"This is the time
when this station dies."
I couldn't immediately understand
what the station attendant meant.
"The station dies?"
"What does that mean?"
The attendant was staring
at the admission ticket in my hand.
"Throw that ticket away."
"Answer me first."
"What happens
at 10:09 p.m.?"
The attendant remained silent.
Instead,
the boy spoke.
"I know
that time."
Everyone
looked at him.
"From where?"
"From a dream."
"A dream?"
The boy
shook his head.
"Maybe
it wasn't a dream."
"I think
I'm remembering it."
The boy touched
my admission ticket.
At that moment,
a sharp pain
shot through my head.
The scenery changed.
Daytime.
A station
packed with people.
I was standing
in front of the ticket gates.
In front of me
was a boy in a school uniform.
It was the same boy
who was here now.
But
he looked a little younger.
"Hold on to this."
My past self
handed the boy a ticket.
An admission ticket.
The same kind
I was holding now.
The boy asked,
"Will this
save me?"
My past self
didn't answer.
The vision cut out.
I was back
on the platform.
"What was that...?"
The boy
had gone pale too.
"I saw it too."
"When was that memory from?"
The boy
thought for a moment.
"One year ago."
One year ago.
The instant I heard those words,
another memory
flooded into my mind.
A rainy day.
An ambulance.
People gathered
outside the station.
A student's school bag
lying beside the tracks.
And
a woman crying.
"Give him back!"
The woman
was screaming at me.
"Give me back my son!"
I couldn't
say anything.
At my feet
was the boy's phone.
A breaking news alert
was displayed on the screen.
"Middle school boy
dies inside train station."
My breath stopped.
I looked
at the boy in front of me.
"You..."
The boy
quietly nodded.
"I died
a year ago."
The old man
stepped backward.
The woman
covered her mouth.
The man in the suit
was speechless.
"Then
you're..."
"Are you a ghost?"
The boy didn't answer.
More memories
returned to me.
One year ago.
I had known
this boy.
I was
a station attendant.
Not at
this terminal station.
At an ordinary station.
I worked there.
That day,
the boy
was on the platform.
He was wearing earphones,
looking at his phone
as he walked.
Ahead of him
was the yellow line.
I noticed.
"Watch out!"
I ran.
But
I was too late.
The boy's body
disappeared from the platform.
A train horn.
Screams.
And then—
I closed my eyes.
"It was my fault."
The boy
shook his head.
"No, it wasn't."
"Yes, it was."
"I was the station attendant."
As I said the words,
even more memories returned.
After the accident,
I quit my job.
Every night,
I had the same dream.
The moment
the boy fell.
If only I'd been
one second faster.
If only I'd been
one step closer.
If only
I could turn back time.
If only
there were a station
where scheduled deaths
could be canceled.
Those were the only things
I could think about.
One night,
an unfamiliar envelope arrived.
Inside
was a single ticket.
"TERMINAL STATION"
On the back,
it said:
"You may cancel
the scheduled death
of one person."
I gripped
the ticket tightly.
And I wished.
"Please
save that boy."
The next memory.
I was standing
in a station at night.
An empty platform.
In front of me
stood that boy.
The boy
who was supposed to be dead.
Crying,
I handed him
an admission ticket.
"This time,
I'll save you."
The memory cut out.
I collapsed
to the ground.
"I...
brought you here."
The boy
said nothing.
"That's why
you were the intruder."
He wasn't originally
scheduled to die.
Because
he had already died
a year ago.
I had used
this station's system
to try to bring
a dead person back.
That's why
the number of people was wrong.
That's why
the station kept retrying.
I looked
at the station attendant.
"That's what happened,
isn't it?"
The attendant
slowly nodded.
"This station
handles the scheduled deaths
of people who are about to die."
"It is not a place
for bringing back
those who have already died."
I looked at the boy.
"Then
what happens to him?"
The attendant didn't answer.
"Does it have something to do
with the station dying
at 10:09 p.m.?"
A long silence.
Eventually,
the attendant spoke.
"This station
is attempting
to correct a contradiction."
"The contradiction
of a dead person
being alive."
"What happens
if it can't?"
"The station itself
will be erased."
A cold wind
blew across the platform.
"If the station disappears,
what happens to us?"
the old man asked.
The attendant
answered calmly.
"Every person
who exists here
will disappear."
No one moved.
In other words,
if we didn't correct
the contradiction
by 10:09 p.m.,
we would all disappear.
I looked
at the boy.
I already knew
the answer.
We had to return the boy
to his original death.
To the moment
a year ago
when I had failed to save him.
The boy seemed
to realize the same thing.
"If I disappear,
will everyone else be saved?"
"I won't let that happen."
I answered
without thinking.
The boy
smiled faintly.
"Did you say that
a year ago too?"
My chest hurt.
Just then,
the departure board changed.
"PLEASE SELECT
A CORRECTION METHOD."
Two options
appeared.
"RETURN THE INTRUDER
TO THEIR ORIGINAL TIME OF DEATH."
And then
there was another option.
I read it
and stopped breathing.
"THE PERSON WHO SUMMONED THE STATION
WILL ASSUME THE INTRUDER'S DEATH."
The boy
looked at me.
At last,
I understood.
Why yesterday's version of me
had tried to kill the boy.
Why I had bought time
even if it meant
letting all five of them die.
I hadn't been
trying to kill the boy.
I had been trying
to stop him
from dying in my place.
And from the very beginning,
I had never had
a time of death.
Of course I hadn't.
Because
I hadn't chosen yet.
The departure board
began flashing violently.
Then,
for the first time,
a time appeared
beside my name.
"22:09"
The boy
spoke in a trembling voice.
"No."
"If you choose that,
you'll die."
I stared
at the display.
New words
appeared beneath it.
"FINAL CHOICE:
1 REMAINING"