Seoul, South Korea — March 2025
Snow was melting into soft puddles on the sidewalks. The air still carried the chill of winter, but the cherry trees were beginning to bud.
Ami adjusted the collar of her beige trench coat and sipped her coffee as she waited at the bus stop in Hongdae.
She had just finished a long day of training at the tech company's Korean headquarters — new software, new partners, new culture. Her head was full.
But her heart felt strangely… unsettled.
She felt watched. Pulled. As if a thread had been tied to her soul and was slowly tightening.
That's when she saw him.
The man from the museum.
But she didn't know that yet.
She only saw a stranger staring at her like he had seen her before.
And she couldn't look away.
Time slowed.
Sound faded.
The air between them vibrated.
Yo-han took a step forward.
"Do we… know each other?" he asked in English, hesitant.
Ami blinked, startled.
"No, I… I don't think so," she replied.
But her voice wavered. Because something in his eyes stirred something in her.
Something ancient.
Something buried.
They stood in silence for a second too long, then the bus arrived.
"Maybe next time," Yo-han murmured, watching her climb aboard.
⸻
Three days later — Coincidence or Fate
They met again.
This time in Insadong, in a small book café filled with foreign students and old poetry collections.
Ami sat alone near the window, flipping through a book of Korean legends.
He entered.
Paused.
Saw her.
This time, they both laughed nervously.
"Okay," she said, "this is getting weird."
"Definitely," he smiled.
They talked.
Over jasmine tea and pages of mythology, they spoke of their jobs, their cities, their favorite food.
But also about the strange dreams they both had been having.
A battlefield.
A crown.
A woman.
A man.
Names they didn't recognize.
Emotions that didn't belong to them.
⸻
Later that night
Ami dreamed again.
She stood in a garden of black stones.
A man in red armor held her hand.
"Nalya," he whispered.
She gasped and woke up, trembling.
On the other side of the city, Yo-han woke at the exact same moment — the name Tae-junechoing in his mind.
They didn't know it yet.
But the past was calling.
And this time, it would not be silent.