Chapter 98: The Fourth Anchor
The voice disappeared.
Yet...
Its sorrow remained.
Dillan still felt it pressing against his heart.
Not like pain.
Like grief that had waited so long...
It no longer remembered how to leave.
Across from him...
Sasha held a trembling hand against her chest.
"...It hurts..."
She whispered.
"...Like someone’s been..."
She struggled to breathe.
"...Waiting forever."
Dillan slowly nodded.
"...I know."
Neither of them noticed...
The pocket watch had started ticking again.
Guardian Network Headquarters.
The emergency meeting lasted less than five minutes.
Commander Yuna’s expression had become noticeably more serious.
"...Repeat exactly what you heard."
Dillan answered first.
"...I finally found you..."
Sasha continued.
"...Please..."
Then together...
Without meaning to...
They finished the sentence at the exact same moment.
"...Don’t leave me alone again."
Silence.
Dr. Yeon’s fingers froze above her keyboard.
"...Perfect synchronization."
Dana looked between them.
"...That’s getting creepy."
Lyra quietly stood near the window.
Her silver eyes remained closed.
She wasn’t listening to the conversation.
She was listening...
To the Resonance Field.
"...She’s here."
Commander Yuna looked toward her.
"The Fourth Anchor?"
Lyra nodded.
"...Yes."
"...And she’s crying."
Across Seoul...
The abandoned train station remained empty.
Dust floated lazily through shafts of afternoon sunlight.
The young woman with silver hair sat alone on an old wooden bench.
She held an ancient pocket watch.
Not silver.
Gold.
Its hands had also stopped.
Unlike Dillan’s...
It remained frozen at...
11:11.
The Third Seat stood nearby.
"You’ve awakened."
The young woman smiled sadly.
"...No."
"...I’ve only remembered."
She gently closed the watch.
"...Where is he?"
The Third Seat looked toward the city skyline.
"...Closer than ever."
A single tear rolled down the young woman’s cheek.
"...Good."
Guardian Headquarters.
Mira had begun searching every database she could access.
Hospitals.
Schools.
Hunter registrations.
Immigration records.
Nothing.
The silver-haired woman didn’t exist.
"...How?"
She whispered.
"It’s like..."
"...She was never born."
Dr. Yeon looked up from another screen.
"...Actually..."
"What?"
Mira walked over.
Dr. Yeon enlarged an old medical archive.
Twenty-two years ago.
One hospital.
One fire.
Most records destroyed.
Only one surviving document remained.
The patient name had been burned away.
Only one line remained readable.
Female child.
Approximate age: eight.
Condition: Complete memory collapse.
The room fell silent.
Lyra quietly whispered,
"...Anchor Syndrome."
Meanwhile...
Dillan couldn’t stop thinking about the voice.
Something about it felt...
Familiar.
Not like Sasha.
Different.
Older.
Lonelier.
As he walked through headquarters...
A memory surfaced.
Tiny.
Brief.
A rainy afternoon.
A little girl with silver hair sat alone on a playground swing.
Young Dillan walked toward her.
"...Why are you crying?"
The girl smiled through tears.
"...Because nobody remembers me."
The memory vanished.
Dillan stopped walking.
"...Silver hair..."
He whispered.
At that exact moment...
The pocket watch chimed.
Ding.
The System appeared.
[MEMORY RECOVERY: 22%]
[NEW INDIVIDUAL RECOGNIZED.]
Before he could read further...
The notification glitched violently.
Letters scrambled.
Reformed.
[IDENTITY SEALED.]
"...Again..."
He muttered.
That evening...
Sasha returned to her apartment.
The moment she opened the door...
She knew someone had entered.
Nothing had been stolen.
Nothing had moved.
Except...
The childhood photograph.
It no longer showed two children beneath the oak tree.
Now...
Three children stood there.
Young Dillan.
Young Sasha.
And...
A little silver-haired girl standing quietly behind them.
Sasha’s breathing stopped.
"...No..."
She picked up the photograph with shaking hands.
"...You..."
Another memory flickered.
Three children laughing.
Three paper cranes.
Three promises.
Then...
Everything disappeared again.
The photograph slipped from her fingers.
"...Who..."
She whispered.
"...Are you?"
Far away...
The silver-haired woman stood beneath the old oak tree.
For the first time in twenty-two years...
She smiled.
Not because she was happy.
Because...
Someone had finally started remembering her.
She gently held a faded blue ribbon against her heart.
"...Just one more memory..."
She whispered.
"...Please..."
"...Remember my name."
Behind her...
The Third Seat quietly closed his eyes.
"...Three hearts."
He murmured.
"...One promise."
Then...
For the first time...
His calm expression carried the faintest hint of concern.
"...This wasn’t the future..."
"...I was shown."
The photograph lay on Sasha’s apartment floor.
Three children.
Not two.
The little silver-haired girl stood quietly behind them, smiling shyly while holding something in both hands.
A paper crane.
Sasha slowly knelt.
"...No..."
Her fingers trembled as she picked up the picture.
"I would’ve remembered..."
"...Wouldn’t I?"
