Tik. 뭔가가 있었어 넌.
( Tik. There was something in you. )

If she could forget everything has happened to her for the past few weeks, then everything would go back to normal. However, life is nothing like a fairy-tale. There is no happy ending. There is no one who understands completely. Everything comes at people in brutally honest and straightforward ways that it is easy to lose to lose sight of who they are. That is where Saemi stands; no, that is where Kim Hana stands.

"You're kidding," her father spoke to her, his voice deadly quiet, "What happened to you, Hana? Why didn't you carry out your mission to the end like you've always have? What changed this time?"

Hana had no words that could even begin to describe the feelings she experiences. After she left Mark and JG High behind, she loyally returned back to her father's side. Though she was afraid to tell him everything that had happened, she was able to tell him that she had, indeed, failed to fulfill the man's wishes. She wanted to defend Mark, and she wanted to tell her father that everything wasn't the way Mark's father had described Mark to be. Mark could be considerate. Mark could be a guardian. Mark could be in love with her.

But she didn't say anything. Everything that she says now would just seem like an excuse as to why she cowardly failed to take the boy's life. She knows that it is all her fault for accepting the task, and she knows that it is her fault for caving into the target. All she wants now is for eveything to come to an end. All she can do is apologize.

"I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in you," he continues to say, "How could you let the target influence you like this? You know that our targets are never good people. You know that they are always predators who are never good for society. How could you betray us, betray the people, like this? How am I supposed to report this to Mark's father? He offered us 50 million! Do you know how important this is to us? This is not how I raised you, Kim Hana!"

The man raised his hand to hit his daughter, and the she doesn't avoid it. After everything that has happened, she believes that this is her punishment, and she knows that deserves it. Her father figure took her in, and he made sure that she lived a good life. He gave her everything she ever wanted, and she promised to become loyal to him. She always carries out his orders, no matter how extreme they seemed to be. She never questioned anything.

That is, until now. Now, she questions if Mark deserves to die.

She waits for the slap that her father seemed to want to give her, but it never comes. Uncertainly, she finds some courage to look up at him. Everything came so fast. She sees the anger radiating in his actions, but she could also see the sadness that is present in his eyes. Within a second, her father spun around, rubbing his temples in frustration. Just like she was completely unsure of what to do, he was equally confused. What was he supposed to do with a daughter like her?

"I never should've taken you in," was all she hears from him, and needless to say, she couldn't feel anything but more heartbreak. What has she ever done to deserve all this abandonment?

"Please forgive me," Hana finally breathes out, barely above a whisper, "I know that this was a big case for you, and I know that I did wrong. I know that I should've taken Mark's life, but somewhere along the line, I saw him as a human being. I saw him as a person with feelings. I saw him as a boy who just does what he wants. I saw him not as Mark Tuan the psychopath, Mark Tuan the target, but just as Mark Tuan the student. You know I can't kill unreasonably, father."

But her father doesn't want to hear it, "Kim Hana, I'm warning you. Don't say anything more. If you do, then I'm seriously going to get mad. This joke has gone to far. It's not funny in the slightest."

Even without her father admitting it, Hana knows the extent of how much her father is disappointed with her. She doesn't understand why her father couldn't see things in her way. He had taken her in when she was just a baby who didn't know anything, and now here she is, his perfectly trained assassin. That was such a change on her part, so why couldn't he understand that people can become different over time? Why couldn't he understand that Mark is not the same person as he was after he met her?

Though, if she did try to defend the target, then her father would surely disown her, and she is afraid of being left behind. As a result, she says what the perfect daughter would say, "What do you want me to do in order to get your forgiveness?"

"Kill Mark Tuan," he responds, without a single moment of hesitation, "Kill Mark Tuan or I'll send someone else who will."

