"You need a hospital."Min-joon looked up from where he was sitting on the sidewalk three blocks from the collapsed tower. Seo-rin was standing over him, her face a mix of anger and worry. Behind her was Ji-ho, who must have called her while Min-joon was catching his breath."I am fine," Min-joon said, but his voice was weak."You are bleeding from your nose. Your hands are shaking. And your eyes are glowing." Seo-rin crouched down beside him. "That is not fine."Min-joon touched his face. His fingers came away red. He had not even noticed the bleeding."It is just the power adjusting," he said. "It will pass.""Will it? Or are you turning into what you fight?" Seo-rin's voice was sharp. "I warned you this would happen."Tae-hyun was sitting next to Min-joon, also exhausted. "He saved the Architect. Stopped him from creating more nodes. That matters.""At what cost?" Seo-rin looked between them. "How much of Min-joon is left? How much is System now?""I am still me," Min-joon insisted

Min-joon's power crawled through Park Su-jin's mind like a living thing. Every time he thought he found the core programming, it shifted. Changed. Adapted.The Architect had built in defenses. Traps. Ways to protect his creation from being freed."This is going to take a while," Min-joon said, opening his eyes. "The programming is layered. Protected.""How long?" Park Su-jin asked."Hours. Maybe longer.""I do not have hours. The compulsion to select is growing stronger. In six hours, I will need to choose another victim.""Then we work fast."Min-joon closed his eyes again and dove deeper. The power burned through him. He could feel it consuming his energy. His life force. Everything.Beside him, Seo-rin was trying to keep Tae-hyun comfortable. His brother was still unconscious. Still paying the price for helping.Min-joon pushed the guilt away. He needed to focus.The programming had three layers. The first controlled selection. The second controlled task creation. The third was a f

Min-seo arrived exactly on time. She looked better than she had in Busan. Healthier. More human. But there was a hardness in her eyes that had not been there before."You look terrible," she said to Min-joon."I feel worse.""Good. That means you are still human enough to feel."They sat in Seo-rin's living room. Min-seo had brought a laptop and several thick folders full of research. She spread everything out on the coffee table."I have been studying System energy for six months," Min-seo began. "Ever since you freed me from the Inheritor programming. I wanted to understand what the Core did to me. How he turned a human into a System.""What did you find?" Min-joon asked."System energy is not just power. It is consciousness. A form of digital life that can merge with organic matter. When the Core selected players, he was not just testing them. He was preparing them. Making them compatible.""Compatible for what?""For absorption. For merger. The Core's ultimate goal was not to pres

The moment Min-joon's power touched Lee Dong-hyun, everything changed.The purple-eyed man screamed. Not in pain, in rage."What are you doing?" Lee Dong-hyun's voice was distorted and echoing. "You cannot take me, I am too strong!"But Min-joon did not stop. He plunged deeper into Lee Dong-hyun's consciousness. Past the bravado, past the System programming and down to the terrified human underneath.Lee Dong-hyun had been a nobody. A failed businessman with crushing debt. No family or friends, nothing to live for. And then the Architect had selected him and given him power, also made him special.Of course he did not want to let go."I understand," Min-joon said quietly, his power wrapped around Lee Dong-hyun's System core. "You were drowning and the Architect threw you a rope. But that rope is strangling you now.""No! I am free for the first time in my life!” Lee dong said"You are a prisoner pretending to be a king."Min-joon began to pull. The System energy started flowing out of

Seoul was dark when they arrived. The city lights glittered like fallen stars. Millions of people sleeping or working or living their lives. Unaware that three living Systems were operating among them.Min-joon stood on the train platform and concentrated. The Seoul node was close. Very close."Where?" Tae-hyun asked."Gangnam. The financial district."They took a taxi to Gangnam. The streets were still busy despite the late hour. Business-people working overtime. Students at cafes. The city that never truly slept.Min-joon felt the pull getting stronger. They were getting close."Stop here," he told the driver.They were in front of a massive office building. Fifty stories of glass and steel. The headquarters of Daehan Financial Group. One of the largest banks in Korea."The node is inside," Min-joon said. "Top floor.""A bank," Seo-rin said thoughtfully. "That makes sense. The Core was all about debt. A living node in a bank could access financial records. Target people with crushin