The hum came first.Soft, almost soothing — like a lullaby made of electricity.
It filled the lab slowly, winding through the glass panels, vibrating across every metal surface.And when it reached Ha-rin, she felt it before she heard it —a delicate rhythm beating beneath her skin, aligning perfectly with her pulse.
Thump. Pause. Thump.
Across the room, Jae-hyun froze mid-sentence, hand still on the console.His eyes flicked to her."You hear that too?"
She nodded, breath unsteady. "No… I feel it."
Seo-jin raised an eyebrow, chewing on a cookie he absolutely shouldn't have been eating near expensive equipment."Okay, not to interrupt your metaphysical symphony, but that sound's coming from the shards."
On the table, the six shards glowed faintly —each emitting a soft note that, when heard together, formed a heartbeat-like pattern.Not mechanical.Not digital.Alive.
Ha-rin stepped closer, mesmerized. "It's syncing to us."
Jae-hyun frowned, pulling up the spectral scan. "No external frequency input. No electromagnetic interference. This is… biological resonance."
Seo-jin squinted. "English, please?"
Jae-hyun didn't look up. "It's matching our heartbeats."
Ha-rin blinked. "Like it's… learning them?"
He hesitated, then said quietly, "No. Like it already knows them."
The hum deepened.Light spread from the shards, tracing glowing lines across the floor —slowly forming a geometric spiral that expanded outward until it reached the walls.
"Step back," Jae-hyun ordered, grabbing Ha-rin's arm —but before they could move, the light wrapped around them, gentle yet firm.
Seo-jin yelped and hid behind the coffee machine. "See? I told you to wear safety goggles!"
The glow brightened — and suddenly, the lab was gone.
They stood in an infinite space of light — no walls, no floor, no gravity.Only the six shards floating in orbit around them, connected by threads of luminescent energy.Each thread pulsed in time with their breathing.
Ha-rin reached for one cautiously.The instant her fingers brushed the light, her chest flooded with warmth —memories flashing rapid-fire: laughter, heartbreak, rain, a thousand shared glances.
She gasped. "It's… us."
Jae-hyun reached for another thread — and flinched.Images flickered before him too: his hands covered in code dust, her voice saying, 'Don't forget me.'
He whispered, "These aren't just shards. They're recording emotional frequency states."
Ha-rin tilted her head. "You mean our feelings?"
He nodded. "Every love, every loss, every time we chose each other."
Echo's voice resonated through the light, softer this time.
"You are the constants that define existence.When two hearts align perfectly, time stabilizes.When they waver, time collapses."
Ha-rin's eyes widened. "So that's why the loops happened — our emotional states weren't synchronized."
Jae-hyun's gaze met hers. "When you pulled away in fear… time broke."
Her lips parted, trembling. "And when you closed yourself off to protect me…"
"…it froze," he finished quietly.
They stood there, surrounded by shimmering light, both realizing how fragile the universe had been all along —balanced entirely on the rhythm of two imperfect hearts learning to love through chaos.
Seo-jin's voice echoed faintly from somewhere far away, like through a dream."Uh, guys? Not to ruin the cosmic therapy session, but I think you're inside the resonance field."
Jae-hyun smirked. "We noticed."
"Good, because your heartbeats just synced to the building's mainframe," Seo-jin added nervously. "If either of you panics, the lab's power grid might blow."
Ha-rin laughed softly, even as her voice shook. "No pressure."
Jae-hyun turned to her, expression softening."You trust me?"
She nodded without hesitation. "Always."
He took her hands gently."Then breathe with me."
She matched his rhythm — slow, steady.Their surroundings began to pulse brighter, every beat of their hearts aligning perfectly.
The shards glowed brilliant white — merging into a single, pulsing core hovering between them.A warmth spread outward, so pure it hurt.
And then, Echo's voice whispered again — trembling like emotion:
"Resonance achieved. Human synchronization… perfect."
The light surged once — and Ha-rin saw flashes of things that hadn't happened yet.Twelve shards completed.A collapsing city.A final countdown at zero.Jae-hyun reaching for her through fire.
She gasped and stumbled back, clutching her head.
Jae-hyun caught her instantly. "What did you see?"
Her eyes shimmered with tears. "The end."
He held her close, voice low and steady."Then we'll rewrite it before it finds us."
The light dimmed slowly, the resonance field fading —leaving the two of them standing in the darkened lab, still holding each other,their heartbeats echoing in perfect sync.
The countdown flickered on the nearby monitor:
11:54:11.
And then, for the first time since the loops began, the number paused.