Reina stared at her laptop screen. It showed everything—her achievements, the stats, the progress, the rising graphs. All of it.
But it felt... empty.
No pride. No joy. Just... nothing.
Lately, she'd started to feel like something was off. Sometimes she'd get excited over nothing. Other times, she'd feel scared for no reason. Like her emotions weren't hers anymore.
7:00 AM.
Reina showered. Thirty minutes passed. She sat at the dining table, sipping her coffee. Her hair was still damp.
But when she glanced at the digital clock on the wall... it still said 7:00.
She frowned. Checked her watch. Still 7:00.
She pinched her arm. It hurt.
"This is weird," she muttered.
She got up, grabbed a glass, and dropped it.
Crash. Shattered.
A sharp throb hit her head. She turned on the TV. Every channel was playing at once. Five anchors talking over each other, their faces glitching like a broken tape. She tried changing the channel. Same thing. Faces overlapping, voices blending into something... wrong. Something inhuman.
Time wasn't moving.
Or maybe it was, but without any logic.
Later that night.
She remembered going to bed at 10:00 PM.
But when she opened her eyes, the sky was still dark. Yet... the sun was out.
Her watch said 2:14. Her phone? 9:47. Her computer?
6:66.
She froze. "What the hell...?"
"This... this doesn't make sense," she whispered.
Trying to hold on to any sense of order, Reina started tracking her day. A strict schedule. To-do lists. Timetables. Tasks.
But every time she checked off a task, it disappeared. Like it had never been written.
She looked at her calendar.
Monday showed up twice. Friday was gone. Wednesday jumped straight to Sunday.
Then one night, she set up a plan.
Cameras in every corner of her apartment. Alarms to go off every hour. She knew she had woken up several times that night, done some work, even had lunch at 1 PM.
The next morning, she watched the footage.
Time moved normally. Alarms went off.
But her body?
She just sat there. For seven hours.
No movement. No speech. Nothing.
Reina jumped up from her seat. "No. That's not me! I was working that day! I remember it!"
She skipped forward.
3:33. The screen went pitch black. No image. No sound.
Two full minutes.
Then the feed came back.
That's when she knew something was seriously wrong.
Earlier that day, someone called her. After two rings, she picked up—then said everything the caller was going to say. Word for word.
A few seconds later… she forgot who had even called.
She stared at her phone. No call log.
That night, she left the apartment.
Passed by a flower shop—definitely closed—but the air was filled with the smell of fresh roses.
She saw an old man sitting on a bench, reading a newspaper.
The headline read: Tomorrow's Events, Special Edition.
Reina stepped closer, pulled out her phone, and aimed the camera.
The newspaper turned blank.
The old man didn't look at her, but his smile—wide, cold, wrong—sent chills down her spine.
She walked faster, the dark sidewalk lit only by flickering streetlights. Her head was spinning. Her shoulders stiff. The night air felt heavy.
And then came the whisper.
"Look at you, Reina... You've got everything now. Money. Praise. Attention. Everything you ever wanted."
Zareth.
The voice again.
She clutched her chest. "Shut up... demon..."
"Isn't this what you dreamed of? You can buy anything now. No one laughs at you anymore. They admire you. They worship you."
Her heart raced.
She reached the apartment, walked past the security guard without a word, and jabbed the elevator button with a shaky hand.
Ding.
The doors opened. Empty.
She stepped inside.
The fluorescent light flickered softly. A cold draft crept in from nowhere. Sweat clung to her skin. The elevator started moving.
She looked at her reflection in the metal wall.
Messy hair. Tired eyes. Shaky breathing.
And then—
She froze.
The reflection didn't move with her.
She raised her right hand.
The reflection lagged—then copied.
Reina stood still.
The reflection smiled.
She wasn't smiling.
She turned her head to the right.
The reflection turned left.
"…What…?"
Suddenly, the reflection reached for its own neck—started choking itself. Still grinning.
Reina stumbled back, slamming into the wall. She frantically pressed the buttons.
Any button.
The lights went out. Total darkness.
Then, they flickered back on.
The reflection was gone.
No one in the mirror.
Like she'd never existed.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened.
She bolted out without looking back. Her breath came in short bursts. Her legs moved on their own. And then the voice echoed again.
"You're so full of life, Reina. Go ahead—enjoy your success."
She made it into her apartment, dropped into her chair, and stared at the mirror on her wall.
But the reflection wasn't right anymore.
It wasn't her.
It stood still. Smiling. But not a happy smile.
It was a secret-keeping smile.
Reina's body stiffened. She swallowed hard.
Slowly—like being pulled forward by something invisible—she stepped closer.
Her heart thudded like a war drum.
She looked into its eyes.
Those weren't her eyes.
They were deep. Hollow.
Then the reflection moved first.
It raised its hand from inside the mirror.
And knocked.
Three soft taps.
Zareth's voice came again—not from her head. From inside the mirror.
"It's time, Reina. You're no longer just a watcher… You're the one to be watched."
The mirror pulsed. Like a living thing.
A hand reached through the glass—cold fingers brushing against her chin.
The reflection leaned in, and whispered:
"You've gotten everything you wanted, Reina."
The mirror cracked.
A purple fog spilled out from the fractures.
The ticking clock stopped. Lights went out.
Reina screamed—no sound came out.
Everything froze.
And from within the fog…
A shadowy figure in a black cloak slowly stepped forward.
Its eyes glowing red.
And it called her name—
"Reina…"
The atmosphere turned tense and creepy.