Minkyung finds her entire body shaking.

She had never been there during the accident, at the time she was peacefully watching cartoons and crying over an argument with Wonwoo, but she knew each visceral detail. 

She wasn’t one to spare herself—she had tracked down the one witness and made them explain to her what had happened. 

When they had explained to her each part, down to the sickening noise the car had made when it hit the bottom of the canyon—“like a million bones snapping in unison”—she had tried to simply note it in her head. She had wanted to “solve” the mystery of her parents death, because it was so unnatural, so gruesome, so unexplainable, but Yebin had stopped her before she got too deep. She remembers the crying on the floor, the sobbing into Yebin’s arms, the angsty calling to Wonwoo just to yell at him, all so incredibly awful. Sheriff Baekho and Ranger Seungcheol had promised her that they would get to the bottom of it, but investigation went nowhere. No one had anything. 

It was odd—this was only two years ago, but it felt much, much longer. Like Minkyung had been living this life without her parents in it forever. 

Now she had to watch it happen again. 

She snaps back to reality with Eunwoo’s panicked scream. 

“Are they ok?” she shouts, running to lean over the balcony. 

“What’s with the sky?” Kyungwon asks, and Minkyung looks up to see that curdling blood red tainting what once had been a beautiful summer night. 

“There’s nothing down there!” Eunwoo shouts. Everyone runs, and looking over the edge, theres nothing down in the canyon—not even any sign of the explosion. 

“What the ?” Kyungwon yells, panicking.

Nayoung, meanwhile, stands, relatively calm as she studies the nighttime sky. 

“Minkyung,” she asks, “was that your parent’s car?”

Everyone turns to look at Minkyung. 

“Y-yes.” she coughs out, still stunned at what she had just witnessed.

“But-“ Eunwoo begins.

“So this time travel is real!” Kyungwon exclaims. 

Yebin puts her head in her hands. “I want to go home.”

Suddenly, Eunwoo yelps. 

“Who is that?” She points out at the bridge, and everyone turns their heads. Out on the bridge, a singular figure walks. The faint light of the fire tower shows they’re wearing a denim jacket, one Minkyung immediately recognizes as the one she had customized for Yebin’s 16th birthday—distinguishable by the huge fabric heart sewn to the bag. The figure spins on their heel, when Yebin gasps. 

“That’s...”

“You.” Eunwoo finishes. 

There’s a crackle in the sky and a distant boom. Minkyung looks up, to see storm clouds brewing. 

The Yebin, the other Yebin, gazes upwards at the now stormy sky, when—

SNAP! 

A bolt of lightning strikes down from the sky. It’s insanely close, but more importantly, it hits right in the center of the bridge, a deafening creak swelling through the air as the lightning burns the distant figure and the bridge snaps in half, crumbling to pieces on the way down. 

For a split second, when the other Yebin is caught in the lightning, Minkyung swears she can see the outline of the red, haunting figure before Yebin falls, falls, falls into the canyon. 

Minkyung can’t even hear the other girls screams—there’s a silent pain in watching your best friend die, even if they’re actually standing right next to you. 

“Did I just—“ Yebin begins, voice shaky. “—die?” 

“I’m convinced, I’m convinced.” Kyungwon chants like a protection spell, knuckles white as she grips the tower railing.

“You got anything left?” Eunwoo shouts at the sky—which is clearing away clouds and returning to red. 

Minkyung wanders away from the balcony, brain foggy and not quite there. Watching your best friend and your parents die right in front of you, whether its real or not, it takes something out of you. 

“You ok? You seem more stressed than last time this happened.” Nayoung says, looking concerned. 

“What do you mean last time?”

“Sorry, slip of the tongue. You seem stressed.”

Minkyung stares at her, perplexed. The sky behind Nayoung is fading back into a dark night sky, and the two of them stand in silence. 

“Are we back?” Eunwoo asks, pulling out her phone. “Hey, it’s been three hours. That can’t be right.”

