CHAPTER 26: Cracks in the Ice Prince

For days, Hana buried herself in files.

Digging.Probing.Tracing every dirty dollar tied to Jung Woo-sik.

She would destroy him.

Piece by piece.

But her obsession didn't go unnoticed.

"You're spiraling, Hana," Min-ho said one night, cornering her in the study.

"Good. Let me spiral into his destruction," she snapped.

Min-ho's jaw clenched."You're letting him live rent-free in your head."

"You wouldn't understand," she hissed.

"I do."His voice cracked.

Hana blinked. She had never heard Kang Min-ho sound... human.

He walked to the window, his silhouette drenched in moonlight.

"When I was thirteen," Min-ho said slowly, "I found my mother in the bathroom.She'd slit her wrists because of them."

Them.

His own family.

"My father told me to bury it. To smile for the cameras.Pretend the Kang name was clean."

Hana's breath caught.

"You think I became this cold because I want to be?It's the only way to survive in this house, Hana."

The silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.

Hana approached him, placing a hesitant hand on his back.

"Then let's stop surviving, Min-ho," she whispered."Let's start winning."

Min-ho turned, their faces inches apart.

For once, there was no mask.

No walls.

Only scars.

"Then burn them with me, Seo Hana," he whispered.

Her lips curled.

"Gladly."

From that night on, they were no longer two broken people.

They were a weapon.

And Woo-sik was their first target.