Kim Min-jun collapsed to his knees as the light of the Echo portal faded. His lungs burned as if he'd sprinted in full armor, and the air cut his throat—it was foreign: damp, soaked with must, rust, and something charred, as if the world here had long since burned out.
He lurched to his feet, raising his rifle. His scout instincts were sharper than his reason. A narrow room, flickering lamps on the ceiling, panels eaten away by time. Beyond the walls—a low, guttural hum that sent a chill down his spine. Not drones. Not machinery. Something alive.
Where am I?
And then, a figure appeared in the doorway.
Lee Seo-hyeon froze. His gray-green eyes widened, his fingers clenched the ring with the Stella crystal, and it trembled in the gloom. The scar on his eyebrow, the sharp cheekbones, the same gaze… Min-jun. His Min-jun. Seo-hyeon's heart hammered against his ribs. A hallucination? A ghost? But this man didn't disappear.
"You… you're not real," he whispered, backing away toward the table.