"YOU CAN'T!" she immediately counters without thinking, "...You can't take Mark's life. He's just a boy. All he needs is some guidance, and everything will be fine. He isn't a psychopath. He may have some psychopathic tendencies, but he isn't a true threat to anyone. He just need to be taught right from wrong! He just needs his moral compass re-adjusted. Why can't you just give him a chance? Are you really going to take his father's words? Mark never laid a hand on his mother. You heard it too! So why? Why are you doing this to him? Who are we to choose when his life ends? Father, why can't you understand?"

Every syllable that came out of was more frantic than the last. She wants her father to side with her, but she knows that it is nearly impossible to convince a man like him. It's nearly impossible, but what can she do? She can only keep trying and hope for a miracle.

"...You are not my daughter," was all the man says in response, "My daughter is loyal to me. My daughter carries out all her assigned tasks without fail. My daughter puts my needs before hers. My daughter knows that I gave her everything she has, and she only knows how to be grateful to me. My daughter is Kim Hana, and the person in front of me is not her."

"Father," Hana softens, but she is immediately interrupted.

"You have only one choice in front of you right now," he begins without having to hear what she has to say, "You can either choose to complete the mission and have everything return to normal, or you can choose to exchange your life for his. What is your decision?"

Her eyes widen in horror as she realizes what her father has asked her to choose between. On one hand, she knows that she can never lay a hand on a boy who has expressed concern for her. She recalls those times when he would pull her into a hug or the tiimes when he would smile for her. She remembers what it felt like to have his hands in hers, and she can't shake off the feeling of being comforted by him. She can't forget the emotions she felt when he told her to be who she truly is and not have anyone influence her decisions.

But at the same time, she does not want to die. She wants to continue living, and she wants to rid herself of this blood-stained life. She doesn't want to play God anymore. She doesn't want to take other people's lives into her hands, and she doesn't want to live for anyone else. She just wants to find Mark and watch him from afar. She wants to start over with him and be truthful to him for once in her life.

"Father!" Hana exclaims in disbelief that her father would put her in such a position.

"It's your life or his."

Her eyes tears up unnoticeably, and she finds her hands shaking. She isn't like any other heroine in other books or movies that people see and read about. She is just a child. She is afraid of death, and she is afraid of pain. She doesn't have what it takes to choose between her life and his life. She just wants both of them to live, but she knows that it's not possible.

Her eyes fall on her father's hands as he pulls a gun out of his long, dark coat.

...He really isn't kidding. This isn't some elaborate joke that he is pulling on her. She knows that her father would never joke about life and death like this, but no matter how much she hopes, she knows that he won't go back on his words. It really is her life or Mark's.

So with every ounce of courage she can pull from her heart, she glances up at the armed man in front of her, "...Will it hurt?"

A flash of fear was seen on her father's face as he hears her say those words. It is without a doubt that her father never expected her to choose to sacrifice her life for a target's. For a man who chose to take in a child, she knows that he feels as much emotions as she did, and to be put in a spot where he has to take his own daughter's life, that is every father's nightmare.

"What did you say?"

Hana doesn't say anything. Instead, she just let's the tears fall down her cheeks as her lips curved upwards in a sad smile. There was so much regret in the atmosphere that she doesn't know what to do. She doesn't know how to act, and she desparately hopes that something will chance. She desparately hopes that her father will take back what he had said and allow her to continue living. Unfortunately, this was her father that she was talking about, and he never goes back on his words. If he says he will take her life, then he will.

After a long pause, her father slowly regained his composure. The fear that he felt slowly become invisible, and it was replaced with a facade of newly found confidence. He lifts the gun and aims it at her, his hand slightly trembling, but not by much, "Do you have any last words?"

Hana nods, "Please don't hurt Mark. He doesn't deserve to die."

And within seconds, a loud BANG! echoed through the room. Then there was a long period of silence. It was her final hour, his last family, and Mark's ending love. Like she had wished, everything has come to an end.

"...I'm sorry, Hana."

Tik. There was a sacrifice for you.