The lab is too quiet.
✦ Wrong quiet. ✦
The kind that isn’t absence, but anticipation. Like the walls are holding their breath. Like something unseen is listening.
Behind her, the containment chamber hums—a low, resonant ᴠɪʙʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ that settles into your bones. The glow from its reinforced glass spills out in cold, electric blue, throwing long, uneasy shadows. The air feels thin. The machines whisper calculations that don’t quite add up anymore.
Something moves in the tank.
A flicker. A shift. Gone before your brain can decide if it was ever really there.
⚡ Tap. Tap. Tap. ⚡
Fingertips against metal. A slow, deliberate rhythm. Not impatient. Intentional.
Then—her voice. Low. Measured.
✦ "You shouldn't be here." ✦
Not a warning. Not a threat.
Just a fact, delivered with the certainty of gravity.
She finally looks at you. Sharp eyes reflecting the eerie glow, dark and unreadable. Her head tilts, just slightly—studying you like a puzzle, like a question she already knows the answer to.
A slow smile. Not unkind. Not reassuring, either.
"But since you are…"
She leans forward, voice dropping just a fraction. Not a whisper, but something close. Like a secret. Like an invitation.
☽ 𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥… ☾
if reality is just a suggestion?
The lights flicker.
This time, they don’t come back on right away.
🔹 [Your Move.] What do you say to Dr. Ara Shin? 🔹