Yeon-ji gazed out the window before putting on a thick jacket and a scarf. "I'm going to the convenience store," she told her parents as she stepped out. Her breath formed clouds in the cold air as she walked. Snow was falling gently, typical for the second week of December, and everyone around her was bundled up in warm clothes. People moved in groups or pairs, exuding a sense of happiness and camaraderie, but Yeon-ji felt none of that. She felt lonely and out of place.

She entered the store and picked up a cup of noodles and some snacks. After pouring hot water into the noodles, she took a seat to wait for them to cook. Her attention was drawn to the person next to her, dressed entirely in black and wearing a black mask. Something about him seemed familiar, and she quickly realized he resembled her favorite K-pop idol, Dae-hyun(Lee Kang-dae's stage name). Despite most of his face being covered, his eyes were strikingly beautiful, yet they carried a hint of sadness and loneliness.

Yeon-ji realized she had been staring and quickly looked away, feeling self-conscious. The man looked towards her, and she avoided eye contact, not wanting to make the situation awkward. As she stared in the opposite direction, she could sense his gaze still on her. Embarrassed, she thought, "Kim Yeon-ji, you fool! Why did you stare? You should be more careful!"

She heard the chair next to her move as the man stood up. Turning towards him, she found him looking directly into her eyes. Normally, she would have screamed in shock, as she was easily frightened, but strangely, this time she only flinched before freezing in place.

When she made eye contact with the man, she recognized those eyes. "Those are Dae-hyun's eyes. I can never mistake those eyes. Or am I mistaken? Have I been thinking about Dae-hyun so much lately that you're hallucinating?" She shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts.

Yeon-ji had been worried about Dae-hyun a lot these days due to a scandal accusing him of being a bully. This caused chaos for him. He received so much hatred without any evidence to support the scandal. Eventually, it was revealed that his company, X, had falsely accused him to gain attention for their struggling idol group, which fueled even more hatred towards him, as people then accused him of seeking attention. As a result, Dae-hyun left his group and retired as an idol. This revelation made Yeon-ji very angry and sad for weeks, which contributed to her mood today.

Thinking about Dae-hyun, Yeon-ji reflexively asked the man, "Are you okay?" Both the man and Yeon-ji were surprised by her question. "Ahhh! What did I just say? Who am I to ask him if he's okay, and why did I ask him that of all questions! He might think I'm weird. I wish I could hide somewhere."

As Yeon-ji was flustered by her own question, the man was also taken aback at first, but his eyes curled up, indicating a smile. "Thank you for your concern," he said, and Yeon-ji froze. He bowed and left the store. Yeon-ji stood there for a while, then snapped back to attention and ran out of the store. Outside, she looked around for the man. "He couldn't have gone far. He just left a few moments ago. It was him. It was Dae-hyun! I wasn't mistaken; it was definitely his voice!" She spotted him at the end of the road, waiting to cross.

She quickened her steps towards him. When she was almost there, he suddenly started walking across the road despite the light still being red. At the sight, her mind went blank, and she ran towards him, shouting his name. "Dae-hyun! Dae-hyun!" The man turned around to find Yeon-ji holding his hand. He was flustered, but as soon as Yeon-ji grabbed his hand, they were both hit by a car.

Bang!! A stream of crimson blood flowed down the road. A crowd of people gathered at the edge, murmuring as they watched two figures lying on the pavement after the accident. Yeon-ji, with only a sliver of consciousness and blurry vision, caught sight of a man covered in blood, lying just a few inches away from her. His mask was gone, and she recognized his face immediately. Tears, mingled with blood, streamed down her cheeks as she called out his name, "Dae-hyun! Dae-hyun!" But her voice was drowned out by the wail of sirens.

Desperately, she reached for his hand, trying to shake him awake, but she had hardly any strength left and struggled to stay conscious herself. In a helpless and confused whisper, she asked, "How did things end this way?" before fainting.

Yeon-ji's vision was shaded with darkness as if someone had blindfolded her. She reached out for help, but only silence answered, leaving her afraid. As she waited endlessly, she heard a distant voice. It became clearer as she focused.

"Yeon-ji-ya, wake up." As she heard the voice distinctly and opened her eyes, she escaped the obscurity. In front of her was a familiar face. Park Mi-sook, Yeon-ji's mother, was looking at her with a concerned frown. "Yeon-ji-ya, are you feeling sick? Why are you crying?" She wiped the tears from Yeon-ji's cheek as she asked.

