Episode 36 – Threads Fray
Night had barely let go of the city when CHIPER gathered in HQ's glass-walled strategy room.
Dust from the hospital still clung to their clothes; the scars ran deeper.
Kevin stood at the head of the table, every muscle locked tight. His gaze swept them — Guen with a bruise darkening her collarbone, Alex pale from more than exhaustion, Minjae silent and coiled, and Miran… eyes rimmed red, sitting too far from Minjae to be coincidence.
> "ZeroFace shifted targets," Kevin began, voice gravel. "They know us. They're coming here."
Guen's jaw tightened. "So we reinforce security, go underground if we have to—"
"And let them keep killing outside?" Kevin snapped, sharper than he meant. "That's not why CHIPER exists."
Silence cut the room.
---
Miran lowered her head, voice barely above breath.
"But if they know everything… we could be next."
Minjae's gaze flicked to her, dark and unreadable.
"You won't be," he rasped.
The words were a promise. Or a threat. Even he didn't seem sure which.
---
Alex swallowed hard, thumb brushing the cracked edge of his phone.
> "The mole isn't a stranger. It's someone you trust most."
His chest felt crushed by the secret. Should he tell them? But suspicion would splinter them faster than any bomb.
His gaze caught Dohee's, worried, gentle.
"Alex… you're shaking," she whispered.
"I'm fine," he lied, voice hollow.
But the words tasted like blood.
---
Kevin spoke again, forcing steel into his tone.
"ZeroFace needs fear to work. We break that cycle. We go public."
Guen flinched. "Kevin, that means exposing us."
His voice cracked at the edge. "I know."
Her eyes searched his. "Even me?"
For a moment, he couldn't speak. Especially you, he almost said.
But duty crushed the words. "Especially you," he forced out instead.
Guen's gaze dropped, lashes hiding hurt.
---
Later, Miran stood alone in the corridor, trying to steady her breath.
She traced the faint scar on her arm — the bullet wound that should have killed her.
Minjae's reflection darkened the glass behind her.
"Still scared?" he murmured, stepping closer.
Miran tensed, but didn't move away. "I… I can't forget it."
"You almost died," he rasped, voice lower. "Because you didn't listen."
She flinched. "I know. I'm sorry."
Minjae's hand brushed her hair back, thumb grazing her neck. "Don't say sorry. Just stay where I can see you."
Her heart thundered, half fear, half something she dared not name.
"Please… don't do this now," she whispered.
His eyes darkened. "Do what?"
"Scare me more," she said, voice cracking.
Minjae's lips twitched — not quite a smile. "Not scaring. Protecting."
To him, they were the same.
---
Meanwhile, Alex watched them through the glass wall, guilt eating him alive.
If the mole was Minjae… would he warn Miran? Or let it unfold?
Dohee touched his arm gently. "What's wrong?"
He nearly broke. The words rose to his throat: There's a mole. It could be any of us.
But his voice failed. "Nothing," he whispered instead. "Just tired."
Dohee didn't believe him — he saw it in her eyes. But she stayed silent, for now.
---
In the strategy room, Kevin and Guen reviewed ZeroFace's encrypted video.
A dark figure, voice distorted into a monstrous rasp:
> "Soon, your house of secrets burns. Fear lives inside your walls."
Kevin's jaw locked. "They know our layout. Our protocols."
"Or someone told them," Guen said quietly.
Their eyes met — both thinking the same unspoken word: Mole.
---
Night deepened, but no one went home.
Exhaustion hung heavy. Fear sharper.
Kevin and Guen stepped onto the balcony. The city stretched below — lights cold and distant.
"Guen…" Kevin started.
She cut him off. "Don't say it. I know."
"It was never supposed to get this close," he rasped. "To you."
"And yet here we are," she whispered, voice softer than he deserved.
He reached out, fingers almost brushing hers. "If ZeroFace strikes—"
"We fight together," she finished.
For a heartbeat, they stood closer than the city below could ever see.
---
Inside, Miran tried to sleep in the infirmary, too wired to rest.
Footsteps stopped at her door.
Minjae stepped in, shadows pooling around him. "You're awake."
"I can't… sleep," she admitted, voice small.
His expression softened — barely. "Move over."
"What?" she gasped, heart jumping.
"I'm staying," he said, as if it were the simplest truth. "So you don't wake up alone."
She hesitated. Then fear of refusing him outweighed the fear of letting him.
Minjae sat at the edge of her bed, hand brushing hers. "You're shaking again," he murmured.
"I… can't help it."
His thumb traced her wrist, feeling her pulse race.
"I don't like you being afraid," he rasped.
Then softer: "Except when it keeps you near me."
The words chilled and warmed her at once.
---
Elsewhere, Alex slipped back into the server room.
He opened the decrypted file again. The same words burned on the screen:
> "The mole isn't a stranger. It's someone you trust most."
His chest felt crushed by betrayal he couldn't name.
His phone buzzed — Dohee.
> "Come back, Alex. You shouldn't be alone."
"I'm on my way," he whispered.
But he wasn't sure if he'd ever truly come back.
---
Near dawn, a single black envelope slid under CHIPER HQ's main door.
Inside: a photo of all six members, taken inside HQ.
Scrawled in red ink across it:
> "The walls see. The mole listens."
And on the back, a single chilling promise:
> "Tomorrow. The first will fall."
---
As sun broke over Seoul, the team gathered around the photo.
Miran's voice trembled. "How did they…?"
Kevin's face was stone. "They were here."
Minjae's gaze swept the room, darker than night. "Then we hunt them down first."
Alex stared at his friends — his family — and the secret burned like acid in his chest.
> "The mole isn't a stranger…"
---