Nexus Re:Time - Light Novel
Chapter 1 - Fracture
The sky broke first.
Not with thunder. Not with fire. But with silence-razor-sharp, absolute. It carved Neo-Seoul into still frames: every neon billboard frozen mid-flicker, every train halted above the glass rails, every passerby caught mid-breath.
Yuna's heart hammered. Then the shard blazed against her ribs, pulsing like a second heartbeat. She staggered, clutching her chest-just as the air itself cracked open.
Something stepped out.
It had no face. Only an hourglass skull, sand flowing upward where eyes should be. With each stride, it leeched color from the street. Storefronts drained pale, graffiti bled into gray, the very air unraveling into white echoes.
The Eraser.
The silver ribbon around Yuna's wrist writhed as if alive, tightening. Its edge slendered to a blade, catching the fractured light. She wasn't ready. None of them were. But the shard had chosen her.
When the Eraser's gaze finally fell on her, Yuna raised her sword.
Backstage, Minutes Before
The memory hit like static: the roar of fifty thousand voices, pyrotechnics lacing the dome, holographic constellations blossoming and collapsing above the Grand Orpheum.
"Breathe," Sungho murmured, clipping her in-ear into place. Black hoodie, coiled cable at his hip, eyes that noticed everything. "We fixed the feedback from rehearsal. You're clear."
Yuna rolled her shoulders. "Clear isn't the same as ready."
"You're ready," he said-and his half-smile made her believe it.
Curtain. Lights. Impact. REWIND//ME detonated from the stage.
Her ribbon flared, unraveling into a bright arc as choreography met combat: a dancer's turn become a parry, a sweep become a cut. Stella-seen only by her-sparked fox-bright at her shoulder, harmonizing with every note.
Front row, a handmade banner bobbed above a tide of lightsticks: Sing for us, Yuna! The girl holding it smiled so wide she looked split with joy. Fifteen, cheeks pink with nerves and noise.
Lylia. Yuna had seen her grow up in the crowd-fan sign after fan sign, little savings turned into tickets and hope.
Yuna tipped her chin toward her. Lylia screamed louder, as if handed the moon.
The verse crested. The sky answered-wrong.
Silence ripped at 03:03:03. Confetti froze mid-fall. The crowd's chant broke in half and didn't finish. Lylia's banner stopped in the air; her mouth formed unnie? with no sound.
The world shattered into loop.
Silent Streets
Yuna hit asphalt. Palms stung. Around her, the city hung in glassy stillness-pigeons pinned mid-flap, steam arrested above a dumpling stall, headlights a smear of lacquered light.
the shard blazed against her ribs, drumming like a second heartbeat."
A clean, white glyph swam across her vision:
SYSTEM NOTICE: TIME SHARD DETECTED.
WELCOME, SUBJECT: YUNA.
A vending machine at the corner bulged as if something beneath its shell took a breath. Error code peeled off in strips, folding into a humanoid with molten red eyes.
T̷̪͍̿Ḭ̶̿̕M̴̪̘͠E̴͍͙͠ ̶͔̩̐E̶̡̲̽͘R̶̡̗͘̕R̶͈̽͗Ȏ̶̳̔R̵͙̐͆.
Her body moved like muscle memory from another life. Yuna seized a broken street sign, pivoted-strike, turn, strike. Each impact flared white, the third blow collapsing the thing into static snow.
Silence spilled back in, heavier than applause.
Her wrist throbbed. She looked down-and finally saw it.
The ribbon glowed faintly, silver shot through with letters she'd never caught under stage lights. Two signatures, side by side. Yuna Park. Lylia. Her breath snagged.
Memory cracked open-
Flashback - Five Years Earlier
Fan-sign table. Evening air sweet with sugar drinks and marker ink. A ten-year-old girl edged forward, hugging a silver ribbon with both hands like a treasure.
"You again," Yuna teased softly. "Fifth concert, right? I remember your face."
The girl almost dropped her banner. "U-Unnie... really?!"
Yuna took the ribbon, the silk cool against her fingers, and signed Yuna in a clean sweep of silver. On impulse, she pressed the pen back into the girl's hand.
"You write yours too," she said. "That way it's ours."
The handwriting came shaky, earnest. Lylia.
Yuna tied the ribbon around her wrist herself. "Keep it close. Someday, when I'm far away, this will mean we were here together."
The girl's voice barely made it out, cracked with joy. "Always."
The crowd carried her off, banner high, a little comet of belief.
Back to the Stillness
The glow remained. Yuna pressed the ribbon to her heart, whispering into the frozen street, "I'll carry it. Always."
The sky ticked-one vein deeper in the broken clock above. Far off, the hourglass skull turned its impossible face.
"Little late for a solo, don't you think?"
