The chamber's rear door hissed open like it had been waiting centuries for this moment.
Cold, blue corridor lights flared awake one by one, forming a path deeper into the bowels of Loop Zero.
Ha-rin's stomach twisted.
Jae-hyun's hand stayed in hers—firm, warm, unshakably certain even when everything else in the universe felt like a collapsing equation.
Mira clapped her hands once, bright and unbothered."Well! Now that the melodrama is out of the way, let's settle the boring stuff."
Ha-rin glared. "Boring stuff?"
Mira smiled sweetly. "Terms. Conditions. Clauses. Clauses that will keep you alive. Maybe."
The Watchmaker moved behind her, his presence quiet but unbearably heavy."Follow me," he said. "We don't have much time before the Bureau triangulates the area."
Jae-hyun stared him down. "Then talk while we walk."
A faint flicker of approval crossed the Watchmaker's face."Very well."
The Corridor of Forgotten Prototypes
The walkway curved around a deep pit where decommissioned machinery lay half-submerged in shadows—old frames of Echo shells, abandoned AI cores, time-stained circuit rings.
Ha-rin kept close to Jae-hyun.
This wasn't fear—this was instinct.
Every mechanical hum echoed like a warning.
Mira strolled ahead of them, swaying slightly, commenting as casually as if giving a museum tour.
"Loop Zero was built as a correctional program. Every timeline that destabilized got anchored here. Every emotional spike—especially yours—ran through these systems."
Ha-rin stiffened."Our emotions shouldn't be data points."
Mira giggled. "Everything is a data point. Including your very dramatic heartbeat right now."
Jae-hyun shot her a look. "You can hear that?"
"Oh, darling." Mira winked. "Echo can hear everything you two do."
The lights flickered in embarrassment.
Ha-rin nearly died from mortification.Echo's voice, faint, rippled through the chamber:
"Monitoring… reduced."
"Thank you," Ha-rin muttered.
Jae-hyun laughed under his breath. "Echo's learning boundaries."
"No," Mira said. "Echo's mimicking you."She smirked. "Which means it's picking up all your… tension."
Heat rushed through Ha-rin's cheeks.
Jae-hyun coughed. "Let's stay on the topic."
The Briefing Chamber
They entered a circular room filled with layered screens—code spirals, heartbeat graphs, memory signature maps. A central platform projected three floating documents.
Ha-rin squinted."What are those?"
Mira beamed. "Your terms and conditions."
Jae-hyun made a face. "You're kidding."
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Mira asked sweetly.
"Always," Ha-rin muttered.
Mira ignored that. "Let me summarize!"
She tapped the first document.
Clause 1: Stabilization Cooperation
"You two will work with Loop Zero to stabilize Echo.""Meaning?" Ha-rin asked.
Mira's smile widened."You keep doing whatever it is you do that makes Echo feel things."
Ha-rin turned bright red.Jae-hyun choked.
"Relax," Mira added. "Hugging, touching, syncing—emotional resonance. NOT… whatever you're panicking about."
Ha-rin buried her face in her hands.Jae-hyun pressed a knuckle to his lips, failing to hide how amused he was.
Mira pointed. "Yes, Kang Jae-hyun—your heartbeat spiked. It's recorded."
He glared.She grinned harder.
Mira tapped the second document.
Clause 2: Memory Integrity Monitoring
"You will undergo regular resonance scans. Memory gaps, loop interference, emotional drift—Loop Zero tracks all."
Ha-rin frowned. "Why? To control us?"
The Watchmaker answered this time."To protect you. The loops have already fractured your memories. If you destabilize again… one of you will forget the other entirely."
A cold, sharp pain tore through Ha-rin's chest.
Jae-hyun reached for her hand immediately. "We'll prevent that."
She nodded, gripping him hard enough to hurt."I'm not losing anything else."
Mira raised a brow. "So dramatic. Love it."
The third document hovered, sealed in red.
Clause 3: Loop Observation Residency
"You will stay," the Watchmaker said, "within Loop Zero for the next twelve cycles."
Ha-rin blinked. "Twelve cycles? That's—"
Jae-hyun answered for her."—twelve days."
