Chapter 97: Shared Heartbeats
The envelope felt strangely warm.
Dillan stood in the doorway for several long seconds.
The hallway was empty.
No footsteps.
No elevator sounds.
No sign of whoever had left it.
Only silence.
He slowly closed the apartment door.
The envelope remained in his hand.
Across the front, neat handwriting read:
To Dillan
And beneath it...
Smaller.
Almost hesitant.
From the girl who never stopped waiting.
His heartbeat quickened.
"...Sasha?"
He carefully opened it.
Inside...
One folded sheet of paper.
No perfume.
No decoration.
Just words.
Written by hand.
Dear Dillan,
If you’re reading this... then maybe you’ve finally started remembering.
I’ve written so many letters over the years.
None of them ever reached you.
Maybe this one will.
I don’t blame you anymore.
I stopped blaming you a long time ago.
I only wanted to know...
...if somewhere inside your heart...
...there was still a place that remembered mine.
If there is...
That’s enough for me.
Take care of yourself.
You always forget to eat when you’re thinking too much.
...Sasha
Dillan quietly lowered the letter.
His vision blurred.
"...You..."
He laughed softly.
"...You really remembered everything."
He folded the letter carefully.
Not a single crease out of place.
Then placed it beside the paper crane.
Across the city...
Sasha suddenly looked up from her bed.
A strange warmth spread through her chest.
Not excitement.
Not relief.
Just...
Peace.
"...He read it."
She whispered.
She didn’t know how she knew.
She simply...
Did.
Guardian Network Headquarters.
The following morning.
Dillan arrived unusually early.
For once...
He looked rested.
Dana blinked.
"...What happened?"
"You actually slept?"
"...Yeah."
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"...You’re smiling."
"I know."
"...That’s illegal."
He laughed.
"...Morning to you too."
Sera noticed the change immediately.
"...Something happened."
Dillan nodded.
"I got a letter."
"...From?"
He smiled.
"...An old friend."
Sera quietly returned the smile.
"...Then I’m glad it reached you."
Inside the operations room...
Commander Yuna was less optimistic.
Another city map floated above the table.
Red markers had doubled overnight.
"...More sightings."
Mira enlarged several photographs.
The masked figure.
The elegant woman.
The Third Seat.
And now...
A fourth unknown individual.
Tall.
Dressed entirely in gray.
Standing silently outside hospitals.
Schools.
Train stations.
Never moving.
Only watching.
Lyra’s expression darkened.
"...Another Seat."
Commander Yuna looked sharply toward her.
"...You’re sure?"
Lyra nodded.
"...The Fourth."
Silence settled across the room.
Dr. Yeon quietly whispered,
"...How many are there?"
Lyra answered immediately.
"...Seven."
Dana groaned.
"...Everything comes in sevens now."
Meanwhile...
The Third Seat stood inside an abandoned cathedral.
Rain dripped through the broken ceiling.
The Fourth Seat entered quietly.
Unlike the Third...
His face carried no smile.
Only calm indifference.
"...The letter reached him."
The Fourth Seat said.
The Third nodded.
"...As expected."
"...You’re allowing unnecessary variables."
"...No."
The Third smiled.
"...I’m allowing hope."
The Fourth looked toward him.
"...Hope changes nothing."
"...Exactly."
The Third replied softly.
"...That’s why humans cling to it."
Back at headquarters...
Mira finished analyzing the envelope.
"...Commander."
"What did you find?"
"No fingerprints."
"No DNA."
"No security footage."
Commander Yuna sighed.
"...Of course."
"But..."
Mira enlarged one microscopic image.
"...There is this."
Pressed faintly into the paper...
A tiny emblem.
Almost invisible.
The same symbol engraved inside Dillan’s pocket watch.
Everyone stared.
Dillan slowly reached into his pocket.
Placed the watch beside the photograph.
The symbols matched perfectly.
Not similar.
Identical.
The pocket watch suddenly chimed.
Ding.
The hands moved forward again.
4:22...
4:23.
The System appeared instantly.
[Chronological Lock: 3/7 Released.]
[Fourth Lock Awaiting Trigger.]
Another notification appeared beneath it.
One none of them had seen before.
[EMOTIONAL RESONANCE LINK ESTABLISHED.]
Linked Individual: Sasha Gamilo
Silence.
No one spoke.
Dillan slowly looked toward Sasha.
She looked just as surprised.
"...What..."
She whispered.
The System answered before anyone else could.
[Distance no longer affects emotional synchronization.]
The notification vanished.
The room remained completely still.
Lyra slowly closed her eyes.
"...It’s happening faster."
Commander Yuna frowned.
"...What is?"
Lyra looked toward Dillan and Sasha.
"...They’re no longer remembering each other..."
She paused.
"...They’re beginning to feel each other."
Outside the headquarters...
Across the street...
The Third Seat quietly watched through the falling rain.
For the first time...
His smile disappeared.
"...Interesting..."
He whispered.
"...That wasn’t supposed to happen yet."
Behind him...
One of the Seven Watchers stood silently beneath a streetlamp.
The Watcher spoke only five words.
History has changed again.
The Third Seat slowly looked toward the headquarters.
"...No..."
He murmured.
"...Someone rewrote the path."
Rain continued to fall over Seoul.
Not violently.
Steadily.
As if the city itself had settled into quiet anticipation.
Inside Guardian Network Headquarters...
Nobody spoke.
The last System notification still lingered in everyone’s thoughts.
[EMOTIONAL RESONANCE LINK ESTABLISHED.]
