Arin didn't sleep that night.
He tried.
He closed his eyes, turned to one side, then the other—but every time darkness came, he saw it again—
That crack.
That man.
Those words.
"You shouldn't exist."
His eyes snapped open.
3:17 AM.
The clock.
Again.
His chest tightened.
"No… not again…"
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The second hand moved.
Normal.
Everything was normal.
Arin let out a slow breath and sat up, running his hands through his hair.
"It was just… something weird," he whispered to himself. "Stress… yeah… just stress."
But deep inside—
He didn't believe it.
The next morning felt wrong.
Not visibly.
Not obviously.
But wrong.
The sky looked the same.
The streets were the same.
People moved, talked, laughed.
But something was off.
Like the world was slightly… delayed.
Arin walked through the market, eyes scanning everything.
A man dropped a glass bottle.
It fell.
And for a split second—
It paused.
Just for a heartbeat.
Then—
CRASH.
Arin froze.
"…Did anyone see that?"
No one reacted.
No one noticed.
They just kept moving.
Like nothing happened.
Like it never paused.
His breathing grew heavier.
"I'm not imagining this…"
Then it came again.
A sound.
Not from outside.
From inside his head.
A whisper.
Faint.
Broken.
"…help…"
Arin stopped walking.
His eyes widened.
"…Who said that?"
Silence.
Then again—
"…help… us…"
This time clearer.
More desperate.
He turned sharply, scanning the crowd.
"Who's there?!"
People stared at him like he was crazy.
But Arin wasn't looking at them anymore.
Because now—
He could see it.
Small cracks.
Everywhere.
Thin, glowing lines flickering in the air, appearing and disappearing like broken reflections.
On walls.
On the ground.
Even… around people.
His heart pounded violently.
"What is happening to me…"
The whispers grew louder.
Not one voice.
Many.
Hundreds.
"…lost…"
"…trapped…"
"…time… broken…"
"…save…"
Arin covered his ears.
"STOP!"
But the voices didn't stop.
They weren't coming from outside.
They were coming from somewhere deeper.
Somewhere beyond.
Then—
Everything slowed.
Not fully stopped this time.
Just slowed.
Like the world was moving through thick water.
People walked in stretched motions.
Sounds dragged and warped.
And in the middle of it—
He saw her.
A girl.
Standing still.
Completely still.
While the rest of the world moved slowly around her.
She was looking directly at him.
Like she had been waiting.
Arin's breath caught.
"You…"
The girl stepped forward.
Normal speed.
Not slowed.
Not affected.
Her eyes were sharp, glowing faintly—just like the man from before.
"You hear them too, don't you?" she said quietly.
Arin nodded without thinking.
"…Yes."
She studied him for a moment.
Then her expression changed.
From curiosity…
To shock.
"That's not possible," she whispered.
Arin's voice trembled. "What's not possible?"
The girl took another step closer.
Lowered her voice.
"You're not just seeing fractures…"
She pointed directly at his chest.
"You're connected to them."
Arin felt something inside him pulse.
A strange energy.
Unfamiliar.
Uncontrolled.
"…What does that mean?"
The girl hesitated.
Like she didn't want to say it.
Like saying it would change everything.
Then finally—
"It means," she said slowly,
"…time is breaking because of you."
Silence.
Arin felt his world collapse again.
"What…?"
Before he could react—
The ground beneath him cracked.
This time—
For real.
A massive fracture of glowing light split open under his feet.
The voices screamed.
Louder than ever.
The girl's eyes widened.
"No—this is too soon!"
She grabbed his arm tightly.
"Listen to me carefully—if you stay here, you will destroy this world!"
Arin panicked. "Then what do I do?!"
She looked straight into his eyes.
And said the one thing that changed everything—
"You come with me."
The crack beneath them exploded open.
Light swallowed everything.
The world shattered—
And Arin fell.
Not down.
Not up.
But through something far deeper than reality itself.
As the voices screamed and time tore apart—
One thought echoed in his mind—
This is only the beginning.