The world was red.
Not the comforting hue of sunsets or the soft warmth of a lantern's glow. This red was loud. Violent. Screaming. Fire danced along cold, metal corridors, devouring the darkness that had swallowed their childhoods for three long years.
"Run!" a boy's voice shouted over the alarms. His voice cracked—not from age, but from fear. "Don't look back, Taerim! Keep going!"
Joon Taerim, six years old, barefoot and trembling, sprinted through the corridor, her oversized hospital gown flapping with each step. Her violet eyes, dulled by countless injections, flickered with panic. Her small hand clutched a glowing tag on her wrist—X-001—the very first of the scientists' cruel creations.
Behind her, flames licked at the walls, chasing the shadows of fleeing children. She could hear them—her friends—screaming, coughing, crying. Somewhere in the smoke were her older brothers. Somewhere in the chaos was him—Juwon.
"Where is he?" she whispered, barely able to breathe.
Then she saw him.
Kang Juwon, seven years old, eyes glowing faintly blue, stood at the end of the corridor. His white hair was stained with soot, but his expression remained calm—too calm for a child. His body was bruised, trembling, but he lifted his hand and the fire split around them like parted water. His tag burned with silver light: SM-001—the special model.
"Taerim!" he shouted. "Get to the exit! Your brothers are waiting!"
But she didn't move. Her legs felt frozen. Juwon's presence, always so strong and reassuring, seemed to glow brighter even as debris fell around him.
Suddenly, a blast from above collapsed the ceiling between them.
"JUWON!" she screamed, reaching out as flames erupted from the shattered pipes.
The blast knocked her back.
Silence followed.
Then—a hand grabbed her. She turned, confused and sobbing, to see a shadowy figure—Joon Joonhyuk, her third oldest brother, eyes narrowed in desperation. His right arm was bleeding heavily, but his grip was strong.
"We have to go," he said, voice hoarse. "Juwon… he'll find his way out."
"But—!"
"No time!"
Another explosion shook the ground. Taerim was lifted off her feet by her brother and shoved toward a narrow hatch—an escape pod meant for emergencies. She turned, hoping to see her other brothers—Joonbyul and Joonseok—but her eyes couldn't find them in the smoke.
She couldn't even hear her friends anymore—Harin, Hajoon, Yulseung, Gyeongho. Were they behind her? In front? Buried?
She was shoved inside. The door slammed shut.
The last thing she saw was a wall of fire swallowing her brother's silhouette.
Then—
Nothing.
---
She woke up in a sterile bed days later, memories in fragments, names fading like mist.
They told her there was a fire. That she was the only one found alive.
She screamed. She denied it.
But no one listened.
Her file was marked: X-001 – Deceased.
But she lived.
And the world forgot her.
---