“The bridge!” Kyungwon lets out a panicked yelp. “It’s back!” 

Minkyung massages her temples, and Yebin walks over to her side. 

“You good? I mean—well—none of us are good right now, exactly, but I think it’s over.” She gives Minkyung a trademark weak smile, one that used to make her heart flutter with joy. Now all she can feel is sadness. 

Yebin gently walks her to the cot, where they sit in silence for some brief passing seconds, before Yebin bends over to pick a book off the floor. Outside, Nayoung stands and watches as Kyungwon and Eunwoo argue over whatever they just saw. 

“Huh.” Yebin says, flipping to the back cover. “This is from Diamond City Public Library.” She picks up another book, and looks. “This one too.”

Nayoung leans against the doorway. 

“It’s probably just a coincidence.” she remarks, arms crossed.

Yebin picks more books off the floor. 

“No, they’re all from there.”

“Where else would you get books here?” Nayoung snaps back, oddly sullen.

Minkyung pulls a book off Yebin’s lap, turning to the front corner. She pulls out the due date slip, squinting at who the last person who checked it out was. 

Reading the faded letters, Minkyung gets a crawling feeling because that name belongs to someone she knows—the one person who watched her parents die. 

Zhou Jieqiong. 

“I really don’t think you should go. It’s a false lead, if anything.” Nayoung had insisted. When they had informed her they wanted to visit the library, she had become oddly defensive. 

“Just keep searching for leads in the woods.”

“But-“

“We don’t have time to waste on trivial things.”

After Nayoung had stormed out of the room, Minkyung and Yebin had given each other confused looks.

But now, they were standing outside of the Diamond City Public Library, looking up at the weathered stone archway that protected the doors.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have disobeyed Nayoung.” Yebin says, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. 

“It’s fine. She’s not in charge of us. This was our mystery first.” Minkyung replies.

As they enter the doors, Minkyung remembers the last time she was here—a year and a half ago, to interview Jieqiong about what she had seen from the fire tower that night. 

The library is dark and dusty, dimly lit by vintage lamps that hang from the ceiling. The only people who really spend time in here are Juhyun, the librarian, and Jieqiong, who works full time as a library assistant. 

Yebin looks around with a fond smile. “Remember when we came in here and spent the whole day reading ghost stories, and you spilled coffee on one of the books, then Juhyun got really mad at you and made you mop the floor?” she says.

“What? I don’t remember that.” Minkyung says, trying to search her brain for any semblance of a memory.

“Huh. I definitely remember that happening.”

“I must be tired.” Minkyung says, with a weak smile, even though she knows she’d remember something like that, especially if Yebin was there. 

She looks ahead to the circulation desk—where Jieqiong is usually stationed—and finds it empty.

“You girls looking for something?” 

Minkyung practically jumps out of her skin, and turns around to see Juhyun, the librarian. 

“Um, not really. We were looking for Jieqiong.”

“Jieqiong took the day off today. What do you need from her?”

Yebin looks to the empty circulation desk, and then to Minkyung. 

“We were uh, well, she borrowed something. It might be on her desk, do you mind if we take a look?” Yebin stutters. 

“Oh, sure. Anything for you, Yebin, you’ve always been such a polite patron.” Juhyun gives her a matronly, warm smile. “I’ll be in the back book room if you need me.”

As Juhyun walks away, Minkyung looks at Yebin, lost. 

“Do you come here a lot?”

Yebin shrugs. 

“I like to read.” 

Minkyung feels her heart oddly crushed—she prides herself in knowing everything about her best friend, and here she was, completely clueless. 

“Come on, lets go snoop.” Yebin insists, waving over Minkyung to the desk.

It’s absolutely cluttered—the computer is covered in stickers and post-it notes, and there are books stacked everywhere. Several boxes of tissues are stacked all around, and pens and pencils are messily jammed into a couple novelty mugs. 

Yebin opens up the computer. 

“She doesn’t password protect it. Of course.” 

