The world flickered—once,twice,then snapped into place like a trap slamming shut.
Loop 2 had begun.
But something was wrong.
Ha-rin felt it before she opened her eyes.
The air was warm.Too warm.
Jae-hyun's breath was on her neck.His arm was around her waist.
"Wait—"
She jolted.
Jae-hyun blinked awake beside her, hair messy, voice low and rough.
"Ha-rin—? Are you okay?"
She stared.
They were lying togetherin a small attic roomon a soft mattresscovered in blanketslike a secret hideaway for two kids hiding from the world.
Warm.Safe.Familiar.
Ha-rin's heart slammed.
"I… I know this place…"
Jae-hyun looked around, confused.
"I don't," he murmured.
That was the first warning.
This loop wasn't built from their memories.
It was built from hers—from something she never sharedand never wanted to remember.
Echo materialized faintly in the corner, voice shaky.
"Warning… counterconstant controls this loop…""Memory reconstruction unauthorized…"
Mira's voice crackled over the comms.
"Ha-rin, where are you? We can't see your feed—everything's—"
Static swallowed her.
Ha-rin felt her skin crawl.
The attic window creaked—and the breeze carried a scent she recognized:jasmine and smoke.
Her breath stopped.
"No," she whispered."Please—no."
Jae-hyun touched her face.
"Ha-rin? What are we seeing?"
Her voice cracked.
"This…this is the night of the fire."
Jae-hyun froze.
The room seemed to breathe.
Shadows crawled along the walls.
And from the far corner—a voice spoke softly, almost lovingly:
"Harin-ah…""Come out."
Jae-hyun's entire body went rigid.
He pulled her behind him instantly, protective instincts flaring.
"That's him," he said quietly."That's Haneul."
Ha-rin shook violently."No—no—this isn't real— this was years ago—"
"But he made it real," Jae-hyun whispered.
A silhouette stepped into the light.
Haneul.
Not the glitching shadow from before—but a boy around eighteen, soft-eyed, warm, gentle—the way she remembered him in the fragments before everything burned.
Her vision blurred.
He walked toward her slowly,expression full of grief and longing.
Ha-rin stepped back instinctively—Jae-hyun's grip tightening around her waist.
Haneul stopped just a few feet away.
His voice trembled.
"Harin-ah… you remember this night."
She shook her head.
"No. No, I buried it—"
His tone softened further.
"I carried you down those stairs. You wouldn't stop crying."
Flashes hit her—tiny hands clutching a shirta boy shielding her from flameshis body burninghis voice whispering "don't be scared."
Ha-rin collapsed to her knees, gasping.
Jae-hyun caught her before she hit the floor.
"Don't look at him," he whispered."Look at me. Only me."
Haneul's jaw clenched.
He knelt too—only inches away.
"Why can't you remember ME?"
Pain ripped through her.
"I tried," she whispered.
Haneul looked devastated.
"You remembered HIM," he said, glaring at Jae-hyun."But not me."
Jae-hyun held Ha-rin carefully.
"She didn't choose to forget you," he said quietly."She survived. Sometimes survival erases things."
Haneul's expression twisted.
"She was MY constant first."
Jae-hyun's voice hardened.
"And she is HERSELF now."He pulled Ha-rin into his chest, shielding her."She's not your replacement. She's not mine. She's her own truth."
Haneul's eyes burned with grief—and something sharper.
"If she stayed with me, she would've lived a peaceful life."
Jae-hyun met his gaze squarely.
"She didn't stay in the fire with you. She came back to the world. To me. To her life."
Haneul stood slowly.
"Then prove it," he whispered.
The attic dissolved—walls turning to smoke—floor to floating ash.
Only Ha-rin, Jae-hyun, and Haneul remained suspended in a void of memory and flame.
Haneul raised his hand—and Ha-rin felt her pulse hitch.
"If you truly love her," he said,"follow me into the memory she never dared to revisit."
Jae-hyun didn't hesitate.
"Where?"
"Her deepest loss."
Ha-rin trembled violently.
"No—Jae-hyun—don't—"
He wiped her tears gently.
"I'm with you. Even in the memories that scare you."
Haneul watched, pained.
He whispered into the void:
"Let's see who she clings to… in the moment she almost died."
The world shattered—
and the next loop beganwith flames risingand a child's scream ringing through time.