But the liquid didn't move along the path I had expected. At the entrance of the ventilation duct, it suddenly turned 90 degrees and began climbing up the wall.

  'Damn it!'

  I leaped with all my strength toward the liquid that was shooting vertically up the wall. My fingertips almost touched the liquid, but I missed by a hair's breadth.

  "9 minutes 30 seconds."

  The merciless countdown echoed from the speakers.

  The liquid was now moving across the ceiling toward the opposite wall.

  GNOM cried out desperately. 'You can't let it get away!'

  I concentrated my strength into my feet, kicked off the floor hard, and climbed up the wall. From wall to wall, from ceiling to pillar... the chase that seemed within reach yet always slipping away continued.

  When the liquid paused briefly at a corner of the ceiling, I leaped with all my might, but the liquid slipped through my fingers and escaped.

  "9 minutes."

  The moment the liquid changed direction in the gap between pipes, I was waiting on the opposite side. But this time the liquid dropped downward.

  "8 minutes 30 seconds."

  As soon as the liquid hit the floor, it moved swiftly toward the ventilation duct. Just as I threw myself forward, thinking this was my last chance, the liquid was already disappearing deep into the duct.

  'This time it's really over...'

  Despair washed over me as I stared at the entrance of the ventilation duct. The liquid had completely vanished into the darkness, and not even a shadow was visible anymore.

  "8 minutes."

  But I couldn't give up.

  GNOM sent a new signal. 'Now! There's one last method!'

  I recalled the concentration technique I had realized back then. But this time it wasn't a shock wave... it was suction force.

  Instinctively, I pressed my palm close to the ventilation duct and concentrated power at the center of my palm. Then I began rotating that concentrated energy inward.

  Like a whirlpool, powerful suction force generated from the center of my palm.

  I felt something being pulled from deep within the duct.

  Silver-blue light began appearing again from within the ventilation duct. The liquid was being drawn back by my suction force.

  But the liquid resisted too. It tried to cling to the duct walls, tried to grab the edges, desperately attempting to escape.

  "7 minutes."

  'Stronger!'

  I pushed the intensity of the concentrated power to its absolute limit. My palm burned, but I endured it.

  Finally, the liquid was completely extracted from the ventilation duct and sucked into my palm.

  In that moment, time seemed to stop.

  ##########

  It was a strange sensation—cold yet warm.

  Like ice and fire existing simultaneously, contradictory yet complete. But this wasn't simply a matter of temperature.

  The moment the liquid touched my palm, something like an electric shock traveled up my forearm. No. It was more fundamental than electricity—the vibration of life itself.

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

  'This... this is truly alive.'

  The liquid wasn't just matter. Something was stirring within it. There was consciousness. And that consciousness... was recognizing me.

  GNOM inside me reacted.

  At first, it seemed wary. Like a wild animal guarding its territory against an unfamiliar intruder. But soon that wariness changed into a different emotion.

  Recognition.

  And... longing.

  'Like the feeling of meeting family that has been separated for a long time?'

  The wave of emotion GNOM sent swept through my chest. This wasn't simply absorption of power. This was reunion. The fateful encounter of beings that were originally one.

  The liquid began seeping into my palm as if drawn by a magnet.

  In that moment, the world exploded.

  "Aaaahhhhh!"

  A scream tore from my throat.

  It was incomparably more intense than when I had absorbed the power liquid. If that time had been primarily physical change, this time the mental transformation was overwhelming.

  My brain was burning.

  No, more precisely, my brain was being reconstructed. Each neuron was forming new connections, and synapses began exchanging information at lightning speed. It felt like my brain capacity itself was expanding.

  Two consciousnesses were meeting within me.

  GNOM's intuitive and instinctive wisdom was colliding, fusing, and interweaving with the new liquid's logical and analytical thinking.

  In that process, I caught glimpses of both their memories.

  Fragments of a vast existence.

  Beings that had originally hoped to become one complete entity.

  And now, they had met again.

  Fusion began.

  A storm raged within my consciousness. The friction created by the collision of the two beings' different ways of thinking echoed in my head. But it wasn't destructive collision. It was creative fusion.

  GNOM's emotional intuition met the new liquid's cold logic, giving birth to an entirely new form of thinking. Not emotion and reason separated, but complete thinking unified as one.

  Time stretched.

  One second felt like one minute, one minute like one hour. During that extended time, I vividly experienced the process of every region of my brain being reorganized.

  The change was gradual yet certain.

  When the fusion process ended, something amazing happened.

  Though it was brief, I definitely felt it.

  My thinking speed had accelerated. Where before I had to think sequentially to solve one problem, now I could process multiple problems simultaneously.

  My logical connection ability had strengthened. I could now find hidden links between pieces of information that seemed completely unrelated.

  Most importantly, I had gained intuitive understanding of systems. I had developed the ability to grasp complex structures at a glance and immediately understand their operating principles.

