Inside the Ruined Lab.
Daehyun's flashlight wavered.
Raon stood in the doorway. No coat. No mask. Just a thin shirt soaked with rain—and eyes that didn't blink.
"Why?" Daehyun asked, voice barely above a whisper. "Why did you do all this to her?"
Raon didn't answer right away. He stepped into the room, looked around at the decayed machines, the half-melted screens.
Then, softly:
"I wanted to create perfection."
He picked up a shattered syringe from the floor. Held it like a memory.
"You ever try to build something so precise, so pure… that it doesn't even feel human anymore?"
Daehyun's fists clenched.
"She was never yours."
"No," Raon said. "She was better than me. That's why she couldn't be allowed to forget."
---
Elsewhere. Areum.
She locked herself in her room.
The air was thick. Her ears buzzed like broken audio.
> [CORE MEMORY: UNSEALED]
[ERROR: SELF-IDENTITY COLLISION]
She looked in the mirror.
The girl staring back at her was wrong.
Not just the eyes. Not just the skin.
Everything.
Then—
The reflection moved on its own.
And it spoke in her voice:
"He didn't make you perfect. He made you obedient."
---
Back in the lab.
Raon raised a hand. The overhead lights began to flicker as his implants pulsed.
"Step back, Daehyun."
"I'm not letting you near her again."
Raon smiled—but it didn't reach his eyes.
"You think she's afraid of me? Wait until she remembers what she used to be."
With a single gesture, he activated a pulse bomb hidden in the wall.
The screens exploded in sparks.
Daehyun dove for cover.
Raon was gone.
---
Meanwhile.
Areum curled on the floor.
Memories and code warred inside her.
Her voice shook.
"I'm… Areum…"
"No," the reflection whispered.
"You're what he made you."
---
Final Panel:
Raon, walking alone under the city lights.
He tapped a comms chip in his ear.
> "Begin Phase 2."
"If she survives this next collapse… she'll be mine again."
---