I was staring at that white lock of hair in the mirror, fascinated, when soone rang my doorbell.
I frowned. Who could it be? Ha-Yoon? Min-Soo?
I opened the door.
It was Yoo-Na.
She was standing on my doormat, dressed in civilian clothes, jeans and a simple sweater. She looked... normal. If you ignored the aura of icy power that surrounded her.
She looked at my sweaty face and exhausted expression. "You look great," she said sarcastically.
"What do you want?" I asked, not in the mood for her gas.
"We said we needed to make a plan," she replied, her tone becoming more serious. "Or have you already forgotten?"
I had completely forgotten. I had been too absorbed in my training.
I let her in with a sigh. My small apartnt seed even smaller with her inside.
She didn’t waste any ti. She took out her terminal and projected the lab’s blueprints in the middle of my living room.
"I’ve been thinking about the physical aspect of the assault," she began, switching directly into mission mode. "Spiritual infiltration is good for reconnaissance. But for the attack, we need a concrete plan."
She pointed to a section of the blueprint. "The prisoners’ cells are here, on basent level 2. The monsters’ cages, on basent level 3. Thorne’s office, on basent level 4."
She looked at . "The real question is: how do we operate without harming the innocents? The ’Stagnant’ prisoners. Should we try to free them before we attack? That would alert the entire base. Or do we go straight for Thorne, hoping the prisoners can be freed without too many casualties in the chaos?"
It was a crucial question. A question of strategy.
And a question of morality.
What was more important? The success of the mission, or the lives of the hostages?
I sat on my couch, staring at the hologram of the lab. Yoo-Na’s question was complex.
If we freed the prisoners first, we would lose the elent of surprise. The guards would be on high alert. Thorne would have ti to escape or trigger a self-destruct protocol.
If we attacked Thorne first, the guards could take the prisoners hostage. Or worse, execute them to erase the evidence.
While I was thinking, Yoo-Na’s terminal rang. She looked at the screen, her face hardening.
"Excuse ," she said. "I have to take this. It’s... the academy."
She stepped out onto the small balcony to talk, leaving alone with the plan and the dilemma.
I continued to weigh the pros and cons. Each option carried enormous risks.
Then, an idea began to form. An idea that wasn’t based on choosing between A or B. An idea based on chaos.
Why choose? Why not do both at the sa ti?
Yoo-Na ca back inside, looking preoccupied. "That was the Director. He’s getting impatient. He wants a report on our ’mission’. I’ve put him off for now, but we don’t have much ti left."
"I have a plan," I said, standing up.
She looked at , surprised.
"We’re going to do both," I continued. "But we can’t be in two places at once."
I pointed to the prisoners’ cells on basent level 2. "You, you’re going to handle this. You’ll create a massive diversion on this level. You’ll free the prisoners and escort them to a secure extraction point. You’ll draw the attention of most of the guards."
"And you?" she asked. "You’re going to attack Thorne alone?"
A cold smile appeared on my face.
"Oh no. I won’t be alone."
I pointed to the monsters’ cages on basent level 3.
"While you’re playing the savior, I’m going to open the cages. I’m going to release all of Thorne’s ’failures’. And I’m going to let them wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire laboratory."
"And while everyone is busy trying to survive..." I concluded.
"...I’ll personally take care of the doctor."
Yoo-Na looked at the plan, then at my face. Her eyes widened.
"That’s... that’s pure madness," she whispered. "Releasing those monsters... We don’t even know what they are, how they’ll react. They could just as easily attack the prisoners as the guards. It’s uncontrollable chaos."
"Exactly," I said. "Chaos is our best ally. In an orderly fight, they would win. They have the numbers, they know the terrain. But in chaos, survival instinct takes over. And believe , my survival instinct is much better than theirs."
She thought for a long mont. It was a risky, brutal plan. But it was also the only one that gave us a chance to succeed and save everyone.
"Alright," she finally said, with a glimr of reluctant respect in her eyes. "We’ll do it your way."
"Good," I said. "I still need to study the plans I morized to find the best infiltration point. We’ll et tomorrow, sa ti, sa place," I pointed to the roof of the Daesung Building on the hologram. "We’ll finalize the last details. And we’ll make our move tomorrow night."
She nodded. She retrieved her terminal, and the hologram vanished.
"See you tomorrow, then," she said.
And she left.
I found myself alone in my apartnt, the silence falling again. The plan was set. The adrenaline from the strategizing began to fade.
I looked at my hand. I thought about my training.
The plan was good, but it hinged on one thing: my ability to survive the chaos I was about to unleash.
I went back to sitting on the floor. I closed my eyes.
My training in Cellular Manipulation and Reconstruction was not over. It had barely begun.
And I had less than twenty-four hours to get stronger. To beco a monster capable of leading other monsters.
The next day was D-Day.
I didn’t sleep. I spent the entire night training. Pushing my body and mind to their absolute limits.
I managed to change the color of all my hair to white, and then back to black. It was a small success, but it proved my control was becoming finer.
Next, I tried sothing more difficult. Hardening my skin.
The pain was even worse. It felt like my own skin was turning to stone, cracking and reforming. I scread several tis in the silence of my apartnt.
But when the sun rose, I had succeeded. I tapped my forearm. It was as hard as rock. I had created a natural armor.
It was exhausting. I was burning through my Aura reserves at an insane rate. But I was making progress.
I spent the day alternating between training and studying the lab’s blueprints. I morized every corridor, every ventilation shaft, every surveillance cara.
I didn’t see Ha-Yoon. I didn’t call Ji-Soo. I didn’t talk to Min-Soo.
I was completely focused. Isolated in my bubble of preparation.
Evening ca. Ti for the mission.
I didn’t feel like a hero going to save innocents.
I felt like a predator about to be unleashed in a cage full of other predators.
And I was going to show them who was at the top of the food chain.
I put on a black combat suit, simple and without insignia. I hid my face under a hood.
I summoned my dagger. It seed to vibrate with anticipation in my hand.
I left my apartnt, a ghost in the night.
Destination: the roof of the Daesung Building. For the final eting.
For the beginning of the end.
This ti, I didn’t have to wait long on the roof.
A black limousine, the sa one as last ti, parked discreetly in the street below. I went down.
The two n in black suits were there. They opened the door for without a word. Their expressions were neutral. They were just pawns.
Yoo-Na was inside, already in her white combat gear. She watched get in.
I took my own equipnt out of my bag. A tactical combat suit, all black, lightweight and durable. And a hooded cloak to conceal my face.
The car started, gliding silently through the streets of Seoul.
"Are you ready?" Yoo-Na asked, her voice tense.
"I was born ready," I replied, my tone curt and unpleasant. I wasn’t in the mood for small talk. I was in mission mode.
She sighed, annoyed by my attitude. "What we’re about to do... it’s going to change everything. The Director will never forgive us. We’ll beco the most wanted people in South Korea."
"I know."
"You don’t care, do you?"
I turned my head to look at her, my eyes cold under the shadow of my hood.
"I haven’t cared about a lot of things lately, Yoo-Na. But not this. This, I’m looking forward to."
She said nothing more.
We rode in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. The tension in the car was palpable.
We weren’t heroes. We were terrorists, about to commit an act that would shake the foundations of our world.
And I was perfectly fine with that.
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