"Some places never forget. Even if the people do."
The world had long since burned.
Ashes clung to the edges of kingdoms, and silence hung like smoke in the skies. But here—on the forgotten hill where the sakura tree bloomed—there was still beauty. Still peace.
Still her grave.
Dae-hyun stood before it, his figure rigid, drenched in black.The grave bore a name that haunted him every night:Iris.
The wind blew gently, scattering petals across his boots.
Behind her grave was another stone—blank.One he had prepared.For someone who never truly died.For someone he could never let go.
"Why am I even here…" he muttered, clutching the edges of his coat.
He came here often. More than he wanted to admit.To remember. To forget.To bleed inside where no one could see.
Until—
Snap.
A twig cracked.A soft footstep.
His eyes shot up.
At the edge of the hill, stepping cautiously through the trees, was a girl.Her hair flowed with the wind, her white dress trailing like mist.Her face pale.Her eyes… empty.
She blinked, confused, trembling. "Where… am I?"
Dae-hyun's heart slammed in his chest.
That face.
No.
That couldn't be—
"Who are you?" he snapped, his voice harsher than intended.
She flinched.
"I… I don't know," she whispered. "I just… woke up here. I kept walking, and this place felt... safe."
Her bare feet pressed into the grass. Petals swirled around her.She turned her gaze to the grave.
"I know this place," she said suddenly. "I think I've… been here before."
Dae-hyun's entire world spun.
His legs felt like stone.
His breath caught in his throat.
He stumbled back a step, then another.
Her presence was wrong.She shouldn't exist.Iris was dead.
He had killed her.
He had seen her last breath, held her cold hand as her blood painted his fate.
But this girl—this stranger—had her eyes.
Her voice.
Her aura.
"…Iris?" he asked, brokenly.
She looked at him, puzzled.
"I'm sorry… is that my name?"
"No." He choked. "No, you're not her. You can't be."
She took a step closer. "Do you know me?"
"Stay back," he warned, voice cracking.
She froze.
He turned away, shaking. His fingers dug into his palm.
What is this?Why is fate laughing at me?Why did she come back—without memories—without hate—without the pain I deserve?
"Who brought you here?" he asked coldly, trying to hold himself together.
"I… don't know."Her voice was barely a whisper."Everything's blank. I only remembered one thing…"
He turned sharply. "What?"
She knelt near the grave and gently touched the earth. "Sakura trees."
"I remember I loved them."
Dae-hyun's body locked up.His eyes widened.
Sakura.
The only flower that grew near Iris's grave.
Her favorite.
His hands trembled.
He watched as she smiled faintly at the petals drifting down.
She didn't know him.She didn't know who she was.But this place… this memory… it lingered in her bones.
"Then you must've had good taste," he muttered shakily.
She looked up at him, smiling. "So… you do know me?"
He turned away.
"…No. I don't."
She blinked, visibly hurt, though she didn't know why.
"What's your name?" she asked gently.
He hesitated.
"…Dae-hyun."
She tilted her head. "That sounds familiar…"
He clenched his jaw. "It shouldn't."
Her eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Can I stay here… for a while? I don't know where else to go."
He didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Because deep down, every part of him screamed no.
Every part of him remembered the day Iris died.The day he destroyed the only person who ever looked at him with love instead of fear.
And yet, the ghost of her now stood before him.Alive. Smiling. Lost.
And Dae-hyun knew one thing:
This wasn't a second chance.
This was punishment.
[To be continued…]
Preview of Episode 2: "Even If You Forgot Me, I Never Will."