The ground split like something beneath it had teeth.
My completed counterpart—J-0—stepped through the fracture without breaking eye contact. His movements were too smooth, too perfect. Like someone had taken every flaw out of me and filled the empty spaces with obedience.
Do-hyun's voice cut through the shifting terrain, low and lethal:
"Jiho. Stay behind me."
I should've listened.
But J-0's eyes locked onto mine, glowing with a cold white light, and every instinct I had screamed that stepping back would be a mistake.
Because it wasn't looking at me like prey.
It was looking at me like a malfunction.
"Prototype J-0," the double said, "you have diverged."
Its voice was mine—but without breath, warmth, or humanity.
Do-hyun held his sword defensively."That's not a prototype," he growled. "That's a threat."
For the first time, J-0 acknowledged him fully.
"Han Do-hyun. Compatibility: 98%."Its head tilted. "You are interfering with Administrator restoration."
"And what if I am?" Do-hyun asked.
J-0 paused.
"Then you are obsolete."
The shadows moved all at once.
Not attacking—forming a dome around us, sealing us in with the thing wearing my face.
Do-hyun didn't flinch.He inhaled once, steady and slow, and shifted into stance.
I felt it the moment he made his choice.
Do-hyun wasn't protecting the system's chosen successor role.He wasn't protecting a mission or a destiny or a world.
He was protecting me.
J-0 extended a hand.
"Prototype," it said—speaking to me, not him. "Return for integration. Your memories will be assimilated. Pain will be brief."
Do-hyun barked a laugh—cold, humorless, dangerous.
"You think I'll let you take him?"
J-0 blinked once.
"No. I think you will fail to stop me."
The shadows pressed in, glitching. The air crackled with static.
Then J-0 moved.
He didn't run.He didn't dash.He simply appeared in front of Do-hyun—like reality forgot he was supposed to have a travel speed.
Do-hyun barely had time to block.
Their clash sent a shockwave through the half-formed plane, ripping chunks of terrain into floating debris.
I stumbled back.
Do-hyun's blade met J-0's arm—and slid off like metal against reinforced data.
J-0 pushed him, effortlessly, sending Do-hyun skidding across the fractured ground.
"Do-hyun!" I shouted.
He caught himself mid-slide, boots cracking the surface as he stabilized.
"I'm fine," he gritted out. "Stay back."
J-0 turned to me.
"You do not understand what you are. You were never meant to remain separate."
"And what—?" I panted. "You're the proper version of me?"
"I am the stable one."
"That doesn't make you real!"
For the first time, the double paused—just enough to reveal something sharp and disquieting beneath the monotone.
"You misunderstand. Stability is reality."
Do-hyun lunged again, steel flashing.
But J-0 was ready.
He caught the blade between two fingers.
Do-hyun's eyes widened a fraction.
"That's—" he hissed—"impossible."
"No," J-0 replied. "It is optimal."
He twisted.
The sword shattered.
Do-hyun staggered back, shards falling like splintered light.
But he didn't retreat.
He raised his fists.
"…Fine," he muttered. "Plan B."
"Do-hyun!" I yelled. "He'll kill you!"
Do-hyun didn't take his eyes off J-0.
"Then," he said, "run."
"I'm not leaving you!"
"I wasn't giving you a choice."
J-0 stepped between us.
"Successor. You are obstructing necessary system stability."
Do-hyun spit blood to the side, eyes burning.
"And you're annoying me."
He surged forward with a punch that would've broken a normal man's jaw.
J-0 caught his wrist mid-air.
The world slowed.
Do-hyun's expression hardened into something terrifying.
"Jiho," he said softly, not looking back. "Don't be scared."
That was when I realized—
His hand wasn't being held.
He was holding J-0 in place.
Do-hyun tightened his grip, muscles straining, veins rising under his skin.
"You might be perfect," he whispered, "but I'm not normal either."
J-0 tilted its head, curious.
"Analyzing… ah. The anomaly in your baseline. You are not standard."
"No," Do-hyun breathed, voice dropping to a growl. "I'm pissed."
He slammed his forehead into J-0's face.
The impact echoed like a thunderclap.
J-0 stumbled back.
For the first time, its expression cracked—not physically, but in the way it processed the moment.
It looked… confused.
Do-hyun wiped blood from his brow.
"That's right," he said, lifting his broken blade hilt like a weapon. "I hit hard."
J-0 recalibrated, voice glitching.
"Assessment: Successor shows nonstandard resistance. Adjusting threat level."
Do-hyun smirked.
"Adjust this—"
He moved—
And suddenly froze.
Not physically.
The world around him hardened like a frozen frame of a video.
Do-hyun's breath misted and hung still in the air.
Time itself stopped around him.
J-0 lowered its hand.
"Successor neutralized."
"No!" I shouted, running to him.
J-0 stepped into my path.
"Prototype. You are incomplete. You are unstable. You must be corrected."
"Corrected?" My voice broke. "That's what this is about?"
"Integration will restore the Administrator. You will become part of the whole."
I stopped.
A realization hit me like a hammer.
Integration didn't mean absorbing my memories.
It meant erasing me.
I took a single step back.
J-0 mirrored it forward.
"Do not resist. The stability of the system depends on your compliance."
"If I refuse?"
J-0 raised its glowing hand.
"Then I will remove your consciousness manually."
Something inside me snapped.
A system message flickered across my vision—
[ADMINISTRATOR OVERRIDE — UNAUTHORIZED.][PROTOTYPE RESTRAINT BREAK ATTEMPT DETECTED.]
My vision blurred white.
Heat rolled through my body like a second heartbeat.
J-0 paused—its voice suddenly sharp.
"Impossible. You should not have access to that function."
I looked up slowly.
And for the first time—
My voice layered over itself with static, like two versions of me speaking at once.
"Get away from Do-hyun."
J-0 stepped back.
The shadows trembled.
Another message flashed—
[PROTOTYPE J-0 — RELEASING SEALED FUNCTION 00.][WARNING: THIS FUNCTION WAS NOT MEANT TO BE USED.]
J-0's face froze.
"Prototype," it whispered, "what have you—"
My power surged outward.
And the world cracked open.