Rain fell like silk over Seoul, drenching the luminous city in a soft shimmer. Cars hummed beneath glowing billboards as people hurried beneath umbrellas. But inside a quiet university lab tucked within Yonsei University's Advanced Physics Department, Dephnie Han, a 26-year-old quantum research assistant, stared at the glowing algorithm on her screen, unaware that her life was about to fracture across dimensions.
Smart, independent, and emotionally guarded after her father disappeared during an experiment ten years ago, Dephnie's world revolved around equations and the quest to prove her late father's theory: that parallel worlds existed and could, in rare moments, brush against each other.
Tonight was different.
The readings on her portal scanner—an unauthorized device built with fragments of her father's old research—flickered wildly. Coordinates distorted. Time signatures spiked. Something—or someone—was trying to cross.
Elsewhere, in Busan, on the other side of South Korea but in an alternate realm where monarchy still ruled, His Majesty Lee Gon—a 28-year-old monarch of the Kingdom of Corea—stood atop a palace balcony overlooking the sea. Regal, composed, and burdened by secrets, his mind wasn't on the ceremony below but on the haunting images in his dreams.
The same girl. The same lab. The same face. Dephnie.
He had seen her for the past six nights—visions that came after he uncovered a strange artifact left behind by his uncle, a rogue scientist and the man responsible for the King's father's assassination. The object, a broken half of an ancient Manpasikjeok flute, resonated with pulses of energy whenever Lee Gon dreamed of her.
Why does she feel so real?
Why does my heart race as if I know her already?
That night, at exactly 3:03 AM, both worlds tilted.
Dephnie's lab shook violently. The portal core blinked to life, revealing a rift—a glowing, mirror-like wall of swirling energy. She reached out, hand trembling.
At the same time, Lee Gon stood in the hidden royal observatory, where the matching half of the flute began to glow.
Time paused.
And then...
They saw each other—through the breach. Two souls in different universes, staring across time and space.
Her eyes widened. His breath caught.
But the connection shattered a second later.
The portal exploded in sparks. Dephnie was thrown back, dazed but unharmed. Lee Gon collapsed to the floor, heart pounding like he'd just touched fate.
The aftermath was silent—until Lee Gon whispered to his royal guard, Jo Yeong:
"Find her. I don't care where or when she is. I need to know who she is."
And far away, in the rainy stillness of Seoul, Dephnie whispered to herself:
"Who... are you?"
[To be continued...]