AVA
We're just steps away from the "Source," a glass pavilion that reflects the moonlight like a rough diamond.
But we're not alone.
Seo-Yun, Susy, and the twins are waiting for us in the shadows.
They're no longer wearing their morning jackets; their sleeves are rolled up, their faces are smeared with dirt, and their knuckles are white with tension.
"The play's over," Seo-Yun begins.
In her hand, she holds a metal bar from the construction site.
"Grandpa has spoken. Whoever brings the data from that vault will receive the full share of the inheritance. You're trapped."
Susy laughs, a sound that no longer has anything human about it.
"You've been excellent playthings, cousins. But now a sacrifice is needed."
I look at Min-Jun.
Our eyes meet: there's no longer any resentment.
There's only a lethal synchronicity.
"Roori, stay behind me," he orders, his voice impertinent.
"Don't count on me to defend," I whisper, pulling off my jacket and throwing it to the ground. "I don't defend. I attack."
Susy is the first to move, lunging at me with a switchblade. I step aside, letting her momentum carry her against a glass pillar.
I give her no respite. I strike her in the side with my open palm, a sharp blow that takes her breath away.
She collapses, pale and confused.
Meanwhile, Min-Jun is tending to the twins.
It's a dance of controlled violence: he dodges Seo-Yun's crowbar, grabs the twin's wrist, and uses it as a shield against the other. It's ruthless, effective, exactly how Grandpa intended.
But he's doing it for us.
"Stop it!" Seo-Yun shouts, retreating. "You don't know what you're doing! If we lose, Grandpa will make us disappear like he did with Uncle Tae-Hyun!"
I stop, inches away from him.
"Grandpa isn't a god, Seo-Yun. He's just a paranoid old man hiding behind screens."
Seo-Yun's eyes widen.
"You... you know?"
"We know everything," Roori interrupts, advancing toward him.
She's no longer trembling.
"We know the accident wasn't an accident. And we know you're just his puppets."
Roori pulls out the tablet we've connected to the vault system.
"If I press this button, I'll send evidence of our father's murder to every TV station in Seoul and Los Angeles. The name Kim will become synonymous with prison."
The garden falls deadly silent.
The twins' screams die away.
Seo-Yun looks at his tablet, then at us, and finally at the cameras hidden in the trees, knowing he's being filmed.
"You can't do this," he whispers, his voice cracking. "He'll kill us."
"He's already killing us," I say, advancing toward him. "This is your last chance. Help us get into the throne room or go down with him."
Min-Jun approaches Seo-Yun and places a hand on his shoulder.
It's a threat disguised as an offer.
"Midnight is striking. Choose."
The tolling of a distant bell tower cuts the air.
Midnight.
The lights of the villa, which until a moment before had been dim, come on all at once, blinding, transforming the villa into a beacon in the night.
A voice, amplified and distorted by decades of power and isolation, resounds in the garden: "Well done. Tae-Hyun's blood has returned. Come visit me. The throne is ready for those who dare to sit."
Seo-Yun lowers the bar. His hands are shaking.
"Let's go," he says, his voice a whisper. "I know a passage to the main hall. But don't call him Grandpa anymore. That man is the devil."