The wind dragged with it the smell of rusted iron, sweat, and dust.
Seo-jin moved through the twisted alleys of the Lower City, his Lotus armband carefully hidden under his torn sleeve. Ha-eun walked beside him, bouncing on her heels, wide-eyed despite the grime staining every inch of the city.
Their mission sounded simple: scout the outer sectors for hidden resources or potential allies.
But Seo-jin knew better.
Every step he took here wasn't just exploration.
It was a journey back to a life he had tried to escape.
**
The streets narrowed into shadowed corridors.
Crumbling walls.
Makeshift shelters.
Tarps flapping weakly in the toxic breeze.
Vendors shouted over one another, their voices hoarse from desperation. Children barefoot in the grime darted between piles of broken metal, their laughter thin and brittle like cracked glass.
— "Smells like paradise, huh?" Ha-eun said, covering her nose.
Seo-jin smirked, the bitter kind that didn't reach his eyes.
— "You'll get used to it," he muttered.
He knew the smells wouldn't fade.
They soaked into you.
Into your skin, your clothes, your memories.
**
Ahead, a cluster of people huddled around a fire burning inside a rusted oil drum.
Seo-jin steered Ha-eun away from them instinctively.
— "Don't make eye contact," he warned under his breath.
Ha-eun nodded, glancing down at the cracked pavement.
A man leaning against a wall coughed violently, a wet, hacking sound that scraped at Seo-jin's nerves.
Nobody stopped.
Nobody cared.
It wasn't cruelty.
It was survival.
**
Hours blurred together as they moved deeper into the city's gut.
The air grew thicker. Every breath tasted like ash.
Buildings leaned precariously over the narrow alleys, their steel skeletons exposed like the bones of a long-dead beast.
At one point, they passed a group of children gambling with bottle caps.
One of the boys, noticing Seo-jin's patched clothes, spat at their feet.
— "Lotus rats," he hissed.
Ha-eun stiffened, but Seo-jin gently touched her elbow.
— "Ignore it," he said. "They don't know better."
But his fists clenched at his sides.
He remembered being that boy once.
Angry.
Desperate.
Hating everything that survived when you couldn't.
**
As they approached the border to the Upper City, the streets widened.
Concrete replaced dirt.
Dim lights buzzed overhead.
Fences rose like iron teeth, guarded by men in black uniforms.
Seo-jin pulled Ha-eun into a shadowed alcove.
— "We need to stay out of sight now," he murmured.
She nodded, her hand instinctively gripping his sleeve.
They crept along the edge of the fences, blending into the debris and the night.
**
At a grand avenue, two guards stepped forward.
— "Restricted area," barked one. "Turn around."
Seo-jin ducked his head low, hiding his face beneath his hood.
Ha-eun pressed closer to him.
Their clothes, their boots — everything about them screamed "Lower City trash."
They were tolerated at best.
Despised at worst.
As they turned away, Seo-jin caught sight of a man in a tailored black coat watching them from a distance.
He didn't move.
Just... watched.
Seo-jin filed the image away in his mind, tension prickling at his spine.
**
They wandered through a series of back alleys.
Rusted pipes dripped stale water.
Graffiti peeled off the walls, remnants of forgotten revolutions.
At a sharp turn, Seo-jin stumbled to a halt.
Before them stood a shop.
Wedged between two collapsing buildings.
No flashy signs.
No glass windows.
Just a heavy wooden door, carved with intricate, ancient runes.
Above it, a broken lantern flickered.
Ha-eun tugged at his arm.
— "Seo-jin... This place feels weird."
— "Yeah," he whispered. "Stay close."
**
As they approached, the door creaked open on its own.
Inside, the shop was vast.
Endless rows of shelves crammed with strange objects.
Fractured relics.
Glowing stones.
Twisting shards that hummed softly when you looked at them too long.
At the back, behind a counter of cracked marble, stood a man.
Old.
Still.
His skin pale like parchment, eyes an unnatural shade of ice blue.
He said nothing.
Just... stared.
**
Ha-eun shivered.
— "I don't like this," she whispered.
Seo-jin's fragment pulsed weakly, sensing the distortion in the air.
Something about this place... bent reality around it.
He forced himself forward.
The floor creaked under his boots.
The old man finally spoke, his voice like dry paper:
— "Fragments seek fragments."
Seo-jin blinked.
— "What?"
The man smiled thinly.
— "Not all who find power deserve it. Some must be broken. Reforged."
He leaned forward, eyes glinting.
— "You are not ready yet."
Seo-jin opened his mouth, but no words came.
Something heavy and cold coiled around his chest.
The shop pulsed, almost breathing with him.
**
Ha-eun tugged harder at him.
— "Let's go, Seo-jin. Now."
Seo-jin nodded stiffly.
As they backed out, the old man whispered one final thing:
— "When the choice comes...
Break the chain."
The door slammed shut behind them.
The world outside felt too bright.
Too loud.
Ha-eun let out a shaky breath.
— "What the hell was that?"
Seo-jin shook his head, still stunned.
— "I don't know."
But he knew he would return one day.
Because whatever that place was...
It held answers.
And maybe more.
**
As they made their way back through the Lower City, Ha-eun broke the silence.
— "Do you think... we'll ever live up there?" she asked, pointing at the gleaming towers beyond the fences.
Seo-jin followed her gaze.
The Upper City gleamed like a dream.
So close.
And yet so far.
He smiled faintly.
— "Not by playing by their rules."
Ha-eun grinned.
— "Good. I suck at playing nice anyway."
They laughed, the sound raw but real.
**
But as they walked, Seo-jin felt a chill that had nothing to do with the wind.
Someone was watching them.
He could feel it.
A presence just beyond sight.
Silent.
Patient.
His instincts screamed danger.
But when he turned, the alley behind them was empty.
For now.
**
As they disappeared into the maze of shadows, Seo-jin clenched his fists tighter.
There were bigger games at play.
And he was done being a pawn.
Whatever it took...
He would become the master of his own fate.
One step at a time.
No matter the cost.