clung to her like a second skin.
Her clothes were soaked, her limbs weak, but Jahoon didn't leave her side.
In the living room, he set up a small improvised training space ,soft gloves, a hanging sandbag, towels, warm tea.
Harin hesitated.
Her arms shook.
Her stance was awkward.
But her first punch changed everything.
One hit.
Then another.
And another.
Each blow broke a chain she didn't know she still wore.
She wasn't fighting the bag.
She was fighting her past.
The next day at the university, Harin crossed paths with Jisoo.
Her chest tightened.
Her secrets felt heavier than her backpack.
She couldn't live like this anymore.
"Jisoo… I need to talk to you," she said quietly, voice trembling.
"I need to tell you everything."
Jisoo stopped.
Listened.
Waited.
And Harin spoke , really spoke.
About the poison.
About the fear.
About the nights she stayed awake wondering if she would survive.
About the silence that suffocated her more than the illness ever did.
When she finished, Jisoo gently placed her hand on Harin's.
"Harin… they poisoned me too.
In my food.
I went through the same nightmare.
But I found a way out."
Harin's breath hitched.
"A way out?"
"Yes," Jisoo whispered.
"Purification."
Harin froze.
Hope, tiny but alive ,lit up inside her chest for the first time in years.
Maybe this time… there was an end.
Maybe there really was a light waiting for her.
Somewhere at the end of the tunnel.
a girl who had been drowning for too long, finally seeing a spark at the end of her darkness.
A spark that might save her.