Seoul – Gangnam District, 2:14 AM

Under the dim neon haze of a back-alley club, Do Rae and Jin Seok moved like strangers to themselves.

She wore a leather jacket and low brimmed cap, voice disguised by a modulator in her collar.
He wore a smirk and a fake arm tattoo that made him look like a rejected backup dancer for a hip-hop crew.

“You’re enjoying this way too much,” Rae muttered as they passed through the bouncer’s scan.

“I’m undercover,” Jin Seok replied. “Let me have this.”

They were here to meet a supplier tied to the reemerged gang—the one Rae thought she dismantled three years ago. The hourglass mark had resurfaced on enhancer shipments all over Seoul.

And now… they were recruiting.

Inside, smoke clouded the air. Rae’s senses sharpened immediately. She could smell the synthetic enhancers from the bar’s backroom—metallic, acidic.

She hated this place.
Not just because it was loud or illegal.

Because this was where she once lost control.

Flashback – Age 15.

A fight.
An ambush.
Three guys with blades.
And Rae—panicking—breaking a man's ribs with a single punch that made him forget his own name.

She swore she’d never let herself go like that again.

Back in the present, a man slid into their booth.

Scarred face. Red hourglass tattoo on his neck. Greasy hair. Sharp eyes.

“You the new muscle?” he asked.

“Depends who’s asking,” Rae said, her voice low, calm.

“You look familiar.”

Jin Seok nudged her under the table. Play it cool.

“Get that a lot,” she replied. “Must be the cheekbones.”

The man laughed, then leaned in.

“We need people who don’t ask questions. And don’t break when they bleed. Think you two can handle that?”

Before Rae could answer, a voice crackled in her earpiece. Legacy Channel—Rin’s voice.

“Rae, we have a problem. My copy—Mi Na’s simulated version of me—it’s real. It activated last night and it's gone dark.”

“There’s another me out there, and she’s not on our side.”

Rae’s blood ran cold.

But she kept her face still. Smiling.

“Oh, we can handle it,” she said to the recruiter.

“We don’t break.”

Elsewhere — Legacy HQ, Deep Training Chamber

Do Rin stood in front of a large digital mirror.

On the other side stood her replica.

Same face. Same posture.
But different eyes—colder, calculating.

The copy spoke first.

“Hello, Original. Ready to find out which one of us is obsolete?”

Rin stared back.

“You’re not me.”

“Not yet,” the copy said. “But I’m better. And I have your memories.”

The chamber locked.

One would walk out.