Darin sat hunched on her bed, chin resting on her knee, the glow of her laptop the only light in the room, scrolling through a flood of news reports: riots, armed clashes, bodies left in alleys. Violence spreading like a virus, city by city.
…
Then something strange happened.
One by one, the articles began to vanish. Entire sites went dark. Not random, either, there's an order to it, like someone was erasing the truth in sequence.
Her pulse kicked up. She opened her coding tools, fingers trembling as she dug into the cached pages. Beneath the surface, a pattern unfolded, someone was rewriting the story.
The fragments rearranged, not into text but into a jagged ring of zeroes pulsing on her screen like an unblinking eye. Then, beneath it, words bled through in thin red script:
Truth belongs to no one.
A single name followed: ZERO.
The screen flickered, stuttered, and then a message window snapped open.
TEMPORARY BEST FRIEND #21:
You said you had to move out of town… It's today, isn't it…?
Darin froze. She glanced at the date in the corner of her screen.
June 1st, a new month.
The sunlight bled through the blinds, pale and indifferent. She hadn't even noticed it until now. She never did, too many nights had ended like this.
Her eyes shifted to the corner of the room. A trash bin, overflowing with shredded IDs. Dozens of names, dozens of faces, all hers.
She sighed and typed back: Yeah.
TEMPORARY BEST FRIEND #21:
I'll miss you so much. Promise you'll call when you get there?
Her hands hovered over the keys. The word Sure appeared on the screen, but she already knew the truth: the promise was a lie. Every move meant a new identity, a new start, and the people she left behind never heard from her again.
The door of her room creaked open.
Kangwoo, her older brother, leaned in. "It's time to leave. Got your stuff ready?"
Darin didn't look at him. She just stared at the wall, her voice came out low. "Hyung… can we not move this time?"
He stepped inside and sat on the edge of the bed, his back to her. "Darin… you know what happens if we stay. We can't trust anyone, nearly everybody is connected to organizations who want no good for us"
Tears burned at the corners of her eyes. "Ever since Mom and Dad died, it's been nothing but running. We never get to live. Never get to stay anywhere long enough to belong."
Kangwoo finally turned back, meeting her eyes.
Darin continued, all teared up. "...I just want to live a normal life!"
Kangwoo's eyes glistened as he pulled her into a rough hug. "...I'm sorry, Darin." he whispered. "But this is the Wildlaw. Survival first, and everything else comes after."
…
The motorcycle roared down a deserted road, horizon stretching empty in all directions. Darin clung to Kangwoo's back, her heavy pack digging into her shoulders, her face pressed against his jacket.
Her eyelids drifted shut… until the motorcycle slowed.
Kangwoo got down the motorcycle, then cursed, kicking the side of the motorcycle. "...Damn it!" The tire was shredded. He crouched beside it, rubbing his face in frustration. Darin just watched, not knowing what to say.
Later, the two of them sat on the cracked pavement, sharing stale bread and bottled water from their bag. Kangwoo broke the silence. "Two miles."
Darin glanced up.
"We'll have to walk the last two miles," he said.
She sighed, "Whatever…" then pulled her phone from her pocket to check the time.
…
Why would there be signal here?
…
This road was supposed to be a deadzone.