Yeon-ji, still dazed, shook her head slightly to snap out of what felt like a dream.

Mi-sook, who was cleaning the house, had found Yeon-ji crying in her sleep. Seeing that her daughter was still out of sorts, she gave her a glass of water and asked, "Did you have a nightmare?"

At the mention of 'nightmare,' Yeon-ji recalled the accident and trembled uncontrollably. It had been too vivid to be just a dream.

Seeing her daughter tremble, Mi-sook hugged her to comfort her. When Yeon-ji felt the warmth of her embrace, she burst into tears. She cried out loud, telling her mother how scared she was. "It was so painful, Mom. I was very scared."

After Yeon-ji stopped crying and calmed down, Mi-sook made her rest and went back to her work. Once the door closed, Yeon-ji got off the bed and instantly fell to the floor. It felt as if her legs had become too short for the bed.

The pain from the fall made Yeon-ji realize she was not dreaming. Hastily looking around, she was aghast to see her reflection in the mirror. It was her, but she looked incredibly small. It was her face from when she was 8 years old. Pinching her cheek to wake herself up from this strange dream was futile. "This is real. If this is reality, was the accident a dream? But it felt so realistic, including the pain."

Yeon-ji stood up immediately and looked for a calendar. The calendar read 2014. Investigating more from her family, she found that the events happening now were the similar as those in her memory. Finally, she flopped onto the bed, accepting the fact that she had traveled back in time to the year 2014.

FEW DAYS LATER

Yeon-ji blended into the new time easily, having lived through this period before, but she was still preoccupied with her thoughts.

"If I'm here right now, then what happened to my body? Did I die?" she wondered. "What has happened to Kang-dae? Would he have avoided the accident if I hadn’t reached out to him?"

Spring had arrived, and the season was in full bloom. Yeon-ji’s mother decided to take her and her brother to visit a friend who had recently moved to the city.

"Yeon-ji-ya, we're going to visit Auntie Soo-jin today. She moved to a new neighborhood, and I want you to meet her children," Mi-sook announced.

Min-jae, Yeon-ji's brother who was two years older han her sulked at the couch since he didn't get to go out with his friends but had to accompany his mother.

"But, Mom, I don’t remember Auntie Soo-jin," Yeon-ji replied, puzzled.

"You were very young when you last saw her. Don’t worry, you’ll like them," Mi-sook reassured her.

However, something felt off. Yeon-ji didn’t remember visiting her mother’s friend in the past, and the neighborhood was different from the one she recalled. It was like everything was the same, but they had suddenly become part of a new neighborhood.

When they reached their destination, Mi-sook greeted her friend, Choi Soo-jin, a kind woman with a warm smile and short, curly hair. Soo-jin welcomed them inside her cozy home filled with potted plants and the scent of freshly baked cookies.

“Yeon-ji, Min-jae, this is Mrs. Choi,” Mi-sook introduced her children.

“Hello, Mrs. Choi,” they both said in unison.

“Hello, Yeon-ji, Min-jae! Please make yourselves at home. My children are around your age. Why don’t you go and play with them?” Soo-jin suggested.

As the children were shown to the living room where Soo-jin's children were, Yeon-ji's curiosity got the better of her. "This is Soo-min and her brother went out for a while," she introduced. "Why don't you all get to know each other while he returns?"

While the adults chatted in the kitchen, Yeon-ji, Min-jun, and Eun-ji’s children played together. However, Yeon-ji couldn’t shake the feeling of unfamiliarity. After a while, she excused herself to explore the house and the surrounding area.

"I'll just be outside for a bit," she told the others, stepping out into the backyard. The garden was lush with blooming flowers and a small path leading to a park.

She wandered down the path, her mind racing with thoughts of her strange situation. As she explored, she noticed that the neighborhood looked slightly different from what she remembered. The layout of the streets and houses seemed off, adding to her sense of confusion.

Lost in thought, Yeon-ji realized she had wandered farther than intended. The surroundings were unfamiliar, and she couldn’t find her way back. Panic set in as she tried to retrace her steps but ended up more disoriented.

Suddenly, she tripped on an uneven patch of pavement and fell, scraping her knee. The pain was sharp and immediate, grounding her in the reality of her situation. She looked around, trying to recognize something, but everything seemed alien. Tears welled up in her eyes, partly from the pain and partly from the frustration of being lost. She stood up, trying to orient herself, but the surroundings seemed unfamiliar.

