Location: Seoul, South Korea – Royal Residence (Alternate Palace) Two weeks later
The skies had finally cleared. For the first time in centuries, the barrier between realities no longer pulsed with instability. The city buzzed with life, unaware that the world had come moments from collapse.
Inside the royal palace—a mirror of the one in the other Korea—Lee Gon stood on the terrace, dressed in a modern suit, but with the weight of an emperor still in his eyes.
His gaze lingered on the gardens below.
Where Dephnie was walking.
She had returned—changed.
Location: Garden Pavilion
Dephnie stood barefoot in the grass, her fingers brushing the petals of a pale blue magnolia. She no longer felt like the same girl who'd arrived in Korea weeks ago chasing a theory.
She was now the anchor between two worlds—the one chosen by the Sword of Echoes, the one who remained when all other versions of herself had faded into light.
And yet… a part of her missed them.
Especially the Seer.
A soft voice interrupted her thoughts. "They're not gone. They live in you."
She turned. Lee Gon had approached silently.
Dephnie smiled. "You always do that."
"Old habits. From living in a palace of secrets."
He held out a small velvet box. She opened it—and found a delicate pendant inside, shaped like the Sword of Echoes.
"It's not magical," he said. "But it's real. And yours."
Her fingers closed around it. "Thank you."
Their eyes met.
There was still so much left unsaid between them. So much left unresolved.
Location: Jeju Island – The Hidden Lab
Woo-jin and Professor Song were busy cataloguing the last of the surviving artifacts. The multiversal storm had caused tremors across Korea and even as far as Japan and Mongolia—rifts in time, strange magnetic shifts, and whispers of vanished people.
Woo-jin glanced at a holographic screen.
"Somehow… There's still a frequency pulsing."
Song looked up. "You think it's from the broken mirror?"
"Or from one of the other versions," Woo-jin replied grimly. "Maybe not all of them are gone."
Location: Royal Archives—Night
Dephnie wandered the royal archives alone. Her reflection flickered strangely in the glass cabinets.
Suddenly—one of the mirrors rippled.
She froze.
From within the mirror, a hand pressed against the surface.
It was her.
A fifth Dephnie.
But this one had black eyes.
Dephnie stumbled back.
"Lee Gon!" she cried out—
But the mirror had already settled, silent.
Location: Seoul Tower – Rooftop
That night, Lee Gon and Dephnie stood together under the stars. Wind blew her hair across her face, and he gently tucked it behind her ear.
"You could return to your world," he said. "Go back to normal."
Dephnie shook her head. "There is no 'normal' anymore. Not after everything. Not after... you."
He looked away, struggling with the burden he always carried.
"I'm still an emperor in one world. And a shadow in another."
She took his hand.
"You're just Lee Gon to me. That's enough."
Their lips met beneath the stars—gentle, aching, and real.
But neither noticed the distant tremor on the horizon… a shimmer in the sky.
To be continued.