The wind howled through the shattered living room window, carrying the scent of dry earth and ozone.
Yoo-jin didn't flinch at the cold air. He stared at the black USB drive in his hand. It felt heavy, like it contained lead. Or uranium.
"Director Park," Yoo-jin said calmly. "Find a piece of cardboard. Tape up the window."
"Cardboard?" Park squeaked, pulling glass shards out of his hair. "Yoo-jin, a drone just attacked us! We need the police! We need the Navy SEALs!"
"No police," Olivia Ray said, kicking a piece of the drone wreckage across the floor. "This is LA. If you call the cops to the Hills, the paparazzi get here five minutes before the sirens. Do you want Eden's face on TMZ tonight?"
"She's right," Yoo-jin said. "We handle this internally."
He walked to the coffee table, sat down, and opened his laptop.
His hands were steady, but his interface was vibrating.
[Proximity Alert: Key Item Detected]
[System Resonance: Rising]
He plugged the drive in.
The screen went black.
"Did it fry the computer?" Min-ji asked, leaning over the back of the sofa.
"No," Yoo-jin murmured. "It's shaking hands."
A terminal window popped up. Green text scrolled faster than a human eye could read.
It wasn't a virus. It was an update patch.
[Installing: Local Protocol (US-West)]
[Decrypting Source: Titan_Legacy_v1.0]
"Titan," Sae-ri whispered, reading the screen. "Yoo-jin, pull it out. It's a trojan horse. They're trying to hack our location."
"They already know our location," Yoo-jin said, his eyes glued to the code. "The drone proved that. This isn't a hack. It's a map."
The scrolling stopped. A video file opened.
The resolution was grainy. The camera was pointed at a desk covered in vintage synthesizers and empty whiskey bottles.
A man sat in the chair. He wore a velvet suit and sunglasses indoors. He looked like a rock star who had survived three overdoses and a lawsuit.
"Hello, Version 2," the man said. His voice was gravel and honey.
Yoo-jin narrowed his eyes. "Who is he?"
"That's David Kim," Olivia gasped. "The Godfather. He founded Titan US twenty years ago. Then he disappeared."
"I didn't disappear," David Kim said on the screen, as if answering her. "I just changed servers."
He leaned into the camera.
"You're confused. You're overheating. Your Korean System doesn't work here because the rules are different. In Korea, the System is about 'Management'. It's a farm."
He grinned, revealing a gold tooth.
"Here? The System is 'Combat'. It's a coliseum. You want the encryption key for your father's drive? You want to know why you were made?"
David held up a keycard.
"Come to 'The Server'. Midnight. Bring the prototypes. Let's see if they can survive a real stage."
The screen went black. A set of GPS coordinates flashed once, then deleted themselves.
[Mission Objective Updated]
[Target: The Server (Underground Venue)]
[Reward: The Truth]
[Failure Consequence: Critical Hardware Failure]
Yoo-jin slammed the laptop shut.
"We're going," he said.
"Are you crazy?" Director Park shouted. "It's a trap! He literally called it a coliseum!"
"It's not a trap," Eden spoke up.
Everyone turned to the boy. He was standing by the broken window, catching a shard of glass in the moonlight.
"The code in that drive," Eden said softly. "It felt like... a brother. It wasn't trying to delete me. It was trying to connect."
"See?" Yoo-jin stood up, ignoring the stabbing pain behind his eyes. "Even the AI wants to go to the party."
He looked at Sol and Luna.
"Get dressed," he ordered. "Not airport fashion. Stage fashion. We aren't going there to talk. We're going there to perform."
11:45 PM. Downtown Los Angeles.
The warehouse district was a graveyard of brick and rust. Shadows stretched long under the flickering streetlights.
The black SUV rolled to a stop in an alleyway filled with steam and graffiti.
"This is the place?" Hana asked, looking out the window. "It looks like a place where people get stabbed."
"It's the Arts District," Olivia checked her lipstick in the mirror. "Getting stabbed is part of the aesthetic."
Yoo-jin stepped out. The air here was heavy with bass. He could feel it vibrating through the soles of his shoes.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
It wasn't just music. It was a frequency.
[Field Effect Detected]
[Zone: PVP Enabled]
Yoo-jin blinked. The interface changed color. The calming blue borders turned into a sharp, aggressive orange.
"Stay close," he told the team.
They walked toward a heavy steel door. There was no sign. Just a massive bouncer who looked more like a tank than a human.
