The return to the base was a waking nightmare. The Guardian's words looped in the mind of Do-hyun, a chilling litany. New variable. Balance. War that's coming. Key. Every step through the dark tunnels seemed to him to have unpredictable consequences.
When he finally emerged in the open, his face pale and his features drawn, Soo-ah and Min-ho were waiting for him, the anxiety visible on their faces. Without a word, they realized that the confrontation had been much more than just an exchange.
Back at the HQ, with the doors locked, Do-hyun collapsed on the couch and recounted the conversation in great detail. The silence that followed was more eloquent than all the exclamations.
"A Guardian," repeated Min-ho, the first to break the silence. His expression was more closed than ever." It's beyond the scope of all our knowledge. Even my family's earliest records evoke nothing like this."
"The coming war..." Soo-ah whispered, arms crossed as if to protect himself from the sudden cold. " Kael had said the same thing, right? That other threats would emerge. We always assumed that he was trying to justify the existence of vampires. What if it's the truth?"
Do-hyun stared at the void, hands clasped." He said the Heart was a key. Some doors don't close. My parents... did they create such a terrible weapon without knowing it? Or did they know and choose to take the risk?"
[ACCESS TO SECRET ARCHIVES - RESEARCH: "KEY," "BALANCE," "GUARDIAN"]
[NO DIRECT correspondence.]
[NOTE OF DR. KIM JONG-HOON: "PHENIX ARTEFACT INTERACTS WITH THE FUNDAMENTAL ENERGY FAMH. Its potential is theoretically unlimited, but its use changes the balance of the primordial forces."
[Hypothesis: Your parents knew about risks on a cosmic scale, but felt that the immediate vampire threat justified the danger.]
The System could not give definitive answers, only clues. His parents had played with fire, a fire capable of consuming much more than just a vampire clan.
"So, what do we do?" asked Soo-ah, looking at Do-hyun. Do we leave the Heart where it is?"
The idea crossed Do-hyun's mind like a temptation. Give up. Live a normal life, or at least what was left of it. Protect Ji-eun, hide, let the vampires, the Guardian and fate settle their scores without him.
But then he saw his mother's face in stone's memory. Be good. And when you have the Heart, remember that true power is not in destruction, but in creation."
She knew. She knew and she trusted him to make the right choice.
"No," he said, his voice regaining a firmness he did not know. "We do not give up. The Guardian spoke of evaluation. He didn't attack me. He warned me. It is up to me to prove that the Heart is in good hands. That I can use it without breaking the balance, or to create a new, better one."
Min-ho slowly nodded, a rare sign of approval. "Logic reasoning. Running away from power doesn't make it disappear. It will simply fall into less good hands. The Purple Dawn Clan, or worse."
"Then we continue," Soo-ah concludes, with a determined smile on his lips. We assume that we are no longer just playing with our lives, but with much higher stakes."
The decision was made. She added immense weight to their shoulders, but also new clarity. They were no longer just hunters. They were the potential guardians of a power capable of shaping reality.
The days that followed were the most intense Do-hyun had ever seen. Training took on a new dimension. It was no longer just a matter of strength or speed. The System, perhaps in response to its host's doubts, began to offer it new kinds of simulations.
[Scenario: "The Guardian's Dilemma"]
Description: A devastating energy wave threatens a city. You can divert it using the heart, but it will transfer energy into an unknown dimension, with unpredictable consequences. Alternative: Attempt to dissipate it with your own strength, with an 18% success rate.
Do-hyun chose to try with his own strength. He failed. The city was vaporized. The bitterness of failure burned his throat.
[Scenario: "The Price of Power"]
[Description: To unlock an ultimate heart function, you must sacrifice a permanent fragment of your humanity - your ability to feel positive emotions.]
He refused. Power made no sense without what made it human.
These simulations didn't have the right answers. They were designed to force him to think, to weigh the pros and cons, to define his ethical limits. Each session left him mentally exhausted, but also more confident in his choices.
