Hana stared at the page, her fingers trembling as the letters of M’s real name, *Daniel Kwon*, stared back at her, inked in the eerie glow of the Soul Ledger. She could feel the Ledger’s unnatural pull, its power humming beneath her fingertips. Her heart raced as her mind spun with the implications of what she had just done.
There was no going back now.
“Daniel Kwon...” she whispered his name aloud, as though saying it might make her actions more real. “Is this... the only way?”
The weight of the Soul Ledger had been bearing down on her for weeks, but now, with M’s—Daniel’s—name freshly written in its pages, she felt something different. A sense of inevitability. There was no denying that M had become the most mysterious figure in her life, a constant source of doubt, no matter how trustworthy he appeared on the surface. But was this the right choice? Had she condemned an innocent man?
The questions haunted her as the seconds ticked by.
In the stillness of her room, Hana’s phone buzzed on the desk, snapping her out of her reverie. She glanced at it, her stomach knotting. It was M—or rather, Daniel—calling. She hesitated for a moment, her hand hovering over the phone, unsure if she should answer.
*Does he already know?* she wondered, a chill creeping up her spine. She forced herself to breathe, trying to suppress the panic rising in her chest.
With a quick swipe of her finger, she answered the call.
“Hana?” M’s voice was calm, almost too calm. “I just wanted to check in. You seemed… off earlier. Are you alright?”
Hana swallowed, her throat dry. “I’m fine,” she lied, her voice sounding shaky even to her own ears. “Just… thinking about everything. This case. The Ledger. It’s all a bit overwhelming.”
“Understandable,” M replied, his tone soothing, but Hana couldn’t help but wonder if there was an edge to it. “It’s not easy, balancing all of this. But you’re handling it well. We all rely on you, Hana. We trust you.”
Hana’s hand clenched the phone tightly. *Trust?* How could he say that? Did he suspect anything? Her mind raced as she listened to him speak.
“I trust you too,” she forced out, her voice barely above a whisper. The words felt hollow, a shadow of what they once meant.
A pause hung in the air, stretching longer than it should have. Hana could feel M listening, the weight of his silence pressing down on her.
“Hana, if there’s something bothering you, you can talk to me,” M said finally, his voice lowering, almost as if he was coaxing the truth out of her. “We’re a team. You don’t have to carry everything alone.”
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Hana felt a pang of guilt. She had written his name in the Ledger, and here he was, offering his support, his trust. The room seemed to close in around her as her heart pounded in her chest.
“I... I appreciate that,” she stammered. “It’s just... this case. It’s taking a toll on me.”
“I understand,” M replied. “We’re getting close, though. Soon, we’ll have answers.”
His words felt like a promise, but Hana wasn’t sure if she believed it anymore. *Would he say that if he knew what I just did?*
After a few more minutes of idle conversation, Hana managed to end the call. She stared at the phone for a long moment after hanging up, her fingers still gripping it as if it were a lifeline. Then, slowly, she placed it back on the desk.
Her gaze shifted back to the Soul Ledger. The page where M’s name was written seemed to glow faintly in the dim light, an ominous reminder of the irreversible decision she had made. Her fingers hovered over the edge of the Ledger, the weight of it still suffocating her.
“What now?” she whispered to herself, her voice trembling. “What happens next?”
She knew the answer, or at least, she thought she did. According to the rules of the Ledger, once someone’s name was written, the person would die within 24 hours. But the Ledger was far from straightforward. There were so many variables, so many rules and consequences that Hana didn’t fully understand. Would it really be that simple?
Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock on her door. Hana’s heart leapt into her throat, and she quickly shut the Ledger, sliding it under a stack of papers on her desk.
The door creaked open, and a familiar face peeked in—Agent Park, one of the junior members of the task force. His expression was neutral, but there was something in his eyes that made Hana uneasy.
“Hana,” he said, stepping inside. “M—uh, Daniel—wants us to meet in the conference room. There’s been a development.”
Hana’s stomach churned. *Already?* She nodded, rising from her chair and trying to keep her composure. “I’ll be right there.”
As Agent Park disappeared back into the hallway, Hana grabbed her jacket and took one last glance at the Soul Ledger, still hidden beneath the papers. *What if I’ve made a mistake?*
She pushed the thought aside as best she could and made her way to the conference room. The hallway felt longer than usual, each step echoing in her ears like a countdown to something inevitable. By the time she reached the door, her palms were slick with sweat, and her heart was pounding so loudly that it drowned out the sounds around her.
She stepped inside, her eyes immediately locking onto M—no, Daniel—who was standing at the head of the table. His expression was as calm and composed as ever, though Hana couldn’t help but feel there was something different in the way he looked at her now.
“We’ve identified a new lead,” Daniel said, addressing the team. “It’s thin, but it might take us one step closer to uncovering the radical group’s movements.”
Hana sat down, barely listening as Daniel laid out the details of the latest development. Her mind was elsewhere, still reeling from the weight of what she had done.
But then Daniel’s eyes met hers, and for a split second, something passed between them—something unspoken, something that made Hana’s blood run cold.
Did he know?
“Hana,” Daniel said, his voice steady. “You’ll be leading the next phase of the operation. I trust you can handle it.”
Hana nodded slowly, her throat tight. “Of course,” she managed, her voice barely audible.
As the meeting continued, Hana’s mind kept returning to the Ledger. She had written his name, sealed his fate. But as she sat there, watching him speak with the same confidence and authority as always, she couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe, M had seen this coming all along.
And if he had—what would that mean for her?