Chapter Text
23 November 2026, 11:25 AM.
Juntae hears it again. The strange ringtone that plays right before it feels like he's drowning in hot lava. It sounds suspiciously like the instrumental of eyes, nose, lips by taeyang.
Juntae can't tell what's happening.
He feels hot. Not hot like how you'd feel if you were blanketed in the middle of a summer night, but hot like he's walking into the literal sun.
The flames embrace him whole.
Everything goes blank for some time.
Juntae opens his eyes to sunlight hitting directly his face. He frowns. It takes him a moment to understand where he is.
He's sitting in a moving bus. Aisle seat, third row from the back. There's someone sleeping beside him in the window seat.
Juntae takes in his surroundings confusingly. His mind isn't focused and he feels scared. He doesn't understand why but he feels so incredibly scared.
He needs to get off this bus.
That's the only thought his brain can muster up.
Every sense inside him is panicking, begging him to get off.
His gaze falls on his watch accidentally, it's 11:25, his subconscious screams harder inside him to just run.
He gets up from his seat.
But before he can take a step ahead, he remembers something, the image is brief and blurry in his head but he gets what it is.
He sits back down with a thump. He can't just get off without a stop, he needs to come up with something.
Something actually convincing unlike before, a voice in his head supplies unhelpfully.
He looks around desperately trying to figure out a way.
The person beside him shuffles in his seat.
Juntae looks at him and the wheel in his head starts turning. It's wrong, very unfair thing to do, juntae knows, but at this moment, it can't be helped.
He takes a deep breath and makes up his mind.
"What did you just do, mister?" Juntae screams at the man sitting beside him, catching him off guard.
"I'm sorry?" The guy in blue hoodie says confusingly, he looks tired enough.
Juntae feels bad for adding onto the poor guy's stress, he does; but he has no other choice to get out of this situation right now.
Juntae stands up dramatically, drawing every passenger's attention towards them. "Everyone! This mister just tried to touch me inappropriately!" He shouts. His empathy for the stranger thrown god knows where in order to ensure his own safety.
The bystanders gasp.
"What," the stranger's eyes widen, all tiredness and sleep leaving him as he stands up to defend himself.
He looks at everyone who's looking at him accusingly and frantically shakes his head. "He's lying! I swear he's lying, i was sleeping until thirty seconds ago," he says, desperately trying to convince them of his innocence.
Juntae gulps, he can't have this backfire on him.
"You're trying to blame the victim now? If you're that confident, come with me to the police, they'll decide whether I'm lying or not," juntae doubles down on his claim.
"The fuck, why would i do that? I did nothing wrong!" The stranger is stubborn as ever too.
"Every criminal says that!" Someone — who's also apparently recording this whole exchange, chimes in.
Juntae would feel worse about ruining this young man's reputation, that is, if he wasn't focused on saving his own life.
He takes the man's hand forcefully and drags them both to the front, towards the driver.
Right as he passes the front row, hi stumbles upon a heavy bag. The owner of the said back snatches it back towards himself hurriedly but says nothing else. Juntae doesn't have time to apologies right now.
"Yeah, leave me! For fucks sake you know damn well i did nothing!" The guys keeps shouting.
"Sir? Will you let me off? I need to make a police report," juntae talks to the driver.
"Kid, just make a call, they'll get you from the next stop. I can't stop the bus in the middle of the road," the driver tells him solemnly, never once making eye contact.
"He's right, there's no need to stop the bus. Until we get to the next stop, we'll contain him for you so don't worry!" A senior citizen from the fourth right row speaks up.
A buff guy from the second left row comes forward, as to hold the stranger hostage.
"No," juntae cuts them both off, "i feel violated and scared, i want to get off now, please," he pleads to the driver.
Why doesn't anyone get it that he has to get off?
"Don't be scared, i have evidence here, I'll help you," the guy still recording them says, he's getting on juntae's nerves.
"Evidence? What fucking evidence?" The poor accused stranger shouts, pissed out of his mind, he tries to lurch forward to grab the recording guy but juntae's death grip on his hand stops him from doing so.
