**Ep.09 – The Maze of Truth: "The One Reflected in the Mirror"
I opened my eyes, lying on the ground.
The fog hadn't cleared, but something had changed.
There was no color here.
No light. No shadows.
Only a single, massive mirror, floating in midair.
📍[SYSTEM – Final Zone of Truth Entered]
📍[Mirror Form: Awaiting Manifestation of the True Self]
I walked forward.
The mirror grew larger.
And in its surface... I saw not me.
But the reflection wasn't Taemin.
It wasn't Zero Baek either.
"Who the hell are you, pretending to be me?"
The reflection smiled.
[Phase 1 – Collapse of the Self]
"Do you really think you're... you?"
The voice asked again.
"Are you a sperm? A regressor? An emotion? A memory?"
"You say you fight for Juhui.
But isn't that just your way of hiding from guilt?"
"She gave her blood to save you.
And you—
You simply swallowed it and survived."
"You covered up that survivor's guilt by calling it love, didn't you?"
I lowered my head.
"No... That's not..."
The mirror cracked.
From the fracture, a new figure emerged.
It was me—
but with eyes that mirrored Chaos.
A gaze laced with denial, pain, and cruel indifference.
📍[Target Identified – Emotional Replica: "Zero ∴ Chaos Prototype"]
📍[Abilities: Memory Distortion ・ Emotion Seal ・ Will Suppression]
[Phase 2 – Emotion-Neutralization Battle]
He countered every move.
Even the Blade of Azure Dew and Embers of Flame failed.
CRACK! FWOOOM! THUD!
He was reading my thoughts.
And then he said—
"You're a fake."
"The real Zero died a long time ago."
"The feelings you carry now... They're not even yours."
In an instant,
every memory I had of Juhui began to fade.
[Phase 3 – Recovery of Emotion / The True Name Reclaimed]
Just then,
I heard Rika's voice—
The sensory embodiment born from the Trial of Salt.
My first companion.
"You weren't created from memory," she said.
"You fight to protect memory."
Those words gave me strength.
I stood again,
pulling six shards of emotion from my pocket—
the legacy left behind by fallen sperm comrades.
The fragments melted into me.
📍[Emotion Core Fusion – Codename: Truth Interpreter 'Zero Baek']
📍[Identity Integration Complete: Taemin → Zero → Baek Hyun-gu → Zero Baek]
[Final Battle – The Strike of Truth]
"Even if I'm fake—
these feelings are real.
I protected them, I shed them, I remembered them."
I forged my final weapon:
Weapon Name: Reflex Core
→ A self-weapon that reflects memory, emotion, and will.
I swung.
The fake "me" inside the mirror screamed.
"So you're rejecting me after all...?"
I said nothing.
Just nodded—
and pierced his heart.
The mirror shattered.
The world crumbled.
And within it all,
I quietly closed my eyes.
📍[Maze of Truth – Fully Cleansed]
📍[Self Integration: Sensory Level 2 Awakened]
📍[Memory Stabilized – Emotion Error Rate Reduced by 12%]
📍[Chaos: Silhouette Detected for the First Time]