Meanwhile, Min-ho and Soo-ah did not remain inactive. The sensors in the station had no longer detected the Guardian, but other, more conventional movements had been recorded. Vampire patrols, more numerous. The Purple Dawn Clan, or someone else, was very interested in Gwanghui-dong Station.
"They don't know exactly what's there, but they feel it's important," Min-ho said. "The full moon window is going to be a bottleneck. They'll be there."
"We must get ahead of them," said Soo-ah. "Enter the station before the window, hide, and wait."
It was risky. Staying for hours, maybe a whole day, in close proximity to the Heart, not knowing what effects it might have. But that was the only way to control the entrances.
Five days before the full moon, a new, different alert startled everyone. It wasn't a station sensor. This was the alarm of the peripheral monitoring system of the base itself.
[DETED INTRODUCTION - EST PEMTER.]
[NATURE: HUMAN.] ENERGY SIGNATURE: NUL.
[Behavior: Hesitant.] Doesn't seem hostile.
An image from the security camera was displayed on the main screen. A young girl, slim, wearing a school uniform, looked nervously at the back door of the warehouse. She had her hair tied in her ponytail and held her phone like a lifeline.
Ji-eun.
Do-hyun's blood froze.
"How... how did she find this place?" he whispered, horrified.
Soo-ah swore between her teeth. "Did she follow you?" Or did someone follow her?"
Min-ho had already unsheathed her weapon, scanning the other screens to check that she was alone.
"You have to get her in," said Do-hyun, panic squeezing her chest. "There she is, outside. She's in danger if we leave her."
"This is a major security risk," Min-ho objected, his voice cold.
"That's my sister!" roared Do-hyun, jumping up. "And if she's there, it's because she knows something's wrong. Leaving her out, confused and vulnerable, it's worse!"
Soo-ah put a hand on his arm. "Calm down. He's right, Min-ho. But so did Do-hyun." She looked at the screen where Ji-eun was now shyly knocking on the door. "She is already involved, whether we like it or not. Better to control it. I'll get her in."
Soo-ah headed for the entrance while Min-ho maintained his surveillance and Do-hyun tried to catch his breath, his heart beating to break. The world he was trying to keep at bay had just walked through the door.
When Ji-eun entered, his eyes wide open roamed the high-tech base with mute amazement. His eyes finally landed on Do-hyun.
"Then it's true," she whispered, her lips trembling. "You're not just "tired.""
"Ji-eun... how did you..."
"You've changed," she interrupted. "You're distant, you have scars that you can't explain, and yesterday... yesterday I saw a golden light coming out of your window when you thought I was sleeping at So-yeon's house. I came back earlier. I was worried." She swallowed her saliva, tears shining at the edge of her eyes. "And then I found this in your old apartment."
She took out of her pocket a crumpled piece of paper. It was a sketch that Do-hyun had scribbled in his sleep, under the influence of a System-related dream. It showed the symbol of the Phoenix, surrounded by complex energetic formulas.
I asked a friend, his brother is in the army, in a special unit. He said it looked like top secret energy fighting patterns. I was scared. So I followed you. Not right away. I wrote down the bus numbers, the subway stations... and today I took my courage in both hands."
She looked at him, her little face full of a determination that was eerily reminiscent of theirs. "What's going on, Do-hyun? Please. Tell me the truth."
Do-hyun looked at Soo-ah, then Min-ho as he watched the scene, impassive but vigilant. He looked at his sister, the girl he had sworn to protect by keeping her in ignorance. But ignorance, he now saw, was the greatest danger.
He took a deep breath.
"Sit down, Ji-eun," he said softly. "I have a lot to tell you. On our parents. On me. And about the war in the shadows that is unfolding before our eyes."
As he began to speak, revealing a truth more incredible than any drama she could watch, Do-hyun knew that a new chapter had just opened. He could no longer protect Ji-eun by hiding her. He now had to do so by arming him with the truth.
The weight of the key he was looking for had become infinitely heavier. For he held in his hands not only the balance of the world, but also the heart and future of his little sister.