A deafening boom tore through the alley.
The door he had just left disintegrated into splinters. A shockwave slammed into his back and threw him forward like a rag doll. His head hit the stone street.
For a moment, there was only ringing in his ears.
Then screams.
Then the smell.
Burnt flesh.
Yoo-Jin lifted his head weakly. The entire building was on fire. Black smoke poured out of the windows.
Figures in dark robes moved like ghosts through the flames.
Demonic Cult.
He recognized the emblem stitched in red on their sleeves.
They weren't here for him.
They were here to erase the Black Viper Family.
Wrong place. Wrong time.
A shadow loomed over him.
One of the Demonic warriors looked down at the boy.
"…A witness."
Yoo-Jin tried to speak.
"I didn't see anything—"
The man's sword moved faster than his eyes.
Cold steel pierced his chest.
No hesitation. No emotion.
Just efficiency.
Yoo-Jin fell onto his back, staring at the smoky sky.
His hands felt warm.
He knew that warmth.
Blood.
So this is how I die… he thought.
Not from poison.
Not from hunger.
But because I ran too fast for the wrong people.
The world slowly faded.
Sounds became distant.
Vision blurred.
Darkness swallowed him.
Then—
Light.
White. Endless white.
He was standing.
But he had no body.
No pain.
No blood.
Just awareness.
"What…?"
A voice echoed in the emptiness.
"Soul compatibility confirmed."
Yoo-Jin froze.
That voice…
It was not Murim language.
It was something else.
Something he understood… but had never heard.
"Blue Star consciousness detected. Initiating emergency protocol."
Fragments of memory flooded him.
Buildings touching the sky.
Metal roads.
Screens.
A different life.
A different name.
Kang Min-Jae.
A man from Earth.
A man who died in a traffic accident.
Those memories poured into him like a river breaking a dam.
Two lives.
Two identities.
Colliding.
He screamed, but no sound came out.
"Nano Machine activation complete."
Lines of light formed in the void.
Symbols. Text. Information.
Like a transparent screen in front of his vision.
[Host body: Critical condition]
[Heart function: 12%]
[Blood loss: Severe]
[Emergency repair initiated]
"What… is this…?"
[Nano Machine online]
The white space shattered.