The memory refused to come.
Only fragments.
Rain.
Laughter.
Three voices.
Then...
Nothing.
Guardian Network Headquarters.
The next morning...
Dillan arrived carrying three things.
The red ribbon.
The white paper crane.
The mysterious notebook.
He quietly placed them on Dr. Yeon’s desk.
"I think..."
"...They’re connected."
Dr. Yeon immediately began examining them.
"...The ribbon..."
"...The crane..."
"...The notebook..."
She looked toward Dillan.
"...All appeared after your memories began returning."
Lyra slowly approached.
"...Not appeared."
She corrected.
"...Returned."
Meanwhile...
Sasha entered the headquarters carrying something wrapped carefully inside a cloth.
"...I found this."
She gently unfolded the fabric.
The old photograph.
Commander Yuna frowned.
"...There were only two children before."
"...I know."
Sasha whispered.
"...Now there are three."
The room became completely silent.
Mira enlarged the image on a large screen.
Everyone stared.
The silver-haired girl looked no older than eight.
Long silver hair tied into twin braids.
Soft blue eyes.
A gentle smile.
Unlike Sasha...
She looked timid.
As if she was afraid to stand too close.
Dana quietly whispered,
"...She looks lonely."
Dillan stepped closer.
His chest tightened.
"...I’ve seen her."
Everyone turned.
"...Where?"
"...A memory."
He closed his eyes.
"...She was crying."
"...At a playground."
"...I gave her..."
He stopped.
"...Something."
The memory remained frustratingly incomplete.
The notebook suddenly flipped open.
No one touched it.
Fresh ink spread rapidly across a blank page.
Three children.
A second sentence appeared.
Three promises.
Another.
One promise remains unfulfilled.
The room grew colder.
The final line formed.
Find the third crane.
The notebook slammed shut.
Silence.
Dana looked around.
"...Okay..."
"...Who keeps writing in that thing?"
No one answered.
Across Seoul...
The silver-haired woman stood quietly inside an old riverside park.
She fed breadcrumbs to small birds.
They gathered fearlessly around her feet.
One little sparrow landed gently on her shoulder.
She smiled.
"...You’re not afraid."
The bird chirped happily.
Then...
Without warning...
It flew away.
The woman slowly looked toward the sky.
"...He’s close."
Far away...
Inside the underground chamber beneath the Gamilo estate...
Chairman Gamilo stood before the seven enormous locks.
Three now glowed faintly.
The secretary entered hurriedly.
"...Sir."
"What is it?"
"The Fourth Anchor."
"...She’s awakened."
The Chairman remained silent.
For several long moments.
Then...
"...Prepare the archive."
The secretary hesitated.
"...The forbidden one?"
"...Yes."
"If all four Anchors begin remembering..."
"...History..."
He quietly placed one hand against the ancient stone.
"...Will refuse to repeat itself."
Guardian Headquarters.
The entire afternoon was spent searching.
Every storage room.
Every evidence archive.
Every forgotten box.
Nothing.
No third paper crane.
Dana dropped another dusty cardboard box onto the floor.
"...I’m officially done with old junk."
Mira laughed quietly.
"...One more."
"You’ve said that seventeen times."
"...This one’s different."
"It isn’t."
Dillan wandered into the headquarters library again.
He wasn’t looking for anything specific.
Something simply...
Pulled him there.
He stopped before an old shelf.
One book stood slightly farther forward than the others.
He reached toward it.
The moment he touched it...
Something small fell onto the floor.
A faded paper crane.
Blue.
He slowly picked it up.
"...Found you."
His breathing stopped.
Because...
Written inside one folded wing...
Tiny handwriting remained perfectly preserved.
For the three of us.
Another memory exploded into his mind.
Three children sitting beneath the oak tree.
Young Sasha folded a white crane.
Young Dillan folded a blue one.
The silver-haired girl laughed while trying to fold her own.
"It looks funny..."
Young Dillan smiled.
"Then it’s perfect."
The little girl giggled.
"We all keep one."
Young Sasha nodded enthusiastically.
"And nobody loses theirs!"
Young Dillan held out his little finger.
"Promise."
Three tiny pinkies hooked together.
Three smiling faces.
Three paper cranes.
The memory shattered.
Dillan collapsed to one knee.
The paper crane slipped from his fingers.
Tears filled his eyes.
"...There were..."
He whispered.
"...Always three."
At that exact moment...
Across the city...
The silver-haired woman suddenly stopped walking.
A brilliant blue light flashed briefly across her chest.
She smiled through tears.
"...You remembered."
She looked toward Guardian Headquarters.
"...Thank you..."
For the first time...
Her figure became slightly more solid.
Less transparent.
As though...
Remembering her...
Was allowing her to exist again.
Hidden atop a distant building...
The Third Seat watched the blue light rise into the evening sky.
His calm smile slowly disappeared.
"...Impossible..."
He whispered.
"...She’s returning too quickly."
Then...
For the first time...
He gave an order that carried unmistakable urgency.
"...Find the Third Crane."
"...Before they remember..."
"...Her name."