The first to die was a child.
Not in the war. Not from a bullet.
She died inside the machine meant to save her.
Inside the quiet hum of the Evolution Core—where DNA was rewritten in real time, where blood boiled without fire.
Her body cracked. Skin peeled. Screamed once. Then silence.
> ["Subject 17… failed."]
And still—more stepped forward.
---
Seo Kael stood behind reinforced glass.
Eyes hollow. Hands cold. Mind locked.
His ID chip buzzed against his wrist. He was next.
Around him, the command center flickered—monitors, alarms, blinking red. Outside, the sky burned. The war above was already lost.
> "Subject 18," said a voice overhead. "Prepare for injection."
Kael said nothing.
He watched the blackened body of Subject 17 be dragged away like it was trash.
But it wasn't trash.
> It was his sister.
---
> Seo Haneul. Sixteen. Brilliant. Braver than him. Gone.
He clenched his fist.
> "We lost the war," he whispered. "But if I live… I'll make them pay for it."
He pressed his hand to the panel.
Gas hissed. Glass sealed.
The Evolution Core came alive.
---
Pain.
His body convulsed—bones snapping, nerves burning, memories fracturing.
He wasn't dying.
He was becoming something else.
And then—blackness.
---
[End of Chapter 1]