**The shelter's generator hummed** like a dying animal as Min-jun studied the maps spread across the classroom floor. Red X's marked fallen safe zones. Blue circles showed gate activity. And at the center—Namsan Tower, now a pulsating vortex of corrupted energy.
Ji-hoon knelt beside him, tracing a fresh scar on his forearm. **"The big one opened six months ago. That's when everything went to hell."**
Min-jun's brand pulsed in time with the distant rift. The Eclipse Rot whispered something terrible—*familiar*.
**"Show me exactly where your mother disappeared."**
Hye-jin tapped a point near the Han River. **"Here. The military was bombing the gate when she—"** Her voice broke. **"When it took her."**
Min-jun's fingers brushed the map. The location matched where he'd first fought the tentacled horror *years* ago. The *first* gate.
**"It's a loop,"** he realized. **"She didn't just run toward it. She was *pulled* in."**
Ji-hoon's fists clenched. **"What the hell does that mean?"**
A voice answered from the doorway:
**"It means your father is the reason this world is dying."**
Xia leaned against the doorframe, her silver hair now streaked with blood, one arm ending in a freshly bandaged stump. The shelter's guards lay unconscious behind her.
Ji-hoon lunged—only to freeze mid-motion, suspended by an invisible force.
**"Don't bother,"** Xia sighed. **"I'm not really here."** Her form flickered like a hologram. **"Just a projection from... let's call it *next time*."**
Min-jun's Rot *seethed* at her presence. **"You manipulated Soo-ah into entering the gate."**
**"I *saved* her,"** Xia corrected. **"Just like I'm trying to save *this*."** She gestured to the ruined city beyond the windows. **"Every timeline ends the same way—the gates open, the Void consumes everything. *Unless*..."** Her gaze locked onto Ji-hoon. **"Unless we have the right key."**
Hye-jin stepped between them. **"Get out."**
Xia's projection shimmered. **"He hasn't told you, has he? What the Eclipse Rot really is?"** She met Min-jun's eyes. **"It's *her*. Fragments of every Soo-ah who ever died in the gates. Their pain. Their love. Their *hunger* to fix things."**
The Rot surged in Min-jun's veins, whispering *yes*.
Ji-hoon made a choked sound. **"Dad...?"**
**"She's lying,"** Min-jun growled—but the truth slithered beneath his skin. He'd *felt* the Rot's memories. The echoes.
Xia smiled sadly. **"The Ascended weren't invaders. They were volunteers—warriors who merged with the Void to try controlling it. And *you*..."** She pointed at Min-jun. **"You're the only one who survived the process intact."**
The classroom walls flickered. For a heartbeat, Min-jun saw *through* them—to a version of the shelter where the ceilings dripped black ichor and Hye-jin's corpse hung from the rafters.
Xia followed his gaze. **"That's the *next* timeline. Unless we break the cycle."**
Ji-hoon strained against his invisible bonds. **"How?"**
Xia's projection began dissolving. **"The same way we end all wars,"** she whispered. **"Sacrifice."**
Then she was gone.
And the map on the floor burst into blue flames, revealing a hidden message burned into the paper beneath:
**BRING HIM TO THE TOWER**
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**TO BE CONTINUED...**