My dream begins without warning.
No sound. No picture. Just a huge, dim patch of light.
In the middle of the light stands a blurred figure— like a man, like a shadow.
He raises his hand. His fingertip brushes the center of my forehead.
The moment the warmth seeps through my skin, the dream starts to crack.
Then I see the first fragment.
(Memory Fragment One)
Full moon. Treetops. Cold wind.
White Wei flowers spread beneath my feet, like a sea kissed by frost.
I'm kneeling in the middle of the flower field, my dress soaked through as if I've been standing in the rain.
A man lies on the ground in front of me.
There is a wound in his chest—so deep I can't see the bottom. Blood is surging out of it like a tide.
But what hurts me most isn't the blood.
It's the words he said before he fell— torn apart by the wind until they are almost impossible to hear:
"...Don't… be… afraid."
"Don't be afraid—"
I jolt awake, my throat blocked by something I can't name.
Cold sweat soaks the side of my neck.
The ceiling of the convenience store comes into focus. The fluorescent lights are painfully bright.
There's a still-steaming cup of coffee on the counter in front of me.
Silent Man is sitting not far away, back against the wall, like he's been keeping watch all night.
"You're awake?"
His voice is soft, like he's afraid of startling me.
I try to answer, but my throat is too dry. No sound comes out.
He immediately passes me a bottle of water. His fingers tremble slightly, like he's holding something back.
"You were out for over an hour."
He watches me. "Does anything hurt?"
I shake my head, but my heart is beating out of control.
That wasn't a normal dream.
Something has been… pried open.
"Silent…" I look up at him. "Last night, what did we actually—"
Before I can finish, the door sensor chimes.
It's not the sound it makes for customers. It's deeper, sharper— not quite like a human stepping into the store at all.
Cold air pours in along the floor.
Instinctively, I shrink back.
Silent Man stands up and moves in front of me.
There are three figures standing outside the door.
None of them are "human."
(1) Messengers of the Rose War
The one in the middle wears a dark gray robe with the hood pulled low to hide his face.
The two on either side look like guards. Their eyes are nothing but cold white.
The moment they step into the store, every bag of snacks on the shelves dents inward at once, like an invisible pressure has grabbed them by the throat.
"You're awake."
It's the hooded man who speaks.
His voice isn't loud, but every word lands like a knock on bone.
"Someone chosen by the Rose Mark would never sleep for long."
Silent Man shifts even further in front of me, his body so tense it looks like it might crack.
"She has nothing to do with you," he says in a low voice. "The Rose Duel has already begun. You can't—"
"The duel is only the prologue," the hooded man cuts in. "The Rose War is the true beginning."
The Rose War.
The phrase hits my chest like a hammer.
No logic. No memory. Just a violent twist in my gut, like I'm about to throw something up.
The two guards turn their eyes on me— no emotion, no curiosity, just the way someone checks whether an item arrived intact.
The hooded man raises his hand.
A faint red light blooms at his fingertip, like a drop of blood frozen in the dark.
"The Mark of Wei… awakened faster than expected."
I take a step back without meaning to.
"Wait—who are you?" I force my voice to stay steady, but the tail of it still shakes. "What do you want?"
He doesn't answer me. He just speaks as if stating a law of nature:
"Those who awaken the Wei must return to the battlefield of the Wei."
When Silent Man hears that, something in him snaps tight— like a beast recognizing a trap.
"She's not going anywhere."
His voice is a low growl, carrying open, unhidden killing intent for the first time.
The hooded man lets out a quiet sigh.
"You've forgotten too much, Silent. If Sethiel hadn't covered for you, you would've recognized her the instant you saw her."
He lifts his gaze. His words ring like a bell in the wind.
"A thousand years ago, it was you who ended the light of the Rose Court with your own hands."
My breath stops dead.
"What… did you say?"
Silent Man jerks his head around to stare at him. His expression isn't shock.
It's fear.
The hooded man gives us no time to react.
He points at me.
The red light reaches out like a thread, stretching toward the center of my forehead.
