9:00 PM. Unit 1418.
Jae-Min sat on the edge of his bed. Phone in his hand. The screen lit up the dark room.
Mom's contact. "Mom ♥️"
Her profile picture was a selfie from last Christmas. Her and Dad at a church in Cavite. Smiling. Happy. Alive.
He pressed call.
It rang once. Twice. Three times.
"Jae-Min-ah?"
Her voice. Warm. Gentle. Humming a Korean folk song in the background. She always did that when she was cooking.
"Mom."
"Oh, my baby! Did you eat? It's so late. Are you still working?"
"I'm fine. Mom, listen to me."
"Ah, always so serious. Your father says you work too much. You should find a nice girl. That Alessia next door is very pretty—"
"Mom. Stop."
Silence.
Jae-Min closed his eyes. His jaw tightened.
"Mom, you need to cancel the flight."
"What flight?"
"The flight from Incheon. You, Dad, and Ji-Yoo. Cancel it."
More silence. Then a soft laugh.
"Jae-Min, what are you talking about? We already booked the tickets. Your father's friend gave us a discount. We leave in twenty-seven days."
"Don't take that flight."
"Jae-Min-ah, did something happen? Are you sick?"
"I'm not sick. Mom, please. Just listen. Don't get on that plane."
"Baby, we already planned this for months. Ji-Yoo is so excited to visit her friends in Seoul. And your father wants to see his old army buddies—"
"The plane will crash."
The humming stopped.
"What?"
"The plane will crash into the Alishan Mountains. Flash freeze. Blizzard. Malfunction." His voice was flat. Dead. "No one will survive."
A long pause.
"Jae-Min..."
"Mom, I'm serious. Cancel the flight. Come home early. Stay in Cavite. I'll pick you up myself."
"Jae-Min, what is wrong with you?"
"Nothing is wrong. I'm telling you the truth."
"The truth?" Her voice changed. Harder now. Worried. "Jae-Min, are you taking drugs? Did that Kiara girl do something to you?"
"No."
"Then why are you saying these things? Plane crashes? Flash freezes? Jae-Min, it's summer. It's thirty-six degrees outside. You're not making any sense."
"Mom—"
"No. Listen to me." Her voice cracked. "Your father is right here. He can hear everything. You're scaring us."
"I'm trying to save your life."
"By telling us a plane will crash into a mountain because of a blizzard? In April?" A shaky breath. "Jae-Min, I think you need to see a doctor. Maybe you're stressed from work. We can talk about this when we get back—"
"You won't get back."
"Jae-Min!"
The line went quiet.
Then his father's voice. Deep. Gruff. Hermano Del Rosario. A retired accountant who had never raised his voice in his life.
"Son."
"Dad."
"What is going on?"
"The flight from Incheon will crash. Nobody survives. Don't get on that plane."
"Jae-Min, listen to yourself. You sound crazy."
"I know."
"Then why are you saying this?"
"Because it's true."
His father sighed. Heavy. Tired. Disappointed.
"Your mother is crying. Do you understand that? She's crying because she thinks her son has lost his mind."
Jae-Min's hand shook.
"Dad. Please."
"Goodnight, Jae-Min. We'll call you tomorrow. Maybe you'll be more rational then."
The line went dead.
Jae-Min stared at the phone. The screen dimmed. Then went black.
He didn't move.
They didn't believe me.
Of course they didn't. He wouldn't have believed it either. A man calling his parents to tell them the future. It was insane.
But it still hurt.
He put the phone down on the nightstand. Lay back on the bed. Stared at the ceiling.
The AC hummed. The room was hot. 36 degrees outside. Summer in Manila.
In twenty-seven days, it would be negative seventy.
His phone buzzed.
Ji-Yoo.
"Oppa."
Jae-Min picked up the phone. Read the message. Then another one came.
"Mom called me crying. Said you're having a breakdown."
He didn't respond.
"What did you tell them?"
Jae-Min typed slowly.
"The truth."
Three dots. Then:
"What truth?"
"That our flight will crash. That all of us will die."
