In the end, reluctantly so, Sung Gyu had to leave. Howon came searching for him, and when Yae Na looked out the window she could see him near where Sung Gyu had his jeep parked, marching about. Sung Gyu left her eventually, after staring at her longingly from down below through the window that she sat up above. There was an imperceptible emotion in his eyes which she easily interpreted as belief. She truly was unable to figure out how exactly he felt about what she said; did he think she was crazy? Or did he actually put the effort to believe her? He didn’t say much, which was frustrating, but the look in his eyes seemed to say a lot. After he left, Yae Na too, took off and drove in the same direction as they did. For all the good reasons, she couldn’t trust him with what she’d told him. Was it right to tell him the truth? Would it change the turn of events drastically? If so, how would they change?

And how would Yae Na come into the picture of the final show down of the night?

She wanted to stick to her plan, if anything. That was probably the only way to end this curse, this frustrating, unbearable glitch of time.

So Yae Na followed him. Yae Na followed him all the way that he went, to the first stop which was somewhere in Haebangchon where so many police cars were parked. She watched him from the sidelines as he ducked under yellow tapes and disappeared into a narrow dark alley, a crime scene, the fifth victim. She’d never been close to a crime scene despite having dated a prosecutor who handled so many homicides for six years. It was her first time; yet, rather than fascinated, she was quite scared. Being bold wasn’t an emotion that lasted for a long time, she supposed. At odd moments, her truest feelings would surface too. Yae Na remembered how he’d told her once, that the perpetrator in many similar cases would linger around the crime scene for the longest time to observe how things would turn out. Yae Na wasn’t certain if it was the same with serial killers. Nonetheless, knowing the circumstances of the killings didn’t fail to keep her on toes, at least until Sung Gyu and Howon ducked out back from the alley while talking to yet another police officer in his usual confident walk as he pulled rubber gloves off his hands. They started up and drove away yet again, and Yae Na followed.

As expected, their next stop was the Yongsan police station. Yae Na knew, by experience, that their stay here was going to take a while. Although she did contemplate on going inside, she couldn’t bring herself to. She remembered how the last time went. The memories of it made her cheeks heat up, but also she knew that if it was to happen again, Yae Na would lose her will to do what she was meant to do, she wouldn’t be able to leave him again. She’d told him her final goodbyes, and the more she be with him, the weaker she would be. Therefore, once Sung Gyu’s jeep pulled in, Yae Na parked in a further corner of the parking lot, in a fair distance from where she could catch a glimpse of the station’s entrance as well as his jeep and waited.

The wait didn’t take long, however, as, about ten to twenty minutes into it, Yae Na was startled by a knock on her closed shutter, and she looked up, only to see Sung Gyu standing in the cold, wrapped up and breathing out warm white clouds. It was already dark by then, and the look in his eyes was unreadable. Yae Na let out a heavy sigh and let herself out into the nightly cold. She hadn’t calculated this part very well, where Sung Gyu was masterfully attentive. He must have seen her following him from miles away.

“What are you doing out here?” He asked her sternly. There was no anger or malice in his voice, just concern.

Yae Na merely shrugged, rested a hand on her waist and fixed her dark pixie with the other.

“Have you been following me, Yae Na?”

“Did you notice?” Yae Na returned.

“All the way from HBC” Sung Gyu gravely replied. “And I don’t know why you would but-,”

“I don’t trust you” Yae Na simply replied, making him appear perplexed. “After I told you about Noksapyeong, I can’t trust you not to go there”

“So you followed me?” He asked in clarification, outraged. “Yae Na that’s just-,” He threw his hands, ran them through his hair and raised his head heavenwards in frustration. “I don’t know what to do with you” He told her and reached for her hand. “Come on, it’s cold out here”

She knew that he was about to drag her into the station, into that obnoxious crowd of Howon’s team mates who stared at her as if she’d landed from another planet. And given how she currently looked right now, which was nothing like whom Kim Sung Gyu would be engaged to, Yae Na couldn’t possibly take their quiet, judgmental glances. Not to mention what Sung Gyu would probably do next, taking her along to the meeting room which would possibly change her heart.

