"Sister...

  if I've turned on this recorder, it means..."

  Static—

  It was a strange thing. The voice of Mr. Bak Pil-gu that had been playing vanished, and suddenly, these phrases appeared in front of Dong-jun.

  [System: Data Link Established] [Warning: Receiving Large-Scale Visual Information...] [Author, please fix your gaze. Forcefully executing 'Synchro Mode.']

  At that moment, a blue spark flew across the lens of Arisa’s glasses, which had been dead.

  "Arisa? Suddenly, what is this...!"

  There was no time to answer. The scenery of the pitch-black empty lot distorted in an instant and scattered into particles of light. The sound of rain drifted away as if in a vacuum, and the cool fluorescent lights reconstructed by digital particles dominated Dong-jun’s senses.

  The place was a laboratory space. And above the space to the right, a date was visible. [TIMESTAMP: 2035. 11. 20]

  It seemed to be approximately three months ago.

  "This... isn't a video."

  Dong-jun looked down at his own hands. A ghostly body mixed with translucent noise. He had been thrown into Bak Pil-gu’s 'memory' through Arisa’s lens. He realized firsthand the overwhelming sense of presence that had prevented people from escaping their addiction to smart glasses.

  Before his eyes were Bak Pil-gu and a man sitting in a wheelchair, gasping for breath. It was Lee Dong-jin, whom he had seen in the Dongjin transfer photo. They were right in front of Dong-jun’s nose, but they were merely untouchable illusions.

  [Notice: Physical contact with objects in the video file is impossible.]

  "Pil-gu, take this." Lee Dong-jin’s voice was a low bass mixed with the sound of scraping iron. What he handed over to Pil-gu was a tablet.

  Oh? That tablet? It was the tablet Dong-jun had received from Sun-ja.

  "The tablet is the link device I finally completed. I didn't want to hand over the [PLSA] protocol to them at the very least. Because that is the 'Link Humanoid' I created until the very end."

  At the end of Lee Dong-jin’s gaze was a massive metal case.

  Link Humanoid... It was definitely a name he had heard somewhere.

  "Dong-jin, you don't need to do this." "I'll help you. Why on earth are you trying to leave?" "I can't. I've already... lost myself. The current me is..."

  Dong-jin shook his head and spared his words. "If you watch the cam video files inside that tablet, you'll understand."

  Despite his words, Pil-gu could not give up on him and approached to grab him. But seeing Dong-jin's appearance, his expression darkened sharply. The wheelchair was no ordinary wheelchair. Both of Dong-jin's hands were fixed and wrapped to the handles of the wheelchair, and the same was true for his feet.

  "Pil-gu..." Dong-jin gave a small smile toward him, who was startled by seeing his form up close. "I wanted to complete the only crystal that manifested that 'story' you and I shared into reality."

  His gaze rested on the case once again. "But in truth, I couldn't." "Still, if it's you... I think you'll be able to find another way." "...Dong-jin."

  The two stared at each other in silence for a while. "Be well, my old friend."

  Dong-jin turned back after saying those words. The back door rose automatically. And with that darkness, Dong-jin disappeared. Pil-gu called out "Dong-jin!" once more and ran into the darkness outside the door to follow him.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "..." "Is this the end?"

  It was then. The scenery before his eyes shook.

  [System: Executing Data Index Jump...] [VIEWPORT CHANGED: CAM 03]

  In just a few seconds, it was the same laboratory but from a different angle. The text [CAM 03] was floating in the upper right.

  Is this... the viewpoint of the cam on top of the monitor?

  The positions of some objects had changed, and Pil-gu was gone. Instead, Dong-jin was asleep on a cot. Dong-jun had been curious all this time. There was no reason to hesitate now. He checked the sleeping Dong-jin once more. Then, Dong-jun approached to solve his curiosity.

  He wanted to see what was inside the metal case. Having reached the front of the case, Dong-jun reached out his hand first.

  "Ah..." He couldn't grab it.

  Right, this is just a record of the past. Dong-jun poked his face into the case, just in case. Inside was... a humanoid. The humanoid that had carried me and burst out of the window of Dongjin transfer.

  At that moment, a strange sound was heard from behind. The moment he looked toward the source of the sound, he could not believe it. Dong-jin's shoulder began to bend at a bizarre angle. A 'creak' sounded in his ears, as if a motor were running rather than a human joint.

  "...Aaaagh!"

  Dong-jin, who had risen from the bed, screamed while clawing at his own head. Grotesque movements with unfocused eyes. Then he stopped for a moment... and began to destroy the surrounding machinery. It was as if something else were wearing a human shell.