A long pause.
No dots.
Jae-Min waited. One minute. Two. Five.
Then his phone rang. Ji-Yoo was calling.
He answered.
"Oppa."
Her voice was different. Not the usual cheerful, loud, annoying twin sister voice. Quiet. Serious.
"Ji-Yoo."
"What did you see?"
The question hit him like a truck.
"What?"
"You're not crazy, oppa. I've known you my whole life. You don't say things like this unless something happened." A pause. "What did you see?"
Jae-Min closed his eyes. His throat burned.
"Death."
"Whose death?"
"Everyone's. Mom. Dad. You. The plane. The crash. The mountain. I saw it all."
Another silence. Longer this time.
Ji-Yoo didn't laugh. Didn't call him crazy. Didn't tell him he needed a doctor.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"I believe you."
Jae-Min's breath caught.
"You... what?"
"I said I believe you, oppa." Her voice was steady. Firm. "I don't know how you know. I don't know what you saw. But I believe you."
He couldn't speak.
"Mom and Dad didn't listen," she said. "They think you're having a mental episode."
"I know."
"But I do." A soft sound on the other end. Ji-Yoo taking a breath. "So I'm going to do something about it."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm rebooking my flight."
Jae-Min sat up. "What?"
"My flight back to Manila. I'm moving it five days earlier."
"Ji-Yoo—"
"Listen to me. Mom and Dad won't listen because they're scared. But I can change my own ticket. I'll tell them I have a gig. A last-minute show. They'll believe that."
"Ji-Yoo, you can't just—"
"I already did."
He froze. "What?"
"I rebooked while we were talking. Korean Air. Leaves in five days instead of twenty-seven. I land in Manila. I come straight to Unit 1418."
Jae-Min's hand gripped the phone so hard the case creaked.
"Ji-Yoo..."
"Oppa, I'm not going to die in a plane crash." Her voice wavered. Just for a second. "I'm going to survive. And I'm going to help you."
"Help me with what?"
"Whatever you're planning. You're not doing this alone."
Jae-Min stared at the wall. His vision blurred.
In his first life, Ji-Yoo had burned to ash on that mountain. He had never heard her voice again after the news report.
Now she was here. Alive. Coming home.
"Ji-Yoo."
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
A pause. Then a soft laugh. The first real laugh he had heard all day.
"Don't thank me yet, oppa. You still owe me an explanation when I get there."
The line went dead.
Jae-Min put the phone down.
Ji-Yoo would live. She had escaped her fate.
But Mom and Dad were still on that flight. Twenty-seven days. And they wouldn't listen.
He couldn't force them off the plane. He couldn't drag them out of Incheon Airport.
But he could try again. And again. Until they listened.
Or until the flight stopped existing.
He opened his notes. Typed:
JI-YOO: SAFE. ARRIVES IN 5 DAYS.MOM & DAD: STILL ON FLIGHT. 27 DAYS.UNCLE RICO: TOMORROW. 6 AM.
He stared at the screen.
One down. Three to go.
His phone buzzed again.
Unknown number.
"Jae-Min. It's Uncle Rico. Why did BDO call me about a two-million peso loan I supposedly co-signed? I didn't sign anything."
Jae-Min stared at the message.
Tomorrow. 6 AM.
He would show his uncle the impossible.
And hopefully, Uncle Rico would believe him when his own parents wouldn't.
Jae-Min put the phone down. He walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
As he passed the living room window, he glanced at the balcony of the building next door. Building A.
A man was standing on the 14th-floor balcony. Just staring up at the sky. Not moving.
Jae-Min frowned. It was Daniel Coronel. Unit 1305. He knew him. Quiet guy. Kept to himself.
But Danny wasn't looking at the sky.
He was looking at a specific star. And as Jae-Min watched, Danny raised his hand and traced a strange symbol in the air. A symbol that looked like a broken cross.
Danny lowered his hand, stepped back into the shadows of his apartment, and vanished.
Jae-Min stood frozen.
What the hell was a broken cross?