Weeks passed, but guilt clung to Hana's chest like ice.
She hadn't even opened Joonseo's last message. Her phone had become a trigger—buzzing with cruel comments, accusations, and memes made about "the heartless girl." So, she silenced it.
But something pulled her that day. Maybe it was the quiet, or the guilt, or a strange ache in her chest. She found herself in front of Joonseo's grave. The sky was a dull grey. The wind didn't hum—just howled.
She stared at the name engraved in stone. "Joonseo Lim. 2005– 2024."
Suddenely she remembered that there was message from joonseo the day before he died, Her hand trembled as she unlocked her phone, scrolling to the message app. There it was—an unread message from Joonseo.
"I want to live. Help me."
Her heart stopped.
What?
Hana's fingers trembled violently. Why hadn't she seen it? Why hadn't she opened it?
Panic rising in her chest, she did something reckless. She visited Joonseo's mother. She didn't ask—she stole. His old phone and a tattered diary.
That night, locked in her room with the curtains drawn and tears blurring her vision, she read everything.
The last page of the diary shook her to her core:
"I think it's my last day. If anyone is reading this… Jungho is next. You couldn't save me. I couldn't save myself either. But save him."
She opened the phone's call records—hidden audio recordings, encrypted folders, and a call history that showed frequent conversations with a contact named "K."
Hana clicked play on one.
A deep, unfamiliar male voice snapped: "You say a word, and I'll make sure your life becomes worse than hell. You're already halfway there, aren't you?"
Joonseo's weak voice: "Please… I won't tell anyone… just stop…"
Her lungs froze.
It wasn't suicide.
Someone made him believe death was the only option.
And now someone else was next.
Joonseo was crying for help.
And Hana… Hana was going to answer.
She wiped her tears, sat up straight, and whispered to the wind, "I'm sorry, Joonseo. But this time, I'm not going to look away."
And just like that, the fire returned—not the sunshine kind, but a storm.
Hana was no longer the free spirit who floated through life.
She was the storm who was going to burn the lies of the world down.
To be continued…