Also the fact that the buff man has came ahead to defend the other one.
Juntae is growing frustrated and more scared, his hands are shaking, he thinks he'd faint if it wasn't for the adrenaline rush.
"Why won't you just let me off?" Juntae shouts at the driver, his voice wet with unshod tears. For as long as he has known driver park, he is a really nice person, juntae doesn't get it why he's being so unhelpful right now.
The driver looks at him, finally, he seems like he's debating something in his head, however he's taking too long and juntae's just getting too frantic, he can feel his heart beating at an incredibly fast pace.
The stranger wouldn't stop speaking in his ear, juntae understands he's being unfair but he just wants to live.
"Please," juntae tries again.
"Fine." The driver stops the bus right before the intersection.
Juntae breathes a sigh of relief and gets off as fast as he can.
He takes the stranger with him too.
"What the fuck was that?" The stranger in front of him asks.
The fear is still running rampant in juntae, even though the danger is away now. He's still a little dazed.
"I'm sorry," he murmurs, "there was no problem i just wanted to get off. I'm really sorry," he hopes his voice sounds as sincere as he feels.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" The stranger scoffs, "you made me out to be a pervert just to get off?" He looks even more angry and frustrated now. "I'll get back to you, so don't think you're let off for this, yeah?" He runs a hand over his hair.
"If only i wasn't getting late i'd fucking show you." He murmurs angrily to himself.
Juntae wants to mutter another 'sorry' but he knows it won't really help.
"What's your fucking name?" The stranger asks him.
Juntae knows what he did and he knows he'll have to take responsibility for it so he gives the stranger his information without making another fuss. He's a little bummed when the other walks away without even saying his own name though.
But he starts walking in another direction anyway.
Juntae can't get rid of the fear in his bones, no matter how far he walks from the danger, it feels like it's following him right behind.
He mind is repeating scenes he never knew he lived, his bones are cracking under an unknown fear he can't identify and his vision is unfocused.
He's not aware about his surroundings, just walking mindlessly wherever his feet take him. He doesn't realize when he gets down from the sidewalk to the middle of the road.
He doesn't hear the loud honking, only the noise of the crash that happens right before the bike hits his side and throws him off balance, causing him to hit his head on the concrete road.
Juntae lets out a scream as his head starts spilling blood.
In a distance, a loud blast is heard and all that's left to see is flames.
This time when juntae opens his eyes, it's to bright lights. It takes a long moment for him to remember how he ended up here.
'here' being a hospital bed.
Slowly the memories start to fill in.
When it happened first few times, juntae has no collection of those memories.
But he's starting to remember things now, the images are still missing some pieces.
Juntae's focus on his memories is broken when people start to rush in the emergency room. His bed is in the far right corner, last to everyone, isolated.
There seems to be a surge of fire victims. Juntae's breath hitches.
This can't be…..right?
It's the first time juntae witnesses the aftermath of the disaster. It has guilt crawling in his chest, he got off, he got out safe.
But what about the people being rushed in right now? They must've been scared too, just like him. They would've wanted to escape too. What right does juntae have to feel safe out here when so many other people were subjected to this tragedy?
Tears spring up in juntae's eyes at the scenes unfolding in front of him.
He feels helpless.
His heart almost lurches itself out of his ribcage when he sees the stranger he accused on the bus being pronounced dead.
But juntae got him off too, did he not? So why is the stranger here, lying dead on a hospital bed?
Juntae's head hurts harder. So does his heart.
Juntae is sitting on the bed hours later, in a room this time.
There's an inspector standing in front of his bed, they want to question him about the accident.
"Seo juntae, right?"
Juntae nods at him.
"Hello, I'm inspector lee hwan," he begins, "you were on the bus A160 today, right?"
"Ye—yes," juntae stutters out.
"Why did you get off right before the intersection then?" The inspector asks, suspension dripping from his tone.
Juntae gulps, should he tell him? He should probably, if he tells them there's a bomb in that bus, the investigation would be easier, no?
"I was—i was scared," he ends up muttering.
