November 22, 2024.
Seoul.
The sharp scrape of ice blades sliced through the silence of the vast skating rink that night, just before the background music began to play from the arena's speakers.
Choi Beom Jun, aged thirty-five, glided effortlessly across the ice like a feather drifting in the wind, his expression profoundly calm as he performed a series of figure skating choreographies.
The mercury lamps' glow reflected softly off the ice's surface, casting a silvery light that enveloped his body and making him appear more beautiful than anything else. Even if people were to see him now, they would likely think they were witnessing an angel dancing upon a grand stage.
Even when he performed only the simplest basic movements, everything appeared nearly perfect.
In the next second, he went into an upright spin, turning faster and sharper, before transitioning into a combo with a sit spin and rotating several more times.
However, as he performed the sit spin, Beom Jun's expression shifted to one of pain; his jaw tightened and he clenched his teeth firmly. He felt a stabbing pain radiating from within his right knee joint, which was supporting his entire weight, making it nearly impossible for him to maintain his balance.
In the end, he could only manage fewer than six rotations of the sit spin before standing up and gliding across the ice once more.
...
Kang Tae Rin, aged thirty-four, sat in a dimly lit corner of the stands, far beyond the reach of the lights. She wore a heavy jacket and a knitted scarf that covered half of her face.
Yet, despite wearing thick clothing, her body continued to shiver. She trembled not only because the arena's temperature had reached freezing point, but because she was enduring a piercing pain in her chest.
Tae Rin stared toward the center of the rink, at the spot where Beom Jun continued to dance gracefully across the ice.
There was no one else there besides herself and Beom Jun. She had arrived before Beom Jun and hidden for a moment before he entered the ice rink, for she knew that if Beom Jun saw her there, he might decide against figure skating and choose to leave rather than look at Tae Rin's face.
That was the extent of Beom Jun's hatred toward her.
Tae Rin only wanted to see Beom Jun figure skate. Because in her eyes, Beom Jun dancing on the ice was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen, the one that made her admire him so deeply and that she could never possibly forget.
"He is so beautiful," she whispered, gazing at Beom Jun with absolute admiration in her eyes.
Suddenly, she felt a lump in her throat, a sensation so itchy and agonizing.
"Cough! Cough!" Tae Rin covered her mouth with her palm, her coughs not particularly loud, as they were muffled by the music from the arena's speakers accompanying Beom Jun's practice.
Her chest felt searing hot, as if her internal organs were being scorched by glowing embers. She had to wait a few moments for the heat to subside slightly before finally pulling her palm away from her mouth.
She stared at her palm with a glazed vacant look; there, upon his pale skin, lay three white Camellia petals stained with spots of fresh blood.
The petals looked beautiful, yet the metallic scent of blood clinging to them was overwhelming.
Hanahaki.
A disease born of unrequited one-sided love, or more accurately, a disease born of loving someone's hatred. The disease she once dismissed as mere nonsense was becoming more brutal by the day, agonizing her body.
She still couldn't believe she truly suffered from a condition that existed only in the fiction she often read. She thought such a disease was impossible in the real world, as it seemed inconceivable for plants like flowers to grow inside a human body, let alone within internal organs.
There was no scientific evidence or research to prove this phenomenon; no journals or information from any scientist ever mentioned it. From any perspective, Hanahaki disease would always seem like nothing more than a fairy tale.
Yet in the end, that thought was utterly wrong. She could no longer deny it after experiencing it for herself.
Down below, Beom Jun finally stopped gliding and stood in the center of the rink, panting heavily; white plumes of his warm breath drifted into the air, caught in the cold draft from the ice beneath his feet.
He looked up toward the darkest part of the stands. His gaze instantly turned sharp and filled with hatred the moment he spotted Tae Rin's figure there.
Beom Jun's voice rang out sharp and piercing, echoing through every corner of the arena. "What are you doing there?!"
Tae Rin flinched; she quickly hid the three petals in her jacket pocket, wiped the traces of blood from the corner of her lips, and struggled to stand even though her legs felt weak.
She walked slowly toward the edge of the rink's barrier, trying to force a faint smile onto her pale face as her large round eyes sparkled while gazing at Beom Jun.
"Senior, your practice was incredible," Tae Rin said in a hoarse voice.
Beom Jun glided closer to the barrier before stopping right in front of Tae Rin. He didn't return the compliment; instead, he looked Tae Rin up and down with a condescending glare.
Receiving no response from Beom Jun, Tae Rin spoke again. "You look so happy when you're dancing on the ice."
"Happy?" Beom Jun retorted in a cold voice. "I would be even happier if I didn't have to see that jinx of a face of yours."
Tae Rin fell silent upon hearing those words; it felt as if a rope were tightening around her throat, agonizingly painful.
"No need to put on that damn innocent act of yours, you make me sick."
Beom Jun reached out, grabbed Tae Rin's scarf, and pulled it roughly. "Do you want to know what else makes me the happiest in this world?"
Tae Rin held her breath, her large clear eyes staring into Beom Jun's cold irises while she fought the choking sensation in her throat from the way Beom Jun was pulling at her scarf.
"Watching you die right before my eyes."
The atmosphere fell silent immediately after Beom Jun said that; even the music from the arena speakers had faded away, making Beom Jun's next words sound hauntingly clearer.
"Die, Kang Tae Rin..." Beom Jun continued in a low voice. "Die and disappear; then, I will become the happiest person in this world."
Beom Jun released the scarf with a jerk that sent Tae Rin staggering backward. Without a second thought for Tae Rin's condition, which looked even paler than before, Beom Jun turned his back and just walked away.
Once Beom Jun's back disappeared behind the wall, Tae Rin's body slumped to the cold concrete floor, her hand clutching her left chest as the pain grew sharper.
There, deep within her chest, she could feel the flower roots pulsing stronger, wrapping tighter around her heart as Beom Jun's words continued to echo in her head.
"Die."
"Disappear."
"Die, Kang Tae Rin."
She could only let out a groan of agony, mingled with stifled suffocating sobs; she felt as if she were being strangled, and her whimpers were the only sound that echoed through the silent ice arena.
Tae Rin leaned her head against the guardrail, gasping for breath; she stared at the three blood-stained petals once more, trying to compose herself. She swallowed with great difficulty and closed her eyes.
"Die."
"Die."
"Die, Kang Tae Rin."
To Be Continued...