---
---
Hallways of Lies
The moment someone stepped behind her and asked,
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Jaeahn didn't even flinch.
Her voice was cold, sharp, and confident.
"I'm doing exactly what I need to do.
But you—why are you still here? Your shift is over. Go."
The man froze.
"...S-sorry, ma'am."
Do Hwan whispered behind her,
"W-Woah… you weren't scared?"
Jaeahn didn't even look back.
"Scared? I don't even know how to be."
---
They split up.
Jaeahn insisted,
"I'll go to the 9th floor. You two handle the underground lab."
Jihu wanted Do Hwan to accompany her,
but she refused sharply.
"You two go together. I'll manage alone."
---
Inside the Hospital — Midnight
Eunwoo's voice came through the Bluetooth.
"Big sis… don't take the elevator. Too risky. Use the stairs."
"Ughhh… fine," she sighed,
already imagining her legs dying.
By the time she reached the 7th floor,
two bodyguards passed her on the stairs.
They didn't even question her.
Thank God.
When she finally reached the 9th floor,
a shiver crawled through her spine.
The entire floor was empty.
Too empty.
"Where is everybody?" she whispered.
Eunwoo checked the map.
"It shouldn't be empty… something's wrong."
Jaeahn searched every room—
all labs, cold, spotless, abandoned.
"I'm missing something."
Eunwoo said,
"There must be a secret door. Check the end of the corridor."
The last room was completely empty.
No chemicals.
No equipment.
Too clean.
"Why is this room… blank?"
She pressed her hand against the wall—
click.
A hidden door hissed open.
Behind it lay a long corridor.
Longer than the one she just passed.
For a second she thought she was trapped in a loop.
But she stepped in.
More doors.
Locked.
Finally, one door opened by itself.
The same room she saw moments ago—
but twisted, rearranged.
"A puzzle room…? Tsk. I like puzzles."
She kept going until she reached a metal door requiring a passcode.
"Eunwoo, can you hack it?"
"No… the encryption is too strong."
Then she remembered the diary.
Hyejin's three passcodes.
She typed: C8G7D4EV
Beep beep — Correct.
The door unlocked.
Inside was the real lab.
Rows of files.
Charts.
Machines.
And a single note:
"Let me go."
"Goal: Expose them."
Her heart raced.
She photographed everything—
the note, the documents, the bios.
She grabbed one file and the laptop.
---
Meanwhile — Underground Lab
Jihu and Do Hwan were inside a cold, silent room.
Do Hwan whispered,
"This place… it feels unreal."
"Focus," Jihu snapped.
"Find anything useful."
They collected what they could—
pages about bone marrow extraction
and cloning attempts.
---
Outside the Hospital
Jaeahn waited at the main gate.
Eunwoo checked the tracker.
"They're coming."
Jihu and Do Hwan ran out with documents.
"We did it—no mess."
They sped home before dawn.
---
At Home — The Truth on the Table
Jaeahn slammed the file on the desk.
"You need to see the 9th floor. It's full of puzzles. I want to go again."
"NO," Eunwoo shouted immediately.
"Let it go," Jihu said.
"We need to focus."
Do Hwan laid out the documents.
"This experiment…
they extracted human bone marrow—
trying to create a clone from newborn DNA."
"We already knew that," Jihu muttered.
"But not how. Look."
He pointed at the diagrams.
And Jaeahn slowly opened the file she brought.
Suddenly the whole room fell silent.
It was their names.
Jaeahn
Jongsuk
Jihu
Do Hwan
Listed under 'Next Project.'
Golden-blood.
Rare RH null.
Unidentified substances in their bloodstream.
All marked as subjects.
Jongsuk's voice trembled,
"W-Why… why us?"
Jaeahn's eyes hardened.
"That's what we're going to find out."
They looked at each other with suspicion—
fear—
and the beginning of an unspoken truth.
---