The morning light filtered softly through Jiwoo's living room, but the atmosphere inside was anything but gentle. A digital map hovered in the air above the table, its crimson web stretching across continents like a spreading infection. Jiwoo stood at the center of it all, her arms crossed, her gaze locked on the glowing nodes that marked the Crimson Circle's reach.
Around her, the team gathered—Haeun balancing her laptop on her knees, Jungwoo leaning against the wall with a tense jaw, Joonhyuk seated quietly but alert, Dr. Min reviewing documents on her tablet, and Elias lurking in the background, a man stitched from old secrets.
Elias stepped forward, tapping a blinking point on the map."Here. Their next operation. Codename: Project Eclipse. It activates in seventy-two hours."
Dr. Min's expression darkened instantly. "If it's launched, we're looking at widespread destabilization. Governments falling. Communications collapsing. Systemic chaos."
Jiwoo's eyes hardened. "Then we cut it off before they get the chance."
No one argued. They all knew the cost of inaction.
Haeun's apartment buzzed with activity that afternoon, screens covering the walls as though she lived inside a digital mind. Rows of code reflected in her glasses as she typed, cheeks puffed in concentration.
"These coordinates…" she murmured, enlarging a decrypted string. "They point to a facility in Busan. Heavily armed, heavily encrypted. Someone's hiding something big there."
Jungwoo leaned over her shoulder. "A command center?"
"Most likely. Project Eclipse's main hub."
"Then we're infiltrating it," he said simply.
Haeun smirked. "I figured you'd say that."
The abandoned dockyard in Busan was swallowed by fog that night, the sea whispering against rusting metal containers. The facility ahead looked more like a fortress than a hidden base—snipers outlined on the rooftops, drones humming like mechanical insects, laser grids sweeping the ground.
Joonhyuk observed silently, marking routes in his head. "We'll need a serious diversion."
Elias rolled his neck, the faintest grin curving his lips. "I have contacts nearby. They owe me a few favors."
Jungwoo arched a brow. "Favors that big?"
"The kind that make explosions sound like fireworks." Elias clicked a small transmitter. "Wait for it."
A chain of booming detonations lit the far edge of the port, flames mixing with the night sky. Alarms screamed. Guards sprinted toward the chaos.
Elias gave a small, almost playful bow. "Path cleared."
Jiwoo breathed out. "Let's move."
Inside the facility, the halls were cold and metallic, humming with hidden power. Jiwoo and Haeun moved swiftly, keeping low, avoiding cameras and security units that patrolled like soulless sentinels.
When they reached the server core, the room pulsed with blue light, rows of machinery glowing like a mechanical cathedral.
Haeun connected her device, fingers flying across the keys."I'm in. I'm downloading every file Eclipse has."
Jiwoo pressed her ear against the door. Footsteps. Voices. Too close.
"Haeun… hurry."
"I'm going as fast as the system lets—"
The alarm detonated.
Lights flashed red. Metal shutters began sealing nearby corridors.
"Grab it!" Jiwoo shouted.
Haeun yanked her drive free, and the two sprinted through the thickening web of lasers and rising shutters.
"Left! Jump!" Jiwoo yelled.
They escaped, barely, their breathing ragged as the alarm wailed behind them like a beast denied its prey.
The rooftop was soaked in dawn light by the time they broke through the final door. Wind roared across the open space, and for a moment Jiwoo tasted the morning air like freedom—right until bullets shredded the wall beside her.
"Extraction incoming," Dr. Min's voice buzzed through the earpiece. "Helicopter arriving in five minutes."
"Five minutes?" Jungwoo shouted. "We won't last thirty seconds!"
Guards poured onto the roof, firing relentlessly. Joonhyuk shoved Jiwoo behind a crate. "Stay down!"
Haeun ducked with a yelp. "Why do these missions always end with bullets flying at us?!"
"Character development," Elias said dryly as he returned fire.
The helicopter finally appeared, blades slicing through the air as the rope ladder swung wildly in the wind.
"Go!" Jiwoo ordered.
Jungwoo covered the rear. Haeun climbed first, then Dr. Min, then Elias. Jiwoo grabbed the ladder—but a bullet grazed her arm, burning a line of pain.
She stumbled.
Joonhyuk caught her wrist in a tight grip. "No. Not today." He pulled her onto the ladder with one strong jerk.
Gunfire echoed below as they lifted off into the gold-tinged sky.
Later that day, the team surrounded Haeun as she projected the retrieved files onto the wall. Documents. Codes. Internal orders.
Then one file expanded larger than the rest, revealing a name.A face.
Haeun swallowed. "Director Han… he's not just connected to the Crimson Circle."
Joonhyuk already sensed what was coming. "Say it."
"He's one of the founding leaders."
Silence cracked through the room.
"Unbelievable," Dr. Min whispered. "He didn't join them… he built them."
Jungwoo slammed his palm on the table. "We've been fighting the mastermind this whole time."
Elias exhaled slowly, almost pitying. "Men like him don't fall easily."
Jiwoo's hands curled into fists. "Then we hit him where it hurts the most."
Jiwoo's phone chimed.
A video file.
She played it.
Director Han appeared on-screen, calm, immaculate, his cold smile a blade.
"You did well," he said softly. "But this victory means nothing. The war is only beginning."His smile deepened."Surrender now… and perhaps I'll spare your lives."
The video cut to black.
Everyone looked at Jiwoo.
She didn't tremble. She didn't flinch.
Her voice was sharp, confident, unshaken.
"We're just getting started."