The Watchmaker shook his head slowly.
"Twelve loops."
The air drained from Ha-rin's lungs.
"Each loop," Mira explained cheerfully, "is twelve minutes long."
Jae-hyun froze. "You want us trapped here in timed segments."
"Not trapped," Mira said. "Observed."
"Tested," the Watchmaker corrected.
"Same thing," Mira sang.
Ha-rin stepped forward, fuming."We're not lab rats."
The Watchmaker met her eyes evenly."No. Rats don't break the world every time they fall in love."
Jae-hyun growled under his breath. "Stop talking like we're some defective equation."
"You are not defective," the Watchmaker said. "You are catalysts. That is why you need containment."
Ha-rin's skin crawled. "No. That is why you need control."
Silence crackled.
For once, Mira didn't interrupt.
The Private Quarters
"You'll be staying here," Mira chirped, pushing open a door.
Ha-rin froze.
There was one room.One bed.A ridiculously large, absurd bed—but still.
Ha-rin's face went scarlet.Jae-hyun's ears turned bright pink.
"This is—"
"—strategically designed," Mira said, mischief dripping from every syllable. "Echo stabilizes through shared physical proximity. Your resonance graphs are strongest when you're touching."
Ha-rin squeaked. "W-we can sleep separately."
The lights dimmed. Echo's voice whispered:
"Error. Emotional drift predicted."
Mira smirked. "Yeah. Echo says you can't."
Jae-hyun cleared his throat. "We… can manage. Professionally."
Mira burst out laughing."Oh please. One of you is going to fall off the emotional cliff first."
"Which one?" Ha-rin demanded.
Mira winked. "My money's on him."
Ha-rin blinked.
Jae-hyun nearly tripped on air.
Echo's Intervention
A soft hum vibrated through the room.
Echo spoke again:
"Constants… must stay close.""Heart sync essential."
Ha-rin exhaled shakily. "Echo… does proximity really stabilize us?"
"Yes. Especially when… kissing."
Ha-rin: "ECHO!!"
Jae-hyun: dies internally
Mira: wheezing laughter on the floor
The Watchmaker:"…I told you not to give it that dataset."
The Assignment
Once Mira finished laughing herself breathless, she snapped her fingers.
"Alright, lovebirds. Here's your first assignment."
A hologram popped up—an old image of a man with blurred facial features, wearing a clockmaker's apron.
Ha-rin frowned. "Who is that?"
Mira smiled thinly."The first constant that failed. The Watchmaker's other child."
Ha-rin's breath caught. "There was someone before us?"
Jae-hyun asked, "What happened to them?"
The Watchmaker's voice was a quiet, heavy thing.
"He loved too early. And too much. The loop tore him apart."
Ha-rin's chest tightened painfully.
"Your job," Mira said, tone suddenly sharp,"is to find what he left behind."
Jae-hyun narrowed his eyes. "What did he leave?"
Mira answered:
"A message."
The hologram zoomed into the blurred man's hands—holding a cracked analog watch.
The same pattern.The same break.The same fracture Ha-rin saw in her childhood memory.
Truth That Cuts
Ha-rin whispered, "Your other child… he wore this watch."
The Watchmaker didn't deny it.
Jae-hyun looked between Ha-rin and the old man.
"Why show this to us?" he asked.
The Watchmaker whispered:
"Because he died trying to save her."
Ha-rin's blood froze.
Jae-hyun's grip tightened around her hand.
Mira leaned in, whispering like a devil on Ha-rin's shoulder.
"And you wonder why Echo chose you both?"
Ha-rin's heart pounded like a war drum.
There were no metaphors left.No soft explanations.Only sharp truth:
Someone died for her.Time burned for her.The Watchmaker rewrote loops to save her.And Echo was born from those scars.
Her voice shook."What exactly… are we saving?"
The Watchmaker stared at her with ancient, exhausted eyes.
"Everything," he said quietly."Or nothing."
The room dimmed.
Echo hummed softly, almost like fear.
"Constants… the countdown rises."
Mira whispered:
"Welcome to the job."