Episode 1

The rain in Seoul never seemed to fall gently. It poured, hard and fast, splashing against the pavement until the streets became rivers of neon and reflection. Han Jisoo tugged the hood of his jacket tighter, weaving through the crowd with his backpack bouncing against his shoulder. The air was thick with the smell of fried food from street stalls, mixed with the dampness of soaked asphalt.

It was supposed to be an ordinary evening. Cram school had ended, his math teacher had yelled about missing homework again, and his phone buzzed with messages from his best friend, Haneul, begging him to meet up at the PC café. Everything pointed to routine.

And yet, Jisoo’s feet carried him elsewhere.

He didn’t even notice until he had taken the wrong turn—an alleyway so narrow only one person could pass through at a time. The city’s noise dulled, replaced by the steady drip of water sliding down rusted pipes. The further he walked, the more the world seemed to blur, like stepping out of a photograph.

At the end of the alley sat a small, crooked bookstore. Its wooden sign swung weakly in the rain, letters almost erased by time. Noctis Books.

Jisoo tilted his head. He’d lived in this neighborhood his whole life, but he’d never seen this store. Seoul didn’t hide places like this; everything was mapped, crowded, tagged on social media.

Still, curiosity was his worst habit. He pushed open the door.

A small bell chimed overhead. Inside, the air was dry and heavy, carrying the musk of old pages. Shelves towered high, bending under the weight of books no one had touched in years. The dim lighting gave the place a dreamlike haze, and somewhere in the back, a radio whispered static instead of music.

“Hello?” Jisoo called, his voice too loud in the silence.

No answer.

His eyes drifted to a table in the center, where a single book lay open. Unlike the cracked spines and dust-covered titles surrounding it, this one looked untouched—its cover deep blue, a silver thread spiraling across it like a constellation. The title shimmered faintly when he leaned closer.

“The Boy Between Worlds.”

Jisoo’s lips parted. The coincidence was eerie. The title mirrored his own life—always feeling like he belonged nowhere, stuck between being too ordinary and wanting something extraordinary.

He glanced around. No shopkeeper. No cameras. Just him and the book.

His fingers brushed the page.

The words were handwritten, ink flowing like water, yet shifting slightly, as if alive. The story began with a boy stepping into a world not his own. A boy who found another waiting there.

Jisoo blinked. His chest tightened in a way he couldn’t explain. The more he read, the stronger the pull grew—like the book wasn’t telling a story but whispering directly into his bones.

Then the letters started to move.

At first, he thought it was his tired eyes. But no—the words blurred, spiraled into circles, glowing faintly until the entire page shimmered like liquid silver.

“What the—”

Before he could pull away, light burst from the book. His hand sank into the page as if it were water. Panic shot through him. He tried to yank his arm back, but the book pulled harder. The shelves rattled, the bell above the door screamed, and the air thickened like a storm collapsing inward.

“Wait, wait—stop!”

The world flipped.

Jisoo’s vision swam with stars, his stomach twisting like he’d dropped ten floors in an elevator. His feet hit something solid, then soft, then nothing at all. When the spinning slowed, he was lying flat on his back, gasping for breath.

The rain was gone.

Above him stretched a sky unlike any he’d ever seen—deep violet, speckled with floating lanterns that drifted without strings. A pale moon, too close, hung low, glowing faintly blue. Trees rose around him, their leaves translucent, glowing as if lit from within. The air smelled of honey and smoke, crisp and unfamiliar.

He sat up slowly. His backpack was gone. The alley was gone. Seoul was gone.

“What the hell…” Jisoo whispered.

A rustle.

He froze.

From between the trees, someone stepped into the clearing. A boy, a little older than him—tall, slim, wearing clothes that looked stitched from shadows and starlight. His hair, dark with a faint silver sheen under the lanterns, framed a face both sharp and soft, like he’d been carved to be unforgettable.

But it was his eyes that pinned Jisoo in place—deep, calm, carrying an entire world of silence in them.

The boy tilted his head. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Jisoo’s throat dried. “I—uh—I think I took a wrong turn.”

The boy’s lips curved into the smallest smile, though it didn’t reach his eyes. He stepped closer, every movement fluid, deliberate. “Wrong turn? Into this place?” His voice was low, carrying an echo, as though the forest itself was listening.

Jisoo scrambled to his feet, brushing dirt from his jeans. “I was in a bookstore. A weird one. Then a book—” He broke off, realizing how insane it sounded.

The boy studied him, gaze flickering with something between suspicion and curiosity. “You crossed the boundary.”

“The… boundary?”

The boy didn’t answer. Instead, he stepped even closer until they were only a meter apart. Up close, Jisoo noticed the faint shimmer in his skin, like starlight clung to him.

“You shouldn’t exist here,” the boy murmured, almost to himself.

Jisoo swallowed hard. His heart was beating too fast, but not just from fear. Something in the boy’s presence felt magnetic, like gravity itself was stronger near him.

“Then… where exactly is here?” Jisoo asked quietly.

The boy’s gaze softened just slightly. “Noctis. The world between.”

The words landed heavy, though Jisoo didn’t understand them. The world between what? Between who?

But before he could speak, a howl tore through the forest. Not an animal sound—something deeper, colder, like wind screaming through stone. The ground trembled under his feet.

The boy’s expression hardened. He grabbed Jisoo’s wrist. His hand was warm, steady. “We have to move. Now.”

“W-wait, who are you? What’s happening?”

“Questions later.” The boy’s grip tightened. “If you want to live, trust me.”

Jisoo hesitated for only a second before letting himself be pulled. The two of them ran through the glowing forest, lanterns bobbing above as if watching. Behind them, the howl grew louder, closer, chasing like a storm.

Jisoo’s lungs burned, but he couldn’t stop staring at the boy ahead of him. A stranger in a strange world, holding his hand like it was the most natural thing in the universe.

He didn’t know how, but deep inside, Jisoo felt it.

This meeting wasn’t an accident.

It was the beginning.

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