Chapter 94: Love Drive
Nobody left the meeting room.
Not immediately.
The silence after the Third Seat’s departure lingered like smoke.
Commander Yuna stood at the head of the table, both hands resting firmly against its polished surface.
"...Report."
Dana took a slow breath.
"...The moment he looked at me..."
She stopped.
As though struggling to describe what she’d seen.
"...I wasn’t here anymore."
"What did you see?"
Commander Yuna asked.
Dana’s fingers slowly curled into fists.
"...A future."
Silence.
"...Dillan was dead."
Nobody spoke.
"...I couldn’t reach him."
"...No matter how fast I ran."
Her voice cracked.
"...I was too late."
The room remained completely still.
The Third Seat hadn’t attacked her body.
He had attacked her certainty.
Dr. Yeon quietly typed notes onto her tablet.
"...Psychological projection."
Lyra slowly shook her head.
"...No."
Everyone looked toward her.
"...He doesn’t create illusions."
"...He shows possibilities."
"...Possibilities that haven’t happened..."
"...Yet."
Commander Yuna frowned.
"...Meaning every one of us could see something different."
Lyra nodded.
"...Exactly."
"...He chooses the fear already inside you."
Sera quietly lowered her teacup.
She hadn’t spoken since the meeting began.
But one thought refused to leave her mind.
If he looked at me...
...what would I see?
She wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.
Across the room...
Dillan remained unusually quiet.
The Third Seat’s final words echoed over and over.
Next time... I’ll say your name.
The pocket watch inside his jacket ticked softly.
Steady.
Patient.
Almost warning him.
Later that afternoon...
Commander Yuna made a decision.
"Nobody leaves headquarters alone."
Dana sighed.
"...Seriously?"
"Especially Dillan."
She looked directly at him.
"Until we understand what the Third Seat wants..."
"...You’re never by yourself."
"...Got it."
Dillan nodded.
He didn’t argue.
For once...
He agreed completely.
That evening...
Sasha stood outside headquarters.
Waiting.
She wasn’t waiting for Dillan.
She was thinking.
About the Third Seat.
About the Board.
About her father.
Then...
She noticed someone watching her.
Not the Third Seat.
Not a Watcher.
A young woman sat quietly on a nearby bench.
Long black hair.
Reading a novel.
She smiled politely when Sasha noticed her.
"...Beautiful evening."
"...It is."
Sasha answered cautiously.
The woman closed her book.
"...You love him."
It wasn’t a question.
Sasha’s expression didn’t change.
"...Yes."
"...More than your own life."
"...Yes."
"...Would you kill for him?"
Silence.
A long silence.
Finally...
Sasha answered.
"...I don’t want to."
The woman smiled faintly.
"...Interesting."
"...You didn’t say no."
Before Sasha could respond...
The woman stood.
"...We’ll meet again."
She disappeared into the evening crowd.
Within seconds...
She was gone.
Inside headquarters...
Mira was reviewing security footage again.
She stopped suddenly.
"...Commander."
Yuna looked over.
"What now?"
Mira enlarged the recording from the front gate.
"...There."
Sasha.
Standing alone.
Talking.
Commander Yuna frowned.
"...Who was she talking to?"
Mira slowly zoomed in.
Nobody.
The recording showed Sasha speaking...
To empty air.
"...That’s impossible."
Mira whispered.
She replayed it.
Again.
The same result.
Only Sasha was visible.
The mysterious woman...
Didn’t exist on camera.
Meanwhile...
Lyra stood inside the Resonance Chamber.
The invisible currents surrounding Seoul had begun changing.
Not violently.
Gradually.
Like tiny fractures spreading beneath glass.
She whispered quietly to herself.
"...The Resonance is cracking."
Dr. Yeon entered behind her.
"...Cracking?"
Lyra nodded.
"...Devotion."
"...Fear."
"...Memories."
"...Choice."
"They’re beginning to overlap."
