Do Family Shrine – Just Before Sunrise

The light was soft and gold as it filtered through the trees behind the shrine.

Do Bong Soon stood in front of the stone tablet with her daughters behind her. She didn’t speak for a while. Her fingers grazed the carvings—names chiseled in a line of strong women, a lineage stretching back centuries.

“There’s something I never told you,” she said finally.

Rin and Rae shared a glance. Rae’s expression softened; Rin’s sharpened.

“The year I lost control... it wasn’t just a bakery I destroyed.”

“What happened?” Rin asked.

Bong Soon swallowed.

“There was a boy. My best friend. He used to sneak me taffy from his father’s store. I was the only girl who could outrun him.”
“One day, he dared me to break a cinderblock with my bare hands. I said no.”
“He tried to do it instead. It shattered—but so did his wrist.”

She looked away.

“His family blamed me. Said I was a curse. The village turned. I didn’t stop being strong… but I stopped showing it.”

Rae’s voice was soft. “That’s why you always told us to hide it.”

Bong Soon nodded.

“I thought I was protecting you from the world. But maybe… I was protecting the world from you. And I shouldn’t have.”

Rin stepped forward, eyes locked on the old family seal burned into the stone.

“We can’t undo what they feared. But we can rewrite what they pass down.”

Bong Soon smiled, tears brimming but not falling.

“Then promise me. When the world turns again, and it will—you don’t hide.”

Rae took her mother’s hand.

“We won’t.”

Later That Day – Hillside Overlook

The sisters stood alone now, looking out at the valley below.

Rae pulled out her phone, checking a message from Jin Seok:

“Back in Seoul. Miss you already, Trouble.”

She smiled.

Rin stood silent beside her, eyes distant.

“What do you think we’re supposed to do with all this?” Rae asked.

“Live it differently,” Rin said. “Carry it forward without letting it crush us.”

They stayed there for a long time.

Just breathing.

Just being.

That Night – Legacy HQ (Encrypted Channel)

A new alert flickered across the archive server.
A dormant signal.
Buried deep.

Mi Na Protocol: “Final Whisper”

“The choice is coming. Open the door… or seal it forever.”

A map pinged to life.

Coordinates locked.