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LOCATION: VOSS TOWER
CITY: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
DATE: OCTOBER 15, 2026 | TIME: 6:00 AM
Vanessa relaxed in the chair at Voss Tower, prepared to engage in her own Level 50 Trial. She had been talking with Mallory and Darian on their way to the office earlier.
"Are you nervous?" Mallory asked.
Vanessa smiled. "I'm definitely far more excited than nervous. But I've got no idea what I'll be facing, so maybe I'm just naïve?"
"I'd never use that word to describe you, babe," Darian said.
At any rate, Vanessa was ready.
She leaned back and closed her eyes. The notification came to the forefront effortlessly.
---
System Message
Name: Vanessa Cho-Sirova
Race: Human – Augmented
Class: Spectral Huntress
Level: 50
Profession: Gadgeteer – Weapons Development
Level: 46
Congratulations.
You have reached the first threshold.
Further progress is blocked until you complete your Level 50 Trial.
To commence your Level 50 Trial, you must meet the following requirements.
Attain Level 50 in your class: COMPLETE Primary stats must be at or above 100: COMPLETE Secondary stats must be at or above 85: COMPLETE Demonstrate commitment to your path: COMPLETE Demonstrate moral integrity beyond reproach: COMPLETE [REDACTED]: COMPLETE
You have met all requirements to proceed.
Your Level 50 Trial will test your limits in different ways. Your body and mind will move from scenario to scenario without warning.
Once a baseline is established for each area tested, you will be given a choice.
Good luck, Spectral Huntress.
Do you wish to proceed with your Level 50 Trial? [Y / N]
---
Vanessa woke in a familiar place.
She looked down and saw she was wearing her red tracksuit with the white stripes down the side. The logo for Choi Do-Seok's training academy was on her chest.
She sighed.
These memories were among the worst of her life, and here she was, back in the thick of it.
As she held the bow steady, aiming for the farthest straw target down range, Choi sauntered over. She could smell the soju on his breath from five feet away.
Wait… this is the day when…
She braced herself for the pain.
Just as she was about to loose the arrow, he brought his Chukbang down onto her hand, and the sickening crack sounded out through the yard.
The sound Vanessa would never forget.
However, instead of crumbling onto the ground and crying, this time she just stared him in the eyes.
"Are you proud of yourself? Big man can slap around little girls?"
His eyes erupted in fury and he slapped her across the face.
Vanessa stumbled, but kept on her feet. Her hand ached so badly. She wanted nothing more than to pull it into her chest and cry, but she stood her ground.
The scene shifted, and she was back home working on a paper for school. She remembered this one. It was the last paper she needed to finish to graduate high school.
Her hand still ached on overcast days. She was only 18 and already had aches and pains like old people. She clenched her teeth together and refocused on the assignment in front of her.
She heard the doorbell ring as she kept writing. A few minutes later, her mother knocked softly on her bedroom door.
"Vanessa? There's someone here to see you."
Vanessa searched her memory. This hadn't happened in her real life.
"I'll be right there, Mom."
She set her pen down and checked her hair in the mirror. When she reached for her brush, a jolt of pain shot up her arm again.
Three years and simple things like opening her hand still hurt. But she never complained. She quickly fixed her hair and changed her shirt, making herself presentable.
Even in their own home, her parents had taught her that certain rules of decorum were to be followed always.
Finally, she opened her door and walked to the living room.
A man and woman dressed in military uniforms sat on the couch, cups of green tea sat steaming on the coffee table in front of them.
Vanessa took in the scene for a moment, and her father told her to sit.
Her Dad rested his hand affectionately on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes.
"We're going to let you three talk. Vanessa, we'll discuss it all later."
Her Dad nodded to the two guests, and he and Vanessa's mother left the room.
The man spoke first.
"Young lady, please have a seat. We would like to discuss your future."
"My future?" Vanessa asked, as she sat back in the chair. "I don't really have a future."
She held up her left hand.
"We are aware of the incident that took you from your path. But there are others we think you might find interesting," the woman said.
Vanessa wanted to yell out. In frustration and anger. In self-pity. But instead she nodded and listened.
And what this man and woman proposed intrigued her far more than she would have imagined.
They were recruiters for the National Intelligence Service, South Korea's analog for America's CIA.
Vanessa was about to ask some questions when the scene shifted again.
She was in a governmental briefing room. She and seven others were gathered around a long conference table. The room smelled of both barley tea and coffee.
The lights were low, and a projector cast images on a large screen to the front of the room.
"Vanessa, you will enter North Korea via Vietnam. We're going to smuggle you in along with a grain shipment. Once inside the country, you will be on your own."
The woman giving the briefing was the same one who'd personally recruited Vanessa at her home. It looked like several years had passed at this point.
Another man stood and continued, switching to another slide.
"This is General Cho Joon. He's the top general in North Korea's army, and carries a lot of sway within the country's military. Short of assassinating the Supreme Leader, taking General Cho off the map would leave the military in a state of chaos for a long time."
Vanessa nodded nervously. This was going to be a challenging assignment.
The woman walked over to her and took the chair next to Vanessa. She leaned forward and spoke in a gentle tone.
"Vanessa, you've been training for deep cover operations like this for years. You are one of the most promising members of the Dark Branch we have ever seen. You've got this."
The scene shifted again, and Vanessa found herself wearing peasant's clothes. The rough fabric made her skin itch, but she pushed forward through the corn field.
After a year and a half of hard work and half-starvation, she finally got word that General Cho would be in the cabin at the edge of this property. Apparently his family had owned this property for generations.
Which Vanessa found interesting. She remembered her grandmother telling her stories of her family planting corn before the war separated everyone.
She inched forward in the moonlight, careful not to rustle the cornstalks too much.
A dog barked in the distance, but it was chasing a rodent, not focused on her.
Which caused the perfect opening. Once the dog disappeared into the fields on the other side of the house, she burst forth and ran straight for the front door.
She quietly turned the knob and was pleased to find it wasn't locked.
Vanessa stepped through the door and shut it behind her without a sound.
She crouched inside and stayed still for a few minutes, just as she was trained, until her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she could be sure her entry hadn't stirred anyone inside.
When there was no movement or sound, she inched forward, staying low.
She was in a living room. The fireplace lay dark, and the cold but charred logs told her it had been used but not recently.
An old handmade rocking chair sat a few feet away, and an ashtray half full of cigarette butts gave off a faint scent of stale smoke.
She spun around to head toward the bedrooms when she heard a gun cock.
"Stand up," a voice said. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"