She looked toward the city skyline.
"...The closer Sasha comes to the truth..."
"...The more unstable the Field becomes."
Night.
Dillan returned to his apartment under Guardian escort.
Dana insisted on checking every room.
"...Closet?"
"Empty."
"...Bathroom?"
"Empty."
"...Under the bed?"
"Dana..."
"...Just checking."
He laughed.
"...You’re impossible."
She grinned.
"...You’re welcome."
For a brief moment...
Everything felt normal again.
After she left...
Dillan quietly placed the pocket watch beside the notebook.
Then...
He noticed something.
The notebook.
Another page had filled itself.
He slowly opened it.
Fresh ink.
Still drying.
Only one sentence.
She’s beginning to lose the fight.
Dillan frowned.
"...Who?"
The answer slowly appeared beneath it.
Letter by letter.
Sasha.
His heartbeat stopped.
More words emerged.
When devotion outweighs reason...
Love becomes hunger.
The room suddenly became cold.
The pocket watch began ticking faster.
Across the city...
Sasha sat alone in her apartment.
She stared at the childhood photograph beneath the oak tree.
Her fingers gently traced Dillan’s smile.
Then...
She looked at another photograph.
Dillan laughing with Dana.
Another.
Dillan drinking tea with Sera.
Another.
Dillan smiling beside Mira.
She quietly spread them across the table.
One after another.
For several long moments...
She simply stared.
Then...
Almost absentmindedly...
She reached for a pair of scissors.
Her hand stopped halfway.
She looked down at herself.
"...What..."
The scissors slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the floor.
Her breathing became uneven.
"...No..."
She quickly gathered every photograph together.
Holding them tightly against her chest.
Tears filled her crimson eyes.
"...I..."
"...I’m sorry..."
She whispered to no one.
"...I don’t know why..."
Far away...
Standing atop a skyscraper...
The Third Seat quietly watched her apartment window.
His smile remained calm.
"...The first crack..."
He murmured.
"...Has finally appeared."
The scissors remained on the floor.
The metallic sound still echoed inside Sasha’s apartment.
She stared at them.
Her breathing slowly steadied.
"...What..."
She whispered.
"...Was I about to do?"
The photographs remained clutched tightly against her chest.
Dillan laughing.
Dillan smiling.
Dillan living.
Each picture reminded her of the same truth.
He was happy.
So...
Why had she reached for the scissors?
Her fingers trembled.
"...No..."
She carefully placed every photograph back into the box.
One by one.
As if apologizing to each image.
"I’m sorry."
She whispered.
"I don’t hate you..."
"...I don’t."
But somewhere deep inside...
A tiny voice quietly answered.
Not yet.
Guardian Network Headquarters.
The following morning.
Sera was watering the lilies inside the greenhouse.
Normally...
The flowers calmed her.
Today...
They didn’t.
She remembered the mysterious book.
Trust Sasha.
Those two words refused to leave her thoughts.
Not because she distrusted Sasha.
Because...
She didn’t understand why those words had been written at all.
"...Trust..."
She quietly murmured.
"From what?"
Behind her...
Lyra entered silently.
"You’ve been thinking."
Sera smiled politely.
"...Is it that obvious?"
"...To me."
Lyra walked beside the lilies.
Neither woman spoke for a while.
Finally...
Sera asked,
"...Do you think Sasha is dangerous?"
Lyra didn’t answer immediately.
She gently touched one of the white flowers.
"...No."
Sera blinked.
"...Really?"
"...Not yet."
The answer settled heavily between them.
Meanwhile...
Commander Yuna had everyone gathered for combat drills.
"If the Third Seat returns..."
She looked around the room.
"...You don’t fight alone."
Dana stretched her shoulders.
"So basically..."
"...Don’t be a hero."
"Exactly."
Commander Yuna nodded.
Dillan paired with Dana.
Their sparring match lasted less than two minutes.