“I don’t want to go in there” Yae Na said, holding her grounds and Sung Gyu looked back at her, irate. “The police officers in there look at me like I was an alien. I’ve done it once” When Sung Gyu appeared confused, Yae Na added; “In a different timeline”

“Fine” Sung Gyu groaned, turned her around by her shoulders and opened the door of her car. “Get in”

Sung Gyu rounded the car and climbed in from the other side. She started it up only for the heater to turn on and warm their cold skin.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said” Sung Gyu said after a while, not really looking at her but staring ahead as streetlights reflected and flickered in his eyes. “I think I believe you...” He finally turned to face her. “for some weird reason, I believe you. I think it’s because I don’t see a reason why you would lie to me about something like that...and I know you. I just know you enough to know that you wouldn’t...you wouldn’t do this” -He gestured at the circumstances they were in for emphasis- “unless there was a very, very good reason...so I believe you”

“Oppa” Yae Na started, meeting his eyes. “I didn’t want you to believe me, the reason why I told you this is-,”

“Noksapyeong, I know” He said, finishing it for her. “But don’t blame me if I can’t stop thinking about it”

“Oppa-,”

“You come to me,” Sung Gyu continued, interjecting her, “looking completely different, telling me that you’ve time traveled and that I would die in Noksapyeong, Yae Na, what the hell am I to make of it?”

“Nothing” Yae Na replied, making it sound so simple. “Just don’t go to Noksapyeong, just go home”

Sung Gyu sighed heavily and turned to her. “What happens if I don’t go to Noksapyeong?”

Yae Na stayed quiet. She knew, if she would tell her anything more than she already had, Sung Gyu would make a decision and be steadfast with it. He wasn’t someone who would easily change his mind. His decisions were always the final, and steel hard, unchangeable. It was a mistake, seeing it now, telling him any of this. If she told him any further, she would regret it even more.

“Then what happens if I do go? Yae Na please, If I’m to believe what you said, which, for a weird ing reason I do, you’ve got to help me out here”

The desperation in his voice was beginning to waiver her the slightest.

“Please” He added.

“Look” She started, finally giving in. “I’m pretty sure you do that for a reason and I’m also sure what the consequence was, was not what you intended when you did that, at least in that time line. So in this, I want you to not do that, that’s all I’m asking of you”

Sung Gyu took a sharp breath and sat back, making her wonder if he had given up trying.

“You said it was twice...that I died” Sung Gyu’s voice suddenly filled the silence, and she could see him looking at her again. “And this….this thing happened five times. So what happened the other two times?”

“Today’s the fifth” Yae Na easily replied.

“And?”

“The first time we broke off the wedding”

Sung Gyu was quiet for a second and asked; “Why?”

“Because we had a fight”

“About?”

Yae Na didn’t answer, all because she didn’t want to start the fight again. Sung Gyu seemed to understand this too that he gave up probing it any further.

“Then what about the other?” He asked her instead.

“We fought again” Yae Na replied, recalling the last time she time-glitched. “Then you came over to mine and we slept together”

“That sounds like a happy ending” Sung Gyu replied hopefully.

Although that did make her smile, Yae Na couldn’t say anything anymore. That’s what she’d thought so too, that the last glitch was the end to the curse, that it was going to be their happy ending. It was after all she did everything right, after all she tried her best to keep everything in place without amiss. By the end of that, Yae Na did not know anymore. Whoever who’d cast this curse on her, what did they expect? What did they want from her? What could she do?

“How did it happen?” Sung Gyu asked her, his voice quiet, somewhat concerned.

“The loop?” She asked.

“Hm” He nodded.

“I sincerely don’t know” Yae Na sighed. Looking ahead. “but you know, in Buddhism they have something called karma, what you do comes back to you”

Sung Gyu looked over at her, and she too met his eyes. “I think that’s what it is for me. Karma. For something wrong that I’ve done, they’re keeping me in time”

He turned away, his eyes set ahead. “Perhaps there is a way to stop it” He said.

“I tried everything” Yae Na shook her head. “I changed little things I did, and subsequent reaction to what I did would be bigger, unexpected. Keeping that in mind I kept changing little things….and the fourth time went so well” She sighed, recalling her previous timeline, the perfect one, the ideal ending. “But if that didn’t work-” I have to take it with me. She added in her mind.

