The briefing was short and rough, just the way Lotus operated.
Ko stood by the cracked whiteboard, tapping a battered map with a thick finger.
"Target zone: Sector Twelve," he said. "Old industrial grounds. Mostly scavengers these days. Some fragment anomalies reported. Minor stuff."
Seo-jin leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
Min-ji sat on a broken stool nearby, chewing gum with the insolence of someone who clearly didn't care about "minor stuff."
Ko's eyes swept the room.
"This is a test," he said. "New blood. New team. Don't screw it up."
Seo-jin didn't miss the way Ko's gaze lingered a half-second longer on him than on Min-ji.
Neither did Min-ji, if the smirk tugging at her lips meant anything.
"Any questions?" Ko barked.
Seo-jin shook his head.
Min-ji blew a bubble, popped it with a loud snap.
"Good."
Ko tossed a comm set at Seo-jin and another at Min-ji.
"You move at dawn."
**
The sun was a dirty smear in the sky when they set out.
The city stretched ahead of them, broken and groaning under its own weight.
Min-ji walked a step ahead, humming under her breath.
Seo-jin kept pace easily despite the ache still burning in his ribs.
"You always this cheerful on missions?" he asked dryly.
Min-ji flashed him a grin over her shoulder.
"Better than brooding like a sad little puppy."
Seo-jin chuckled.
"You don't know me yet."
"Sure I do," she said breezily. "You've got that whole 'tragic hero' vibe. It's practically leaking off you."
He didn't reply.
Mostly because she wasn't wrong.
**
They moved through the outskirts in silence after that.
Ruined factories loomed like dying giants around them.
Rust flaked from twisted beams.
The air was heavy with the stink of oil and rot.
Seo-jin's fragment pulsed uneasily against his ribs.
Min-ji's hair caught the grim light like fire.
Despite himself, Seo-jin found his eyes drifting toward her.
She moved like she didn't care who was watching — loose, confident, almost reckless.
But there was control too.
A tension in her muscles.
A readiness.
He respected that.
Even if she annoyed the hell out of him.
**
Halfway through the zone, Seo-jin spotted the first signs of trouble.
A deep gash along the ground, like something massive had clawed its way through.
Min-ji whistled low.
"Something big."
"Or angry."
"Or both," she said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Seo-jin knelt, fingers brushing the edge of the scar.
Residual fragment energy prickled his skin.
"Fresh," he said. "Less than a day."
Min-ji's grin sharpened.
"Fun."
Seo-jin straightened slowly.
"You think everything's fun."
"Only the stuff that could kill me," she said brightly.
Seo-jin shook his head.
But he couldn't help the small smile tugging at his lips.
**
They pressed on, more cautious now.
The air grew heavier.
Sticky.
Seo-jin's instincts screamed at him, but he forced them down.
Focus.
Min-ji moved ahead, light and quick.
Seo-jin covered her from the rear, senses straining.
The attack came with no warning.
One second the world was still.
The next—
A howl tore the air apart.
The creature lunged from the shadows, a twisted mass of muscle and fragment scars, jaws yawning impossibly wide.
Seo-jin reacted instantly, fragment power flaring along his nerves.
The air shimmered.
Min-ji was already moving, her body blurring as she kicked off the ground.
The creature slammed into the space where she'd been a heartbeat before.
**
The battle was chaos.
Fast. Brutal.
Seo-jin ducked low, fragment energy sparking along his hands.
He snapped a fracture under the creature's front foot, making it stumble.
Min-ji darted in, her fist wrapped in compressed air, slamming into the beast's flank.
It roared in fury, spinning.
A clawed arm lashed out.
Seo-jin caught the movement and yanked Min-ji backward by her jacket, dragging her out of the way.
"Thanks, brooding boy," she gasped, grinning wildly.
"Focus," he snapped.
But he was grinning too.
They moved together, without thinking.
Covering.
Countering.
Reading each other's motions instinctively.
