Chapter 2: The Year That Wasn’t

Jun Ho stared at the date on Hye Yoon’s phone: October 5, 2035.

His jaw tightened. “This… this isn’t possible.”

“You know it too, don’t you?” Hye Yoon whispered. “That lady in the truck. The childish theme. The moment time stopped.”

He nodded slowly. “I saw her. Yesterday. Or… what I thought was yesterday.”

Hye Yoon grabbed his wrist. “What did she say to you?”

Jun Ho looked away, his expression darkening. “She said… ‘You don’t belong here yet, Jun Ho. But someone does.’ Then she smiled and drove off. And the next thing I know, I’m waking up in a world where I don’t remember the past ten years. People call me a scholarship student, a basketball prodigy, and—” he looked at her, searching her face, “—you were the only familiar face I found.”

For a long moment, silence hung between them like fog.

Then Hye Yoon asked, “Do you remember your real life? The old one?”

Reality Glitches”

That night, Hye Yoon sat in her strange, luxurious room, scrolling through her phone.

No evidence of the divorce.

Her mother’s name was listed as Mrs. Beak.

No mention of Mr. Kang.

Even weirder? In this world, she was a rising idol trainee—booked in a dance school, with videos online showing her performing in front of huge crowds.

“This isn’t me,” she whispered. “This… can’t be real.”

A knock on the window.

She turned.

It was Jun Ho.

He climbed in like it was normal. “Okay so weird idea… I think we’re stuck in someone else’s script.”

“What?”

“Think about it.” He waved his hand dramatically. “Your life is perfect here. Rich parents. No trauma. Dance idol. And me? Apparently I’m a star athlete and top student. We’re in a fantasy someone wants us to live.”

“But why us?”

“I don’t know. But that truck wasn’t random. I think… I think she’s rewriting fates. Testing us.”

“And what if we don’t play along?” Hye Yoon asked.

Jun Ho smirked. “Then maybe we rewrite the script ourselves.”

He hesitated. “Yeah. Bits and pieces. I was training to become a K-league player. I lived with my older sister. You transferred in the fall of 2024 and I—” he looked at her more intently now— “I liked you.”

Her breath caught. “You liked me?”

“I never told you. We barely spoke. You were cold. Unreachable. But I watched you from the courts every day.”

Hye Yoon felt her face heat up. She brushed her hair behind her ear. “Well… it wasn’t personal. I hated the whole world back then.”

“Maybe this is a second chance,” Jun Ho said quietly.

“To do what?”

He looked into her eyes. “To rewrite everything.”