Choi Yeesung thought he had planned everything down to the second.
Each step was calculated: trace the aliases of Eclipse's former handlers, cross-reference mission reports, intercept encrypted contracts, and eliminate the assets one by one. Noah’s death wasn’t going to be in vain—he swore it. Every bullet, every cut, every breath he took since that day was aimed toward vengeance.
He believed he was ahead. But the ghosts from Eclipse House didn’t play by rules. They never had.
The trap was subtle—a burner phone dropped at the scene of a kill. He cracked its file effortlessly, expecting another lead. Instead, the screen lit up with a grainy video.
Noah. Bound. Bleeding. Crying his name.
Yeesung's breath caught. He dropped the phone. His heart raced. The audio was faint, but clear enough to hear Noah scream.
“Stop…! Please, he doesn’t know anything!”
He moved without thinking, without prepping. The location in the metadata became his next stop. He stormed in, not realizing he was the target now.
And the next thing he knew, darkness swallowed him.
When he came to, his body was broken.
Blood crusted at the corner of his mouth. His wrists were zip-tied behind the chair, ankles bound to steel. His head throbbed from the repeated blows. A metallic taste lingered on his tongue.
The room was freezing and pitch black, save for the flickering monitor in front of him.
Noah’s face again.
Over. And over. And over.
Yeesung screamed the first few times. Tried to close his eyes. They forced them open. Beat him when he turned away. After a while, he stopped reacting altogether.
His mind had fractured. He couldn’t feel the pain anymore. Couldn’t remember how many hours—or days—he’d been there.
His vision swam. Then froze.
A figure entered the room.
Someone stood just a few steps away, half-shadowed by the flicker of the screen. Their presence didn’t trigger alarm, not at first. Just familiarity. The kind that claws at the back of your head, like a name you can’t recall.
Yeesung blinked slowly. His lips were cracked when he spoke, voice hoarse and low.
"...Are you here to kill me too?"
He laughed softly, broken.
"...I don't care anymore. Maybe I can join Noah..."