It wasn't perfect.
They weren't a polished team.
But they were something better.
Something raw and real.
**
Seo-jin slipped around the creature's side, fingers splayed.
A micro-fissure split the air, catching the beast's leg mid-motion.
Min-ji slammed into its exposed flank, a blast of compressed air tearing flesh and bone.
The creature staggered.
Seo-jin pressed the attack.
Strike. Dodge. Shatter.
Min-ji mirrored him, weaving in and out, her laughter bright and wild.
It should have been a disaster.
They barely knew each other.
But somehow—
They made it work.
**
When the creature finally collapsed, broken and bleeding into the dirt, Seo-jin and Min-ji stood panting over its corpse.
The world spun slightly.
Seo-jin wiped blood—his or the creature's, he wasn't sure—from his cheek.
Min-ji leaned on her knees, grinning up at him.
"Not bad," she said between breaths.
"You either," Seo-jin admitted.
Their eyes met.
The grin faded slightly from her lips.
Something quieter moved between them.
Recognition.
Respect.
Maybe even the first seeds of something more.
But neither of them said anything.
The silence said enough.
**
They made their way back slowly.
No jokes now.
No teasing.
Just the tired, aching satisfaction of survival.
Min-ji walked beside him without speaking
No jokes now.
No teasing.
Just the tired, aching satisfaction of survival.
Min-ji walked beside him without speaking.
The silence between them wasn't awkward.
It was… earned.
A fragile thread of something real, formed under fire.
As they crossed the broken threshold of Lotus, Ko met them with a raised eyebrow.
"Still alive," he grunted.
Not a question. A judgment.
Seo-jin dropped the torn remains of the creature's claw onto the floor with a heavy thud.
"Proof enough?"
Ko snorted.
Min-ji wiped sweat from her forehead, smearing dirt across her cheek.
"Easy work," she said, flashing a lopsided grin.
But her voice was hoarse.
Tired.
Honest.
Ko's mouth twitched—something like approval.
"You'll do," he said, turning away without another word.
**
Later, after the reports were filed and the blood was scrubbed off their gear, Seo-jin sat on the rooftop again, legs dangling over the broken edge.
The city stretched before him, endless and broken and alive.
Footsteps scuffed behind him.
He didn't turn.
Min-ji dropped down beside him, close enough that he could feel the heat radiating from her skin.
Neither of them spoke for a long time.
The wind tangled their hair.
The stars above were few and pale, struggling to shine through the polluted sky.
Min-ji tossed a small pebble into the void below.
"Not bad for a first run," she said eventually.
Seo-jin smirked.
"Could've been worse."
She bumped his shoulder lightly with hers.
"You're not so bad, brooding boy."
He laughed under his breath.
"You're alright too, troublemaker."
**
They sat there, letting the silence settle around them.
Seo-jin felt the weight of exhaustion dragging at his bones.
But also something lighter.
Something almost like hope.
Not the foolish kind.
Not the naive kind.
The kind that comes when you realize—
You don't have to survive alone anymore.
**
Somewhere deep inside, the fragment pulsed.
Quiet.
Steady.
For once, it didn't feel like a burden.
For once, it felt almost… at peace.
**
Min-ji leaned back, propping herself up on her hands.
"Think they'll send us out again soon?" she asked, squinting at the dirty stars.
Seo-jin followed her gaze.
"I hope so."
She shot him a look.
"Seriously? After all that?"
He shrugged.
"If we don't keep moving… we'll rot here."
Min-ji considered that.
Then she smiled—a real smile, small and fierce.
"Good," she said. "I hate rotting."
Their eyes met.
Something unspoken passed between them again.
Stronger this time.
Not a promise.
Not a confession.
Just an understanding.
An echo of what could be.
**
The city breathed its broken breath.
The stars strained against the dark.
And Seo-jin sat beside someone who didn't just survive the storm—
She thrived in it.
Like him.