Shadows slid from beneath a stalled taxi. A small fox padded into view-midnight fur traced with violet runes, five tails swaying like metronomes. Eyes teal and too amused by disaster.
"Stella..." Relief crashed into Yuna hard enough to wobble her knees. "You're supposed to stay hidden."
"And you're supposed to stay alive," Stella said, hopping to the hood. "We both broke a rule."
"I thought-when the dome cracked-I thought I'd lost everything again."
"You did," Stella said softly. "That's what a Shatter does. But you're still breathing. That means the song isn't over."
The words steadied her stance more than any blade.
Stella's ears twitched toward a neon sign down the block, buzzing faintly even in the hush: Starforge Roasters.
"Come on," the fox said, tails flicking. "If time insists on stopping, we might as well steal a moment before it catches us again."
"...Coffee? Now?"
"Now. Trust me."
Interlude - Starforge
Inside, the café was a still-life. Steam held mid-curl. A barista's laugh carved into silence. Two mugs hovered in the air like obedient moons.
Yuna slipped behind the counter. Habit and hunger made a compromise: blueberry, strawberry, coconut water, mint, a splash of fizz. Stella nose-tapped a grinder; Yuna obliged with matcha and espresso, dusted with sesame.
They perched on barstools among frozen strangers and drank like thieves.
"I saw her," Yuna said, fingers worrying the ribbon. "Front row. She-"
"I know," Stella said. "You always find each other. That's what a vow is for."
The shard burned in Yuna's palm-once, twice. Other pulses answered, fainter: distant heartbeats waking across the city.
"If the others are alive," she whispered, "we still have a chance."
Above, the cracked sky-clock turned a millimeter.
Somewhere, a man smiled without joy. Somewhere else, a boy moved a chess piece. Somewhere further, a scientist pressed play on a tape that shouldn't exist.
The world had ended at 03:03:03. Again.
But the beat was still there-waiting to be found.
Street Level
The door chime didn't move when they left. The air outside was the same impossible hush. Yuna tied the ribbon tighter, the two names warm beneath her thumb.
"Rules recap," Stella said, dropping to the crosswalk with a lazy grace. "If it glitches, don't look away. If it begs, don't believe it. If it copies you, dance uglier than you've ever danced."
"And if I'm scared?"
Stella's five tails fanned around Yuna's calf like a small, living shield. "Then sing anyway."
The Eraser turned at the far end of the avenue.
Yuna set her feet, blade catching the neon that refused to move.
"Okay," she said to the still city, to the cracked clock, to a name stitched next to hers. "Round two."
The shard answered. The ribbon glowed. The silence sharpened-listening.
And Yuna stepped forward into the beat.
***Afterwards Nexus coffee ***
🌙 Afterword - Backstage Voices
Scene: the crew sits in a cozy café that doesn't technically exist, mugs steaming, time briefly "paused" so they can break character and talk to the readers.
Yuna: Ugh... I can't believe my first chapter started with me nearly dying in front of a crowd. That's not the comeback stage I wanted.
Stella: Correction: your footwork was sloppy, your timing off, and you made me sing backup without warming up. But you survived, so... acceptable.
Minji: (popping in through the shard-link) Wait-you're seriously doing bloopers now? While the city's breaking apart?
Jiwoo: ...It's fine. If it keeps them laughing, let her.
Ara: (shy) I liked the ribbon moment... it was beautiful.
Yuna: (blushing) T-thanks... wait, you were spying already?!
Stella: Plot twist: the fox knew all along. 🦊✨
Yuna: (sighs into her cup) So, uh... that was my big stage debut... plus the whole sky-breaking thing. Not exactly how I pictured my comeback tour.
Stella: (tail flicking, sipping matcha like a queen) You were radiant. Except for the screaming part. And the falling part. And the part where you nearly died. Otherwise, flawless.
Yuna: ...Thanks, I think?
Minji: (from across the table, smirking) Nah, I'm impressed. First concert that literally shattered reality. Nobody's topping that encore.
Jiwoo: (stirring his tea, grumbling) We don't even know each other yet. Why are we here?
Ara: (quietly) ...Because the readers need to see we're human, too.
Yuna: Exactly! We're more than just shard-bearers. We drink coffee. We gossip. Sometimes Stella tells terrible jokes.
Stella: Correction: my jokes are perfect. Reality just isn't calibrated enough to understand them yet.
Minji: (snorts into her cup) Yeah, sure, "calibrated."
Yuna: (blushing, clutching her ribbon) Anyway-thank you for reading Chapter 1. If you noticed the name written on my ribbon... keep it close. It matters more than you know.
Stella: (soft, almost breaking character) ...Yeah. It really does.
The café lights dim, steam curls in impossible shapes, and the Nexus stirs just outside the window.