Dawn in the warehouse was a cold, grey, miserable affair. The only warmth came from the sweat already starting to form on Mina's brow.
Shadow was not a teacher. She was a drill sergeant from hell.
"Again!" she barked, her voice echoing in the vast, empty space. "Your movements have no weight, Mina! You are not asking for their attention, you are commanding it! Do you understand the difference?"
Mina stumbled through the complex choreography for "Monster" for the tenth time. Her muscles burned, her lungs ached, and her mind was a fog of exhaustion. Beside her, moving with a flawless, infuriating precision, was Hana.
Shadow's condition had been absolute. For every hour Mina trained, Hana had to be there, dancing beside her.
"The princess is your mirror," Shadow had explained, her eyes glinting. "She is the perfect, polished idol you are not. I want you to watch her. I want you to see that perfection. And then, I want you to break it."
It was a form of psychological torture for both of them. For Mina, it was a constant, living reminder of her own imperfections. For Hana, it was the ultimate humiliation—being forced to act as a living reference guide for her greatest rival.
"Stop!" Shadow's voice cracked like a whip. She stalked over to them, her eyes narrowed. "Hana, your technique is perfect. And it is completely, utterly boring. You have no soul in your movements. You are a beautiful, empty machine."
Hana's face tightened, a flash of fury in her eyes. It was the first time in her life anyone had criticized her dancing.
Shadow ignored her and turned to Mina. "And you. You have all the soul in the world, but you are afraid to show it. You are holding back. You are afraid of looking ugly. Afraid of falling."
She leaned in close, her voice a low, dangerous whisper. "Monsters are not afraid of falling, little girl. They are afraid of being caged."
Yoo-jin watched from the sidelines, a thermos of hot coffee in his hand. He felt a knot of anxiety in his stomach. This was his plan, his gamble. But watching it unfold was brutal.
Every time Mina stumbled, Hana would execute the move perfectly, a silent, cutting rebuke. Every time Hana was criticized for being robotic, she would glare at Mina, her eyes burning with a resentful fire. The air between them was thick with a toxic, unspoken rivalry.
"This is a bad idea, kid," Min-hyuk grumbled beside him. He had appointed himself their unofficial driver and security. "She's going to break Mina before she ever gets to the stage."
"Just wait," Yoo-jin said, though he wasn't entirely sure if he was trying to convince Min-hyuk or himself.
He checked Mina's stats. The screen was a chaotic mess of flashing text.
[Stamina: 28% (Critical)]
[Anxiety: 75% (High)]
[Dance Synchronization: 45%]
[Willpower: 99% (Overloading)]
She was at her absolute limit. But that last number… that was new. Her willpower was off the charts. She was refusing to break.
Shadow seemed to sense it too. She stopped the music and walked to the center of the floor. "Alright, princess," she said to Hana. "Your turn to be useful. Do the dance break. Full power. Don't hold back."
Hana looked surprised, but a flicker of her old arrogance returned. This was her territory. She moved to the center of the floor, and as the music exploded from the speakers, she transformed.
Her movements were lightning-fast, precise, and breathtakingly powerful. Every spin was perfect, every stop was razor-sharp. It was the kind of performance that would have a live audience screaming. It was the peak of A-Rank talent.
When she finished, breathing hard but looking triumphant, Shadow just nodded slowly.
"Good," she said, her voice flat. "Now you." She pointed at Mina.
Mina stared, her face pale. "I… I can't do that."
"I know," Shadow said, her voice cold. "Don't try to be her. Try to survive her. The music is the attack. Your dance is the defense. Now go."
The music started again. Mina took a deep breath and began the dance break.
It was a disaster. Her movements were clumsy and slow compared to Hana's. She was off-beat, her form was sloppy, and she completely missed a complex footwork section. The other underground dancers watching from the sidelines started to whisper among themselves.
Hana, standing on the side, watched with a cold, vindicated smirk.
Mina faltered, her eyes filling with tears of frustration and humiliation. She was about to give up.
Yoo-jin's heart sank. This was it. The breaking point.
But then, something shifted. Mina looked at Hana's perfect, arrogant smirk. She looked at Shadow's cold, unforgiving eyes. She looked at the other dancers, their faces a mixture of pity and contempt.
And the sadness in her eyes was replaced by a spark. A single, defiant spark of pure, unadulterated rage. The same rage he had heard in her voice when she sang "Monster."
She stopped trying to copy the moves. She stopped trying to be perfect. She just… danced.
Her movements became wild, desperate, and unpredictable. She threw her entire body into the choreography, sacrificing technique for raw, explosive emotion. It was no longer a dance. It was a fight. A silent, desperate scream translated into movement.
She stumbled on the final spin, her exhaustion finally catching up with her. She fell, landing hard on the cold concrete floor.
The music cut out. The warehouse was silent.
Hana let out a small, triumphant scoff.
But Shadow was not looking at Hana. She was staring at Mina, who was pushing herself up off the floor, her body trembling, her eyes blazing.
A slow, terrifying smile spread across Shadow's face.
"Good," she whispered, her voice filled with a strange, fierce pride. "The doll is finally learning how to bleed. Now get up. We're going again."
Yoo-jin walked over to Mina as the team took a short water break. He handed her a bottle of water, his own hands not entirely steady.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice low.
Mina took a long drink, her whole body shaking with exhaustion and adrenaline. She looked at him, and for the first time since the training began, she gave him a small, fierce, almost feral smile.
"No," she said, her voice hoarse. "But I think I'm finally starting to understand the song."
Yoo-jin looked past her, at Hana, who was now watching Mina not with contempt, but with a new, strange, and deeply unsettled expression. The mirror was starting to crack.
He realized his insane gamble was starting to pay off. He wasn't just training a dancer. He was forging a monster.
And she was starting to enjoy the taste of a fight.