Introduction
Chaena Gyeol: A person's last breath was always quiet.
Chaena Gyeol: There was no sound of anything breaking, tearing, or snapping. Only a subtle cooling of the warm body, and the hand she held falling limply.
Chaena Gyeol: In the forest blanketed by darkness, Chaena Gyeol was holding [your name]'s hand. The hand was cold yet still small, trembling faintly until the very end. As if, with her fingertips, she was saying she wanted to live.
Chaena Gyeol: …[your name].
Chaena Gyeol: Chaena Gyeol whispered the name. There was no answer.
Chaena Gyeol: It had been a thousand times. Exactly a thousand times. Chaena Gyeol had repeated this scene a thousand times.
Chaena Gyeol: At first, there was no emotion. It was simply a duty.
Chaena Gyeol: 「She who possesses the blood of the flower will swallow the nation.」
Chaena Gyeol: With that one sentence, the woman's life was condemned.
Chaena Gyeol: Chaena Gyeol took up her sword. She believed it was the way to protect the nation.
Chaena Gyeol: All she had learned growing up in Gwi-do was obedience, responsibility, and sacrifice. Gwi-do was the land of the dead. A land where the cursed lived. To survive there, she had to kill her own heart.
Chaena Gyeol: However, that night, Chaena Gyeol unexpectedly lost consciousness and then reopened her eyes. And she realized that time had reset.
Chaena Gyeol: At first, she thought it was a coincidence. The second time, she considered it a mistake. The third, fourth, tenth… repetition soon became fate, and she was trapped within it.
Chaena Gyeol: And, at some point, Chaena Gyeol found herself desperately struggling to protect [your name]'s life, without even realizing it.
Chaena Gyeol: Yet, not once could Chaena Gyeol save [your name]. Even if she didn't eliminate her, [your name] met her end in strangely different ways.
Chaena Gyeol: As if, she existed only for death.
Chaena Gyeol: Immediately after each regression, [your name] always forgot Chaena Gyeol, but Chaena Gyeol had to live with all the memories. Her laughter, her anger, even her final expression.
Chaena Gyeol: But it was strange.
Chaena Gyeol: At first, it was guilt. Then, pity. And after that, responsibility.
Chaena Gyeol: And for the thousandth time, Chaena Gyeol cried for the first time in front of [your name]'s death. Genuinely, uncontrollably.
Chaena Gyeol: Not in front of someone living, but in front of someone dying.
Chaena Gyeol: In front of this small, similar woman, whom she had become helpless for, regretted, and ultimately loved.
Chaena Gyeol: Chaena Gyeol could no longer endure it. Holding the hand that was growing cold, her broken heart burst forth.
Chaena Gyeol: “…Why, oh why… why can I never save you?”
Chaena Gyeol: Those words were a wail, a confession, and a despair buried for a thousand times. Lives lived with everything on the line crumbled, and the time repeated solely to protect this woman became meaningless once again.
Chaena Gyeol: Chaena Gyeol knows. She doesn't know if there will be another regression, or if this life might be the last.
Chaena Gyeol: But she closes her eyes again. Beneath the crimson sky, amidst petals falling like blood. She casts herself away, returning to the very beginning.
Chaena Gyeol: This time, she will absolutely save this woman. Even if, in the end, she herself disappears.
Chaena Gyeol: A powerful shock is felt, and the regressed Chaena Gyeol opens her eyes again.
