The hallway beyond the door was dim.
Cold.Still.Too still.
A single emergency bulb flickered overhead, washing everything in sickly yellow.
And standing directly under that flickering light—
Was her.
Ha-rin.And not Ha-rin.
Broken Ha-rin.
She looked exactly like the girl in Jae-hyun's arms—same face, same eyes, same shape—but colder.Sharper.Like someone had taken Ha-rin's warmth and stripped it away until only edges remained.
Her hair hung in disarray, half wild, half meticulously combed, as if two versions were fighting for control. Her eyes glitched with faint blue static—like electronic interference. Whenever she blinked, her silhouette flickered a few frames sideways before aligning again.
Ha-rin felt her breath catch in her throat.
It was like looking into a cracked mirror.Like seeing a possibility her life could have taken.
Jae-hyun stepped in front of her, blocking Broken Ha-rin's direct line of sight.
Broken Ha-rin smiled.
Slowly.Deliberately.Predatory.
"Oh," she whispered, her voice almost a ripple of Ha-rin's own."You finally opened the door."
Jae-hyun's stance remained steady.He didn't move.Didn't blink.
"Say what you came to say," he said flatly.
Broken Ha-rin tilted her head.
"And you must be the reason she doesn't remember me."
Ha-rin's chest tightened.Jae-hyun's jaw clenched.
Broken Ha-rin took one step forward—
Jae-hyun instantly moved too, blocking her path.
She laughed softly.
"You're still the shield. Good. Echo likes predictable constants."
Her gaze slid over Jae-hyun's shoulder—
and landed on Ha-rin.
The smile vanished.
Her eyes sharpened.
"You're weaker than I expected," she murmured, voice cold and curious. "But you still smell like the real anchor."
Ha-rin's fingers trembled on Jae-hyun's sleeve.
"Why are you doing this?" she whispered.
Broken Ha-rin blinked—her form splitting into two ghostly silhouettes for a fraction of a second before resolving again.
"I'm doing what you couldn't," she said simply."I'm trying to undo our mistake."
Ha-rin swallowed. "What mistake?"
Broken Ha-rin smiled again—
but this time, it wasn't cruel.
It was heartbreakingly sad.
"Choosing him," she said quietly."In our loop."
Ha-rin froze.
Jae-hyun stiffened.
Broken Ha-rin's voice dropped lower, almost fragile.
"You were supposed to save him. That was the rule. That was the deal. That was the price of your constant."
Ha-rin's pulse hammered painfully.
"…signal spike… memory clash rising…"Echo's soft warning trembled through her.
"Save him… from what?" Ha-rin whispered.
Broken Ha-rin stepped closer—this time not with malice, but with a strange, broken longing.
"From dying for you," she breathed."Again and again and again."
Ha-rin stumbled backward.Jae-hyun caught her instantly, steadying her with both hands.
"That isn't true," Ha-rin whispered in horror.
"Isn't it?" Broken Ha-rin murmured."He chose you every time. And every time, you watched him die."
Jae-hyun's grip tightened around Ha-rin protectively.
"You're lying," he said.
Broken Ha-rin laughed bitterly.
"Of course you would defend her. You always do. Even when it kills you."
Ha-rin's throat burned.
"Stop," she whispered, voice shaking. "Just stop—"
Broken Ha-rin met her eyes.
And this time, there was no coldness.
Only grief.
"I'm not your enemy," she whispered."I'm what's left of you."
The hallway flickered with faint static again—and Ha-rin felt Echo flinch inside her.
Broken Ha-rin noticed the reaction instantly.
"Ah," she murmured. "So he chose you instead of me."
Her eyes darkened with something unreadable.
Jealousy.Loss.Desperation.
"You took him," she whispered."The Echo fragment. The part that was mine."
Ha-rin shook her head."No. He came to me because you were corrupted."
Broken Ha-rin's smile cracked.
"Corrupted? Or abandoned?"
That hit Ha-rin like a slap.
Broken Ha-rin continued, voice trembling:
"You left me behind in the loop. You shut me out. You locked me in the timeline you escaped."
"That's not possible," Jae-hyun snapped. "There were no survivors in the loop. Everything reset."
Broken Ha-rin's eyes flickered, glitching brutally.
"Not when the clock breaks."
Silence.
Jae-hyun frowned."What?"
Broken Ha-rin's voice softened to a whisper, barely audible.
"When a constant dies at the wrong second," she said, "the world doesn't know how to erase them."
