The world slammed back into existence with a roar of flames.
Not metaphorical flames.Not Echo-generated light.But fire—real, hungry, crawling up wallslike a living creature swallowing the night.
Ha-rin's lungs seized.
Smoke filled her throat.Heat wrapped around her like hands.
She staggered.
Jae-hyun caught her instantly."Ha-rin—HEY—look at me—"
But she couldn't.Not here.Not in this memory.
The fire.The screaming.The night everything broke.
And from the burning doorway—a voice called softly:
"Harin-ah… come here."
Haneul stepped through the flames—burned at the edgesbut whole.
A boy with ash in his hairand grief in his eyesand love that had never faded.
Ha-rin shook.
Jae-hyun felt her body weaken against him and lowered his forehead to hers, grounding her with warm breath.
"You're safe," he whispered."This isn't real. It's a loop."
But Ha-rin whispered back, voice cracking:
"No… this part was real."
The Memory Unfolds
The house trembled.
Children's drawings on the wall curled in the heat.Glass cracked.A single stuffed rabbit lay on the floor, half-burned.
Ha-rin stared at it.
"I remember that bunny," she whispered."He… he saved it first. Before he saved me."
The memory echoed—Haneul clutching the toy, coughing through the smoke,crawling on the floor to reach the tiny girl she once was.
Jae-hyun looked at her softly.
"That was kind of him."
"No," Haneul said sharply."I wasn't kind. I was responsible."
He stepped forward.
"When the fire started… your parents weren't home. I was the one babysitting you."
Ha-rin gasped.Jae-hyun's breath stilled.
That detail had never surfaced.Not in any loop.Not in any scan.
No wonder Haneul still clung to her—his guilt was built into every heartbeat.
Ha-rin whispered, "You… you must have been terrified."
Haneul's jaw clenched."I wasn't scared of burning. I was scared of losing you."
The fire brightened around him—as if echoing his emotion.
Jae-hyun shifted his stance, moving closer behind Ha-rin.
"That doesn't mean you can pull her back into the past," he said quietly.
Haneul's eyes flicked to him.
"You weren't there. You didn't hear her scream."
Jae-hyun stepped closer, protective but calm.
"And you weren't there when she healed."
The Child Appears
A small sound broke through the flames.
Ha-rin froze.
A toddler's cry—soft, fragile, frightened—
her own.
Little Ha-rin appeared at the top of the stairs,crying, clutching the half-burnt bunny.
Smoke wrapped around her.Flames licked the railing.
Older Ha-rin went pale.
"No—please—stop—this is the moment—"
Jae-hyun held her wrist, grounding her.
The child Ha-rin looked down the stairs—eyes huge, glistening with tears and terror.
Haneul sprinted up toward her in the memory—the real teenage boy from that night—face determined, coughing, shoving falling debris aside.
Older Ha-rin's breath cracked.
"That's when he got burned," she whispered.
She clutched Jae-hyun's arm.
"I remember now…His hands… they were bleeding.But he still lifted me—still ran while the ceiling fell—"
Tears fell silently down her face.
"I forgot him…and he remembered me until the end."
Jae-hyun gently wiped her cheek.
"That wasn't your fault."
Haneul watched them—face full of emotion so raw it almost hurt to look at.
The Pull of the Past
The flames warped again—memory and loop blending.
Haneul raised a hand toward her.
"You were my last promise," he whispered."I protected you… until time took me."
The fire wrapped around him like a crown of ash.
"You should've had a safe life. A quiet life. With me."
Jae-hyun stepped in front of Ha-rin.
"She didn't survive that night to live quietly," he said softly.
Haneul glared. "And why do you think you deserve her more than I did?"
Jae-hyun didn't puff up or raise his voice.He simply looked at Ha-rin—really looked at her—with so much tenderness it made Haneul flinch.
"Because she chose me," he said.
Ha-rin's breath hitched.
"I didn't steal her.I didn't earn her.I didn't win her."
He touched her hand gently.
"She walked toward me. And I walked toward her. Again and again."
Even the fire seemed to quiet.
Ha-rin trembled.
"Jae-hyun…" she whispered, tears returning.
Haneul's voice cracked—
"But she was mine first."
"No," Ha-rin said suddenly—standing straighter—wiping her tears.
The two boys froze.
She stepped forward, voice trembling but resolute.
"I wasn't yours. I wasn't anyone's."Her fingers curled softly."And I'm not a timeline to be claimed."
Haneul stared at her—hurt, shocked, aching.
"You saved me," she whispered."You protected me. And I will always be grateful."
Haneul swallowed hard.
"But…"
She moved backward—ending up against Jae-hyun's chest.He instinctively wrapped his arms around her, protective but gentle.
"…my future is with him."
Haneul's entire form flickered.
The fire brightened—then dimmed—then brightened again—
unstable, wounded, furious.
"If your future is with him…""Then let him save you now."
The floor beneath them cracked.
The child Ha-rin cried again as flames surged upward.
Older Ha-rin screamed, reaching for her child self.
"NO—DON'T—! JAE-HYUN—!!"
The ceiling collapsed—
and the loop split into two parallel memories:
One where Haneul saved her.One where Jae-hyun had to save her now.
Jae-hyun pulled her into his arms—
"I've got you—don't look away—DON'T!"
And the world fell apart.