?? ??? ??? ???? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?????. ?? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??? ???.

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  "??! ?? ??! '?????' ??? 1? ???!"

  ??? ??? SUV ???? ???? ?? ??? ?? ?? ?? ???.

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  ?! ?!

  ???? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???. ???? ??? ?????. ??? ?? ?? ?? ??? '???'?? ??? ???? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????.

  ? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ????. ?? ????? ?? ?? ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ???.

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  "??, ????! ?? ??? ?? ?? ??? ?? ?? ??? ?? ??? ?????!"

  ??? ??? ?? ??? ?? ? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?? ???? ?? ??. ? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?? ????.

  ??! ?!

  ????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??????? ?? ? ?? ?? ?? ??? ???. ??? ? ?? ? ?? ??? ??? ?? ????? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??????.

  "???? ??? ?? ??. ?? ??? ?? ?? ???, ?????? ????? ???? ??? ?. ?? ?? ???."

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  [??: ?? ??. ?? ?? ???.]

  ?????? ??? ???? ?? ?? ????. ??? ?? ??.

  "???! ?? ?? ??? ???? ???! ??? ?? ? ???!"

  ??? ??? ???? ??? ?? ???. ? ??, ??? ?? ?? ??? ?? ?? ????. ?? ??? ???? ?? ? ?????, ?? ??? ???? ???? ???? ???.

  He grabbed a canister of waste oil from his belt, lit a flare, and hurled it onto a mountain of scrap metal.

  WOOSH—!

  Despite the heavy rain, the oil ignited violently, creating a wall of fire that temporarily blinded the agents' thermal vision. Jin-woo moved through the flames like a phantom.

  Thud. Crack. Zap.

  He didn't waste movements. He struck vital points with lethal precision, pouring high voltage into the necks of the remaining agents. Finally, he grabbed the leader by the collar of his exosuit and slammed him against a burning car door.

  "You cut off my woman's breath, and you think you deserve to breathe? The meat party is cancelled. Go eat hell’s leftovers instead."

  Jin-woo threw the leader face-first into the mud and sprinted back to Yuri. His hands, usually steady, trembled as he switched the respirator to manual mode.

  Hiss— Pshhh.

  The stable mechanical sound returned. Jin-woo collapsed onto the muddy ground, gasping for air.

  "Seo-hee... let's go. If the fire trucks come, it’s game over. The next hideout... we have to go deep into the mountains. I might have to dig for wild ginseng to make a living."

  He tried to joke as he hoisted Yuri up, but his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

  Leaving the flames of the junkyard behind, the SUV climbed the steep, winding roads toward the border of Gangwon Province. Jin-woo headed for a secluded villa at an altitude of 800 meters—a fortress surrounded by dense coniferous forests and steep cliffs, bought with his retirement funds from his 'Phantom' days. It was a natural blind spot for satellite surveillance.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "Chief, Unni’s fever isn't going down. The respirator numbers are stable, but she keeps mumbling..."

  Seo-hee sat in the back, wiping Yuri’s wet forehead with a towel. Her voice was laced with panic. Jin-woo checked Yuri’s pale face in the rearview mirror and pressed harder on the accelerator.

  By the time they moved Yuri and Jin-ho into the cabin amidst the howling wind and rain, it was past 3:00 AM.

  Logs crackled in the stone fireplace, casting dancing shadows on the wooden walls. While Seo-hee checked on Jin-ho in the adjacent room, Jin-woo sat by Yuri’s bedside, enveloping her cold hand with both of his warmth.

  Between the mechanical hiss of the machine, Yuri’s dry lips twitched ever so slightly.

  "Hey, Yuri. You worked hard to get here. I told you, right? The air is good here. I'll dig up some wild ginseng and feed it to you. So please... just wake up and scold me for my dad jokes again."

  Jin-woo forced a smile, but a tear escaped his bloodshot eyes, landing on the back of her hand.

  At that moment.

  Yuri’s finger moved. It was faint, barely a tremor, but it moved within Jin-woo’s grasp.

  "......Ji... nu...."

  It wasn't a machine's sound. It was a human voice, leaking through the gaps of the artificial breath. It was so low and faint that the rain almost drowned it out, but to Jin-woo, it sounded like a thunderclap.

  Yuri’s eyelids fluttered, and slowly, her unfocused eyes revealed themselves.

  "Yuri? Can you see me? It’s me! It's Kang Jin-woo! Hey, Seo-hee! Seo-hee, get in here! Your sister opened her eyes!"

  Jin-woo shouted frantically. Seo-hee rushed in from the next room, shoeless. Yuri stared blankly at the ceiling, then shifted her gaze to Seo-hee, and finally to Jin-woo. Slowly, painfully, a faint smile formed on her lips.

