The rain in Neo-Seoul doesn’t wash anything away; it just makes the neon signs bleed into the puddles.

He stared at a digital photograph on his phone: a girl laughing under cherry blossoms, her silhouette framed by the ancient gates of a temple they had visited before the city swallowed their future. The beat dropped into a hollow, haunting flute solo that spiraled upward, mimicking the smoke from his tea. Every snare hit was a reminder of a door closing; every hi-hat roll was the ticking clock of a life lived in the "after."

Kaito sat in the corner of a cramped, incense-filled noodle shop, the low hum of a thrumming through his headphones. The track started with a lonely, plucking guzheng melody—sharp and fragile, like glass breaking in slow motion. As the heavy, distorted 808 bass kicked in, it felt like a physical weight on his chest, mirroring the rhythmic ache of a heart that didn't know how to stop missing someone.

He wasn't waiting for her anymore—he knew she wasn't coming. He was just sitting there, letting the music bridge the gap between the traditional world he’d lost and the cold, mechanical one he now inhabited. As the track faded into a single, echoing chime, Kaito stood up, adjusted his collar against the damp wind, and stepped back out into the neon blur, the melody still haunting his footsteps.