I looked once more at the word written on the door.
INTERROGATION.
"Well, that's it," I thought. "I've officially been downgraded from 'main character' to 'person giving a statement'."
Mira pushed the door with her hand.
The room was small.Stone walls, a single table, two chairs.On one wall there was a small square vent that could pass as "for air." I hoped no one was breathing behind it.
Mira walked to the far side of the table and sat down.She dropped the file in her hand onto the table; the sound echoed in the small room more than it had any right to.
"Go on," she said. "Sit."
I sat in the chair.I didn't lean my back all the way. Even if I had no intention of running, I still wanted to be ready to stand up at any moment.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS]
– Exit: 1 (door).– Hidden exit probability: Medium (vent-like panel).– Most dangerous entity in the room: Probably not you.
Note:– Escape is not recommended right now.
"Didn't think so," I said inwardly.
Mira opened the file.As she flipped through the pages, her focus didn't waver for even a second.
"Ethan," she said. "You don't use your surname."
"We're not on good terms right now," I said. "We've decided to go our separate ways."
Something flickered in her gaze; the kind of flicker that says, "I recognize that as a joke, but I won't laugh."
"I see," she said. "You seem very fond of the word 'coincidence' since your first day."
"Am I?" I asked. "I was under the impression it was starting to hate me."
She flipped to a page and tapped a line with her finger.
"Underground ruins," she said. "A metal cube.Then the assassin in your inn room.Then rotten roots and an aggressive dog in the northern grove.After that, you visit Lira and talk about the smell of decayed soil…And today, on internal patrol, a thug with a familiar mark on his wrist."
I tilted my head slightly.
"If you were me," she asked, "would you call all of that 'coincidence'?"
"If I were me," I said, "I'd have run to a different city already.But yes… I guess that word is slowly losing its meaning."
⟪SYSTEM⟫[WARNING – RED QUEST REMINDER]
Active:EMERGENCY QUEST – KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT
– Don't talk openly about the symbols or their origin.– Duration: Still not over.– Attempted violation → Increased mental pressure.
"I know," I thought. "I wasn't planning to explain everything anyway."
Mira tapped the table lightly with her knuckles.
"I'll ask simple questions," she said. "Feel relaxed—but don't feel too relaxed."
She took a deep breath.
"Your life before you came to this city… how would you describe it, roughly?"
I hadn't expected that.
"Normal," I said with a shrug. "Boring. I drove a car, worked, tried to survive.Then one day I tried not to fly off a cliff at two hundred kilometers an hour. That part didn't go very well."
One of her eyebrows lifted the tiniest bit.
"So," she said, "you were used to the idea of dying even before you got here."
"The idea, yes," I said. "The practice, not so much."
Mira turned another page.On it, a familiar sentence had been underlined in red:
"Host found."
My throat went dry.
"How do you—"
"You heard it in your dreams," she said. "I saw it in some reports.Sometimes the same words show up in the nightmares of supposedly 'ordinary people.'"
"I wanted to say, There are other hosts, too?"
I tried to move my tongue; the words caught in my throat. It felt like someone was gently squeezing from the inside.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[VIOLATION ATTEMPT DETECTED]
– Topic: Other hosts of system-like entities.– Verbal expression → Restricted.
Result:– Mild headache.– Sentence will be redirected.
"For a second I thought I couldn't breathe," I thought.Then I actually did breathe. Only the sentence had changed.
"Some words," I said, my own lips surprising me as they formed the line, "feel like they crawled out of my dreams and came all the way here. But right now, they're… not that clear."
Mira didn't look away from my eyes.
"Do you know how to lie?" she asked suddenly.
"I try," I said. "But usually my tone gives me away."
"You're not lying," she said. "But you're not saying everything, either.There's a fine line between those two.Most people notice that line very late.You at least can feel where it is."
"Is that a compliment or an insult?" I asked. "I'm bad at telling the difference."
Mira looked at an empty patch on the table.She raised a finger and began to draw something in the dust.
Three lines.
Not very clear, just faint.One angled up, one sideways, one down…
Almost a triangle.But she stopped right before completing it.
My gaze locked on the lines without my permission.My breath snagged; my shoulders tightened.
The watch on my chest suddenly felt colder.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[DIRECT FOCUS ON SYMBOL]
– Effect: Slight increase in heart rate.– Mental pressure: Medium.
Reminder:– Detailed discussion about this symbol is still restricted.
Bonus:– Fear/curiosity mixed response recorded.
Mira wasn't watching the lines.She was watching me.
"You didn't just see this mark today," she said quietly, "on the wrist of the man you fought, did you?"
My throat knotted."Ruins… the dog… the well… walls… Lira's—"
The sentence moved smoothly in my head.But when it reached my tongue, an invisible hand folded it and pushed it down a different path.
"My eyes," I said, even I surprised by the words coming out, "have started clinging to anything with three lines lately, whether I want them to or not.Where they are, how many times I've seen them… I can't count exactly."
The headache eased.The sentence had slipped through the narrow space the System allowed.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[RESTRICTED EXPRESSION ACCEPTED]
– Symbol: Mentioned indirectly.– Restriction violated: No.
Note:– Your ability to speak in roundabout ways is improving.
"Stop being mad and thank me already," I thought at it.
Mira wiped away the lines with her finger.The dust flattened and the mark vanished.