Sung Gyu opened his mouth to say something at that point, his eyes filled with moisture, lights reflecting in them breathtakingly. But the ringing of his phone stopped him. He looked like he wished time stopped when he fished his phone out from his pocket. “I have to take this” He told her quietly, picked up the call and cleared his throat. “Howon”

Yae Na didn’t really listen to his conversation, for she knew what it was about. He had to go to the lab, for the forensic results of the latest victim were available. Sung Gyu would have to drive to the lab, now, which meant that she had to follow him.

“I’m afraid I have to go, Yae Na” He said as he finally put down the phone. “The forensic-,”

“Results have come, and you have to get the report” Yae Na finished it for him. When he looked at her, a little surprised, she gave him a smile. “I know, I already went through this”

Sung Gyu looked uncomfortable, knowing this piece of information. “Do you know...how it happened?”

Yae Na pursed her lips and nodded. “He injects a lethal dose of Fentanyl and…” She trailed off, unable to say the rest. Sung Gyu put his hands together and nodded. “I’m sorry that you had to...know these things. I’ve been keeping them from you…”

“I know oppa” Yae Na told him comfortingly, placing a hand on top of his. “But after all that happened, I feel pretty okay to know all of that”

He smiled sadly, looking away. “That tough huh?”

“That tough” She smiled.

They were quiet for a beat of a moment, afterwards, perhaps not wanting to be the first one to part ways. The time loop had given her more and more opportunities to be with Sung Gyu, seen more and more sides of him than the last six years of them being together had, which she was thankful for. And right now, although her heart felt so, so heavy to be the one to break him, she had to. The curse had to stop, and the curse had to go with her.

“I think I really should go” Sung Gyu said finally, on an end note, turning to her. “I will see you tonight, somehow. I’ll talk to you, or come over and keep you from going back in time-,”

“If that was possible” Yae Na smiled sadly. “But oppa, promise me you won’t go to Noksapyeong tonight”

Sung Gyu stared at her without a word.

“I trust you” Yae Na continued when he didn’t. “But I don’t trust you with your own life, so I’m going to follow you the entire night”

“And I’ve followed you for six years, sweetheart, that’s why we’re here” He told her, dodging her unanswered question and leaned in. He kissed her then, sweet but brief and desperate, he pulled away too soon.

“I love you” Yae Na told him as he sat back and reached for the door.

“So do I” He smiled, his eyes filled with so many indiscernible emotions that Yae Na hated herself for giving him. “So much”

The chase continued yet again. Just like she promised him, he drove right after him. He went to the forensic lab which was just outside of Yong San, a little towards Itaewon, a quiet area which had more buildings than people, standing darkly like tall ghosts. He spent a while there, about an hour or so, during which Yae Na began to drift asleep. She was startled awake, however, by a bright flashing light, just in time to see Sung Gyu climbing down the stairs out of the laboratory and heading towards his jeep, distracted by a phone call. Yae Na knew what this call was. She knew it all too well. Her heart picked up pace, her stomach churning. She could see him watching her car even from that distance, his face stoic, standing rigid. Perhaps he had already decided what to do by then, to crash into the lorry, to stop it from escaping, to, even unintentionally so, give up his life to save another.

All of which Yae Na would do for him tonight.

The next few minutes, time seemed to move on faster. Sung Gyu drove through the nearly empty roads of Itaewon, cutting through smaller areas, heading towards Noksapyeong where doctor Yoon was last told to be seen. Yae Na remembered the lorry so well, large and white like a beast. Even now, if she’d see it from a distance, she’d recognize it very well. They were far from there still, but they will get there eventually when Howon’s car chase would come parallel to wherever Sung Gyu was heading to. Yae Na picked up pace whenever Sung Gyu did. And slowed down when they got too close. It was there own little car chase now. Sung Gyu desperate to loose her on his way, Yae Na desperate to find him. It was almost as if he’d realized what she too was about to do. Somewhere into the somewhat dangerous drive they did, Yae Na’s phone rang. Sung Gyu’s name appeared on the little screen along with a little love heart that she’d saved him with. Yae Na gave it a moment to ring and picked up much later on. She was already prepared to hear what he was telling her.

