Location: Korea – Royal Intelligence Command Center, Gyeongbokgung Palace
Captain Jo Woo-jin stormed into the war room. "We found traces of her near the Hangang district. She met with the underground."
Lee Gon stood before a digital map hovering over the table, his face unreadable. "And the resistance?"
"Moving faster than before. They know she's the Link."
Lee Gon's eyes narrowed. "She has knowledge about both worlds… more than even we do. We must keep her close—before others do."
Woo-jin frowned. "Do you trust her?"
A long pause. Then:
"I don't know if I trust her…""But I trust fate for bringing her here."
Location: Korea – Resistance Safehouse, Busan
Dephnie stared at the map of the twin worlds laid before her. One labelled "대한민국" (Republic of Korea), and the other "대제국 고려" (Kingdom of Korea).
She whispered the names aloud.
Two Koreas. Two timelines. One war waiting to happen.
An older woman, Madam Hae, a former royal historian turned rebel, pointed to the boundary in the middle—the "Jigeum," a tear in space-time.
"That tear appeared the day Lee Gon survived the palace massacre.""And the day your father in Earth Korea died in a mysterious accident."
Dephnie's breath caught in her throat. "You think they're connected?"
Madam Hae nodded. "Not think. I know. You are the Mirror. And the Mirror remembers what the world forgets."
Location: Seoul, Republic of Korea – National Archives
Meanwhile, in Earth Korea, a young quantum physicist named Professor Kim Min-jae, who had been studying anomalies in gravitational waves and time signatures, discovered a royal Korean coin buried inside a meteorite crater.
He stared at the gold carving of Lee Gon's crest.
"This… doesn't belong in our timeline."
Suddenly, all monitors around him blinked.
A new signal appeared: encrypted but pulsing with rhythmic data.
0101 1001 0110 0000A message from the Divide.
He wasn't the only one watching.
Location: Korean Royal Palace – Private Quarters
Dephnie sat across from Lee Gon under a paper lantern glowing with silver moonlight.
He handed her a book.
"'The Multiversal Symmetry: Records of the Divide,'" she read aloud. "Where did you get this?"
"It belonged to my father—the last king before the massacre. He believed someone was manipulating time."
Dephnie opened to a page marked with red ink.
"One shall remember. One shall forget. If both remember, the balance shatters."
She looked up at him.
"What does this mean?"
Lee Gon met her gaze. "It means you and I were never supposed to meet. But we did."
The air thickened between them. Not just with emotion—but gravity. Time warped subtly in the room. Clocks ticked unevenly.
They both felt it.
The world is bending.
Location: Daegu – Shadow Council Citadel
The Council of the Divide, masked and silent, placed a new piece on their metaphysical board.
This time, a rook carved like Professor Kim Min-jae.
A distorted voice echoed.
"He's awakening too soon."
Another replied.
"Then we guide his awakening. Let him find the Gate."
And behind them, in glass cases, floated photographs of Dephnie, Lee Gon, and others—faded and duplicated as though existing in more than one world.
Location: Ulsan Port – Cargo Warehouse 3
Lee Gon and Dephnie, dressed in civilian disguises, followed Woo-jin through abandoned shipping containers.
"Why are we here?" Dephnie whispered.
Woo-jin answered, "To show you what they've been hiding."
Inside a hidden room, Lee Gon unlocked a vault. Inside, rows of glowing orbs floated—each containing alternate memories.
She touched one.
Suddenly, she was 8 years old again, standing by her father's grave—but in this memory, Lee Gon was there too, a child… holding her hand.
She gasped, stumbling back. "I… I knew you before?"
Lee Gon looked haunted. "This proves it. We've met in timelines that no longer exist."
Dephnie: "Then why do I only remember now?"
Lee Gon: "Because the world is repairing something it tried to erase."
Final Scene: Nightfall Over Gyeongju
In the ancient city of Gyeongju, the ground cracked open. Energy shimmered upward into the sky.
A new gate opened—one not marked on any map.
A figure walked through it.
Cloaked in shadow. Holding a sword that didn't belong in any era.
Watching both timelines.
Whispering:
"Let the game begin."
🌀 To be continued