Kang Ji-won woke up gasping for air.
For a few seconds, she could only stare ahead, her mind still caught between the nightmare and reality.
Cold.
Dark.
Endless.
She frowned as the strange feeling slowly faded.
She couldn’t remember what she had been dreaming about—only the suffocating sensation of being trapped somewhere she couldn’t escape.
Kang Ji-won slowly opened her eyes and immediately realized she wasn’t home.
The ceiling above her was unfamiliar.
The room was old, featuring faded curtains, worn wooden floors, and a cabinet standing off in the corner.
A thin layer of dust covered almost everything, making the entire place look as though no one had lived there in years.
Ji-won sat up and looked around.
A small table sat beside the bed, an old wooden chair rested near the window, and the cabinet looked like it had been sitting there since the beginning of civilization.
She stared at it for a few seconds.
Kidnapped?
“Did they drop me off in an antique warehouse?”
No answer came.
Ji-won raised an eyebrow.
“Great. Even my kidnappers have abandoned me.”
She rubbed her forehead, trying to remember what had happened.
Before she could think any further, the memory came rushing back.
The car accident.
Lee Jun-ho.
The betrayal.
He had pushed her onto the main road.
And then—the car hit her.
Ji-won’s expression changed.
She remembered dying.
She remembered Lee Jun-ho standing there, and she remembered the cold look in his eyes.
So why was she still alive?
Is this heaven?
She looked down at herself as if expecting to find some explanation.
Nothing.
No blood, no injuries, not even a scratch.
“This doesn’t make sense.”
Ji-won slowly got out of bed.
Her legs felt strangely light beneath her, but she ignored the feeling and walked toward the window.
She pushed the faded curtain aside and looked outside, only to find another problem waiting for her.
The street below looked completely unfamiliar.
The buildings, the road, even the distant signs were nothing like the city she knew.
She narrowed her eyes, trying to recognize something—anything—but nothing looked familiar.
“Where exactly am I?”
She leaned closer to the glass for another moment before stepping back with a sigh.
Something was fundamentally wrong.
Turning around, she caught sight of herself in the cracked window pane and froze.
The reflection staring back at her wasn’t the woman she knew.
She slowly raised her hands.
They looked smaller.
Younger.
“What…?”
Ji-won stared at them for several seconds, turning them over before looking at her arms and then back at her hands.
The more she looked, the more impossible it became.
“No.”
She quickly walked over to the cabinet and picked up a small, hand mirror resting on top.
After wiping the grime away with her sleeve, she stared at her reflection.
A young girl stared back at her—soft features, dark eyes, and smooth skin.
Ji-won touched her cheek, and the reflection did the same.
She leaned closer, and the girl in the mirror leaned closer too.
When she tilted her head, the reflection copied her perfectly.
“No way…”
Ji-won stared at herself for a few seconds before muttering, “So pretty.”
She turned her face slightly to one side, then the other.
“Hmm… Not bad.”
A second later, she seemed to remember that she was supposed to be panicking.
She suddenly slapped a hand against her forehead.
“What are you doing, Kang Ji-won?”
She set the mirror back down and looked around the room again.
“Focus.”
Taking a slow breath, she forced herself to think clearly.
She had died.
She was now in a strange room, her body looked years younger, and she had absolutely no idea how any of it had happened.
“Okay,” she nodded to herself.
“One problem at a time.”
She paused.
“Although I seem to have about fifty problems right now.”
Her gaze wandered around the space again.
No phone, no bag, no familiar belongings, and not even a clock on the wall.
The heavy silence was beginning to bother her.
“Whoever owns this place really needs to discover the existence of cleaning products.”
She took another step forward, and her foot brushed against something on the floorboards.
Ji-won looked down.
A large brown book lay beside the cabinet.
She crouched and picked it up.
The cover was thick and dusty, with no title, author’s name, or anything else written on it.
She brushed some of the dust away with her fingers and examined it carefully.
“Hmph. Looks like a novel.”
She turned it over.
“Or maybe a Bible?”
She examined the cover again before shaking her head.
“No. Too suspicious.”
With a shrug, she opened it.
The first page was blank.
She flipped to the next one, but it was still empty.
Ji-won frowned and continued turning the pages, finding nothing but blank sheets.
“Seriously?”
She lifted the book closer to her face as if that would somehow make the words appear.
She flipped another page.
Nothing.
“Did someone make a whole book just to waste paper?”
She was about to close it when she finally saw text.
Why don’t we tell her?
Kang Ji-won is still young.
She won’t understand
Her fingers stopped.
“…Kang Ji-won?”
She stared at the page in confusion.
Her name.
Why was her name written in a random book?
She quickly turned to the next page.
Blank.
She flipped back.
The words were gone.
Ji-won stared at the empty page, blinking once, then twice.
“Very funny.”
Flipping the page again, there was nothing.
She went back once more, only to find the same blank page staring back at her.
Her eyebrows slowly knitted together.
“Okay…” She looked around the room before looking back at the book.
“Either I’m losing my mind, or this book is.”
She turned another few pages, but there was still nothing.
With a sigh, she was about to close the book when curiosity got the better of her.
She opened the book again and skipped past the beginning.
Maybe the strange words had been some kind of mistake.
Maybe there was an explanation somewhere inside.
Or maybe—
Ji-won stopped herself.
“Please don’t let this be one of those horror novels where the stupid character keeps investigating the obviously cursed object.”
She looked down at the book for a moment.
A second later, she let out a sigh.
“Well, apparently I’m also that stupid character.”
Turning directly to the middle page, her fingers stopped.
And her eyes narrowed.
Okay, so Ji-won has officially woken up in a strange room, in a body she doesn’t recognize, and somehow found a book with her name in it.
I don’t even know what to say about that.
But seriously, what do you guys think is going on?
Let’s keep reading and find out together.