"Good," she said. "So not only your eyes, but your tongue is careful too."
I wanted to slouch in the chair, but my body refused.Something inside kept saying, "Stay ready to jump up."
"Don't you have a name for this mark?" I asked, walking carefully through the sentence. "In the headquarters, or somewhere… 'three-line curse' or something."
Mira pursed her lips.
"In official records," she said, "we don't name things like this.Unofficially… some call it the 'Incomplete Triangle.'I gave it another name."
"What?" I asked.
Her eyes darkened for a moment.
"The Cracked Brand," she said."Because in the lives of those who bear it, it feels like something has broken."
I didn't like that.
"What about me?" I wanted to ask. "Do I have it? Did you break me too?"
My hand went to my chest, to the watch.I had to stop myself from scratching, as if there might be an invisible mark there.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[AUTOMATIC BODY SCAN]
– Visible physical mark: None.– Foreign brand: None.
Note:– "Invisible" or "intangible" marks may be outside scan parameters.– This sentence is written for honesty, not comfort.
"Thanks," I thought. "That doesn't help at all."
Mira closed the file.This time, her voice was slower.
"I'm not dealing with this mark for the first time," she said.
"It shows," I said. "Your hand looked too practiced drawing it."
"Years ago," she continued, "there was a case.On the surface, it was just a simple theft.But in every report, three lines started appearing in the margins from nowhere.On walls, on the edge of papers, on wrists."
She took a deep breath.
"Most of the people who followed that case aren't in this city anymore," she said. "Some were transferred. Some… disappeared.Very few of us are left.I'm one of them."
"And now," I said, "we're seeing the same mark on dogs, on walls, on wells, on bullies, on files."
"I like that you said 'we,'" she replied. "Means you feel like you're part of it."
"I am in it," I said. "Even if I don't want to be."
⟪SYSTEM⟫[SIDE QUEST UPDATED]
– New Note:• Mira has been tracking the Cracked Brand for a long time.
Veil Alignment:– Slight increase.
Suggestion:– This person is both a risk and a data source.
Mira glanced past me, toward the vent.I couldn't tell if anyone was there.
"There are two kinds of people, Ethan," she said."Those who see secrets too early… and those who see them too late.The first group tends to die young.The second group usually loses a lot before they even understand what's happening."
"Which group am I in?" I asked.
"I haven't decided yet," she said. "If you want to survive, you'll have to find a third way."
"Three lines, two paths, third way…" I thought. "Good, we're doing math this early in the day."
Mira leaned forward in her chair.
"Now listen carefully," she said."Because I'm only going to say this once."
She lifted her fingers, as if counting.
"One: When you see people with this mark, don't rush them.If they're not attacking, you don't attack. We don't know what they really are.Two: If you start seeing it too often in too short a time, tell me first.Three: Don't talk too loudly about this symbol and its story.Some ears don't only hear people looking for answers. They also hear the ones asking questions."
I realized how eerily that matched the lines from the "Keep Your Mouth Shut" quest.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[RED QUEST – PROGRESS]
– Behavior: Aligned with warnings.– Restriction time: Reduced.
Forecast:– If you complete this successfully, Mental Resistance + a small reward.
"Are we reading the same book?" I wondered.
"And one more thing," Mira added, lowering her voice, "don't use the word 'coincidence' too much in this city.Veldan doesn't like coincidences.People here call them 'signs.'And sometimes, signs choose their owner, too."
The sentence felt like a thin knife sliding into the spot where the watch lay on my chest.
I had to fight not to put my hand over it again.
Mira went quiet for a few seconds.Then she gripped the cuff of her uniform sleeve.
Faster than I expected, she rolled back the cloth on her left arm.
On the inside of her wrist, there was a faint scar.
A burn.
In the shape of three lines.But the meeting points were gone, as if someone had deliberately burned them away.
"Once," she said in a calm voice, "there was a time when I believed more in coincidence."
My eyes couldn't leave that mark.
"You…" I started. "You also—"
My sentence knotted in my throat; the System still refused a long explanation centered on the symbol.
Mira pulled her sleeve back down.
"I don't have it anymore," she said. "That's all you need to know."
She stood up.
"I'm not asking anything from you, Ethan," she said. "Not yet.But understand this:If something in this city starts to crack, it looks like the fractures will show around you first."
"Great," I said. "Exactly what I always wanted to be: a walking crack detector."
A sharp smile flashed at the corner of her lips; this time, there was something a little real in it.
"The patrol isn't over," she said. "Your official interrogation is done for today.But assume this conversation never happened.There's no page about it in the records."
"My notebook is full anyway," I said. "One less page won't hurt."
She walked to the door and opened it.Before stepping out, she looked back one last time.
"And Ethan," she said. "If you want to survive in this city… sometimes what you don't say is more valuable than what you do."
⟪SYSTEM⟫[NOTE]
– Line: "What you don't say is more valuable than what you do."– Strong resonance with the Veil Branch.
Effect:– A small tendency called "Silent Observation" has formed.• Increased urge to listen more, speak less.
Comment:– This could become an annoyingly effective habit.
As I stepped out of the room, one thought kept circling in my head:
If everyone in this world is hiding something…
Then I was now the guy who'd started seeing what's hidden—and was being forced to carry secrets of his own.