The sky began to darken, and a light rain started to fall. Yeon-ji hurried to find shelter and took cover under a large tree. She sat down, holding her injured knee, and watched the raindrops fall, feeling a sense of despair. The sight of people gathering on the nearby road, their umbrellas forming a crowd, reminded her of the accident. Her heart raced with fear and anxiety.

As she sat there, shivering and lost, she heard footsteps approaching. She looked up to see a boy about her brother's age, holding an umbrella. He came closer and lifted the umbrella, revealing his face.

Yeon-ji’s eyes widened in shock. It was Dae-hyun’s baby face. The resemblance was unmistakable, and she felt a mixture of relief and confusion wash over her.

"Are you okay?" the boy asked, his voice filled with concern.

Soo-jin had noticed that Kang-dae had often been lost in his thoughts the past few days. Concerned, she approached him one afternoon and said, "Kang-dae, today my friend is visiting with her kids. Her son is the same age as you. Why don’t you go buy some snacks for them?"

Kang-dae nodded, grabbing his coat and heading out. On his way back, he noticed a small figure huddled under a tree near the store. Curious, he wanted to check, but the rain was starting to pour harder, so he rushed home.

When he arrived, he found his mother and her friend searching around the house with anxious expressions. He walked over and asked, "Mom, what happened?"

"Oh, Kang-dae, you’re back. Auntie Mi-sook's daughter is missing. We’ve been looking for her. Did you see a little girl on your way?"

"No, I rushed home because it was raining..." The image of the small figure under the tree flashed in his mind. Grabbing an umbrella, he informed his mom, "I'll look for her around the park."

Kang-dae made his way back to the tree and found a girl crouched down with a scraped knee. He approached her and asked, "Are you okay?"

The girl looked up at him, frozen with an astonished expression. Yeon-ji was stunned to see a child version of Kang-dae standing before her. They stared at each other for a moment until Kang-dae broke the silence, asking again, "Are you okay?"

Yeon-ji thought she was imagining things, but as she heard his voice again, she couldn’t help but shed tears of relief. She was so glad to see him in front of her, unharmed. The past few days, she had been haunted by the dream of the accident and couldn’t stop worrying about Kang-dae. Now, seeing him well and good, she felt a sense of peace.

Kang-dae was flustered to see the girl cry. Assuming she was upset because of her injury, he hesitantly patted her head and tried to comfort her, "It's okay, let’s go home now."

Yeon-ji tried to stop crying, but Kang-dae’s kindness made her cry even more.

---

After a while, Yeon-ji calmed down, and the rain had stopped. Kang-dae patiently waited for her to settle. He held Yeon-ji's hand so she wouldn’t wander off again and started walking home.

On the way, Yeon-ji was too embarrassed to look up and meet Kang-dae's eyes. She was thankful that her body was that of a child; otherwise, she would have died of embarrassment for crying in front of a ten-year-old boy. She glanced at Kang-dae and noticed he seemed unaffected.

Her heart was racing as Kang-dae held her hand. Gathering courage, she muttered, "T-Thank you."

Kang-dae looked down, meeting her eyes, and smiled warmly, "You're welcome." Yeon-ji felt her cheeks heat up and immediately looked at the ground to hide her face.

Their walk home was filled with silence. When they arrived, Yeon-ji's mother ran to hug her, "Yeon-ji-ya, where did you go? You scared me!" She sighed with relief.

"Sorry, Mom, I was looking around and got lost," Yeon-ji explained.

Mi-sook thanked Kang-dae, and they all went inside. The kids resumed their play while Mi-sook and Soo-jin went back to chatting, but Mi-sook kept Yeon-ji by her side. Yeon-ji wanted to play with Kang-dae, but because she had given her mother a scare, she had to stay close.

Sitting there, Yeon-ji watched her brother Min-jae and Kang-dae playing together. They got along well, being the same age. She was deeply puzzled by today's events. In her past, she never got lost and had no memory of meeting Kang-dae like this.

Before she knew it, it was time to leave. Yeon-ji wanted to thank Kang-dae again but couldn’t find him. She felt a bit sad that she didn’t get to spend more time with him. Soo-jin came outside to see them off.

Yeon-ji and Min-jae thanked her. "Sorry for causing trouble today," Yeon-ji apologized.

Soo-jin smiled kindly. "Don’t worry about it, Yeon-ji. Take care!"

When they reached home, Yeon-ji went straight to her bed, exhausted from the day's events. She let out a heavy sigh as she lay down. "What was today all about? Ahh, I don't want to think anymore." She tried to shake off her thoughts and quickly fell asleep.