"Scared? Of what? Did you know there was going to be an accident?" It's not the detective standing in front of juntae that raises the question, but someone new appearing in the doorway.
Inspector lee murmurs out a 'sir', acknowledging the person coming inside the room.
Juntae assumes this must be some superior from the police station.
The officer's red windbreaker is stained with ash and blood, juntae frowns at that worriedly. When he looks up at the other a little higher, he can see the officer's face is devoid of any emotions but his eyes are red rimmed, like he had just cried hardly.
Now that juntae thinks about it, his voice also sounded kind of dull just now.
The officer takes a chair to sit beside juntae's hospital bed, facing him.
Juntae thinks he sees the man's hand shaking but he might just be projecting his own unease.
"Hi, I'm detective ahn suho, it's nice to see you well," the detective says.
Even though it looks like he's collapsing on the inside, the detective still tries to act normal bravely. Juntae doesn't know what's going on (he might have an idea), and he hasn't known this man longer than two minutes but he respects him, so much more if what he's thinking might be true.
"Hi," juntae replies back.
"So?" Detective ahn raises an eyebrow, "why did you get off right before the intersection?" He repeats the question.
Juntae thinks it's better to tell them the truth. He couldn't save everyone but at least, he can help in bringing them justice.
"I got off because there was a bomb in the bus," juntae answers hesitantly. He knows it would be hard to convince the officers that what he's about to tell them actually happened but he's determined.
Maybe this is why he was made to go through the tragedy so many times, maybe that's exactly why he was able to escape this time, to help, to bring justice to those affected.
"A bomb?" The inspector standing echoes.
Detective ahn just looks baffled, like he can't believe it.
"Was there any traces of explosives found in the bus?" The detective asks his fellow.
"The forensic team is still examining, there hasn't been an update on any kind of explosives being there," the inspector spares a suspicious glance at juntae, "though i doubt there's something, the accident occurred because an oil truck collided with the bus."
The detective turns to look at juntae, his expression suggest he's not believing juntae in the slightest.
"I know. But that's — that's not what happens the first few times. The explosion was supposed to happen on the bridge after the intersection, i think, that's how i remember it," juntae pauses to take a breath, "i know it's hard to, but please believe me, there is a bomb."
Detective ahn drops his head down, tired, "are you serious," he mutters as he runs his hand over his hair devastatingly.
"Boss, you don't have to deal with this, I'll handle him," the inspector says sympathetically.
Juntae bites his bottom lip, he doesn't mean to inconvenience anyone, really, but he's telling the truth.
"No, it's okay," the detective replies to his subordinate and pins juntae with a doubtful stare, "so you're saying there's a bomb in the bus?" He questions sharply.
Juntae nods frantically.
"How do you know that information?"
"Because I've lived through the explosion a few times," juntae says, the words sound foreign.
Detective ahn looks really confused, juntae understands, he might be sounding out of his mind right now.
"What do you even mean by that?" Inspector lee asks, his patience running out.
Juntae focuses his gaze on detective ahn solely, "i know it sounds unbelievable but trust me, officer, I'm telling the truth. This has happened a few times to me, before i couldn't recall anything but now i remember some things. The first time the bus got on the bridge after the intersection, it exploded in the middle of it. Then i woke up in the bus, again and it happened again, and again. It keeps happening, I'm— I'm really scared, that's why i got off the bus before the intersection today." Juntae feels his heart pounding in his chest as he recalls all his experiences.
Inspector lee looks stunned and mad, like he can't believe juntae has the audacity to lie like this.
But detective ahn….for a moment, juntae sees something akin to hope pass through the detective's eyes, however it's brief and gone before juntae can make out what it means.
"Are you saying you've been stuck in a time loop?" Detective ahn exhales.
"Yes," juntae replies immediately and confidently.
"Right, you are," the detective scoffs, though it seems more painful than mocking.
"And what about go hyuntak?" Inspector lee breaks the momentary silence.
"Go hyuntak?" Juntae tilts his head.
"He's the one you took off with yourself," ahn suho explains, "was he in a time loop too?" He asks.
