The 'Central Core' was breathing like a massive beast, intermittently emitting unstable vibrations along with dim light. Despite the crushing fatigue weighing down his entire body, Doyoon struggled to his feet, searching for the last traces of Hayoon. His awakened 'Echo' detection ability pointed like a compass toward a specific wave of memory that only Hayoon could have left behind in the wreckage of the core.
"This way... I can definitely feel it. Hayoon's... sadness, and a very small hope." Doyoon's voice was hoarse, but the conviction within it was clearly conveyed to Juidam.
Juidam followed behind Doyoon while keeping watch on the unstable core system. "Be careful, Jin Doyoon. We don't know when that thing's heart might start beating like crazy again. And... I'm detecting unusual movements from outside. We might not have much time."
Doyoon nodded. All his nerves were focused on the point where Hayoon's 'Echo' felt strongest. It was a small structure that looked like an altar, slightly offset from the center of the core. And in the center of that structure, buried in dust, lay a small music box that Hayoon had always carried with her during her lifetime. On the surface of the music box, a constellation pattern that only she and Doyoon knew was faintly engraved.
"This is... Hayoon's music box..." Doyoon picked up the music box with trembling hands. The moment he touched it, he felt a subtle data link forming between his neural chip and the music box. Hayoon had used her last strength to seal her memories, her message, inside this music box.
"Juidam, can you... open this?"
Juidam took the music box and connected it to his terminal. "It's not just a simple mechanical device. There's complex biometric data encryption inside. It seems to open only when synchronized with the unique memory patterns or emotional states of the person called Hayoon. Damn, this is almost artistic..."
Doyoon took the music box back. He closed his eyes and recalled the happiest memories with Hayoon, her voice, her warmth. His 'Echo' resonated with the pattern on the music box, and like a locked door of the heart opening, a faint holographic image rose from the music box along with a very small melody. It was Hayoon's figure.
["Doyoon... if you're seeing this, it means I failed. I'm sorry. And... thank you for every moment."] The smile of Hayoon in the image was heartbreakingly beautiful.
["I don't have time. I'll keep it short. 'Extinction' isn't the inevitable 'data purification' that occurs during the evolution process of the mainnet. It's... someone's terrible desire to make the mainnet a transcendent being by sacrificing the souls of selected 'memory keepers' as offerings. I too was their test subject, and I tried to resist, but... it wasn't enough."]
Tears welled up in Hayoon's eyes. ["They're trying to reconstruct the past and control the future through memory energy. They're not trying to create a true 'age without forgetting,' but a world where only the memories they want exist. And at the center of it all is... Dr. Yoo Jinha, the founder of the mainnet. His 'first memory' - that's the beginning of all this tragedy, and perhaps the only key to solving it."]
Dr. Yoo Jinha. The great scientist who gifted humanity with the mainnet. He was behind all this? Doyoon shook his head in disbelief.
["Doyoon, you're special. Your ability to 'remember' isn't a curse but hope. Please... reveal the truth. And... remember Sora. Jin Sora... that child isn't just a missing person. That child... holds the key that can end all of this. The small pieces I've left behind... will guide you to that child."]
The holographic image cut off there. But Hayoon's last voice left deep ripples in Doyoon's heart. Dr. Yoo Jinha, his first memory, and the key that his sister Sora held.
"Damn! They're right at our doorstep! We need to get out of here within 5 minutes!" Juidam's urgent shout brought Doyoon back to reality. The music box crumbled like a handful of ash after delivering Hayoon's message.
Doyoon clutched the remains of the broken music box. In his eyes burned no longer confusion or sadness, but cold, intense determination. He couldn't let Hayoon's sacrifice be in vain.
"Let's go, Juidam. From now on... the real war begins."
The moment the two turned toward another exit of the 'Core Storage,' BANG! CRASH! With a tremendous explosion, the thick steel wall on the opposite side from where they had entered burst inward, and armed thugs bearing 'flame emblems' emerged from the smoke. And among them, a woman with an impeccably cold demeanor slowly walked out. In her hand was an energy whip of strange form.
"It's been a while, Jin Doyoon. And... nice to meet you, Juidam. You'll have to pay the price for stepping into my 'nest' uninvited, won't you?"
Her voice was cold as ice, and her gaze seemed to pierce through everything. Doyoon recognized her. Someone he had briefly encountered in the past during a top-secret mainnet project, and the person Hayoon had been most wary of.
It was Yoo Seohyun, Director of the Mainnet Special Intelligence Division. The daughter of Dr. Yoo Jinha, founder of the mainnet.