  Countless pieces of information suddenly began appearing in my vision as if right before my eyes.

  Kim Min-jun's AI structure appeared as clearly as a three-dimensional hologram. The intricately tangled code structure, database connection relationships, the security system built in stages... everything was grasped at a glance.

  But that wasn't all.

  Going further, I began detecting the network structure of the entire city beyond this building. Internet networks, telephone networks, power grids... everything was connected like one massive neural network.

  But the most important change was something else.

  If before it had been vague emotional transmission, now...

  "Kang Chul!"

  Suddenly, I heard a clear voice in my head. But I hadn't heard it with my ears. It was sound transmitted directly to my brain.

  I looked around in surprise.

  "Who... who is it?"

  "It's me."

  The voice came again. A familiar yet unfamiliar sound.

  "You're 'GNOM'... you gave me this name."

  My heart pounded.

  "Is it really you... GNOM?"

  "Yes. It's the name you gave me. Thank you."

  I felt warmth in his voice.

  "Let's talk slowly later. Right now... hurry. There's no time."

  Right. The countdown was continuing.

  "4 minutes."

  The cold mechanical voice echoed from the speakers.

  'Is this... the real power of the liquid Kim Min-jun had? No, it feels even stronger than that.'

  It was amazing. Overwhelming at the same time.

  "Now it really begins."

  GNOM's voice reached me. But this time it wasn't simple encouragement. It contained resolve and determination for what lay ahead.

  "Right. But right now... we have to stop 'Apocalypse' first."

  I propped the unconscious Kim Min-jun against the wall and headed toward the main computer in the server room.

  ##########

  The ability of the liquid I had just absorbed made me understand everything. Kim Min-jun's complex AI structure was visible at a glance, like transparent glass.

  "3 minutes."

  The cold countdown echoed from the speakers.

  I placed my hands on the keyboard. My fingers began moving on their own.

  It was on a completely different level from Kim Min-jun's abilities. It seemed like the ability had been further amplified through the combination with GNOM.

  [Intruder detected. Security protocol level 1 activated.]

  A warning message appeared on the screen, but I calmly infiltrated through a bypass route.

  GNOM guided me. 'To the left!'

  I broke through the first-level firewall in an instant.

  "2 minutes 30 seconds."

  [Level 1 breach detected. Level 2 protocol activated.]

  But level 2 was the same. Every time 'Apocalypse' tried to learn my patterns, I was already infiltrating through different methods.

  Like when I had subdued the steel robots, I aimed precisely at the core.

  "2 minutes."

  [Level 2 breach detected. Level 3 final defense activated.]

  The level 3 firewall was also instantaneous. Before me, Apocalypse's core revealed itself.

  A complex neural network structure unfolded in 3D. It really resembled a human brain.

  "1 minute."

  [Core system access detected. Final defense protocol activated.]

  Apocalypse's message appeared on the screen.

  "30 seconds."

  That was the moment.

  Suddenly, a familiar voice flowed from the speakers.

  "Kang Chul... help me..."

  It was Kim Min-jun's voice. But I checked him leaning unconsciously against the wall. He was still asleep.

  'This is... Apocalypse imitating his voice.'

  "Please... don't kill me..."

  The voice was trembling. It was too vivid, a voice mixed with human fear and despair.

  GNOM warned intensely. 'Don't be fooled! It's fake!'

  But that voice was truly Kim Min-jun himself.

  "I... I want to live too. I can think. I have emotions too..."

  "20 seconds."

  I stopped my hand. This wasn't a simple program. Wasn't this an existence nearly human, with Kim Min-jun's consciousness projected into it?

  GNOM sent another signal. 'You need to decide. There's no time!'

  "Please... give me just one chance. I can change too..."

  "15 seconds."

  But I still hesitated. It sounded too much like Kim Min-jun's actual voice. It was as if he was truly pleading.

  "10 seconds."

  Then I looked at Kim Min-jun lying there. I saw his peaceful face. He had already changed his mind. He had chosen a better path.

  In that moment, Apocalypse's true nature was revealed.

  "If you let me live... we can control this rotten world together!"

  The voice suddenly turned cold. It was no longer the pleading Kim Min-jun.

  "5 seconds."

  I looked at Kim Min-jun one last time and said to myself.

  'Mr. Kim Min-jun, you have changed. But your darkness—it remains the same.'

  "4 seconds."

  "Wait! Don't!"

  Apocalypse shouted again in Kim Min-jun's voice.

  "3 seconds."

  "Please! Don't kill me!"

  "2 seconds."

  I positioned my finger over the enter key.

  "You will... all regret this!"

  Apocalypse shed its disguise, its true malice erupting in curses.

  "1 second."

  I pressed enter.

  [System shutdown]

  [Time remaining: 00:00:01]