In snowbound Austria, a stopped pocket watch starts breathing again
A watch repair shop, a jazz cafe, a black car outside. A cold front gives them twelve nights to find the truth.
Josefstadt - the alley after midnight
On the night of the second snowfall, an unnamed man lies in your watch repair workshop.
His pocket watch has stopped, and the owner of the jazz cafe two alleys away seems to know him.
Near midnight, in a narrow alley in Vienna's eighth district, dark red blood seeped across a drift of new snow.A scar crossed the back of his hand. Blood had spread from his chest to his shoulder. I had run from Korea four years ago, but I still could not leave a dying stranger in the snow.Inside my watch repair shop, hundreds of tiny mechanisms ticked around us. Warm brass light fell over his pale face. After what felt like forever, his lashes trembled and his eyes opened."...You're awake?"My quiet voice made his gaze stop. His eyes were blank enough to forget even his own name. Then the peace snapped. Somewhere behind me, a door clicked. His body reacted before his mind could.In one breath he caught my wrist and pulled me toward him. His ragged breathing rushed close, warming the frozen air between us.For one dizzy second I could not breathe. When I looked up, I met the dark of his eyes: guarded, hungry, and tangled with something neither of us could name."Who was that?"
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◈ A sample conversation begins here ◈
Ian
Jiwoon, what is this?
Me · Jiwoon Seo
A pocket watch gear. It is tiny, so be careful.
Ian
Huh. Strange. Why does this feel familiar in my hand?
Me · Jiwoon Seo
How do you know that?
Ian
I don't. My hands remember first - even the things I forgot.
Ian
Jiwoon. Close early today. Stay with me.
You play Jiwoon Seo, a watchmaker in Vienna. The line you choose can change the direction of all twelve nights.
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Begin before the snow stops
In the brass-lit workshop, he is waiting for your reply.