Juntae's eyes fill with moisture at the mention of the stranger—go hyuntak. He feels the weight of another person's death on his being, another person he should've—could've saved.
He shakes his head sadly, "no, umm, he was….just, i just used him to get off the bus. I didn't even know his name," juntae feels ashamed by himself.
The detective nods. He drops his head in his hands for a few moments. He looks defeated and tired and incredibly sad.
"You know what, i really don't have the energy or time for this, I'm sorry. There's no actual evidence of your claims and I'm just….i can't deal with this," detective ahn pushes his chair back as he stands up, it makes a scratching noise.
Juntae's face drops further.
"I'm saying the truth, please believe me," juntae says, voice small.
"Trust me, there's no one in the world who wants to believe you more than me," detective ahn gives juntae a small sad smile, just a brief quirk to his lips, "but the whole thing sounds impossible. This is real life and not some fantasy world." He turns around to leave but stops in his tracks.
He turns back to face juntae, takes out a card from his pocket and holds it over to juntae. "Have this, just in case," he says.
Juntae takes the card, it's the officer's number. He stares at it hardly as the detective and the inspector start walking out.
"Detective," juntae calls out, "if someone called and said that there's a bomb in the bus before it exploded, what would you do?" He asks, his tone solemn and hopeful all at once.
"I'll take action as soon as i can," detective ahn says looking back at juntae.
"Wouldn't you think it's fake? A prank?" Juntae questions him.
The detective holds juntae's gaze, there's a distance look in his eyes, "even if it was fake, I'd rather be fooled then let such a tragedy happen when i could stop it. So yes, i'd show up."
There's a fierce tint in his demeanor, juntae wants to trust that.
Even when the officers have left, juntae keeps staring at the door.
He adverts his eyes to the card in his hands, reads the number written on it, again and again. Just in case.
Juntae has never gotten this far after the blast before, in fact, he has never survived it. So he has no idea what's going to happen moving forward.
Will he go back in time again?
Does he wants to go back in time again?
Honestly, juntae is scared out of his wits. But the ache in his heart at seeing all those people who were affected by the explosion is stronger. He can't say he's fully confident, that he'll absolutely do it but……he wants to at least try to save all those people too.
After all, there must be a reason why this whole loop started, right?
Juntae can't just let anyone and everyone die like that, if he deserves to live after going through it countless times, then so do the others.
The question now is whether the loop is still continuing or not.
Juntae doesn't know when he falls asleep but when he opens his eyes, he's on the bus again. He looks around, takes in the familiarity of the situation. He looks at all the passengers, alive, breathing, it lightens his heart just a little.
He ignores the way his eyes tear up at seeing everyone well.
He looks beside himself, the stranger he accused to use for his own safety, the one he saw being covered in white cloth by his own eyes, he's sleeping peacefully leaning against the window.
A lone tear fall down juntae's eyes as he keeps staring at the man for a few long seconds.
He wipes his cheek, the remaining weight on his heart lifts up like feathers.
Now he just has to do one thing and they all will be safe, or so he hopes.
As juntae is about to take his phone out, the stranger—go hyuntak wakes up with a frantic gasp, sweat building up on his forehead.
Their eyes match and juntae recognizes the look of familiarity in the latter's gaze.
"Seo juntae?"
"Hyuntak-ssi?"
They both say at the same time.
Hyuntak adverts his eyes from juntae, looking around frantically.
Juntae can just sense the pattern.
"You remember me, right?" Juntae asks with a hopeful glint in his eyes.
Go hyuntak looks at him like he has grown horns, like he just saw a ghost walk out of the television. Juntae understands the reaction. He feels oddly relieved that there might be another person he can relate to.
"What the fuck is going on?" Hyuntak mutters to himself.
"Oh let me explain—"
"You," hyuntak interrupts juntae coldly, surveys him up and down. "The accuser, that's you."
Juntae's face falls.
"There…..there was a blast, right? So what the fuck I'm doing here? Why does it feel like my head was exploded and then put back together?" Hyuntak continues confusingly.
