A shadow.Someone was sitting in the corner.A man—silent, emotionless, unnamed.Too silent. That's what made it worse.
Jo Dalsik didn't remember him.The time, the place, the setup—he'd memorized it all.But that face? Completely unfamiliar.
"Hey, Jo."
One of the senior guards nudged his chin toward the corner, holding a cup of instant noodles.
"That guy over there. Was he always here?"
"First time seeing him," Dalsik replied.
The structure, the staff, the routes—this place was built on predictability.And yet now, one unfamiliar piece had entered the puzzle.
Dalsik silently walked over to the vending machine.Now wasn't the time to act.Observation comes first.
His hand hovered over the buttons.The air was damp.It smelled like tension—right before sweat cooled off your back.
Thunk.
The sound of the paper cup falling echoed louder than it should have.His senses all focused on that tiny moment.
Someone was watching him.
"You're here alone."
It was that man.He stood beside Dalsik, quiet and casual.
"Yeah."
A short reply.
"You're new, right?"
"Right."
The man held out his hand with a polite smile.
"Kang Hyunsoo. Nice to meet you."
Dalsik shook it.Warm. Too warm.Uncomfortably long-lasting warmth.His fingertips twitched—subtle, involuntary.
It felt familiar.
A flash.Blood-soaked hands.Grasping another's in a dark, rainy parking lot.
"Jo Dalsik."
"Unusual name. Easy to remember, though."
Thin smile.Polite words.But the layer beneath? Impossible to read.All surface manners hiding something deeper.That, too, felt familiar.
"…By the way."
Dalsik met his gaze.
"Which team were you assigned to?"
A flicker.Almost too faint to notice—but Dalsik saw it.A blink.Then:
"Ah… well… I'm not really sure. They just told me to come."
Hesitation.
"See you around then."
Kang turned away.Dalsik held his coffee, eyes trailing the man's back.Just before leaving the cafeteria, Kang paused.Tilted his head ever so slightly.Didn't look back.But it felt like he was looking.
A faint smile. Just one corner of his mouth lifted.
Unsettling.
Something was beginning to go wrong.
Dalsik rose slowly, coffee in hand.Before leaving the cafeteria, he slipped a used burner phone from his waistband.Opened the memo app.Typed a single line:
[Kang Hyunsoo – Not in memory]
The air still held the scent of coffee.Oddly sweet.But beneath that, a trace of metal.Like blood.
Where had he smelled that before?
Flash—Rainy night. Underground parking lot. Blood everywhere.A fallen figure. A reaching hand.
That hand...It overlapped with Kang Hyunsoo's.
Dalsik's fingertips went cold.
"He left a name. Now we watch the actions."
As he returned to clean his space, something caught his eye beneath the chair Kang had sat in.
A crumpled piece of paper.Yellowed, torn.Strange numbers.A triangle. Some kind of symbol.
Looked like a joke, but it bothered him.A faint buzz in the back of his mind.Headache. Pressure.Like static behind his skull.
He pressed his temples.A sting at the back of his neck.A loud ringing in his ears—like someone was drilling inside his brain.
Dalsik stood.Stared at the paper again.
Lunchtime ended.The other employees returned to work.Dalsik followed suit—exactly three minutes behind Kang Hyunsoo.
Second floor.A hallway intersection.
He stopped.Turned his head casually.
Kang was walking—toward the admin offices.
"There's no reason for him to be there."
He paused in front of a RESTRICTED ACCESS door.
Not long.But long enough to be noticed.
"He's moving alone."
Dalsik didn't follow. Not yet.Not until he had more.
Just before clocking out, Dalsik dropped by the surveillance room.Accessed the backup servers.
Hands moving with practiced ease, he rewound the security feed.
Ten minutes ago. That hallway.
Empty.No one there.Not Kang. Not anyone.
"He was there. I saw him."
He checked the logs.
14:18–14:20Length: 0 seconds.File size: 0KB.
"Not deleted… never recorded."
A chill ran down his back.
He checked the vending machine camera.Where he and Kang first spoke.
Dalsik wasn't there either.
"..."
As if neither of them existed in that moment.
Back at his locker, one final detail stuck out.
The notepad. Slightly misaligned.His old burner phone—battery down 10% more than it should be.The edge of the memo pad—lifted just slightly.
"Someone's been here."
And more than that—
He's being watched.