Every head turned slowly toward Kelly. She was the only one left who hadn’t shown anything. The air in the lab was heavy with expectation. Sparks still danced faintly around Dickson’s hand. Ann’s shadows writhed lazily near her feet like loyal pets. A subtle breeze stirred around Seo Yeon, brushing her hair despite the sealed underground room.
Kelly blinked, realizing everyone was staring at her. She lifted her hands awkwardly and gave a little shrug. "I don’t... feel anything. Nothing’s happening. It’s like—I don’t know—I know I have sothing, but it’s out of reach. Like it’s behind a locked door I can’t open."
Her voice carried hints of frustration, not fear.
Liam tilted his head, confused at first. Then it clicked. He rembered the way the machine reacted, how everyone else’s powers connected to natural forces in one way or another. His brow furrowed. "Maybe it’s earth," he said quietly.
Kelly looked at him, half doubtful. "Earth? You an like... rocks and stuff?"
"Exactly," Liam replied. "But this place is solid tal. If that’s your elent, it won’t respond easily down here."
Kelly bit her lip, thinking about it. "So what you’re saying is—I’m handicapped in the one creepy-ass basent we decided to explore?"
Dickson snorted. "Figures." He stretched his arms, sparks still dancing at his fingertips. "Man, if it was , I’d break the floor open to prove it."
"Yeah, because you’d fry yourself trying," Seo Yeon muttered.
Before Kelly could reply, Ann clapped her hands together. "Then let’s go up. Try it where there’s actual ground."
"Yeah," Seo Yeon agreed quickly, clearly eager to leave.
Kelly opened her mouth to protest, but she didn’t get the chance. The girls stepped behind her, pushing her toward the stairway like impatient siblings shoving soone to the front of the line.
"Wait, wait—don’t push !" Kelly laughed nervously, stumbling forward.
Even Dickson followed along, scratching the back of his neck. "Hell yeah, let’s get out of here. This place feels like it’s watching us. Creepy as hell. We got what we ca for anyway, why stay an extra second?"
Their voices faded as they climbed the tal stairs, their footsteps echoing against the steel walls. In less than a minute, the massive underground chamber was quiet again.
Only Liam, Ann, and Vanessa remained.
Liam glanced at the two of them, his expression calm but firm. "You should go too," he said.
Ann frowned. "Why? You’re not coming?"
"I’ll stay behind and clean up," Liam replied, already scanning the wrecked room with his eyes. Shattered glass, overturned trays, and dical scraps littered the floor from the earlier explosion. "The blast scattered everything. I can’t leave everything like this."
Vanessa hesitated, her blue eyes lingering on him for a mont longer than necessary. Then she gave a small nod. Ann nodded too.
"Don’t take too long," Ann said quietly.
They turned and headed toward the stairs, their footsteps fading until Liam was alone.
For the first ti since they entered, silence filled the lab. The humming of the machine was gone, leaving only the distant creaks of tal walls and the faint drip of condensation sowhere unseen.
Liam got to work. He crouched, gathering scattered shards and tossing them into a bin. He set the cracked dical tools back onto a shelf, stacking them carefully even though they were ruined. He worked thodically, piece by piece, as though organizing the chaos could also calm the storm in his head.
It took him nearly ten minutes to roughly arrange everything. Finally, he picked up the dusty tarp from the floor. It was heavy, frayed at the edges, and slled faintly of smoke. He dragged it across the room and pulled it over the massive device, spreading it carefully until the strange shimr of its fra was hidden again.
He stood still for a mont, staring at the covered shape. His chest tightened.
How did Father build this?
The thought ca unbidden. He couldn’t shake it. This thing wasn’t just ahead of its ti—it was centuries ahead. The design, the technology, the strange fusion of science and... sothing else. Did his father discover it? Find a blueprint buried sowhere ancient? Or did he create it from scratch with a team?
Who even was his team?
The questions weighed on him. The longer he stared at the tarp, the heavier they beca.
Liam finally turned away, running a hand through his hair. But the mont he moved, he froze.
Soone was standing beside him.
He hadn’t heard a single step. No creak, no sound of approach. Just suddenly—there.
Liam’s eyes narrowed as his body tensed. It wasn’t Dickson. It wasn’t Ann. It wasn’t Vanessa or the others.
It was the old man.
The sa one who lived near Liam’s house. The one he’d seen only occasionally.
The one he knew nothing about.
The old man’s voice cracked through the silence.
"It’s been a long ti."
Liam’s brow tightened. He didn’t return the greeting. Instead, his voice was low, edged.
"How the hell did you get in here?"
No answer. The man just walked closer, his shoes scraping the tal floor, echoing too much in the ruined lab. His hands were clasped behind his back like he wasn’t stepping into dangerous ground. Like this was his place, not Liam’s.
"We have a lot to talk about," the man said. Calm. Too calm.
Liam shifted his foot slightly, ready to move if he had to. Sothing about the way this guy carried himself, it wasn’t right. And then—
"System, lock the host. Full override."
Liam froze. His chest burned, then his stomach dropped. The order hadn’t been spoken to him. It had been spoken through him. To the system.
For half a second, Liam almost laughed. His lips curled faintly. Who the fuck does this guy think he is? He thinks he can order my system around? He doesn’t even know what he’s ssing with.
And then the sound hit.
Ding!
[SYSTEM OVERRIDE]
The air in his lungs turned cold. His vision flickered—blue light gone, everything bleeding red. A sharp glow filled his sight, harsh and hostile.
[WARNING: NEUTRAL SYSTEM OVERRIDE — SHUTDOWN INITIATED]
Liam’s jaw clenched, but not because he wanted to. Because it locked itself in place. His smirk died. He tried to lift his hand, just a finger. Nothing. Tried to step back. Nothing. Even his tongue was dead weight in his mouth.
His own system wasn’t his anymore.
The old man had him like a puppet with cut strings.
The stranger stepped closer, slow and unhurried, his shadow falling across Liam. "Relax," he said, voice smooth. "I an you no harm."
Liam scread inside his head. Bullshit. He would’ve snarled the word if he could. He would’ve ripped the chains apart if his body listened. But he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even twitch.
He thought about upstairs. Ann. Vanessa. Kelly. Seo Yeon. Even Dickson.
If any of them ca down now—if they walked into this—he wouldn’t be able to protect them. Not one of them. The thought cut worse than the lock itself.
His system... his own system had folded to this man like a dog. Who the hell was he?
The old man’s eyes stayed fixed on Liam. Not kind. Not cruel. Just steady, like he’d been waiting years for this mont.
"I am an associate of your father."
The words slamd into Liam harder than the override. His father.
His mind raced. His chest heaved even though he couldn’t control it. For a second, everything else fell away. Override, danger, locked body—none of it mattered as much as that word.
Father.
Slowly, Liam forced himself to study the man’s face. Wrinkles cut deep into the skin. The eyes, sharp as knives. He breathed evenly, no shake, no hesitation. Like he’d practiced this mont. Like he’d known one day Liam would stand here in front of him, helpless.
Liam stopped struggling for control of his limbs. He shifted focus, glaring, forcing the question out with his eyes alone.
Who are you really?
The words never left his lips, but they rang in the silence all the sa.
The old man just stared back.
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