---
Chapter 3: The Red Journal and the Silver Blade
It was almost midnight.
Jae Li sat cross-legged on her bedroom floor, surrounded by scribbled notes, half-torn photos, and old memories that wouldn't stay still. In the center lay her red journal—her lifeline to the future that should never happen.
Park Tae Jin.
The name glowed under her desk lamp like a warning.
She remembered his voice—smooth, fake. His smile—cold. Back then, he'd been two years above her, a golden boy everyone loved. But he had a secret. He ran things behind the school: money, threats, connections to dangerous people. He hated Han Wook.
Because Han Wook had stood up to him.
"Why didn't I see it earlier?" she whispered, tapping her pen against the page. "He was never just a bully. He was planning something."
A sharp knock startled her.
She shoved the journal under her pillow and opened the door.
Han Wook.
Standing there.
In the dark.
"Why are you here?" she asked, clutching her sweater.
"You said something earlier… about me dying."
She hesitated. "I was just joking."
His expression hardened. "You're a terrible liar."
Jae Li looked away.
He stepped closer, gaze intense. "Are you scared of something?"
"No," she whispered. "I'm scared of everything."
Silence.
Then he said something unexpected: "Do you want to know why I got the scar on my eyebrow?"
She looked up. "Why?"
"I tried to stop a fight. It didn't work."
Her breath hitched.
That fight. That was the start of everything. She hadn't known then. Now, it felt like fate had drawn a red thread between them.
She stepped aside. "Come in."
As he walked into her room, the red journal under her pillow pulsed like a heartbeat.
Outside, the wind shook the trees, and petals flew past her window.
Everything had changed.
But the real storm hadn't started yet.
---
To be continued in Chapter 4: The Scar That Shouldn't Exist