Hierarchy : Murder Mystery ⚊ Lee Heeseung & Park Sunghoon

eleven

Hana moved through the halls of Daesung Academy with a sense of quiet determination, trying to focus on the present. Beside her, Eunchae talked about their classes, her usual bright chatter filling the air, but Hana’s mind was far from it.

The weight of everything—the mysterious clues, the secrets they were unraveling—had been lingering in the back of her thoughts all day.

She wasn’t expecting what came next.

Jake appeared in the hallway, looking frantic. He didn’t say a word, just grabbed Hana’s wrist and began dragging her away.

“Jake—what are you doing?” Hana demanded, trying to pull back, but he only tightened his grip.

“Not here,” Jake muttered through clenched teeth. “Just follow me.”

“What’s going on?” Eunchae, who had been following them, sounded just as confused as Hana.

She jogged to keep up with Jake’s hurried pace, but neither he nor Hana slowed down.

Jake led them through winding corridors until they reached his dorm. He shoved the door open and pulled Hana inside. Eunchae quickly slipped in behind them, her eyes wide with worry. But all of Hana’s protests died on her lips when her gaze landed on the figure sitting on the couch.

Sunghoon.

Her heart stopped. He was slumped over, his once-pristine appearance marred by bruises and cuts. A nasty bruise swelled over his left eye, his bottom lip was split, and scratches lined his jaw. His clothes were wrinkled, and he looked utterly defeated.

Hana’s breath hitched in her throat. The sight of Sunghoon, someone she had once known so well, now battered and beaten—it was too much.

Despite everything that had happened between them, despite the fact that it had been her decision to end things, seeing him like this made her heart twist painfully in her chest.

“Sunghoon?” she whispered, barely able to believe what she was seeing.

He slowly looked up at her, his face twisted in pain—not just from his injuries but from something deeper. Something that neither bruises nor cuts could explain.

“Hana…” His voice was hoarse, ragged. “They’ve taken Yeji. They kidnapped her.”

The words hit Hana like a punch to the gut. She took a step back, her mind spinning as the reality of what he was saying settled in. Yeji—his sister, someone he cared for deeply—was in danger. Kidnapped.

Her heart clenched, and the shock was almost too much to process.

For a brief moment, she didn’t want to care. She wanted to keep the distance between them, the distance she had created when she broke things off. But that coldness crumbled away the second she saw the look in his eyes—the desperation, the helplessness.

Without another thought, Hana rushed to his side. She knelt in front of him, her hands trembling as they reached for him.

“Sunghoon, what happened?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, trying to keep steady despite the panic rising inside her.

He shook his head, as if unable to speak. “I… I couldn’t protect her. They got to her because of me.”

Hana felt her heart break a little at his words. She reached up and gently cupped his face, brushing away some of the blood smeared on his cheek. “This isn’t your fault, Sunghoon. We’ll find her. We’ll fix this.”

Sunghoon looked at her with such raw vulnerability that it nearly undid her. He had always been the strong one, the one who could brush things off and push forward no matter what. But now, here he was, broken and exposed.