The world outside Lotus hadn't changed.
Broken streets.
Crumbling towers.
Skies the color of old bruises.
But inside Seo-jin, everything was different.
He moved differently now.
Saw differently.
Felt differently.
And he wasn't alone anymore.
Min-ji stretched lazily against the courtyard wall, arms above her head, jacket riding up to expose the curve of her waist.
She caught him staring and smirked.
"Like what you see, brooding boy?"
Seo-jin coughed into his fist, looking away.
"You're impossible."
"Yeah," she said, dropping her arms and bouncing lightly on her toes. "And you're predictable."
Ko emerged from the main hall, carrying a heavy duffel.
He tossed it at Seo-jin's feet.
"Gear up. You two are moving out."
Min-ji's grin widened.
"Another date already? You spoil me, boss."
Ko ignored her.
"Different sector this time. Sector Fourteen."
Seo-jin stiffened.
Sector Fourteen was worse than Twelve.
More fragment tears.
More corruption.
More death.
Ko met his eyes, steady.
"No training wheels this time. You want to be part of Lotus? Prove it."
Seo-jin bent, picking up the duffel.
Min-ji snagged her own bag off the ground with a careless swing.
"We'll manage," she said brightly.
Ko grunted.
"I don't need 'managing.' I need surviving."
He turned and disappeared inside.
Leaving only the weight of the mission between them.
**
The journey to Sector Fourteen was silent.
Different from before.
No jokes.
No easy smiles.
Just the steady crunch of boots on broken concrete.
The air grew heavier as they approached the boundary.
Seo-jin could feel the hum of fractured space under his skin, like a second heartbeat.
Min-ji's face was set now, her usual grin tucked away somewhere deeper.
When they reached the old checkpoint—a collapsed line of rusted metal and twisted wire—they paused.
Seo-jin checked his fragment pulse.
Steady.
Controlled.
Min-ji rolled her shoulders, flexing her hands.
"Ready?" she asked.
Seo-jin nodded.
Together, they stepped into the broken world.
**
Sector Fourteen was worse than he remembered.
Buildings half-swallowed by warped stone.
Streets twisted into unnatural spirals.
The air itself tasted wrong, metallic and sharp.
Min-ji kept close, her senses straining.
They moved carefully, following the old map Ko had marked.
Their goal was simple:
• Confirm the fragment surges.
• Retrieve any surviving cores.
• Get out alive.
Simple on paper.
Hell in reality.
**
Halfway through the district, the ground cracked under their feet.
Min-ji cursed, leaping back as a fissure split the road.
From the darkness below, something howled.
Something vast.
Something wrong.
Seo-jin grabbed Min-ji's wrist, pulling her away just as the earth exploded upward.
A creature clawed into the light—twice the size of the last one they fought.
Its body was a patchwork of broken armor and pulsing fragment scars.
Its mouth split open sideways, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
Min-ji hissed between her teeth.
"That's new."
Seo-jin shoved her behind him.
"I'll distract. You find a weak point."
She flashed him a reckless smile.
"Just try not to die, brooding boy."
**
The battle was chaos.
Worse than before.
The creature moved faster than anything its size should.
Seo-jin ducked under a swipe that shattered the wall behind him into powder.
He retaliated with a fracture burst, aiming low.
The beast staggered—but only for a second.
Min-ji darted in from the side, air compressing around her fists.
She drove a strike into the beast's exposed joint.
A crack rang out.
It howled, spinning.
Seo-jin moved in concert with her, no words needed.
Trust flowing between them like a current.
**
Minutes stretched into eternity.
Sweat burned Seo-jin's eyes.
Blood slicked his hands.
His fragment buzzed dangerously, hovering on the edge of instability.
Min-ji wasn't much better.
She bled from a gash above her eyebrow, teeth bared in a wild grin.
Still fighting.
Still laughing.
Seo-jin loved her for it, even if he couldn't say it.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
**
When the beast finally collapsed, shaking the ground with its death throes, they stood over it, panting.
Min-ji wiped blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.
"Two missions," she said hoarsely. "Two wins."
Seo-jin smiled, slow and real.
"Not bad."
She bumped his shoulder with hers.
"Not bad at all."
**
The way back to Lotus was a blur.
Pain and exhaustion folded into each step.
But neither of them complained.
Neither of them stopped.
They walked side by side, broken but undefeated.
**
Ko met them at the door, arms crossed.
One look at their bloodied forms and he grunted approval.
"Didn't think you'd make it."
Seo-jin dropped the twisted core onto the ground at Ko's feet.
"Neither did we," Min-ji said brightly.
Ko's mouth twitched.
Almost a smile.
"Get cleaned up."
They staggered inside.
**
Later, Seo-jin sat on the rooftop again.
The stars were still weak.
The air still foul.
But beside him, Min-ji laughed quietly, kicking her boots against the edge.
"Next time," she said, "I'm picking the mission."
Seo-jin chuckled low in his chest.
"You say that now."
She turned her head, green-gold eyes bright even in the darkness.
"You trust me, right?"
The question hit harder than any punch.
Seo-jin didn't hesitate.
"I do."
Min-ji smiled.
And somehow, it felt more dangerous than the monster they'd fought.
More real.
More alive.
**
They sat there, breathing together, bruised and battered and whole.
Tomorrow would come.
And they would be ready