Author: [writers hub]
The words died in Zara's throat, a gasp caught in the damp, musty air of the tunnel. Mina Song. Here. Her emerald dress, once a symbol of haughty elegance, was now smudged with dust and grit, a stark testament to her descent into Mae-Yeon's shadowy operations. Her face, illuminated by the single lantern, was contorted with a furious concentration as she jabbed at the control panel of the vault.
The two guards, burly figures from Mae-Yeon's private security detail, stood sentinel. One of them, alerted by Zara's sudden, sharp intake of breath, spun around. His eyes, quick and predatory, landed on her.
"Intruder!" he barked, his hand going to a weapon holstered at his side.
Mina's head snapped up, her eyes widening in disbelief, then narrowing into a venomous glare as she recognized Zara. "You!" she shrieked, her voice echoing in the confined space, all pretense of serene composure shattered. "How dare you follow me?!" Her face twisted with pure hatred, a stark contrast to her earlier, controlled disdain.
Zara had no time to explain, no time to think. Instinct, sharpened by weeks of Ragnar's brutal training and Lady So-Yeon's chilling advice, took over. She ducked just as the first guard lunged, his hand reaching for her. She was smaller, faster. Remembering a defensive move from a forgotten self-defense lesson, she twisted, slamming her elbow back, not to injure, but to create space. The guard grunted, surprised by her unexpected resistance.
"Stop her!" Mina screamed, abandoning the panel. "Don't let her touch the system!"
The second guard moved, flanking Zara, cutting off her retreat. She was cornered, two professional enforcers against a designer in a hanbok. Desperation surged. Her eyes darted around, searching for an opening, a weapon. Her hand instinctively went to the hidden inner pocket of her hanbok. The dagger. Mae-Yeon's gift, now Ragnar's grim tool.
She drew it with a practiced motion, the cold steel a sudden, empowering weight in her hand. The guard closest to her hesitated, surprised by the glint of the blade. Zara didn't wait. This wasn't about fighting to win; it was about fighting to survive. She slashed low, aiming for his leg, not to cut deep, but to force a retreat. He stumbled back, cursing.
"Fool! It's just a woman!" Mina shrieked, her face contorted with rage. "Get her!"
As the first guard recovered, the second one moved in, more cautious now. Zara remembered Lady So-Yeon's lesson: "A smaller foe can use agility to outwit brute force. The environment is your ally." The tunnel was narrow, uneven. She saw a loose rock, half-hidden in the gloom.
In a swift, desperate move, Zara feigned a lunge towards the vault, drawing the guards' attention. As they advanced, she spun, kicking the loose rock with the toe of her shoe. It skittered across the uneven floor, slamming into the shin of the first guard. He cried out, losing balance and stumbling into the second guard.
It was her only chance. With the guards momentarily tangled, Zara lunged past them, straight for the control panel where Mina had been working. She didn't know what to do, but she knew she had to disrupt it.
"No!" Mina screamed, rushing forward, her long nails raking at Zara's face.
Zara ignored the pain as Mina's nails tore at her cheek. Her eyes frantically scanned the panel. Wires, lights, a blinking "Processing… 90%." She remembered Ragnar's explanation of network vulnerabilities, of disrupting data flow. She saw a thick data cable, clearly connected to the main vault system. It was exposed.
With a desperate cry, Zara plunged Mae-Yeon's dagger down, not at Mina, but at the data cable. The blade sliced through the thick wires with a searing crackle. Sparks erupted, bathing the small chamber in a blinding flash of blue-white light. The vault panel screamed with alarms, lights flashing red, and then... everything went dead. The hum of the system ceased. The "Processing" indicator vanished.
A stunned silence fell, broken only by the thudding of Ragnar's annual address, distantly vibrating through the earth above.
Mina stared at the ruined panel, then at Zara, her face a mask of utter, unadulterated fury. "You... you ruined everything!" Her eyes, filled with a primal, vengeful rage, gleamed in the dim light. "You will pay for this, Zara Jones! You will pay with your life!"
Before Zara could react, Mina lunged, not with a planned attack, but with the raw, untamed fury of a cornered beast, intent on tearing Zara apart with her bare hands, pushing her back against the rough tunnel wall as the two guards, recovering from the initial shock, began to close in, leaving Zara utterly exposed in the dark, silent tunnel, with the frantic sounds of a growing commotion above them echoing ominously, signaling that Mae-Yeon's plan might have failed below, but the public deepfake, Ragnar's primary concern, had likely just begun to unleash its havoc on the main stage.