Dana easily knocked the wooden practice sword from his hands.
"...You’re getting distracted."
She said.
"I know."
"You hesitated."
"...I know."
"You’ve never hesitated before."
Dillan looked down.
"...I’ve got too much in my head."
Dana picked up the fallen practice sword.
Then handed it back.
"...Then stop fighting with your head."
"...Fight with me."
He smiled.
"...You’re weird."
"So I’ve been told."
Across the room...
Sasha quietly watched.
She wasn’t jealous.
She wasn’t angry.
She simply smiled.
"...He’s improving."
She whispered.
Commander Yuna overheard her.
"...You really believe in him."
"...Always."
"...Even if he never remembered?"
Sasha answered without hesitation.
"...Especially then."
Dr. Yeon entered the training hall carrying new reports.
"...Everyone."
The room immediately quieted.
"We’ve found something."
She placed several maps onto the table.
Each showed a different district of Seoul.
Every location had one thing in common.
Watcher sightings.
"...They aren’t random."
She connected the dots.
The lines formed...
A perfect circle.
At the center...
Guardian Network Headquarters.
Dana slowly frowned.
"...They’re surrounding us."
"...No."
Lyra quietly corrected.
"...They’re protecting something."
Everyone looked toward her.
"...Or..."
She looked toward Dillan.
"...Someone."
Later that afternoon...
Dillan received another memory.
Not from the watch.
Not from the notebook.
From a smell.
Freshly baked sweet bread.
He stopped walking.
His vision blurred.
A little bakery.
Eight-year-old Sasha pouting.
"You ate mine!"
Young Dillan laughed.
"You weren’t looking!"
"I was saving it!"
"I’ll buy another!"
"You don’t have money!"
"...I’ll steal one."
"No!"
The two children burst into laughter.
The memory faded.
Dillan found himself smiling.
"...Sweet bread..."
He quietly laughed.
"I really did eat yours."
Across the street...
Sasha stepped out of the very same bakery.
Two bags in her hands.
She noticed him immediately.
"...Dillan?"
He looked up.
Then...
Without thinking...
He smiled.
"...You still like sweet bread."
She froze.
The bags almost slipped from her hands.
"...You..."
"...Remembered?"
"...A little."
He scratched the back of his head.
"I owe you one."
For several seconds...
Sasha simply stared.
Then she laughed.
Not quietly.
Not politely.
A genuine laugh.
Bright.
Warm.
The kind that came from years of waiting.
"...You still owe me three."
From a café across the road...
The Third Seat watched over the rim of his coffee cup.
He smiled faintly.
"...Good."
He whispered.
"The memories are no longer waiting to be called."
"They’re finding him."
He placed the cup down.
Then quietly spoke to someone sitting opposite him.
"...Are you ready?"
The person remained hidden beneath a dark umbrella.
Only one answer came.
"...Always."
The Third Seat stood.
"...Then the next phase begins."
That evening...
Back at headquarters...
The mysterious notebook opened by itself once again.
Ink slowly spread across a blank page.
The writing was faster this time.
More urgent.
More uneven.
As though the writer’s hand had been shaking.
Listen carefully.
She’s fighting herself.
Help her before she stops asking for help.
Dillan’s heart tightened.
"...Sasha..."
Another line appeared.
The first person she’ll lie to...
Will be herself.
The ink stopped.
Silence filled the room.
Outside the window...
Rain began falling once more.
And in her apartment...
Sasha stood before a mirror.
Looking at her own reflection.
She smiled.
Her reflection...
Didn’t.
For the briefest moment...
The reflection tilted its head.
Its crimson eyes glowed just a little brighter.
And it whispered words Sasha never spoke.
Soon... he’ll only need us.
Sasha blinked.
The reflection smiled normally again.
She stumbled backward.
"...No..."
She whispered, her voice trembling.
"...That wasn’t me."
But somewhere, deep inside the cracks forming within her heart...
Something smiled.