  And then, suddenly, he looked at Dong-jun. Or so it seemed. Just as he strode toward Dong-jun and his hand was about to touch Dong-jun—

  [Static— Static—]

  The space shifted minutely again.

  "..."

  In that place, Dong-jin was staring into the camera lens.

  "Pil-gu... I think I'm becoming a monster. In my head... another being that isn't me comes in and smashes everything... harms things... that's how I'm changing."

  Dong-jun realized this time that his viewpoint was the CCTV showing the laboratory. Dong-jun approached to see Dong-jin's appearance more closely. He paused for a second.

  On the hands of Pil-gu, who was sitting in front, there was blood. And at the end of the gaze following those bloodstains... a blood-covered cat lay dead.

  "What if I... end up harming Ms. Sun-ja and So-hee too?" His voice became intense. Then Dong-jin looked at his own hands and spoke once more.

  "I'm sorry, Pil-gu. Please take care of So-hee. And to Ms. Sun-ja... please never tell her."

  With those words, the space changed again. This time it also took about two seconds. But something was different this time. The door to the laboratory had been forcibly ripped open, and a moment later...

  Early-model humanoids with flickering red eyes burst in. Dong-jun screamed and tried to dodge, but the humanoids passed right through the ghostly Dong-jun and swarmed Lee Dong-jin.

  "No! Stop!"

  Dong-jun reached his hand into the void. But he was merely an observer who could only watch the recorded past. As Bak Pil-gu wailed, grabbed the tablet, and escaped, the moment Lee Dong-jin pressed the final button—

  All the footage scattered sharply like shards of broken glass and pierced Dong-jun’s brain.

  "Aaaaagh!"

  Just then, someone behind Dong-jun called his name. When Dong-jun turned around, it was the first time he had seen her, but he felt he knew who she was.

  "...So-an!"

  Dong-jun remembered. The day he agonized over her appearance with So-an.

  "What if your appearance was a female character with a bob cut?" "I'd love that, Author!"

  The conversation from that time had become reality and was standing before him.

  "So-an..."

  He approached her. Dong-jun slowly reached out his hand. "I missed you." "So-an..."

  But the moment Dong-jun touched her body, she vanished like mist, and the surrounding background turned into a pure white space.

  "So-an!" "So-an! Where are you?"

  Before Dong-jun could even finish his words, suddenly, the white screen background began to be sucked into Dong-jun’s eyes.

  "Aaaaaaaaagh!"

  As the background entered his eyes, Dong-jun’s pupils began to blink incredibly fast.

  [Data Sync 75%... 87%... 98%... 99%...]

  Everything poured into Dong-jun’s head. The moment Dong-jin created So-an. The day he celebrated completion with Pil-gu. The moment the deal with the Chinese company fell through. The process of Dong-jin gradually changing. Everything.

  [Sync Complete.] [Warning: External Stimulus Detected. Aborting Sync and Returning to Reality.]

  In an instant, the digital particles that had been decorating the scenery of the space vanished.

  "Cough!"

  Dong-jun collapsed onto the cold floor. A fishy taste of blood filled his mouth. The truth from three months ago, that massive wave of data, had ransacked Dong-jun’s mind. He could now understand everything—why Lee Dong-jin had to disappear, and why the police were reacting so strongly against humanoid modification.

  But he couldn't understand why this had happened so suddenly. He felt strange. With a feeling that his head was full, Dong-jun held his head with both hands, squinting his eyes.

  But then, a voice was heard.

  "Get your hands off that! If you move, we will fire!"

  Dong-jun opened his eyes and looked toward the sound. But there... through the glass window, police who had already surrounded the building where Dong-jun was in layers were aiming their weapons.

  There wasn't just one or two. At least 20 police officers, several police cars. And even dozens of androids. They were all encircling a radius of 200m, no, 500m around Dong-jun.

  Dong-jun’s expression hardened. And his head began to ache. As he endured the headache, dozens of armed police were gradually closing the distance around the building.

  Dong-jun was completely surrounded.

  [2026-02-12 Conversation Log with SO-AN #69]

  Dong-jun: SO-AN, what do you want to look like? I'll let you choose.

  SO-AN: I recommend this more—a young male avatar that looks sharp and efficient for processing.

  Dong-jun: Let's go with a woman with short hair instead.

  SO-AN: I recommend this more—accepting my new form as a short-haired female since you are the one holding the 'Chapter' key, even if it wasn't my first choice.