The screen lights up, revealing a desktop with about forty different windows open. As Yebin begins clicking through them, Minkyung opens up a mysterious red binder buried under several manila file folders. 

The first page is a plastic sheet protector, with only one thing in it, a singular polaroid picture. It’s a selfie, taken by Jieqiong. At her side are two familiar faces. Nayoung on her left, and Wonwoo on her right. Minkyung feels a sense of confusion. Nayoung and Jieqiong never interacted in high school, and Wonwoo was mostly a loner, so why were they together? 

She flips the page. There’s a printout of a photo of the fire tower, and then... a picture of her parent’s car, probably stolen from her father’s Facebook page, as well as separate pictures of her mother and father. 

She looks up when she hears a gasp from Yebin. 

“This girl was stalking us! Look!” 

Several open photos on the computer display crisp images. Minkyung and Yebin walking to the store together, the two of them getting into her car. Yebin sitting and eating dinner with her mother, Minkyung and Kyungwon drinking beer on the apartment steps. 

And then one that brings Minkyung immense guilt, her and Wonwoo sitting at the back patio of the cafe, arguing.

Yebin turns around. 

“Minky, when was this?” she asks, obvious worry on her face. 

“It’s nothing.” her face feels hot, hot with shame. “It was just about the camera.” She flips through the binder, desperate to find something to change the subject. “There’s a diary entry in here.” she lets out, trying not to stutter.

Yebin looks at her, partially with worry, but she complies with the topic change anyway. Minkyung appreciates that about her—she’s talented at reading other’s emotions. 

“Um...” Minkyung squints to read Jieqiong’s messy handwriting. “Run 22. When I woke up, I felt even more sick. I’m coughing up blood now. I’m afraid my state is so fragile that if I become the next sacrifice, I’ll die for real this time. It is the 18th day of this run. I have a feeling it will be another long one. I called Wonwoo and Nayoung to make sure they could still remember—they do. It’s only getting stronger for them, but I feel like I’m fading. I can’t remember the first time at all now, only faint memories. I’m scared. I can tell it’s tearing more and more with each reset. Stuff has started leaking into each other.” 

“What does that even mean?” Yebin asks, breathing anxious. “What does she mean by a ‘run’ and what do Nayoung and Wonwoo have to do with any of this?” 

“I don’t—“ Minkyung begins, but she’s interrupted by a noise outside, like somebody is approaching. 

“I told them not to come.” the voice from outside says, and the two of them panic, recognizing it as Nayoung’s. 

“Hide!” Yebin hisses, and the two of them look back and forth as the huge door creaks open, Minkyung slamming shut the binder. They spot a table in the corner with a long tablecloth, and with a moment of last-minute speed, they both dive under it. 

They both can barely see, but in the tiny gap between the fabric and the floor, Minkyung can see two people—Nayoung and Jieqiong. 

“Nayoung, there’s no need to keep them away from me. We need to work together.”

“I don’t want to increase your chance of being chosen as the next one to go.”

Minkyung hears a loud cough, most likely from Jieqiong. 

“See?” Nayoung insists. “You’re not well. We can figure it out on our own.” 

“With the way things are looking right now, we can’t stop it. I’m so close to solving this, just let me help!”

“No! I would rather take myself and start from square one again than risk losing you.”

“At least tell them the truth!”

“We tried that before. It doesn’t work out.” 

There’s a loud sigh, and Minkyung follows their feet with her eyes as they walk to the circulation desk.

“Somebody’s been messing with my stuff!” Jieqiong exclaims. 

“What?” 

“Everything’s been moved around!”

In the dark under the table, Minkyung and Yebin exchange a nervous glance. 

“Jieqiong, sweetie, it’s your day off!” Juhyun’s voice shouts, presumably walking back into the main area of the library. 

“I know, Juhyun, I just came here to grab something.”

“Do you know if those girls got what they were looking for?”

“What girls?” 

Minkyung swallows, sweat crawling down her neck. 

