[Shin's Gym – Morning]
The air was colder than it should've been.
Not winter-cold — something else. Digital cold. The kind that creeps through screens and settles in your gut.
Jace sat on a bench in front of the wall map, scrolling through burner alerts while Gupo fighters argued over surveillance logistics.
The footage had dropped an hour ago.
A video titled "Who Are You Really Following?" was already at 1.3 million views on underground streaming channels.
It was Seojun — or at least, it looked like him. Distorted footage from the underpass fight. No context. Just violence. Blood on his fists. Gupo screaming. A faint sob layered under the edit.
CTRL9's branding was stitched across the bottom:"Your streets aren't safer. They're just louder."
Jace (dryly): "They cut it like a horror trailer. Not bad cinematography, actually."
No one laughed.
Samuel stood against the far wall, eyes on the bracelet in his palm. Purple thread. Worn smooth.
Seojun (tight voice): "That's not how it happened."
Samuel: "Doesn't matter. People don't watch what happened. They watch what they're told."
Shin entered, holding a tablet with new polls.
Shin: "Public support just dropped twenty percent. Forums are shifting. Civilians think we're the same as them now."
Seojun: "I didn't start that fight."
Samuel (calm): "They don't need you to. They just need you to bleed on camera."
He turned to the others, voice low but steady.
Samuel: "CTRL9 just made this personal for everyone. But for us—it already was."
[Dagger Chain HQ – Backstreet Shelter]
The safehouse smelled like old wood and rust. Baek Yuri stood in the center of a tiled hallway, one hand pressed to the wall. Her jaw was clenched, her boots soaked in muddy water from the night patrol.
Haemi stormed in behind her, soaked in rain, voice sharp.
Haemi: "They took three more. Civilians. Two teenagers and a teacher from the Hongdae corridor. Class-Zero, masked. One of them smiled."
Yuri didn't look back.
Yuri: "Where?"
Haemi: "Transit van. No plates. We were too slow."
She turned, furious.
Haemi: "We keep saying we're not in this war, but they keep dragging us into it. What are we waiting for?"
Other girls gathered behind Haemi—some tense, some scared.
Yuri: "You think picking a side makes us safe?"
Haemi: "I think doing nothing gets us killed."
There was silence. One girl removed her Dagger Chain jacket, folding it neatly.
Girl: "I'm going to Shin's Gym. They're fighting for something. We're just waiting."
Yuri watched her go without a word.
Another followed. Then a third.
Haemi stepped closer.
Haemi (softer): "You taught us how to fight. Maybe now we need to choose who we fight with."
Yuri: "I'm not mad they left."
Haemi: "Then what?"
Yuri finally spoke.
Yuri: "I'm afraid they're right."
[Abandoned Gymnasium – Class-Zero Training]
Keum Ryun walked barefoot across cracked mats, flanked by three Class-Zero initiates in silent formation.
No sound but a soft static buzz — then the first video started playing.
Yeojin Kim. Screaming. Blurry. Being dragged across a concrete floor.
The first trainee flinched. The second's hands trembled. The third blinked slowly, emotionless.
Ryun paused the video. Sat down cross-legged in front of them.
Ryun: "That's not a video. That's a lockpick. It breaks your memory so something else can take root."
Initiate 1: "That was a real person?"
Ryun: "He was our brother."
No reaction.
Ryun: "They killed him. So we wouldn't remember how to love each other."
He leaned forward, tapping the center of his own forehead.
Ryun: "I remember. That's why I'm useful."
He pulled out an old photograph — faded, but still visible.
Four teenagers on a rooftop:Samuel. Ryun. Yeojin. Yuji.
Ryun: "One of us still thinks he can fix it all. You know what that makes him?"
Initiate 2 (quiet): "Weak?"
Ryun (smiling): "No. Predictable."
He stood.
Ryun: "And predictability is how you end wars before they start."
[Rooftop Flashback – 2 Years Ago]
Sunlight hit the city in long gold strokes.
Samuel, younger, more hopeful, leaned against a rooftop wall, watching Yeojin pace with fire in his voice.
Yeojin: "We build our own gym. A real one. For the kids who don't get uniforms, or lunch money, or even damn shoes."
Ryun (half-laughing): "And who pays for it? Magic boxing fairies?"
Yuji (drawing nearby): "You pay for it by punching Ryun in the face every week until he shuts up."
Yeojin laughed. Ryun shook his head, smiling despite himself.
Samuel just watched them. Felt safe.
Samuel (VO): "We thought being friends was enough to survive the world. That if we held onto each other hard enough, the city would hold back."
Samuel (VO): "We were wrong."
[Shin's Gym – That Night]
The lights were dimmed. Rain started again, tapping the gym roof in soft rhythms.
Samuel stood alone at the map wall, bracelet still in hand. The others gathered nearby—Shin, Jace, Seojun, two Gupo tacticians.
Gupo Fighter: "Intercept target just confirmed. A courier moving tech from an Icebelt drop point to a CTRL9 relay hub. Could be surveillance data. Could be media packages."
Seojun: "I'll go. Let me finish what they started."
Samuel (firm): "No. You hit them again, they'll just paint you as rabid."
Seojun: "So what? We let them win?"
Samuel: "No. We let them overplay."
Jace leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
Jace: "You ever gonna admit you're not bulletproof?"
Samuel (flat): "Not until I find her."
He picked up a phone, checked the signal, looked once at the map.
Samuel: "They made her a ghost. I'm going to make her memory louder than their war."