Two days later, the Do twins vanished.

No press. No goodbyes. Not even a text to their dad.

Do Bong Soon covered for them—barely—mumbling something about “enrichment retreats” and “gap year exploration” to anyone who asked.

But the truth?

Do Rae and Do Rin were hunting ghosts.

Their hideout was a busted-out shipping container parked behind an abandoned factory in Incheon.

No WiFi.
No trackers.
No digital footprint.

Just two cots, a wall full of leads, and a stolen burner laptop Rin pulled from a black-market cache of untraceables.

Rae called it “The Doom Den.”

Rin called it “adequate.”

“So what’s the plan?” Rae asked, chewing on a protein bar like it wronged her.

Rin pulled up a map. “There were three labs tied to Project NOVA. Two are now real estate offices. But one’s been scrubbed entirely.”

She pointed to a blank lot just outside Seoul. “There used to be a lab here. Now it’s just… gone. Like someone deleted the whole block.”

“And you want to break in?”

“I want to find someone who already has.”

That night, Rin ventured out alone to meet a contact who pinged her from an encrypted server: Codename: Finch.
They claimed to have worked under Mi Na.
Said they had answers. Proof. Maybe even a way to stop the formula from ever resurfacing.

She found him in a half-lit café tucked between a bike shop and a tattoo parlor.

Mid-30s. Nervous eyes. Hands that trembled even when he wasn’t touching anything.

“You came alone?” he asked, voice low.

“I’m stronger than I look,” Rin replied flatly.

“I know,” he said. “That’s why you’re here.”

He slid a flash drive across the table.

“That contains the last surviving copy of Mi Na’s blueprint. Her early notes. Test parameters. Even her encryption keys. Everything the new lab’s trying to replicate.”

“Who has the project now?” Rin asked.

He hesitated. Looked around.

“Someone powerful. Connected. Not just a lab. A corporate shell. With political backing.”

“You have a name?”

He leaned in.

“Blue Star Dynamics. Front company. But the real money? Comes from a man named—”
CRACK.

A sharp sound.
The window behind him spidered.
A red dot appeared on his forehead.

“GET DOWN!” Rin yelled.

But it was too late.

She hit the floor, ducked behind a booth, heart pounding, glass raining around her.

The man — Finch — was gone. Silent. Slumped over the table.

Outside, tires screeched. The sniper was already gone.

Back at the Doom Den, Rae was pacing when Rin burst in, breath ragged, blood speckled on her sleeve.

Rin didn’t speak. She just tossed the flash drive on the table.

“Finch is dead,” she said. “They’re watching everyone.”

Rae picked up the drive.

“What now?”

Rin stared at her.

“Now we find Blue Star Dynamics.

And we burn it to the ground.”