There was no forecast for rain.
Instead, the news emphasized the dry weather advisory and confidently said that low humidity would continue.
But the sky started pouring down without any warning.
Kim Yeo-ju was dozing off, leaning against the seat of an old intercity bus, when she suddenly opened her eyes to the sound of pouring rain.
Before my eyes was an unfamiliar landscape. No, a place I had no memory of at all.
The bus stopped without anyone knowing when it had stopped, and there were no passengers or drivers in sight.
“Where am I again…”
Looking out the car window, an old train station stood there.
A small, temporary station with no sign that says ‘stop’ and that doesn’t seem to appear on a map.
And the sign attached to it.
[Midnight Station]
The small letters below the sign caught my eye.
"The train arrives at midnight."
Kim Yeo-ju took out her phone with one hand, but the screen that said 'No service' appeared as if it were natural and laughed at her.
She sighed as if talking to herself and got off the bus.
The water that had pooled under my feet seeped into my shoes, but it wasn't as cold as I thought.
The problem was the bus.
As soon as I got off, I closed the door and started off again.
Without a word from anyone, without a destination, as if it had existed from the beginning to drop her off here.
"What the heck… is this a dream…?"
As soon as I entered the station, the air felt different.
It was strangely quiet.
The vending machine was broken, and dust settled on the ticket window.
The fluorescent lights were off, as if the electricity wasn't working, but the inside was somehow dimly lit.
That was when.
“…Are you here?”
A low, soft voice cut through the silence.
The heroine turned her head in surprise.
Deep inside the history, a man was walking slowly, leaning against the wall.
A beige jacket over a white shirt, and slippers with slightly loose necks.
A face that is too quiet and too neat.
But the look in his eyes was strange.
Rather than looking at a person, the eyes of someone retrieving old memories.
The heroine instinctively took a step back.
“…Where… is this?”
He stopped walking and looked at the heroine quietly.
As the light reached him, his face became clear.
A face I've clearly seen somewhere.
"This is Midnight Station. It's where people who have passed by come."
“…You passed by? What did I say?”
He didn't answer the heroine's question right away.
Instead, he looked out the window and spoke slowly.
"Only those who have lost something. Those who cannot return. Or... those who wish to be forgotten can come here."
“…….”
The female protagonist laughed as if she was dumbfounded.
"I just got on the wrong bus. They just let me off somewhere."
He shook his head.
"This station isn't just any place. You can't go wrong here."
A strange silence.
The heroine continued to watch him.
A face that was somehow uncomfortably familiar, and a look of dangerous calm.
“…What about the train? Is this where the actual train comes?”
He glanced at his wristwatch and nodded.
“Come at midnight.”
“Where are you going?”
“You... have to try it to know.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. I’m not a con artist...”
That was when.
A low, ringing bell could be heard from a corner of the train station.
Like the heartbeat of an old wall clock, dull and sure.
The moment the heroine turned her head in surprise, he approached her.
“But I can’t ride it today.”
"yes?"
“You’re not qualified yet.”
His voice was kind, yet firm.
And as if he knew something, he had a rather worried look in his eyes.
“…Qualifications? What on earth…”
“The train only takes those who are ready to leave.”
At those words, the female protagonist was speechless.
There is no explanation, no logic.
But those words—strangely enough, they dug into something deep inside me.
Won Bin.
Although she never mentioned his name, the heroine was certain.
He was real. He wasn't just some train station attendant, he was someone who felt like a part of this place.
The rain was letting up.
He opened the office door quietly and entered, saying:
“Stay here for a while. Until you can leave.”
The heroine was standing alone on a bench at the station.
Somewhere, music like the sound of the wind flowed from an old speaker.
It was as if I had tuned into the wrong radio frequency, connecting to the past.
At that moment, the heroine wanted to ask herself.
Why did you take the bus?
Why did I wake up, why did I get here, why now… I can’t remember anything.
and...
Why does that man's face... seem so familiar?
Continued in the next episode >>>>
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