"Let's pay our respects and get out of here quickly - this place gives me the creeps."

"When did you last visit?"

"Two months ago? I lose track."

There were voices nearby, and the soft sound of footsteps, but the world was black.

"I guess not much has changed since then."

There was a pause. "She looks a bit different."

"What do you mean?"

"There's a bit of colour in her cheeks."

Soo's mind felt sluggish, but she was pretty sure she recognised those voices.

"Stop messing around."

Baek Ah?

"I'm serious! She looks kind of pretty, even. Like a real life Sleeping Beauty. Do you think I should give her a kiss and see if she wakes up?"

The second speaker was harder to place.

"Don't you think she's been through enough? Now get away from there before I call the guards and tell them there's a pervert on the loose." Baek Ah's tone was teasing but firm.

"He's kind of lucky, in a way. He would have been called up for military service by now."

"I'm not sure this is preferable."

Soo's limbs were heavy, as though they'd fallen asleep.

"Do you think they'll make him do it if he wakes up?"

There was a long pause.

"Probably not."

Soo tried to open her eyes, but her muscles didn't respond.

Another silence followed. It was broken by the mystery speaker. "Do you think he did it on purpose?"

"Aish, are you insane?" Baek Ah sounded shocked.

"Well, he was in a bad place… He might have gone there hoping to - you know - disappear."

"He's not like that."

"You didn't see him on that last day..."

She knew that voice, she was certain.

Eun?

But it couldn't be Eun, because she'd seen him die.

Maybe I'm dead, too?

But that doesn't make sense. Baek Ah's alive. I saw him yesterday.

The puzzle was driving her crazy. She tried to stretch out her hand, but only one finger responded.

"WA! Did you see that?!"

He sounds so much like Eun.

"What?"

"She just moved!"

Soo felt tears pooling behind her eyes. Where am I? Why can't I sit up?

Footsteps drew nearer.

"Can you hear us?" The mystery speaker was right by her head now.

Soo tried to speak. Her throat was dry, but she managed to get his name out.

"Eun?" As she spoke her eyes cracked open, and a harsh white light filled her vision. She immediately squeezed them shut again.

"Eomeona! Did she just say my name? How does she know my name?!"

"Stay here - I'll get a doctor!" Baek Ah's shoes slapped the ground as he ran to the door.

Soo felt a gentle touch on her hand.

"Can you open your eyes?"

She tried again. The light was painfully bright.

Her discomfort was too great for this to be an afterlife.

Her vision gradually focussed, and she could make out the blurry shape of a young man standing by her bed. His hair was short, his face clean-shaven, and he was wearing an oversized yellow hoodie.

No.

If there was an item of clothing she had never stopped missing in Goryeo, it was the hoodie, but that didn't mean she was happy to see it. The sight of it gave her the sensation of falling through the air.

Maybe I'm hallucinating.

But another part of her brain was already filling in the gaps.

As the figure leaned forward his face came into focus, and the tears that had been collecting in Soo's eyes suddenly broke loose.

Eun! It really is you.

Other people were appearing by her side now; men and women dressed in white - a whole team of doctors, by the looks of it. She glanced to the side and locked eyes with Baek Ah.

Except it wasn't Baek Ah, was it? Where was his beautiful long hair? Why was he wearing those clothes?

"Can you hear me?" A doctor's voice snapped her back to the present. She blinked, feeling dazed.

"Sit. Up." She croaked.

A nurse hurried to her side to lift the bed. Soo was propped forward with a pillow, her whole body feeling shaky with the effort of being upright. The nurse offered her a cup of water, a plastic straw angled towards Soo's lips. She sipped slowly, cringing as the cold liquid slid down her throat.

Everyone was staring at her with varying degrees of intensity - some excited, some reserved. The nurses were beaming. Eun looked like he'd seen a ghost. Baek Ah's face was etched with concern.

But there was one face she couldn't see - the one she cared about most.

"Jung?" Her voice was clearer now.

She saw Baek Ah exchange a glance with Eun, a grim expression settling over his features.

"Where's Jung?" She asked again, trying to keep the panic from her voice.

Baek Ah's eyes slid to the side of the room, where another bed was positioned near the window.

Soo's heart monitor beeped in alarm and she felt the walls of the room contract.

"Her pulse is elevated," someone pointed out.

It felt like there were sandbags on Soo's chest as she struggled to sit forward, craning to see who was lying in the other bed.

But she already knew the answer.

"Jung!" She called out, her voice breaking as she cried. He was lying pale and motionless, a host of tubes and cables connected to his body.

"She's going into shock," one of the younger doctors said, moving forward to grab her arm.

"Get a sedative," the senior doctor ordered.

Soo no longer cared that the clothes were all wrong and there was plastic and technology that eliminated any chance she was still in Goryeo; as long as Jung was safe she would survive.

But she couldn't stand to see him lying there like that.

"Jung!" She screamed, putting all her hope and terror into a single cry. The sound tore through the room, making half the medical team flinch. Baek Ah took a few steps back, tears collecting in his eyes.

Get up! She wanted to yell at Jung. I did not just stab a man and dive into a river for you to look like this!

A nurse was moving towards her with a needle.

I need you, she thought. You said you'd always be there for me, and I need you right now.

It was only a small movement, but Soo couldn't miss it with her eyes fixed squarely on his face.

At 10:43am, roughly seven minutes after Soo had gained consciousness, the man in the bed next to her opened his eyes.