“You were right” Sung Gyu told her breathlessly, distractedly. “He’s in Noksapyeong. So I fully believe you now”

“Then what are you doing?” Yae Na yelled, gripping the steering wheel hard. “I told you not to go to-,”

Yae Na knew, by now it was a lost cause but-,

“I’m sorry Yae Na” He said and the line went dead. Yae Na accelerated harder, then, cut to the left and tried to take over Sung Gyu’s jeep. Sung Gyu who saw her intention very well, took a turn that blocked her path, and Yae Na continued to attempt to take over, breaking so many road rules while she did. She hoped, at that point that they got pulled over, perhaps, get sent to jail for speeding. But unfortunately (or fortunately, perhaps) they were taking much smaller unknown roads through to Noksapyeong, and Sung Gyu very much kept to the speed limits.

Yae Na picked up her phone and dialed his number. He picked up at about the third ring, and he was breathing hard. “Give up, Yae Na” He told her sternly, and in front of her, he was picking up pace again. “Stop this and go home”

“Do you even know where you’re going?” Yae Na yelled back in return. “Do you even know where he’s headed too?”

“Yes” Sung Gyu returned without a beat. “And I’m not going to tell you”

In the background on the other end, Yae Na heard the sound of beeping and yet another voice, he was communicating with the police while he drove on. That’s how he knew where to cut in from, and he’d done so accurately as well.

“Fine” Yae Na replied, equally determined. “Then I’m not getting off your tail”

“Fine” Sung Gyu reiterated. “Then I’m getting you off my tail”

He pressed on and sped up, the jeep cutting in front of yet another unknown car that had gotten into their game. She didn’t lose his trail, however, even as they approached an intersection and he took a swift turn to the right.

“You think you did something there” Yae Na told him challengingly. “I see you”

“Give up while I’m being easy on you”

Yae Na pulled into the same direction that he did, which brought them to a narrow two-lained road. The drive was mostly straight with an eighty kmph speed limit; which was a challenge if they were to keep the limit and push through. Sung Gyu was still on the call with her, and she could hear him talking, perhaps he had forgotten that she was still on the line. On his other phone, which he had also put on speaker, she could hear Howon’s voice, which was much different from the previous time while she was in Howon’s car.

“He’s going straight in Noksapyeong-Daero but will take an exit any minute” Howon said. His voice wasn’t exactly clear, but enough for her to make out the words.

“Where is the next exit?” Sung Gyu asked, at which point Howon answered, his words quite clear.

“Got it” Sung Gyu said.

“Got it” Yae Na replied.

“What the Yae Na, when are you going to stop?” Sung Gyu exclaimed, making Yae Na shake her head. Not even after you stopped, oppa. Yae Na wanted to tell him. Its not only you that I want to stop tonight.

“You better slow down then” Yae Na went on, “-or get out of here, turn back. Or I won’t leave you”

Sung Gyu let out an audible sigh of frustration. “Yae Na, I know what you’re trying to do but this is work and this is important-,”

“There are better ways to do this than doing what you’re going to do” Yae Na interjected him as she tried to overtake him. But as expected, he blocked her way. “Just let him go” She sighed, exhausted. “get the next patrol to catch him, you’re not the police!”

“How are you so sure that’s what I’m going to do tonight? Whatever I’ve done in the previous…” He struggled with the word. “What’s-it?”

“If not why are you going this way?” Yae Na argued in return. “You’d go back, oppa, you wouldn’t do this”

“I’m hanging up” Sung Gyu sighed then, and once again the line went dead. Although in their quietness, the chase continued. Yae Na regretted having told him anything at that point. She should merely have followed him from the beginning and cut the chase at the last moment, pull in in front of him and do what she was supposed to do. Right now it had started to become a competition of who gave their life to stop a killer from going on their murder spree.

Sung Gyu had sped out of the two lane road and was approaching an intersection when he called her again. He didn’t say much. In the beginning it was just the sound of his breathing and Howon’s voice in the background.

“We’re losing him” Howon was telling, his voice crackling as it came through, and Sung Gyu’s quietly cursing to nobody in particular.

“You can stop now” Yae Na reminded him, her voice pleading, desperate. If Sung Gyu pulled over now and stopped it, everything will be fine. Yae Na knew that no persuasion from her or anyone could stop him. It was evident when he sped up in front of her.

“If what you said is true” He started, his voice breathless as he spoke, “If it’s true, I block the exit don’t I?”

