The black van coasted to a stop a block away from the house, shadows stretching long under the dim streetlights. Two men stepped out, their movements synchronized and silent—undercover agents. One was tall and pale; the other was built like a tank, with a heavy mechanical arm that glinted dangerously in the dark. They slipped toward the house, invisible to the world.
Inside, Jinu and his father were oblivious to the intrusion. Jinu followed Connor through a hidden door and down a dark, empty hallway. The air was cool, lit only by flickering dim bulbs. When they reached the end, the sight took Jinu's breath away.
The secret room was a labyrinth of high-tech machinery and mechanical blueprints. Schematics for synthetic body parts—arms, legs, and internal organs—were pinned to every available surface. In the center of the room sat a massive glass pod filled with a swirling, viscous black liquid.
Connor laid Jinu's body onto a cold, mechanical surgical bed. With trembling hands, he began infusing a mysterious fluid into the corpse's veins. Nearby, Jinu drifted toward a small vial on a workbench. Inside, a silver substance pulsed with a life of its own. As Jinu leaned in, the substance suddenly lashed out against the glass, trying to jump toward him. Jinu recoiled, floating back in a panic.
He looked at his father. Connor didn't look like a genius scientist; he looked like a man who had lost everything. He reached out to touch Jinu's cold face, his eyes welling with tears.
"I'm sorry, son," Connor whispered. "It all happened because of me. I should never have agreed to the deal."
What deal, Dad? Jinu muttered.
"Eva, initiate sync," Connor commanded.
[AFFIRMATIVE,] a feminine, mechanical voice replied.
A blinding white light began to emit from the pod. Connor looked around the empty air, his voice desperate. "Jinu, I know you can hear me. I know you're not dead. Make sure you find me... and find your sister!"
Sister? Jinu froze. Dad, what do you mean? I don't have a—
A piercing alarm suddenly shattered the silence. Connor's face went pale. "Shit! They're here!"
The two agents burst into the passage, their weapons drawn. The man with the mechanical arm stepped forward, his eyes locked on Connor.
"It's been a long time, Professor," the man said, his voice dripping with mock respect. "Tell me: where is the Element?"
"I don't know!" Connor snapped, standing protectively in front of the pod.
"You know what you did to Him," the agent continued, raising his mechanical limb. It began to hum with a sickly green light. "He didn't like being betrayed. So He sent us to collect."
"To kill me?" Connor asked.
"We're just doing our job. He wants the Element, and He wants you gone."
A flash of green light erupted. Time seemed to slow to a crawl in Jinu's perspective. He watched in horror as the blast struck his father.
"DAD!"
Jinu tried to rush forward, but the "Sync" reached its peak. A powerful vortex formed, pulling Jinu's spirit toward the surgical bed with the force of a black hole.
"Take the body! We need to leave!" one agent shouted as the room began to shake.
"We can't leave without the kid's body and the Element!" the other yelled back. "You know what the Professor is capable of—if we fail, He will punish us!"
"Do you want to die? We don't know what this tech is doing! Move!"
The agents grabbed Connor's slumped, unconscious body and retreated. Jinu, caught in the vortex, was slammed into his own corpse and dumped into the black liquid of the pod. The world went dark as the vibration reached a crescendo.
Outside, the agents floored the van, speeding away just as the house ignited. A pillar of white light erupted from the foundation, and in a split second, the entire building vanished in a silent, world-shaking explosion