My blood freezes, as if ice has been injected straight into my arteries.
My soles burn with cold.
I don't even have the strength to step back.
"Don't touch her!!!"
Silent Man throws himself between us, slamming his palm into the red light.
The entire store shudders like it's been hit by a blast—
Glass display shelves crack at once. Bottles roll off and clatter across the floor.
Silent Man's hand looks like it's been plunged into a fire.
The skin blackens and splits in seconds.
"You don't even know what you are," the hooded man says coldly. "You think you're 'undying'? You're just something the Rose hasn't taken back yet."
Silent Man grits his teeth and forces the words out through the pain:
"Get. Out."
The hooded man tilts his head slightly.
"The one touched by the Wei cannot hide, Silent. The moment she woke, the Rose War began again."
He steps back, as if his task is done, and leaves us with one last line:
"Let her choose— whether she wants the ending from back then to repeat."
As soon as he finishes, the three of them vanish.
No sound. Like someone erased them from the world.
The store returns to normal, but the air feels like it has a deep crack running through it.
Silent Man shakes his hand hard. The black, burnt skin rapidly fades, like rot played in reverse.
He looks up at me.
There is a fear in his eyes so tightly pressed down it looks ready to shatter.
"Hanna… don't believe them," he says quietly.
"You're not the kind of person they say you are."
But the stone in my chest is throbbing.
When the light flared, I saw another fragment— a memory from even deeper down.
(Memory Fragment Two)
Night. A forest burning.
Light torn into pieces by the wind.
A man is kneeling in front of me. I can't see his face clearly.
He's holding my hand, and his palm is soaked in blood.
"Don't use that."
His voice is trembling. "It'll kill you."
I raise my other hand.
On that hand is the same mark that vanished from my palm today in the convenience store—
The Mark of Wei.
It's burning.
Like fire. Like blood. Like fate.
"I don't have a choice."
I hear my own voice— calm to the point of cruelty.
He tries to hold me back, but I push his hand away.
The last thing I see is myself turning and walking toward the light.
Each step grows brighter.
So bright the world splits.
And then—
The dream shatters.
(Present)
I jerk my head up, gasping on the store floor.
Silent Man rushes over to support me. There's obvious panic at the corners of his eyes.
"You saw it again?"
I grab a fistful of his uniform. My fingers are so cold they don't feel like mine.
"Silent… that war—did I…"
Something twists around my throat.
I almost don't dare say it.
"…start it?"
Silent Man's pupils contract.
"No—you're not—you…"
He can't finish.
Because he doesn't know either.
Because he's missing more memories than I am.
In that moment, I realize—
I remembered before he did.
Silent Man stares at my palm.
"There's a mark… on your hand again."
I look down—
My palm is clean.
Nothing there.
But under the skin, there's a faint scorched feeling.
Branded in the blood, not the flesh.
Silent Man closes his hand around mine. His voice drops to a near-prayer:
"Hanna… don't join them. Don't go to the Rose Court. Don't go near the Rose again…"
"If you go back to your life now, it's not too late."
I look up.
For the first time, I really look into his eyes.
There's fear there. And pain. And a kind of despair that comes from trying to stop something you know you can't.
My breathing turns slow and rough.
"…It's already too late."
"What?" He freezes.
My eyelids tremble.
"What I saw… those weren't dreams."
My chest feels like it's being ripped open. "I… can't keep pretending I'm just a convenience store clerk."
Silent Man's face drains of color.
I curl my fingers into my palm.
Forcing the words out one at a time:
"I've been running for too long."
The store is so quiet the only sound is the hum of the fridges.
Silent Man swallows. "Hanna…"
I lift my head and look at him.
For the first time, I realize—
This man is more afraid of fate than I am.
He's not afraid for himself. He's afraid for me.
But the burning forest in my dreams tells me one thing:
Once fate starts, it doesn't stop.
I take a long breath.
"Silent…"
"What exactly is the Rose War?"
He lowers his head.
It's a long time before he answers, voice nearly broken:
"…It's the thing you and I failed to finish—"
"—a thousand years ago."