Gangnam – Rooftop Overlook, 3:32 AM

The recruiter tossed a duffel bag onto the concrete.

“You want in, you do this. Hit the pharmatech shipment rolling through Mokdong tonight. Take the cargo. Leave a message.”

Do Rae kept her expression neutral, but her heart dropped.

The target was a medical aid transport. Supplies for pediatric hospitals.

“And the message?” Jin Seok asked.

“Fire.”

He didn’t flinch, but Rae could feel the tension in his arm as he held the bag.

Once the man was gone, she turned to Jin Seok.

“We’re not doing it.”

“Obviously.”

“We need to flip this. We can’t blow our cover, but we can’t let that truck get hit.”

“You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Diversion and double cross,” she said. “Let them think we did it. Then burn their route from the inside.”

Elsewhere — Legacy HQ, Simulation Arena

Do Rin stood in the digital chamber, circling her replica.

The room had adapted to them—part real, part sim. Every blow struck carried weight. Every movement mirrored… until it didn’t.

The copy lunged first—perfect precision, zero hesitation.

They clashed in silence. Two versions of the same girl.

But Rin could feel it—this wasn’t just programming. The replica felt. Anticipated.

“You’re not just code,” Rin said, dodging a blow. “You’re using instinct.”

“You gave me that,” the copy replied. “All your fears. All your strengths. I’m your unfiltered potential.”

“No,” Rin growled, backing her into a pillar. “You’re my echo. And echoes fade.”

She smashed the pillar down. The room rippled.

But the copy laughed.

“If I fade, so do you.”

Mokdong District – Highway Overpass

The raid went sideways immediately.

Rae and Jin Seok intercepted the transport—but so did three real gang enforcers, ready with live rounds and micro-enhancer shots that made them stronger by the second.

Rae dropped the first one with a punch that dented a car door.

Jin Seok took the second with a flying tackle and a stun baton sweep.

But the third was wired and juiced to the gills—barely slowing when Rae hit him square in the gut.

“Get the driver out!” she shouted to Jin.

“He’s pinned!”

She turned back to the brute and took a breath.

Then stopped holding back.

The concrete cracked under her feet.

She launched.

The fight ended in five seconds.

Later, under the cover of smoke and sirens, Rae leaned against the burned-out truck, breathing hard.

Jin Seok stepped beside her, face bloodied but smiling.

“I knew it,” he said.

She froze.

“You’re one of them. The strong ones.”

Rae didn’t deny it.

“Are you scared?”

He looked at her, really looked.

“No. I think… I’ve been falling for you since the parking ticket incident.”

She blinked. Then laughed.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Yeah. But I’m your idiot now, right?”

She didn’t say anything.

She just kissed him.

Back in the chamber, Rin pinned her copy against the wall.

“Any last words?”

“You’ll need me,” the copy said calmly. “When she comes.”

“Who?”

The copy smiled as it deactivated, collapsing into light.

“The one stronger than both of us.”