Rain fell over the city of Sunghwa that night—soft at first, then heavier, as if the sky itself was grieving.
Inside a small, dim house, Min Hu's mother sat in silence. Her trembling hands clutched tightly onto the last message from her son.
> "Don't worry… I'll come home. I promise."
Min Sina stood not far from her, her small shoulders shaking as she cried endlessly. She had always believed her brother would never lose. He always came home—bloody, broken, barely standing, but he always returned.
But when Mr. Ki Han arrived—his face pale, clothes soaked in blood, eyes red as though holding back tears…
their hope shattered.
"He… didn't make it back."
Four words struck like lightning.
Min Sina collapsed to the floor, her small body trembling violently.
"No… no… Brother promised… Brother promised he would come home!!"
Min Hu's mother covered her mouth with both hands, suppressing the scream that threatened to burst out of her chest. Her eyes, her face—her entire world—seemed to crack.
In the corner of the room, the orange cat—Zeco—sat quietly. Usually, he would meow loudly whenever Min Hu left. But that night, he only stared at the closed door.
Waiting.
As if still believing a butterfly would emerge from behind that door like always.
But the door remained silent.
And the world moved on without Min Hu.
Or… so they thought.
The clock kept ticking.
The rain began to subside.
The house sank into the silence of grief.
Until—
Zeco suddenly lifted his head.
His ears flicked sharply. The fur along his back bristled.
Something… entered the house.
Not through the door.
Not through the window.
But through the shadows.
Soft footsteps echoed.
Tapping.
Tapping.
Tapping.
As if shoes stepped on an invisible floor.
Zeco let out a low hiss.
The shadow in the corner shifted… and from within it emerged a man.
Tall. Firm. Dressed in old-fashioned 19th–century attire—long black coat, a vest with a gold chain, leather gloves, and a high-collared shirt. His face was unattractive, his eyes calm yet holding an inhuman depth.
"Good evening," he said politely, bowing slightly. "Or perhaps… I should offer my condolences."
Zeco meowed loudly, both angry and wary.
The man gave a thin smile.
"Oh? You can sense it, I see. The tremor."
He knelt, meeting Zeco's gaze at close range.
"Min Hu's death… startled something beyond the logic of this world. An ancient system has awakened within his body."
Zeco froze.
The man continued, his voice low and deep.
"My name is Edward Klaz.
A Time Wanderer…
lost between the cracks of reality."
His gaze pierced the very boundary of existence.
He stood, stepping lightly as the clock on the wall began to slow…
then stopped.
"What your young master received was not merely a second chance," Edward whispered. "It was a Cosmic Awakening.
A power capable of defying the laws of the universe itself."
Zeco's eyes widened.
"And you," Edward stared sharply. "Are not an ordinary cat."
Silence tightened.
"You want to know what happened to your master, don't you?"
Zeco nodded—once, firmly.
Edward's smile widened.
"Then… let us make a pact."
---
The Echo Pact
The room dimmed.
Time stopped completely.
Even the sound of rain suspended in the air—its droplets hanging like jewels.
Edward lifted his two jaws.
A SNAP.
A tiny sound.
Yet the world cracked open.
The house walls split like glass brushed aside by an invisible force.
The ceiling tore like a ripped curtain, revealing a slow-spinning sea of stars.
The wooden floor faded into arcs of light and fragments of time—
as if they were standing between dreams and reality.
Zeco gaped.
"Welcome," Edward said, "to the Inter-Reality Rift.
A place only entered by time controllers… and beings who have touched the system like your master."
A cosmic wind blew.
Filled with voices from the future and the past.
Edward moved his hand, forming a sphere of blue light.
Inside it—a projection of Min Hu.
Covered in blood.
Breathing weakly.
But alive.
Zeco cried out, emotion bursting from him.
Edward nodded.
"Correct. He is not dead. The system revived him. But… he is no longer the same. He has stepped onto a path walked only by those destined to shake the universe."
Zeco stared into the light with fierce resolve.
Edward knelt again.
"I need a companion on this journey. Someone to guide me through this era… and face the great changes to come."
The cosmic rift trembled.
Stars stretched like veins of light.
"You, Zeco… possess a spark of power you have never realized. A spark that can grow into a fire capable of challenging gods."
Zeco moved closer.
Lifted his small paw.
Edward touched it with his gloved hand.
A pact was formed.
Silent, yet shaking the cosmos.
---
The Shattered Sky
Edward stood and snapped his fingers once more.
Time flowed again.
The cracks sealed.
The house returned to normal.
The mother remained drowning in grief.
Min Sina still cried.
The clock ticked again.
No one noticed a thing.
Except Edward.
And Zeco.
Edward straightened his long coat, eyes gleaming with new purpose.
"From this moment," he said as he opened the door, "we walk between eras."
Zeco leaped onto his shoulder.
Edward smiled faintly—the smile of a wanderer who had witnessed the world end more than once.
"Prepare yourself. Your master will return… but with a destiny no longer imaginable."
They stepped outside.
The rain had stopped.
But the world had only just begun to tremble.
---
To be continued…