Juntae takes a deep breath, getting ready to explain this 'only happens in games' kind of situation to another person who will probably think he's crazy. Or maybe not since it seems hyuntak has also been dragged into the loop.
"Listen carefully to me," juntae starts, not giving the other any time to say more, they don't have much time anyway. "There's a bomb in this bus and it seems like we're both stuck in a loop. I know, i know it sounds crazy but i swear it's true. When the bomb explodes, we'll die but come back right here." Juntae looks at hyuntak, hoping he would be understood.
"Are you fucking with me?" It's what hyuntak says.
Juntae groans, "I'm not. I'm really not! Please just believe me!" He whisper- yells.
Go hyuntak stares at him bewildered for a second too long, and then, his face scrunches up with fear, his eyes widen like he's just hit with a big realization.
And then he's standing up hurriedly.
Juntae grabs his hand, stopping him from moving further.
"There's a fucking bomb in here, we need to tell everyone so they can get off!" Hyuntak says, fear trembling out from his voice, clearly visible on his face.
"But that won't work—" juntae is again interrupted by hyuntak snatching his hand away from juntae's grasp, looking like juntae has just said something unbelievable.
He moves ahead, ready to inform and evacuate everyone.
Juntae slumps back in his seat, puts his hands over his face and lets out a frustrated sound. He sighs, knowing how this is going to end, he'll let go hyuntak experience it once for himself. Just once.
Juntae sees hyuntak resemble his own self as the latter makes a fuss about the bomb in the bus. He's frantic and he's desperate, yet, it doesn't seem to work.
The other passengers either don't believe him or don't care.
Now that juntae is less focused on saving himself, he notices how odd his bus-mates seem to be.
Hyuntak is now begging the driver to stop the bus, though his pleas fall onto deaf ears. Juntae has screamed these same words time and time again, only to receive no help whatsoever.
Juntae peeks out of the window, they're about a minute away from the intersection.
He looks behind his own seat, in the last raw, there's a passenger clad in all black attire and holding a black bag closely, juntae can't even tell if that's a man or a woman.
They're wearing noise cancellation headphones and with their eyes closed, juntae thinks they don't even realize what chaos are taking place around them.
He moves his eyes to another passenger sitting a little ahead of the last one, in the left row. A man seemingly same age as juntae, he's wearing a white shirt on a white tee, his glasses frame also resembles the one juntae's wearing. He looks at the scene happening in front but doesn't really wants to do anything about it.
Though there's a cast on the passenger's right hand, a band-aid on his head and juntae thinks he notices other small red and purple marks blooming on his face.
Juntae has the urge to go and ask him if there's something wrong but this is neither the place nor the time for it.
He reluctantly adverts his eyes to the people sitting ahead of him in the right row.
There's an old man with old, faded scars on his face, he keeps a white plastic bag close to himself, making sure it's safe like it contains some treasure. Maybe it does.
An old lady is sitting right ahead of him, who's looking very worried at the way hyuntak is now angrily trying to get off.
Juntae doesn't understand why none of these people are moving after seeing someone make such a big fuss about a bomb being in the bus.
Even if you thought it was some kind of prank, wouldn't you still want to be safe just in case?
Juntae takes in the scene of the buff guy and the man who keeps recording things on his phone from earlier, they're forcibly holding hyuntak back from bothering the driver.
Though the most odd passengers on this bus are the two people sitting on the very first seat on both the sides.
The person in the back has an excuse for not knowing what's going on, the others have at least shown reaction to it, but these two? They seem like they're in their own world.
The one in the right side, wearing a grey hoodie and earbuds, he had only taken a brief look at what was going on and had gone right back to just staring outside the window sadly. Like his thoughts were much louder than the commotion. Like he had no energy to even care, let alone intervene.
The one in the right, juntae can't see him fully but he remembers the man was wearing a tiger printed tee under a black jacket from when he stumbled upon his bag last time.
There's not much to this man except that he never spared anyone a glance this whole time, as if nothing was worth seeing. He just keeps staring ahead, hardly.
