“Detective Park is dead,” I whispered, staring at the fresh black ink on the page.
“I saw his body on the police station floor.”
Sua leaned back from the book, her face pale in the dim flashlight beam.
“Then the person holding the keys to the server room tomorrow…”
”It’s a machine,” I said quietly.
“It peeled his face off and took his place.
Just like they planned to do with the assemblyman.”
But that wasn’t the part that scared me the most.
My eyes stayed locked on the line just above it.
The Cleaner is human, and he is hunting the girl.
I closed the diary and slid it back into my coat.
I looked up at Sua.
“You need to stay here.
Or we need to find you a safe house far away from the city center.”
Sua’s eyes narrowed instantly.
The soft, quiet moment we just shared vanished, replaced by her usual sharp fire.
“Excuse me?”
”The log says a Cleaner is coming after you,” I explained, trying to keep my voice calm.
“Not an android.
A human killer.
My past selves never had to deal with him because you always died at the shop.
This is new.
It’s too dangerous.”
Sua stood up, grabbing her shotgun from the table.
“Dangerous?
My shop is in ruins.
An army of fake humans is trying to take over the city.
And you think I’m just going to hide in a hole while you walk into a military building by yourself?”
”I’ve done it before,” I said.
”Yeah, and you died forty-six times doing it,” she shot back, pointing a finger at my chest.
“You said it yourself, Ji-hoo.
I changed the timeline.
We survived tonight because we worked together.
You don’t know the layout of the Ministry of Defense.
You don’t even have a real gun right now.
You have an empty police revolver.”
She was right, and we both knew it.
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling the dull ache from my bruises.
”Fine,” I sighed, giving in.
“But if the log warns us the Cleaner is close, you run.
No arguing.”
Sua gave me a small, victorious smirk.
“Deal.
Now, get some sleep.
I’ll take the first watch.”
I laid down on the long leather booth, using my rolled-up coat as a pillow.
Despite the fear and the cold, the sound of the rain and Sua’s quiet presence nearby pulled me into a deep, dreamless sleep.
When I woke up, the rain had stopped.
Thin lines of gray morning light were shining through the cracks in the boarded-up windows.
Sua was sitting at the bar counter, cleaning the barrel of her shotgun with a piece of cloth.
She looked tired, but focused.
”Morning,” she said without looking up.
”You didn’t wake me for my turn to keep watch,” I groaned, sitting up and rubbing my stiff back.
”You looked like you needed it,” she replied, snapping the shotgun closed.
“Besides, our guest is awake.”
I looked toward the manager’s office.
Assemblyman Kang was standing in the doorway.
He looked terrible.
His expensive suit was wrinkled and stained, and he had dark circles under his eyes.
”What happens now?” Kang asked nervously.
“I have a morning meeting.
If I don’t show up, people will start asking questions.”
”Let them ask,” I said, walking over to him.
“If you go out there, you are a dead man.
The Apex Foundation wants you to attend the secret vote tonight so they can cast your vote to turn on the Aegis Grid.
The only way to stop them is if you completely disappear.”
”I just hide in here?” Kang asked, looking around the dusty jazz club.
”There’s canned food and bottled water in the back pantry,” Sua added, pointing to a small door near the office.
“Do not open the front door.
Do not try to find a phone.
If anyone knocks, you stay completely silent.
We will come back for you when the vote is over.”
Kang looked at the floor, chewing his lip.
Finally, he nodded.
He knew he didn’t have a choice.
”Alright,” I said, turning to Sua.
“The secret vote is tonight.
The servers are in the basement of the Ministry of Defense.
We need to get inside, find the fake Detective Park, and get the next piece of Page 12.
But we can’t just walk through the front door.”
”Way ahead of you,” Sua said.
She walked behind the bar and pulled out a large, heavy plastic bag.
She threw it onto the table.
“I found this in the employee lockers in the back.
Old cleaning staff uniforms.
The company logo on them is faded, but they are generic enough to work.”
I opened the bag.
Inside were two dark blue mechanic jumpsuits and a couple of faded gray caps.
”Perfect,” I said.
Ten minutes later, we were both dressed in the dark blue jumpsuits.
Sua had tied her hair up completely and pulled the gray cap low over her face.
She hid her sawed-off shotgun by hanging it from a strap under her arm, completely covered by the baggy jumpsuit.
I put on my cap and looked at her.
“How do I look?”
Sua stepped closer, reaching out to adjust my crooked collar.
Her fingers brushed lightly against my neck, right next to the bruises.
”You look like a guy who hates his job fixing toilets,” she teased, stepping back with a small smile.
“It’s a good disguise.”
I chuckled.
It felt good to laugh, even for just a second.
We left the jazz club, making sure the heavy door was locked tight behind us.
Stepping out into the morning sunlight felt surreal.
The city of Seoul was completely normal.
Cars were driving by.
People were walking to work with coffee cups in their hands.
Street vendors were selling breakfast foods.
No one knew that an army of machines wearing human skin was slowly taking over the city.
”Keep your head down,” I whispered to Sua as we blended into the crowd on the sidewalk.
“The androids can probably scan faces.
And remember, a human Cleaner is looking for you.”
We walked for thirty minutes, sticking to busy streets where a sudden attack would be difficult.
Every time a person in a dark suit walked past, my heart jumped, but the diary in my pocket stayed cool.
No warnings.
Finally, we saw it.
The Ministry of Defense building was a massive fortress of gray concrete and black glass.
It had high fences, security cameras on every corner, and armed guards standing at the main gate.
”There,” Sua whispered, pointing to a small side road leading to the back of the building.
“That’s the delivery and maintenance entrance.
We go in through there.”
I nodded.
But as we stepped off the main street and headed toward the back alley, the heavy leather diary in my chest pocket suddenly grew warm.
Not boiling hot like a deadly warning.
Just warm.
I pulled it out slightly, hiding it behind my hands.
A new sentence was writing itself in slow, black ink.
Run 47.
You made it to the Ministry.
But do not look behind you.
He is already here.
My blood ran cold.
”Sua,” I whispered, keeping my eyes locked straight ahead on the security gate.
“Don’t turn around.
Keep walking.”
”What is it?” she asked softly, matching my pace.
”The Cleaner,” I breathed.
“He found us.”