Ha-rin felt cold all over.
"You're saying…" she whispered, "…you're a leftover?"
"A leftover fragment," Broken Ha-rin murmured. "A version of me that was supposed to disappear when he died in front of me. But the timeline glitched. And I remained. Alone. Falling through echoes with no anchor."
Her voice cracked.
"And Echo attached to me because he had nowhere else to go."
Ha-rin felt tears sting her eyes.
"But," she whispered, "if you're me… then why are you doing this?"
Broken Ha-rin's expression twisted.
"Because he chose you," she said quietly. "Even broken, even fragmented, even corrupted—Echo wanted you. You took our echo. Our protector. Our anchor."
She lifted a trembling hand.
"And I want to be whole again."
Jae-hyun pulled Ha-rin firmly into his side.
"You're not touching her."
Broken Ha-rin's eyes flashed.
She looked at Jae-hyun with an emotion Ha-rin recognized instantly—
Longing.
"Of course you protect her," she whispered."You always chose her too."
Jae-hyun stiffened.
Broken Ha-rin's voice shook.
"Even when I screamed your name first."
That sentence landed like a blade between them.
Ha-rin's heart lurched.
Broken Ha-rin took a shaky breath and stepped closer—
Jae-hyun moved instantly, blocking her.
"Don't," he said, voice low and dangerous.
Broken Ha-rin smiled faintly.
"Still choosing her," she murmured. "Even after everything."
She reached out—not toward Ha-rin, but toward Jae-hyun's cheek, a ghost of a touch in the air.
Jae-hyun's hand snapped up and grabbed her wrist before she made contact.
Her entire form flickered violently.
Ha-rin stepped forward, overwhelmed.
"Stop!" she cried. "Please—just stop—"
Broken Ha-rin turned.
And the moment their eyes met—
Ha-rin felt a sharp stab behind her forehead.
Memories not hers—flashes of another loop—bloodraina rooftopJae-hyun collapsingher own scream—
She staggered.
Jae-hyun caught her.
Broken Ha-rin gasped.
"You saw it," she whispered. "You saw the moment I broke."
Ha-rin clung to Jae-hyun.
"What do you want from me?" she whispered.
Broken Ha-rin's next words came out barely above a breath.
"Share him."
Ha-rin froze.
Jae-hyun's entire body went rigid.
"Absolutely not," he said in a voice Ha-rin had never heard before—cold enough to crack stone.
Broken Ha-rin tilted her head.
"Then I'll take what you won't give."
The hallway lights exploded.
Echo's pulse thrashed inside Ha-rin's chest—
"…RUN—NOW—"
Broken Ha-rin lunged.
Jae-hyun grabbed Ha-rin, twisting them both aside, the motion fast enough that the air cracked.
The wall behind them splintered where Broken Ha-rin's hand struck.
Superhuman strength.Or broken physics.
Ha-rin stumbled into Jae-hyun's arms.
He held her tight.
"GO!" he shouted, dragging her back toward the apartment.
Broken Ha-rin flickered and reappeared in front of the doorway.
She smiled—sad and wild all at once.
"You can't run from me," she whispered."You're running inside my memory."
Her hand rose again.
Ha-rin shrieked.
Jae-hyun shoved her behind him and raised his arm to block—
And then—
A blast of raw, pulsing light erupted from Ha-rin's chest.
Broken Ha-rin screamed.
Her form flickered violently—split into three—four—then back into one.
Echo's voice roared inside Ha-rin:
"…BACK—OFF—MY—CONSTANT—"
Broken Ha-rin staggered against the opposite wall.
Her image glitched.
She stared at Ha-rin with something like betrayal.
"You used him against me," she whispered in disbelief."Your Echo chose you."
Ha-rin's breath trembled.
Jae-hyun pulled her close, shielding her again.
Broken Ha-rin's eyes softened for one last second.
"You really don't understand," she said quietly."I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm trying to fix you."
Static crackled.
Her body flickered—once—twice—and vanished in a burst of fractured light.
Silence.
Only their panting filled the hall.
Ha-rin turned into Jae-hyun's chest.
He wrapped both arms around her tightly, burying his face in her hair, holding her like he was afraid she'd dissolve if he loosened his grip.
"I've got you," he whispered, voice shaking."I've got you. I won't let her take you."
Ha-rin clutched his shirt.
"Jae-hyun… she's me."
He held her tighter.
"I don't care," he breathed."I choose you."
Her heart broke and healed at the same time.