[Shin Hae-won – 11:21 PM | 2015 Seoul]
The clock ticked louder than usual. Maybe it was her imagination, or maybe time was trying to tell her something—it was running out.
The letter trembled in her hand as she re-read it for the tenth time:
> You're not supposed to be here.
But you always were the anomaly.
Find the mirror before midnight. Or this second chance disappears.
– G.
Her breath caught.
"'G'? Gwan-woo?" she whispered.
No, the writing felt too personal. Too familiar. Too haunting.
From the hallway, she heard footsteps. She quickly shoved the letter under a stack of papers.
Min-jae walked in, his expression tense. "You alright?"
"Yeah," she lied. "Just… weird déjà vu. This place still smells like cheap coffee and ramen."
He gave a small smile but didn't press her.
Do-yoon followed moments later. His eyes scanned the apartment like it held ghosts.
"Where do we sleep?" he asked. "I vote for wherever has less awkward energy."
Hae-won crossed her arms. "It's a one-bedroom. Figure it out."
Do-yoon smirked. "I'll take the floor—unless you've grown nostalgic for sharing a bed?"
Min-jae cleared his throat loudly.
Hae-won shot both a glare. "Grow up."
---
[11:28 PM]
They agreed on shifts. Hae-won stayed in her room while the two men pretended not to stake silent claims over her presence from either side of the paper-thin wall.
But she couldn't sleep. Not with the clock's ticking crawling up her spine. Not with the letter's message burning her brain.
She got up. Quiet. Careful.
She grabbed her flashlight and began searching.
"Find the mirror."
Every room had a mirror, right? The bathroom? The closet door?
She passed the main mirror in the hallway. Nothing unusual.
Her reflection looked… tired. Pale. Haunted.
She tilted her head.
Her reflection didn't.
Her heart stopped.
"What the—"
The reflection blinked. And smiled.
Then it mouthed: "Midnight."
The lights flickered.
---
[11:39 PM – Shin Hae-won's Room]
Min-jae jerked awake to the sound of a light shattering.
He rushed into the hallway.
"Hae-won?!"
She wasn't in her bed.
Do-yoon followed from the other room, holding a flashlight.
"Where is she?"
A low hum vibrated through the walls. Faint… rhythmic… almost like a countdown.
They found her standing in front of the hallway mirror, frozen.
Her eyes were locked on it.
"Don't move her!" Min-jae warned, stepping forward carefully.
The mirror was glowing.
Then a voice—soft and feminine—whispered through the silence:
> "Only the broken can see the cracks."
Suddenly, the mirror began to ripple like water.
Hae-won gasped, stumbling backward.
In the glass, her reflection turned into a child version of herself—sitting on a hospital bed, crying as two men argued in the background.
One of them was a man she didn't recognize.
The other…
Her eyes widened. "Appa?"
---
[Flashback Memory – Reflected in the Mirror]
The hospital smelled of antiseptic and roses.
Young Hae-won held a cracked snow globe.
Outside the room, two men argued in hushed Korean:
> "If she remembers, it'll reset again."
"She's already seen too much. The system is collapsing."
"You gave her too much freedom. Just like her mother—"
Suddenly, the memory shattered like glass.
---
[11:53 PM – Present Time]
Hae-won fell to her knees, gasping.
Min-jae caught her, gently holding her shoulders.
"Was that… your memory?" he asked, stunned.
"I-I think so. But it wasn't just a memory. It was a warning."
She looked at both men. "I was experimented on. Or something. I've been reset before."
Do-yoon looked stricken. "What does that mean? You were sick?"
She shook her head. "No. I was altered. Monitored. Maybe even built for time travel."
Min-jae's voice was low. "An anomaly. You're not tethered to a single timeline like we are."
Suddenly, her phone buzzed.
No signal, but a message blinked on screen:
> 6 minutes left. Enter the mirror or lose access. Decision required.
Her hands shook. "We have to go in. I have to know."
Do-yoon grabbed her hand. "Then I'm going with you."
Min-jae stepped in front. "No. If this mirror only allows anomalies, it could reject you."
"You don't get to decide that," Do-yoon growled.
Hae-won's head ached. Her heart burned.
Two men. One past. One future.
She turned toward the mirror.
Its surface glowed… and a second reflection appeared.
This time, it showed her kissing Min-jae—in what looked like a different apartment. One she'd never seen before.
Then it flickered—now she was in a wedding dress, reaching for Do-yoon.
Two futures. Both within reach.
But only one door.
Five minutes.
She took a shaky breath. "I'm going in."
Both men tensed.
"But I want you both to stay out here."
Do-yoon's voice broke. "Why?"
"Because if I disappear, at least one of you will be able to pull me back."
Min-jae nodded slowly. "We'll be waiting."
She looked at them both—two pieces of her heart, two timelines she never chose.
Then stepped through the mirror.
---
[Inside the Mirror – 11:59 PM]
She was falling.
Through glass. Through stars. Through time.
A thousand voices whispered at once.
> You were always meant to break the loop.
But you fell in love with the wrong one.
Or maybe… both.
She landed with a jolt on soft ground.
A mirror stood in front of her again.
On it, scrawled in red lipstick:
> "Choose wisely. One will save you. One will forget you."
Behind her… two doors.
One with Do-yoon's voice calling softly.
The other with Min-jae's scent lingering through the crack.
Her eyes brimmed with tears.
Which future did she want to keep?