THE FALL OF THE PHOENIX CIRCLELocation: Geneva, Switzerland — Emergency Blacksite (12 Hours After Vesper Ruins Explosion)The bunker smelled like antiseptic and metal. Steel walls. Low lights. No sound beyond the slow, steady beeping of Eve’s monitor.Chaewon stood with her arms folded, watching her reflection in the mirrored window of the infirmary. But her eyes weren’t on herself.They were on the woman lying unconscious on the couch inside, Eve. Bandaged. Bruised. But alive. And tethered to an IV drip, restrained at the wrists.Behind her, Jian’s voice was quiet. “You shouldn’t have saved her.”“She saved me first,” Chaewon replied.“That doesn’t mean she won’t kill you next.”“I know.”He stepped closer, jaw tight. “You think this is mercy,” he said, “but this is strategy. You’re keeping her alive because she’s your leverage.”“No,” Chaewon said, her voice low. “I’m keeping her alive because she’s the last person who knows what’s coming next.”Jian stared through the glass. “She’
THE TRUTH IN THE MIRRORLOCATION: RUINS OF VESPER LAB — OUTER SEOUL | 2:46 AMThe rain had stopped falling by the time Chaewon reached the old Vesper complex. Fog crawled along the ground like a serpent, curling around her boots as if recognizing her scent. Overgrown ivy strangled the chain-link fence, half-collapsed and rusted through with time.The building loomed like a forgotten cathedral—glassless windows, cracked stone, and ash-streaked walls.She was alone. No Jian. No Han. No surveillance. Only her, the silence, and the secrets buried beneath concrete and betrayal.A soft click echoed behind her. Chaewon didn’t flinch.“I knew you’d come,” said a voice—smooth, sharp, feminine.Eve stepped out from the mist like a reflection torn from a nightmare. Her white coat whipped around her calves, and her hair was pulled back in a mirrored braid. She wore no mask now. She didn’t need to.“You sent the message,” Chaewon said.“You answered it.”They stood across from each other like two
MASQUERADE OF BLOODVENUE: THE SERAPH CHAMBER, VIENNA — RED WEB MASQUERADEThe violins wept behind silk-draped chandeliers. Red lights shined like a heartbeat through the ballroom, throwing shadows on figures in black-and-crimson masks. The entire hall was gilded with decadence—flawless, seductive, threatening.Every guest had been personally invited. No one knew who sent the invitations. But everyone knew what they meant. You were either one of the elite… or one of the expendable.Chaewon stepped out from the vintage Bentley in a blood-red gown that hugged her curves like molten armor. Her mask was lined with obsidian feathers. A single black one curled behind her ear—the same shape as the mark on her back.Beside her, Jian wore a white suit, crisp and clean, with his hair slicked back and his jaw sharp enough to cut through the tension in the air.“You know this is suicide, right?” Han’s voice buzzed in her earpiece. “You're walking into a snake pit, unarmed, without extraction clea
THE EVE PROTOCOLAfter the BroadcastLocation: Undisclosed Blacksite, Geneva OutskirtsEve stood in a cold white room, her body bathed in sterile overhead light. The walls were blank—no mirrors, no doors, only silence.Before her stood the boy.Seventeen, perfect posture, perfect features—too perfect. He didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink. He was the shadow of a man whose face had once haunted her thoughts, Jian Lee.Only younger. Cleaner. Hungrier.“Phase Four?” the boy asked, voice devoid of tone.“Yes,” Eve said. “It’s time.”He reached into his coat, pulling out a vial of silver serum. “And the others?” he asked. “Ready!”“Then we’re not just taking her empire,” the clone said, tilting his head. “We’re replacing her world.”Eve smiled. “No,” she whispered. “We’re erasing her name from history.”__At Seoul | Abandoned Temple Basement__“You said you could stop her,” Chaewon snapped, pacing across the shattered floor tiles, heels echoing like gunfire.Han flinched. “I said I could slow her
THE SPIDER’S WEBThe light from the hologram moved across Chaewon’s face, casting sharp, almost cruel shadows beneath her cheekbones. She didn’t blink. Didn’t move. The image hovered above the table—her own face, slightly altered, speaking words that weren’t hers."Phase Three initiated. Target: Circle nodes. Phoenix is now obsolete."Han swore under his breath and slammed his hand on the metal table. “She’s rewriting the Vesper protocols in real-time. She’s inside the root OS. Nothing is secure anymore.”“You’re telling me she’s not just copying our strategy,” Jian said, voice tight. “She’s living in our system.”“No,” Haon muttered as he sifted through lines of code on his tablet. “She’s rewriting it.”Yoo Min remained silent in the far corner of the room. Her presence now felt more ghost than human. Regret clung to her skin like frost.Chaewon’s hands were clenched on the edge of the console, white-knuckled. “Where’s she hitting next?”Han hesitated. Then turned the screen.Seven r
SHADOW SISTERSThe estate burned behind them like a forgotten empire. Smoke clawed at the sky, curling above shattered glass windows and crumbling marble pillars—remnants of power devoured by betrayal.Chaewon’s eyes locked on the hologram floating before them, its cold blue light casting sharp angles across her face. The image twisted in a loop—a woman who looked just like her, only crueler. Sharper.“She looks exactly like me.”“No.” Jian’s voice was low, firm, as he stepped closer beside her. His gaze didn’t waver. “She looks like who you could’ve been—if everything inside you had been carved out.”Chaewon barely heard him. Her heartbeat roared like the inferno behind them. Each breath was thick with smoke, history, and disbelief.“She’s not just copying you,” Han said, his voice tense as he zoomed in on the biometric scan. “She is you. Down to the last strand of mitochondrial DNA. Eve’s no imposter. She’s engineered.”“She’s using the Vesper root codes,” Haon added from the side,