The world split like paper tearing.
White light erupted around me, not bright but loud, humming like a choir of broken speakers. The fractured plane beneath us rippled outward, freezing the floating debris midair.
J-0 staggered back.
Actually staggered.
"Function 00…" it whispered. "Impossible. That function was removed from your design."
I breathed in—
And the breath came out like static.
For a moment, the world had two sets of edges.Two looking points.Two versions of me speaking at once.
A voice layered over mine:
[SEAL BROKEN.]
[PROTOTYPE J-0 ACCESSING ROOT FUNCTION.]
Do-hyun was still frozen in the timestopped field, suspended mid-motion like a statue. His expression—fierce, protective—was trapped in the moment he'd refused to let J-0 take me.
My heart tightened painfully.
"Release him," I said.
The words vibrated.
J-0 raised its hand. "Prototype, stop. You do not understand what—"
The ground shattered under my step.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
Reality broke like glass tiles beneath my foot, light spilling through the cracks.
J-0's glowing eyes widened.
"You are not stabilized. That function will burn your consciousness."
"Good," I said. "Then I'll take you with me."
My vision flickered.
The world divided.
Two frames of reality showed at once:
J-0 standing in front of me.
J-0 standing behind me.
I chose one without thinking.
I appeared behind the double.
J-0 spun, computation lagging.
"That's not teleportation," it said softly. "You're overriding renders."
"What do you think Function 00 is?"My voice distorted. "It's the kill-switch."
J-0 froze—not in fear, but in recognition.
"Function 00 was designed to erase defective prototypes."
"Exactly."
"Prototype J-0," it said quickly, almost sharply, "you cannot use it. That function erases you, not me."
I raised my hand.
Power gathered—stuttering, unstable, burning the edges of my vision.
"Then let's find out what 'erased' looks like."
J-0 lunged, faster than a thought.
But the world lagged around me again—my consciousness steps aheadwhile reality struggled to catch up.
I moved first.
My hand touched its chest.
The system screamed.
[FUNCTION 00 — ACTIVATED.][WARNING: PROTOTYPE DEGRADATION AT 34%… 46%… 58%…][ADVISORY: CEASE IMMEDIATELY.]
No.
The power roared, tearing at both of us.J-0 convulsed, flickering like a corrupted file.
"STOP!" it rasped, voice glitching. "YOU'LL—"
"I don't care."
The light intensified—until J-0's face flickered between its default model and mine.Then another model.And another.
Hundreds of faces.
All versions of me.
All versions the system tried to create.
All the ones it deleted.
My breath hitched—
Because I was looking at the ghosts of myself.
J-0's voice broke.
"Prototype… you were never meant… to survive alone… They removed your stabilizer… you cannot—"
My hand trembled.
Pain shot through me like electricity.
The system kept screaming warnings.
[CONSCIOUSNESS BREAKDOWN IMMINENT.][FUNCTION 00 CANNOT BE USED BY AN UNSTABILIZED PROTOTYPE.][YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE.]
J-0 grabbed my arm.
Not to attack.
To pull my hand off.
"Stop," it said—not mechanical now, not cold, but almost pleading. "You will erase yourself. That is not my objective."
"Your objective," I hissed, "is to replace me."
"No," J-0 said—and the word cracked. "My objective is to preserve the Administrator. That means you."
"Liar."
But J-0's eyes flickered, dimming.
"If I destroy you," it whispered, "the Administrator remains broken. If you destroy me, the system collapses. Either way, we fail."
My breath faltered.
"What… are you saying?"
J-0's grip loosened.
"I was never meant to replace you. I was meant to repair you."
That sentence hit me harder than any blow.
"What…?"
J-0's form flickered, dissolving around the edges.
"Function 00 is not a kill-switch. It is a merge-point. We were meant to be one."
The power between us surged violently—Raw.Uncontained.Equalizing.
J-0's final words came like a fading echo:
"Let me in… or we both disappear."
My vision blurred.
My consciousness trembled.
The system screamed one last warning:
[MERGE DECISION REQUIRED.][CHOOSE: REJECT / ACCEPT.]
The world fractured.
I saw Do-hyun frozen inches from breaking free.I saw J-0 flickering out of existence.I felt my own mind tearing under Function 00's weight.
My hand hovered over the choice.
Reject…or Accept.
The moment I touched one, everything would change.