The bouncer crossed his arms. "List?"
Yoo-jin didn't speak. He held up his phone. He displayed the digital key from the USB drive.
The bouncer's eyes scanned the screen. He stepped back instantly, opening the door.
"Floor B2," he grunted. "Good luck."
They descended a concrete staircase. The bass got louder. The air got hotter.
They emerged onto a balcony overlooking a massive underground cavern.
It was insane.
Thousands of people were dancing below. But they weren't just dancing. They were syncing.
The crowd moved as a single organism. Lasers cut through the smoke. In the center of the room, there was a stage. But it wasn't a normal stage.
It was a cage.
Inside the cage, a DJ was battling a rapper. Holographic damage numbers floated above their heads.
[Crowd Hype: 88%]
[Dominance: DJ Venom]
"Real-time stats," Yoo-jin whispered. "The audience can see them."
"It's an AR overlay," Sae-ri realized, adjusting her glasses. "Everyone here is wearing smart lenses or using their phones. It's a gamified concert."
"This is David Kim's playground," Olivia said, grinning. "Gladiator fights for artists."
"Welcome to the thunderdome!" a voice boomed over the PA system.
Spotlights swung up, blinding them.
The music cut out. The crowd looked up at the balcony.
David Kim was standing on a floating platform on the other side of the warehouse. He held a microphone like a scepter.
"Fresh meat from the East!" David shouted. "Give it up for the runaways! Starforce!"
The crowd roared. It wasn't a friendly roar. It was hungry.
[Public Pressure: Intense]
[Status: Intimidation Check]
Yoo-jin felt the weight of thousand stares. It was a psychic attack.
"He's trying to rattle us," Yoo-jin said through gritted teeth. "Don't flinch."
David Kim's platform floated closer.
"Mr. Han," David smiled. "You want the key? You have to earn it. In Korea, you manipulate charts. Here, you manipulate the room."
He pointed to the stage below.
"One round. Your best shooter against my champion. If you win, you get the data. If you lose, Titan absorbs your contracts. Tonight."
"We didn't agree to those terms!" Director Park shouted.
"We accept," Yoo-jin said loudly.
"Yoo-jin!" Sae-ri grabbed his arm. "We haven't rehearsed! We don't even know who the champion is!"
"It doesn't matter," Yoo-jin said. He looked at the stage. He analyzed the acoustics, the crowd energy, the lighting rig.
He turned to his team.
"Mina, you're out. Too fragile."
"Hana, you're out. Not enough range."
"Olivia, they know your style. You're predictable."
He looked at the boy in the hoodie.
"Eden."
Eden looked up. His eyes were reflecting the laser lights.
"This environment is chaotic," Eden said. "I calculate a 40% chance of acoustic failure."
"Forget calculations," Yoo-jin said. "This is a fight. And in a fight, you don't need to be perfect. You need to be lethal."
He put a hand on Eden's shoulder.
"Take off the limiter."
Eden froze. "Protocol Zero? That is forbidden by the Ministry."
"The Ministry isn't watching," Yoo-jin said, pointing at the crowd. "They are."
"Who is the opponent?" Eden asked.
As if on cue, the stage floor opened.
Rising from the smoke was a figure.
It was a woman. She wore chrome armor and a visor that covered her eyes. She held an electric violin that looked like a weapon.
[Target Analysis]
[Name: Siren]
[Class: S-Rank Vocalist / Instrumentalist]
[Affiliation: Titan US]
The crowd screamed her name. "SIREN! SIREN!"
She drew her bow across the strings. A screeching, distorted note shattered the air. It was physically painful.
[Attack Detected: Sonic Lance]
[Mental Damage: High]
Yoo-jin winced, clutching his head. The headache flared up, blinding him for a second.
"She uses sound as a concussive force," Yoo-jin realized. "She's not a singer. She's a noise marine."
David Kim laughed from his platform.
"Eden!" Yoo-jin shouted. "Get down there. Don't sing a ballad. Don't sing pop."
"What genre shall I execute?" Eden asked, stepping onto the lift.
Yoo-jin looked at the violence in the room. He looked at the bloodthirsty crowd.
"Industrial Metal," Yoo-jin said.
Eden nodded. "Understood."
The lift lowered him into the cage.
Yoo-jin leaned over the railing. His vision was swimming with red warning boxes. His hardware was screaming at him to shut down.
But he forced his eyes open.
"Show them the monster," Yoo-jin whispered.