  "Ji... nu..."

  It was a fleeting moment. Her eyes closed again as she fell back into a deep slumber.

  "Unni? Unni! She just called my name, right? Chief, she smiled! She definitely smiled!"

  Seo-hee hugged Yuri, sobbing uncontrollably. Jin-woo stroked Yuri’s hand with trembling fingers. It was only for a few seconds, but it was undeniable proof. Her consciousness had broken the chains of 'Eden' and returned.

  "Yeah... I saw it. I saw it, Seo-hee. This is the real beginning. Even if they tried to turn her into a machine, Yuri still wants to live as a human."

  Jin-woo stared into the flames of the fireplace, biting his lip. If Yuri was waking up, the war with 'S' would become even more brutal. They would never give up on their 'Engine'.

  He gripped the taser in his pocket, listening to the rain seeping into the darkness of the mountain.

  Although Yuri had fallen back asleep, the atmosphere in the cabin had shifted. Hope filled Seo-hee’s eyes, but Jin-woo quietly checked his equipment, staring at the fire. Yuri’s brainwaves waking up meant she had paradoxically sent a strong signal to 'S'.

  "Seo-hee, don't celebrate yet. The radio waves around the cabin feel wrong. They must have detected Yuri’s 'Awakening' and locked a satellite onto us."

  His ominous premonition was dead on. Suddenly, the old radio in the living room burst with static, and a red warning window filled Seo-hee’s laptop screen.

  [S: The Engine has started to beat again. Phantom, are you ready to protect that precious thing?]

  "Chief! The communication network is completely cut off! All external signals are dead!"

  Along with Seo-hee’s scream, unidentified lights flashed through the gaps in the coniferous forest outside. Jin-woo loaded a fresh cartridge into his taser, his eyes cold as ice.

  "Seo-hee, time for sentimentality about genetic attraction is over. They are here. This time, it’s not the anchovies with toys. These are the real 'Hounds'."

  Jin-woo quickly set up an electromagnetic shielding tent around Yuri’s bed. Inside the silent cabin, where the mechanical hiss sounded unusually loud, Jin-woo spotted black shadows approaching through the rain in the door crack.

  "Hey, Yeong-hee. Oppa has to go dig up some heads instead of ginseng. You stay right next to your sister and brother. Don't open the door, no matter what you hear."

  Jin-woo quietly opened the back door and melted into the darkness. The name she had called him—'Ji-nu'—burned in his chest like cold fury. The man who had found something to protect was no longer a ghost; he was preparing to become the cruelest predator.

  As the cabin door clicked shut, Jin-woo became one with the pitch-black night. The torrential rain obscured vision, but for Jin-woo, it was a favorable battlefield. While the enemies relied on thermal goggles, he read their positions through the flow of air and the vibrations in the ground.

  "First anchovy, located."

  Jin-woo appeared soundlessly from behind a giant oak tree and drove the high-voltage taser into the base of a Hound's skull.

  Zzzzap—!

  The agent collapsed without a scream. Jin-woo snatched the falling radio and whispered coldly into it.

  "Tell your captain. The hike ends here. I'll dig the path down to hell for you myself."

  Silence flowed over the radio for a moment, then the mechanically modulated voice of 'S' responded.

  [You still have a mouth on you, Phantom. But look behind you. Have you forgotten how fragile Yuri’s breath is?]

  Jin-woo instinctively turned his head toward the cabin. Three red laser dots were already aiming at the cabin window where Yuri lay. Blood vessels burst in Jin-woo’s eyes.

  "You cowardly bastards...!"

  Jin-woo triggered the small EMP trap he had buried earlier.

  FZZZT—!

  Instantly, all electronics around the cabin short-circuited. The laser sights wavered as the scopes malfunctioned. Seizing the moment, Jin-woo leaped from the muddy ground, kicking the jaw of a sniper positioned on the cliff edge.

  "Did you idiots only learn how to shoot? Compared to the sound of my woman calling my name, your footsteps sound like thunder!"

  Jin-woo moved like a lightning bolt, neutralizing their weapons and clearing the perimeter up to the cabin entrance. But the last remaining leader-class agent activated a device that scrambled the frequency of the artificial respirator.

  Inside the cabin, the sound of Yuri’s convulsive coughing leaked out.

  "No... Yuri!"

  Jin-woo ignored the voltage coursing through his own body from a grazing stun baton and tackled the leader. Lightning struck above the two shadows tangled in the mud. Jin-woo snapped the agent's arm and roared, his voice tearing through the storm.

  "???? ? ??? ????? ?? ??... ?? ??? ???? ??????!"