A sudden image of Sung Gyu’s jeep pulling in like a dark knight, only to to fall and catch flames appeared in her mind. Yae Na gripped the steering wheel, hard.

“You don’t have to do it” Yae Na whispered, pursed her lips. “Ah, I shouldn’t have told you”

“Does he get away if I didn’t?” He pushed on determinedly.

“You don’t have to know”

“He does, doesn’t he?”

Yae Na stayed quiet, and with a trembling hand, she moved to cut off the line. Yet, just as she was about to, his voice stopped her.

“I can’t lose you…” He suddenly told her, his voice thick with a sentiment that she couldn’t pinpoint. “I can’t loose you to him, Yae Na. Doctor Yoon, this bastard...he knows that I am after him, and if we let him get away, he…”

Sung Gyu hesitated, and Yae Na saw how the jeep slowdown just for a second. “he’d be after you, Yae Na. He wouldn’t hurt me, but he’d hurt you”

Yae Na’s mind went blank the very instance. Her car slowed down too, as his words continued. “I have to stop him, I don’t care what it takes, I can’t let him get away, not again”

Yae Na’s hands gripped tighter and tighter onto the steering wheel as she tried her best to keep strong. She never knew, nor did Howon tell her, nor did Sung Gyu from any of the previous timelines. He never told her…

Not in so many words at least, but he did…

When he let her stay in the police station and he asked Howon to keep an eye on her. ‘Hyung’s precious Yae Na, Howon had said, but the Sung Gyu that she knew had never been particularly so protective over her, he knew her and believed that she was protected on her own. That night, the unspoken words that were carried in the way he kissed her, the redness in his eyes and that desperation, ‘Nothing’, he had answered, although there was certainly so much more.

And then the night of the last timeline, Yae Na could remember his words so clearly although there was only so much that he said

‘I know exactly what it feels like...Because every day, I see another dead girl. Every day, I’m terrified that it’s-,’

That it’s you. That’s what he’d kept himself from telling her. Every time, Sung Gyu was terrified that it’s her.

That’s what he refused to tell her that night, that’s what he’d kept from her, from everyone, buried in his heart, and that’s what had drawn him that night to pull in, take a dangerous step ahead and block the way. He didn’t want to let him get away, lest he ended up hurting her. Just like he claimed tonight, Sung Gyu was willing to do whatever it would take to keep her safe.

But in this timeline, she wasn’t ready to let him take his life.

“Yae Na, you know that I love you…” He was telling her, his voice quiet, distant, and for the first time she was hearing everything that he must have longed to tell her before he crashed in. “You know that I do. So stop now, slow down”

They were closing in on the exit now. If anyone wanted to bring themselves out of the Noksapyeong expressway, it was one of the many exits that they’d use. Yae Na could now see the red and blue lights from a far distance, and she knew, in a heart beat, that her time had come nearer.

“I won’t, until you do”

A second passed, then two, and Yae Na saw in the short distance that he was before her, Sung Gyu’s jeep truly lost pace.

“Now stop...slow down”

Following his words, she did slow down, yet not missing the entourage of vehicles that were coming closer and closer…

Sung gyu’s jeep started to pick pace again, and that was the moment Yae Na pressed on the pedal. She accelerated, took a sharp move forward, completely overtaking Sung Gyu’s jeep by force as they entered the exit.

“Yae Na no!” She could hear his voice, and she moved forward, passing him. For one last time, she saw the horror in his face.

“No, no, no, no, no!”

Sung Gyu could do nothing at that point, for the exit was too narrow to over take anymore. Yae Na saw her whole life flashing before her eyes, the time she’d spent the past few days, living the same day again and again yet falling in love with Sung Gyu even more. It’s been a beautiful time, yet, it had to come to an end now, even if it meant she had to bring forth everything that he feared, take away everything that he loved.

“No, Yae Na, stop, no!”

“I love you” She whispered then, as the exit came to an end. She didn’t want him to hear her any further, not the collision, not her last breath. She cut of the line then, and as endless lights came right at her, blinding her; red, blue and white, Yae Na took a sharp turn to the left, blocking the entrance, blocking the way. The last thing that she did see through the blur in her eyes was the red and white of the lorry, and in her mind, the image of the one she loved..

It had to end, the time loop.

And, as the first snow of this winter descended from the sky above. Kim Yae Na had taken the curse with her.