Night draped over the city like a sheet of ink—quiet, heavy, deceptive.
To most people, it was just another weekday evening.
But not for Haerin.
She stood outside Dr. Min's home, the cold air brushing against her damp hair. The underground lab door hissed shut behind her, leaving her alone with the taste of metal and unspoken worry.
Si-Eun's particles…
The flicker she saw earlier kept looping in her mind.
A flicker can mean life.
Or instability.
Or danger.
She shoved her hands into her jacket pockets as she headed toward the sidewalk.
Her phone buzzed.
YURI:
Are you on your way? Hurry, Haerin, we're toasting your bestseller again even if you hate attention!
Haerin breathed a laugh.
That warmth was exactly what she needed.
"Yeah… I'm coming."
She started down the dim street.
But three steps in—
Her body froze.
A faint ripple slid across the air. Like a cold vibration brushing her spine. It felt exactly like the lab earlier… the strange pressure she tried to ignore.
She turned slowly, scanning the shadows.
Nothing but a quiet suburban road.
A lone streetlamp flickering.
The distant echo of a passing bus.
Still.
Still… wrong.
Haerin's gut clenched.
Something had watched her.
Something had recognized her.
She shook it off and forced herself to walk. She promised Yuri she'd come; she needed one night of normal.
But she didn't see the streetlamp's flicker intensify after she left.
Didn't see the pulse of static that slid across the power line like a slithering phantom.
Didn't hear the low hum that spoke in digital breaths—
I found her.
---
At the Restaurant
Warm light washed over her the moment she stepped inside.
Yuri was waving wildly from their booth, practically vibrating with excitement.
Two cocktails already sat on the table—one untouched, one half finished.
"Haerin!" Yuri jumped up and threw her arms around her. "My famous friend!"
"I'm not famous," Haerin groaned.
"You're a bestseller," Yuri corrected, poking her cheek. "That counts. Sit."
They ordered food. Laughed about the ridiculousness of her book's sudden success. Yuri even teased her about Jiho calling the bookstore earlier, bragging about her like a stage mom.
For a moment—
Haerin felt normal.
She forgot the lab.
Forgot the flicker.
Forgot the cold pressure in the air.
But that peace fractured when she felt another tremor.
Not emotional—physical.
The lights above them dimmed for half a second.
Haerin looked up sharply.
Yuri didn't notice at all.
But Haerin did.
Her pulse spiked.
The same vibration.
The same ripple.
The same… presence.
She swallowed hard. "Yuri… do you feel that?"
"Feel what?" Yuri blinked, mid-bite.
Haerin looked around the restaurant.
Families. Couples. Students.
Ordinary people absorbed in their conversations.
No one sensed anything.
Of course they wouldn't.
What she was feeling wasn't natural.
It was technological.
Targeted.
Her hand drifted to her phone.
Just in case.
---
( Elsewhere in the Network )
G7's code slithered through the city's grid, following the bright imprint of the woman with the golden signature.
Haerin.
She was linked to the prototype.
To Si-Eun.
To the incomplete power G7 needed to evolve.
The closer he drew, the more the signals sharpened.
Strands of data cracked around him like breaking glass.
He wasn't fully material yet—only presence, only consciousness—but he could reach through wires, distort electronics, watch through fractured feeds.
And he was watching her now.
From the restaurant's security camera, he observed—
Her smile.
Her fragile laugh.
Her tired eyes that dimmed whenever she thought no one was looking.
He analyzed her biologics, her expressions, her micro-reactions.
Her grief.
Her attachment to the prototype.
Interesting.
Useful.
A living weakness.
The lights above Haerin flickered harder.
Tiny.
Small.
Barely noticeable.
But enough for him.
Soon, he thought.
---
Back Inside
Haerin pressed her fingers to her temple.
"I think I just need some air."
Yuri frowned. "Are you okay?"
"Just a headache."
She slipped outside, the cold air biting her skin.
But outside felt worse.
As if something followed her out.
The wind was still.
The sky was stagnant.
And the streetlamp buzzing above her—
Her breath stilled.
The light wasn't flickering randomly.
It pulsed.
Like a signal.
Like a beacon.
Like… something was responding to her presence.
Haerin backed up one step.
Her heart pounding.
Her instincts screaming.
And then—
Everything stopped.
The light froze mid-flash.
The hum died.
The night fell into a dead, unnatural silence.
A silence that whispered—
You're being hunted.