Rain poured softly over the city.
The flames from the South Wing's battle had been extinguished, but the air around the Guild HQ still smelled of ash and scorched concrete. Repairs were underway, healers moved from room to room, and commanders worked silently through stacks of incident reports.
But Taerim?
She sat alone.
Wrapped in a thin blanket, her eyes stared into the empty infirmary wall. Not crying. Not sleeping. Just… still.
Her body had healed, thanks to Gyeongho's regenerative energy. But the cracks inside her mind?
They remained.
Subject S001.
Prototype.
You were born in that lab.
The voice wouldn't leave her. Elya's voice. That cold, clinical venom.
She shivered despite the warmth.
"I'm not your creation," she muttered, almost a growl.
The door creaked open.
Ryu Hajoon stepped in, silent as a ghost. His eyes met hers, concerned but never pitiful.
"Still can't sleep?"
Taerim shook her head.
He crossed the room and sat beside her. For a moment, they said nothing.
Then: "We found something," Hajoon said quietly.
She looked up.
"A file," he continued. "It was hidden in the South Wing's database. Old footage. And… records of your time in the facility."
Taerim's blood froze.
"Do you want to see it?" Hajoon asked, voice soft. "We can delete it, if you want. Burn it all."
She stared at her trembling hands.
Then, slowly, she nodded.
---
The file room was dark.
A single screen glowed in the middle of the console as Hajoon keyed in the code. The footage flickered to life.
First: a child.
Six years old.
Her.
Eyes wide. Mouth gagged. Strapped to a metal table. Screaming, struggling.
Then… silence. Her body convulsed. Wires embedded into her arms. Needles injecting something red. The scientists observed coldly, unmoved.
And among them—
Her heart skipped.
One of the researchers watching looked… familiar. A younger man, maybe in his twenties.
Han Siyoon.
"No," she whispered.
"That's not him now," Hajoon said, stepping beside her. "He was undercover. We're still trying to confirm it."
But Taerim couldn't take her eyes off the screen.
Siyoon's expression wasn't cruel. It was… tormented.
As if he didn't want to be there.
But he didn't stop them, either.
The footage ended.
Taerim turned away. "I need air."
---
Outside, the school loomed ahead.
Classes had resumed. Students were buzzing with theories about the explosion. The media had been told it was a "rogue training incident." None of them knew the truth.
Taerim walked alone through the rain.
She didn't put her hood up.
She wanted to feel cold.
She wanted to remember that she was still alive.
But as she turned the corner near the dorm gates, her eyes caught something odd.
A boy.
Not in uniform.
Standing alone under the tree.
He wore a black jacket, his face half-hidden by shadows, silver hair slightly damp. And yet… something about him pulled at her chest.
"Hey," she called.
He turned.
And for a second—just a second—Taerim felt dizzy.
His eyes… were violet.
Exactly like hers.
"New student?" she asked cautiously.
The boy tilted his head, expression unreadable. "You could say that."
"What's your name?"
He smiled faintly.
"Han Iseul."
She froze.
Han.
"Related to Han Siyoon?" she asked quickly.
"No," he said. But he looked amused.
A lie?
Maybe.
But his aura felt familiar. Too familiar.
And then he stepped closer.
"I've been watching you, S001."
The blood drained from her face.
"What did you just say—?"
He leaned closer, voice now a whisper. "You're not the only one who survived, Joon Taerim."
And just like that—
He vanished.
---
That night, Taerim called an emergency meeting in her dorm.
Juwon, Siyoon, Yulseung, Harin, Hajoon, and Gyeongho gathered—some in pajamas, others still in uniform.
"A new student showed up," she said. "Name's Han Iseul. He knows who I am. He said I'm not the only one who survived."
Silence.
"Are you sure?" Juwon asked.
"I know what I heard."
Siyoon's brows furrowed deeply. "That name… It's not in our student registry."
"Then how did he get in?" Gyeongho asked. "You can't just walk into this academy."
Juwon looked grim. "Unless someone let him in."
Taerim locked eyes with Siyoon.
"What are you hiding?"
He didn't blink. "Nothing that could hurt you."
"Then why were you in that footage?" she snapped.
Everyone turned.
Siyoon's jaw tensed. "I was undercover."
"That's not enough!" she shouted. "You watched me scream. You watched them hurt me and did nothing!"
Juwon stood between them. "Stop."
But Siyoon didn't back down.
"I did what I had to do. I gave up everything—my identity, my safety—to get close to them. I sent out every file I could. That's why the raid happened. Why the lab was destroyed."
Taerim's lip trembled. "Then why didn't you save me?"
Siyoon's voice cracked. "Because I thought I was too late."
Silence.
No one dared breathe.
Then Taerim turned away.
"I need to be alone."
She walked out, leaving the others in tense silence.
---
Somewhere in the shadows of the school roof, Han Iseul stood again, watching the lights of the dorm flicker.
He whispered softly, to no one in particular:
"They've started to remember."
Then, smiling to himself, he vanished once more.
---