They're passing the intersection now, hyuntak is stressing the driver out by continuously screaming and tarnishing in the hold of the buff man.
Driver park looks conflicted and frustrated, his eyes keep glancing behind and his hands are subtly shaking on the while. Yet, he doesn't stop, keeps going even when he has been informed that all of their lives are in danger.
Honestly, juntae can't recognize this man, the driver park that he knew was the most helpful man ever, he was kind and friendly.
Juntae still remembers him scaring an entire bus filled to the brim with passengers just so juntae could get his stolen wallet back.
The same driver now refuses to let him off even when juntae begged for it. It can't be as simple as following the rules, right?
He's startled out of his head by that specific ringtone again.
And as anticipated, there's a loud crash and juntae's skin melts away before he can form further thoughts.
Juntae wakes up in the same seat. He looks at his wrist watch, 11:23. A frown appears between his brows, the last time he looked at the time after waking up, it was 11:25.
Assuming this happened last time too, does it mean the waking up time is a minute earlier every loop?
A gasp gets his attention beside him.
This time when his and hyuntak's eyes match, there's even more familiarity in there.
"…..hi," juntae starts hesitantly.
"What the fuck is wrong with this people dude?" Hyuntak's reply is not really a reply. He kind of looks more pissed off than scared now, juntae doesn't know if that's for better or worse.
Though he does agree that there's something really wrong with the people on this bus.
"How the fuck are we supposed to get out of this?" Hyuntak asks, directly addressing him.
Juntae takes out his phone, "I'll explain it to you in a minute," he tells hyuntak, who's looking at him intriguingly.
Juntae types in the number he had memorized, internally thanking his brain for being good at remembering things.
"Hello, this is detective ahn suho from the yeongdeungpo police station," the voice from the other end says as soon as the call goes trough.
"Detective," juntae gulps nervously, in his peripheral vision, he sees hyuntak's eyes widen. "There's a bomb in the bus A160, on the way from yeongdeungpo to seoul," he says.
There's an immediate answer from the detective.
"What?" Comes the detective's voice, only slightly off. "Who are you?" A question follows after some rustling on the other side.
"I know this sounds highly unlikely but please believe me, if you don't do something as soon as now, everyone on this bus will die, I'm not lying," juntae frantically informs the officer.
He understands the need to validate his identity but they seriously don't have enough time for that.
"I will need—" juntae cuts the call off before the detective finishes what he was about to say. He turns his phone off.
Juntae believes it when people show him what they are.
And he trusts detective ahn suho to be able to stand on what he said, even if he doesn't remember it.
He just hopes it goes well.
"I don't think they'll be able to save us."
Juntae turns to his side.
"We're already at the intersection, the police can't possibly be here in thirty seconds," hyuntak says, his anger has melted down, leaving the expression of dread on his face.
"I think we have a little more time," juntae tries to reply kindly.
"It's literally just about to happen, i know i was there," hyuntak's voice raises an octave, a slight shudder passes through his body as he recalls all his memories of the blast.
"Actually…..the blast is originally supposed to happen on the bridge somewhere, i don't remember clearly but, uhm, i think it's been happening at the intersection because I've been slowing down the driver to get off and he has to stop for the red light, then he goes faster to catch up because originally, we get through the intersection before the red light," juntae explains the best he can with his jumbled memories.
He isn't even sure about it, he might be making some of it up solely based on assumption, but he sure does hope it's true.
For the passengers' safety and his own sanity.
"Then that's enough time for the police to do something right?" Hyuntak adds, some hint of hope in his tone.
Juntae nods. He hopes it is enough, too.
11:30
When they reach the approach span to the bridge, it's already seeled shut with a few police officers standing with stop signals in front of them.
Juntae smiles first time in what feels like centuries.
Though he feels the scorching heat before he can look at the similar expression on hyuntak's face beside him,
This time, there's no creepy ringtone, no anticipation, just the loud sound of the explosion ringing in juntae's ears and the fire burning him away bit by bit.
The only comfort is knowing if he opens his eyes again, there will be someone who knew exactly how this felt.