“There were some girls here a couple minutes ago. They said you borrowed something and they wanted to look in your desk.”

“Did you know them?” Nayoung’s voice asks, obviously ridged with tension. 

“Oh, yes. That one pretty dark haired girl and Yebin, you know, the one who’s always in here.”

The pair under the table only hear silence. 

“Ok, thank you, Juhyun.” Jieiqiong finally says.

“You’re welcome!” the older woman hums, footsteps carrying her away. 

Minkyung and Yebin stay quiet and tense, fists clenched.

“Just take your binder and go, we can talk about all this later.” Nayoung whispers. 

There’s no audible conformation from Jieqiong, but their feet moving away from the desk and in the direction of the door is good enough. 

Minkyung breathes a sigh of relief as they exit, and turns to Yebin. 

“I think we need to call a meeting.”

“So Nayoung’s been going behind our back!?” Eunwoo exclaims, slamming her empty soda can down on the floor.

“I knew she was being suspicious.” scoffs Kyungwon. 

“I mean, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but something was up.” Yebin remarks, nervously fiddling with her ponytail. 

“It’s just odd. The way they talked about all of this—it’s like they’ve been researching this for years and years.” Minkyung says, staring at her hands. “I don’t get what it all means.”

“I don’t think we’ve got what anything means since this all started.” laughs Yebin.

Minkyung’s phone vibrates in her back pocket, and she pulls it out to check it. 

It’s a text from Nayoung.

Meet me at the fire tower in an hour. We should talk. Just the two of us.

Minkyung knows it’s a bad idea, but some urge makes her want to trust Nayoung, just this once. 

“Guys, I gotta go. Work thing.” she says, standing up. 

Yebin gives her a confused look, but says nothing. 

The forest is even more terrifying alone. As Minkyung moves through the trees, she has an unnatural sense of loneliness—if only Yebin was here. But she had to do this alone. 

Out at the edge of the canyon, a tall figure stands, back to Minkyung. Nervously, Minkyung approaches, fingers fiddling with her tube of cherry chapstick as she hears her feet crunch on the dry grass. 

"Nayoung!" She calls out, voice almost stuck in . 

The figure turns around.

"You're here."

"Well, you did ask me to come." 

They both look at each other, close enough to make real sure contact now.

"Thank you for coming alone. I appreciate it." 

"Uh, yeah. Of course."

Minkyung notices how close Nayoung is to the cliffs edge, and feels herself get nervous.

“I need to tell you something. The truth, I guess. I’ve been lying to all of you.” Nayoung looks down at her feet. “Maybe you won’t believe me, it’s fine, because you’re going to forget it all in a few minutes anyway.”

“Do you really think I’d not believe you after all the we’ve seen?”

Nayoung laughs, but it’s weak, the kind of laugh of someone giving up. 

“Listen... this town is not normal. You know that, of course. But it’s more than that.” She looks up at the sky—which still stays dim and normal. “There’s something wrong here. A glitch. A glitch in time, let’s say. A dimensional rip. It’s been happening ever since your parents died—we’ve been repeating and repeating the last two years.” 

“What? I—“

“Let me speak. The thing is, we only go back in time when someone dies. But we can’t just avoid it—this glitch, it takes sacrifices when it needs them. And it’s—“ The sky suddenly rumbles, and panicked, Nayoung looks up at the sky again, Minkyung following, and it’s becoming dense with swirling storm clouds. “. There’s no time. Listen, it’s coming, the glitch is coming, and there’s no time. I can’t let it take Jieqiong this time, it’s—.” Nayoung panics, her usual calm demeanor almost completely gone. She reaches into her coat pocket, and pulls out a crumpled piece of paper. “This is all I have. A message. Don’t get rid of it.” She reaches forward, prying open Minkyung’s mouth before the other girl can say anything, stuffing the piece of paper inside. “Goodbye, Minkyung. See you soon.”

And with that, Nayoung jumps, back first, off the cliff edge, and into the canyon.