Mina didn't say "thank you."
She didn't do anything cinematic. She didn't soften. She didn't even look relieved. She just grabbed what she'd dropped in the alley, shoved it into her bag, and said, "Move."
Kang followed her out, his cheekbone throbbing. Cold air stung the cut inside his mouth every time he breathed. Neon reflected on wet asphalt. Cars hissed by, spraying thin fans of water. People walked past without looking twice Seoul had a thousand emergencies every night, and strangers learned to mind their own.
The text flared across his vision the moment he stepped into the open.
[NOTICE: RECENT THEFT TRACE ACTIVE][RISK: EXPOSURE]
Kang forced his gaze forward. He didn't want to look like a man staring at ghosts.
"What are you staring at?" Mina asked without slowing down.
"Nothing," Kang said, because the truth sounded insane.
Mina cut him a quick look. Not grateful. Measuring. Like she was deciding whether he was safer in front of her or behind her.
"Those guys," Kang said after a beat. "You said they know you."
"They think they do," Mina replied. Her tone made it clear she didn't plan to explain herself to anyone especially not a stranger who had appeared out of nowhere and bent reality. "And they don't hunt alone."
Kang's stomach tightened. So it wasn't just him.
They turned into a side street where the light thinned, then into a narrow gap between buildings. Mina moved like she owned the darkness. Kang moved like someone still learning how to walk in his own skin.
A service door appeared on the right. Mina shoved it open with her shoulder and pulled him inside.
The stairwell smelled like dust, old cooking oil, and instant ramen. Torn notices clung to the walls: lost cats, tutoring offers, warnings about theft. A single bulb buzzed overhead, the light weak and yellow.
"They won't find us here," Mina said.
"Who?" Kang asked.
Mina finally looked him in the eyes. "Whoever those idiots work for."
Footsteps scraped on the stairs below them fast, confident. More than one set.
Mina's voice dropped. "They followed me. They always do."
Kang's mouth went dry. "So they're looking for you."
"They're looking for whoever is with me," Mina corrected. "Tonight that's you."
The text pulsed again, overlaying the steps as if the system itself was tracking the danger.
[TARGET: "NEVER LOSES A TRAIL" - VALUE: MEDIUM][OPTION: STEAL][COST: FATIGUE + INCREASED TRACE]
Kang understood what it meant in a practical way: steal that fragment and the chase would break for a moment. Not invisibility confusion. The world would stop confirming his location, like a map that suddenly refused to load.
But the warning sat above it like a debt.
TRACE ACTIVE. EXPOSURE.
He thought of the umbrella man at the end of the alley. Thought of the way he'd stood there—too calm, too certain.
Mina watched him. "Are you armed?"
Kang shook his head.
"Perfect," she said, dead serious. "Then do what you did before."
The faint thirst from the alley lingered in Kang's body, an itch under the skin. It made him angry, because it felt like wanting. Like the power was a mouth and he was supposed to keep feeding it.
The footsteps reached the landing.
Mina's hand closed around his sleeve quick, instinctive. "If they see us, it's over."
Inside him, Kael Ren's old instinct rose like a grin: Do it. Take. Survive.
Kang hated how natural it felt.
"Steal," he whispered.
Click.
The footsteps slowed. Then stopped, right outside the stairwell door.
A man's voice, irritated: "She was here. I saw her go in."
Another voice: "Then where the hell"
Silence.
Kang's vision wavered. Cold sweat broke along his spine. It felt like someone had reached into his muscles and squeezed. His legs wanted to fold. His arms went heavy, as if the system had swapped out his blood for sand.
Mina stared at him. "What did you do?"
Kang swallowed. "I… broke the trail. For a minute."
From the landing came the sound of rummaging. A curse. Then another, angrier curse, like someone kicking a wall.
"I don't get it," the first voice muttered. "It's like she's not here."
The text confirmed it, clinical as a receipt.
[THEFT SUCCESSFUL][REWARD: "LOST TRACE" (TEMP.)][COST: STAMINA -20% (TEMP.)][TRACE: INCREASED]
Kang bent forward, one hand braced on his knee. The weakness was real heavy arms, trembling legs, stomach rolling. The power wasn't free. It was a loan with interest.
Mina steadied him by the shoulder. The touch was small, almost reluctant, but it kept him upright.
"Don't pass out," she hissed. "Not here."
Kang forced a breath in. "I'm fine."
He wasn't. The thirst inside him scraped at the back of his throat, sharper now that he'd used the power twice. It wasn't just a craving it was a reminder that the system expected him to keep going, keep stealing, keep paying.
The footsteps outside shifted, confused. One of the men laughed nervously, as if that could solve what he didn't understand.
Then a different sound rose from below: a door opening quietly, as if it had never been latched.
Slow footsteps.
A deep, controlled voice neither thug nor cop.
"Interesting," it said. "So the thief really is awake."
Kang lifted his head.
A man stood in the stairwell doorway, wearing an elegant coat like he had stepped out of a different world. No umbrella this time. His hair was neat. His shoes were clean. The air around him felt colder, not in temperature, but in attention as if he carried quiet authority.
He raised a hand.
Something black dropped from his fingers and clicked against the concrete.
A button.
It rolled to Kang's feet.
Kang's blood turned to ice. He looked down then at his jacket.
A button was missing.
He remembered a brief tug in the alley when he'd stumbled, the brush of fabric behind him. At the time, he'd thought it was Mina pulling him clear. It hadn't been.
Mina's voice was barely a breath. "It's him."
The text flickered, sharp and urgent, like it didn't want Kang to pretend this was normal.
[ALERT: OBSERVER][NAME: UNKNOWN][VALUE: HIGH]
The man smiled faintly, almost politely.
"Kang Do-yoon," he said, pronouncing the full name as if he were reading it from a file. "I'll give you a place to sleep tonight."
Kang didn't move. The weakness in his legs wasn't only from the cost anymore.
"And I'll give you a name," the man continued, "that will keep you alive tomorrow."
Mina's grip tightened on Kang's shoulder. Kang could feel the question in her tension: Who is he? Why does he know you?
The Observer took a slow step closer, as if distance was something he allowed.
"But in return," he added, "I want your first real theft."
Kang's throat tightened. "Real?"
The man's eyes stayed calm. "What you did in that alley was a reflex. A bite. A stumble toward power."
He tilted his head slightly. "A real theft changes a life. It changes a city."
The thirst returned filthy, sharp, like a blade in Kang's throat. He tasted blood and neon and the sick satisfaction of that click.
And Kang understood: the power wasn't the problem.
The problem was that the world had already started to collect what it was owed.