The smell of incense and floral shampoo hit Hae-won first. Then came the sound of beating drums and the loud clack of traditional wedding shoes on polished floor tiles.
Her eyes opened slowly.
A silk canopy hovered above her. Women in colorful hanboks fluttered around her like butterflies.
"Wake the bride! We can't be late for the paebaek ceremony!"
"Fix her hair! She's sweating!"
"What if she gets cold feet like last time?!"
The last sentence jerked her awake.
"Wait... what?!"
Hae-won bolted upright. Her fingers grazed her clothes—a deep crimson hanbok embroidered with golden cranes. Her hair was tied up in a bun adorned with ceremonial pins.
She looked like she was starring in a sageuk drama. Or worse… a wedding.
"No. No, no, no, no—what is this?!" she whispered, eyes darting around the room.
A girl with dimples leaned down. "Unnie, breathe! It's just pre-wedding jitters. You fainted again, remember? Classic Hae-won!"
It was her cousin, Eun-ji. Only... she looked like a teenager again.
Hae-won's heart plummeted.
"Wait. What day is it?"
Eun-ji blinked. "Saturday. May 23rd. Your wedding day, duh. To Baek Do-yoon!"
Every hair on Hae-won's body stood up.
Baek Do-yoon.
The ex. The heartbreak. The man who ghosted her with a text the day before their wedding three years ago.
Except now… she was back.
Literally.
Back in 2022.
Back on the day she was supposed to marry him.
She scrambled for her phone—her ancient Samsung Galaxy from years ago—and her heart almost exploded at the lock screen date: May 23, 2022.
"What the hell—did I travel back in time?!"
"Unnie?" Eun-ji frowned.
"I need air," Hae-won muttered.
She shoved open the door and stumbled through the hallway, ignoring whispers and startled staff members bowing at her. The wedding hall was grand, filled with cherry blossoms and banners that read, "Baek Do-yoon ♥ Shin Hae-won: Eternal Love."
She almost gagged.
Then she saw him.
Baek Do-yoon, standing near the stage in a modern tuxedo, laughing with his groomsmen. He looked exactly like she remembered—tall, devastatingly handsome, and irritatingly smug.
She marched right up to him.
"Hey, Baek Do-yoon!"
He turned, surprised. "Wow. You look beautiful, Hae-won. Nervous?"
"Cancel this wedding."
A beat of silence.
He blinked. "What?"
"You heard me. Call it off."
Do-yoon laughed awkwardly. "Come on, this again? Are you pranking me? You know how hard it was to convince your mom not to panic?"
"No," she said, eyes wild. "This is not a prank. You are a coward who ghosted me on this very day, three years ago. And somehow, I woke up back here."
Do-yoon's smile faltered. "Are you okay?"
"No! I'm temporally displaced, and I want a refund on this entire timeline!"
Guests started turning to look. Eun-ji rushed forward. "Unnie, let's just go backstage—"
Hae-won yanked off her norigae ornament and threw it on the ground. "If I'm dreaming, I want to wake up. If I'm not, I want to run. Either way, I'm not marrying Baek Do-yoon today!"
A sudden crash echoed behind her.
She turned to see a man in glasses, holding a spilled tray of tteok and peeking curiously at her.
"Interesting," he said.
"What?"
He stepped forward, pushing up his glasses. "You're not supposed to be here yet. I've been monitoring the time loop, and your ripple was... unusually loud."
Hae-won stared. "Who are you?"
"Seo Min-jae. History professor. Amateur time-travel theorist. And apparently, the only person who can hear the echoes of your timeline shift."
She squinted. "Excuse me?"
"You just cracked the continuity of this timeline, Ms. Shin." He handed her a tissue. "Congratulations. You've just time-traveled into your own disastrous wedding."
"Great," she muttered, dabbing her forehead. "Any way I can reverse it?"
"Possibly. But that depends on whether you're here to stop the wedding… or to rewrite your story."
Hae-won looked around—the decorations, the guests, the man who once broke her heart.
"I don't know," she said honestly. "But I'm definitely not marrying that jerk again."
Min-jae smiled. "Then we better get started before someone throws rice at us."