Linked Individual: Sasha Gamilo
Commander Yuna finally broke the silence.
"...Can anyone explain what that means?"
No one answered.
Except Lyra.
"...No."
She looked toward Dillan and Sasha.
"...Because..."
"...I’ve never seen it happen before."
Dillan slowly looked at Sasha.
"...Do you..."
He hesitated.
"...Feel anything?"
She closed her eyes.
At first...
Nothing.
Then...
A strange warmth settled inside her chest.
Not her own.
Someone else’s.
Calm.
Curious.
Slightly embarrassed.
She opened her eyes.
"...You’re nervous."
Dillan blinked.
"...How did you..."
"...Because..."
She placed a hand over her heart.
"...I can feel it."
The room fell silent.
Dana immediately stepped closer.
"...Hold on."
She looked between them.
"...You mean..."
"...You can actually feel his emotions?"
Sasha slowly nodded.
"...A little."
Dr. Yeon was already typing furiously.
"This changes everything..."
To verify it...
Commander Yuna suggested a simple experiment.
"Dillan."
"...Think of something."
He frowned.
"...Like what?"
"Anything."
He closed his eyes.
After several seconds...
A smile slowly appeared on his face.
He remembered...
The bakery.
Young Sasha chasing him through the streets with a piece of sweet bread in her hand.
"You still owe me three!"
He laughed quietly.
Without warning...
Sasha laughed too.
Exactly the same moment.
Everyone stared.
Dana slowly looked between them.
"...You remembered the bakery."
Dillan’s eyes widened.
"...How did you know?"
Sasha blinked.
"...I..."
She looked confused herself.
"...I saw it."
Silence.
Dr. Yeon whispered,
"...They’re sharing memories."
Lyra quietly corrected her.
"...Not memories."
"...Emotions attached to memories."
Commander Yuna folded her arms.
"...Can either of you stop it?"
Dillan concentrated.
The warmth slowly faded.
Sasha nodded.
"...It’s gone."
"...Interesting."
Commander Yuna murmured.
Across the city...
The Third Seat quietly lowered his teacup.
For the first time since arriving in Korea...
He looked genuinely surprised.
"...Impossible."
The Fourth Seat remained expressionless.
"...The synchronization accelerated."
"...Yes."
"...Without the Fourth Lock."
Silence.
The Third Seat slowly smiled again.
"...Someone interfered."
"...The Watchers?"
"...No."
He looked toward Guardian Headquarters.
"...Someone closer."
Meanwhile...
Inside the underground chamber beneath the Gamilo estate...
Chairman Gamilo quietly watched an ancient crystal floating above a stone pedestal.
Its blue light had changed.
Now...
Tiny crimson threads circled around it.
The Chairman narrowed his eyes.
"...Resonance."
The secretary nodded.
"...Yes, sir."
"...Should we notify the Board?"
The Chairman remained silent.
For several moments...
He simply watched the crimson threads.
"...No."
"...Not yet."
"...My daughter..."
He whispered.
"...Is changing the equation."
Guardian Headquarters.
Later that evening...
Dillan and Sasha stood on the rooftop together.
Neither knew why they had both come there.
They simply...
Needed fresh air.
"...This is weird."
Dillan admitted.
"...Very."
Sasha laughed softly.
"...Do you feel it now?"
He nodded.
"...Yeah."
"...You’re..."
He searched for the right word.
"...Peaceful."
She smiled.
"...Because you’re peaceful."
"...So..."
He blinked.
"...We’re affecting each other?"
"...Looks like it."
For a while...
Neither spoke.
The city lights shimmered beneath them.
Then...
Sasha suddenly froze.
Her smile disappeared.
"...Sasha?"
She grabbed the railing tightly.
Her breathing became uneven.
"...What’s wrong?"
She looked toward him.
Confused.
"...Why..."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"...Why do I suddenly feel..."
"...Lonely?"
Dillan’s expression changed.
Because...
At that exact moment...
He felt it too.
A crushing loneliness.
Ancient.
Empty.
Like waiting...
For someone who never came home.
The emotion hit both of them simultaneously.
Neither understood where it came from.
Far below...
Lyra looked toward the rooftop.
Her silver eyes widened.
"...No..."
She whispered.
"...That’s not theirs."
Commander Yuna turned.
"What?"
Lyra slowly backed away from the window.
"...Someone else..."
"...Just entered the Resonance Link."
The pocket watch suddenly chimed.
Ding.
Not once.
Twice.
Ding.
Ding.
The System erupted across Dillan’s vision.
[WARNING.]
[THIRD EMOTIONAL PRESENCE DETECTED.]
[SOURCE UNKNOWN.]
The warmth vanished.
The loneliness remained.
Then...
A voice echoed inside both Dillan’s and Sasha’s minds.
Soft.
Broken.
Crying.
"...I finally found you..."
Both of them froze.
Neither had spoken.
The voice continued.
"...Please..."
"...Don’t leave me alone again..."
The connection abruptly severed.
Silence returned.
Dillan and Sasha stared at one another.
"...You heard it too?"
Dillan asked.
Sasha slowly nodded.
"...Yes."
"...It wasn’t your voice."
"...No."
"...Or yours."
Far away...
Standing alone inside an abandoned train station...
A young woman slowly lowered an old telephone receiver.
Long silver hair.
A white coat.
Her eyes glowed with quiet sorrow.
She smiled through tears.
"...At last..."
She whispered.
"...The bridge is open."
Behind her...
The Third Seat stepped from the darkness.
He looked at her calmly.
"...Welcome back..."
"...Fourth Anchor."