SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: You are reading [Threshold Walker: The Silver Circuit]
"The Division calls them 'comas,' but they're something else entirely. Each one is a body whose consciousness has been untethered—souls adrift in the spaces between." — Network medical records on threshold anchor cases
The night air carried a metallic tang as Jin watched Serene Meadows Care Center from the shadows of the adjacent park. The four-story building rose against the night sky, its windows glowing with soft light. To normal eyes, it looked like any high-end medical facility. To Jin's threshold-enhanced vision, it pulsed with complex patterns of silver energy.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [THRESHOLD SIGNATURE DETECTED]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [DIVISION PRESENCE: CONFIRMED]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [SECURITY SYSTEMS: ACTIVE]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [TARGET LOCATION: THIRD FLOOR, EAST WING]
"I count eight Division agents," Jin said quietly into his communicator. "Four at the main entrance, two patrolling the perimeter, and two more stationed outside mother's room."
"The diversion team is in position," Yoon-Seok's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Ready on your mark."
Jin glanced at Jin-Ah, who stood beside him clutching the medical case containing the modified Clarity compound. Her face was pale but determined in the moonlight.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
She nodded, eyes fixed on the building where their mother had been kept for years. "Let's bring her home."
Jin touched his earpiece. "Begin diversion in sixty seconds. We'll move on your signal."
He closed his eyes, centering himself as Dr. Ha had taught him. Silver circuitry patterns beneath his skin began to glow softly, casting faint geometric shadows on the ground around him. He had concealed most of his transformation with long sleeves and a high collar, but there was no hiding the silver geometric patterns that now permanently marked his irises.
"Remember," Jin-Ah whispered, "you need to maintain the Reality Anchoring field around us until we reach mother's room. Dr. Ha said if it fluctuates too much—"
"Division sensors will detect it immediately," Jin finished. "I know. I've got it."
A sudden commotion erupted at the east entrance of the facility. Flashing lights and the sound of multiple car alarms filled the night as Yoon-Seok's team activated their distraction.
"That's our cue," Jin said, his voice carrying those subtle harmonic overtones that had become part of him since crossing the critical threshold. He extended his hands, focusing his will as silver energy gathered around them. "Stay close to me."
A three-meter sphere of subtly distorted reality formed around them, the air within it taking on that now-familiar crystalline quality. Jin took a deep breath and began walking toward the service entrance, maintaining a steady rhythm to his movement to keep the field stable.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [REALITY ANCHORING: ACTIVE]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [FIELD INTEGRITY: 94%]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [STEALTH PROTOCOL: ENGAGED]
Director Choi stood in the monitoring room of the Division's mobile command center, her attention fixed on the surveillance feeds showing the east entrance of Serene Meadows. Multiple security alarms had been triggered, pulling her agents away from their posts.
"It's a diversion," she stated flatly. "The Network wouldn't be this obvious unless they wanted to draw our attention."
The analyst beside her nodded. "Team Sigma is maintaining position at the patient's room as ordered, Director."
"And our threshold detection grid?"
"Fully operational around the perimeter. If Jin Hyeon is within a hundred meters, we'll detect his signature."
Director Choi's eyes narrowed. "Unless he's found a way to mask it." She turned to the communications officer. "Alert all teams. The target may be approaching from another entrance. Initiate Protocol Six."
As the officer relayed her orders, Director Choi studied the facility blueprint on the central display. Her fingers traced along the service corridor that led from the west side of the building directly to the central elevator banks.
"There," she said, tapping the screen. "That's where I would enter if I were them. Double the security on the service entrance and activate the threshold resonance scanners on the third floor."
"But Director," the analyst said hesitantly, "most of our forces are responding to the disturbance at the east entrance."
Director Choi's expression remained impassive. "Then recall them. Now."
She turned back to the surveillance feeds, a slight smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "After five years of waiting, Jin Hyeon is about to deliver everything we need to understand Dr. Seo's anchor bond technology. I won't let a simple diversion compromise that."
Jin and Jin-Ah moved swiftly through the deserted service corridor, the Reality Anchoring field shimmering almost imperceptibly around them. The sphere of altered physics bent light subtly, rendering them nearly invisible to conventional security cameras.
"The elevator is ahead," Jin-Ah whispered, consulting the facility map on her tablet. "Mother's room is on the third floor, room 312."
Jin nodded, focusing on maintaining the field as they approached the elevator. "We can't use the elevator. The confined space would compress the field and cause fluctuations."
"Service stairs, then," Jin-Ah replied, adjusting their route on the tablet. "Through that door."
They moved toward the stairwell door, Jin's steps measured and deliberate. Each movement required precise control of the Reality Anchoring field. One significant fluctuation would alert Division sensors to their presence.
As they reached the stairwell, Jin paused, his head tilting slightly as if listening to something beyond normal hearing range.
"What is it?" Jin-Ah asked.
"Division just activated threshold resonance scanners on the third floor," he said, his silver eyes distant. "I can feel them pulsing."
"How could you possibly know that?"
Jin's expression was unreadable. "I just... know. The same way I know mother is directly above us, her consciousness oscillating between frequencies."
Jin-Ah studied her brother's face, concern evident in her eyes. Since crossing the sixty percent threshold, Jin's perceptions had expanded in ways she couldn't fully comprehend.
"Can you bypass the scanners?" she asked.
Jin considered for a moment. "Not completely, but I can adjust our field frequency to minimize detection. It will strain the field integrity, though."
"Let's move quickly, then," Jin-Ah said, pushing open the stairwell door.
They ascended the stairs swiftly, Jin maintaining the field with growing effort. By the second flight, beads of sweat had formed on his forehead, each droplet glistening with silver light before evaporating into tiny geometric patterns.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [FIELD INTEGRITY: 89%]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [WARNING: ENERGY EXPENDITURE EXCEEDING RECOMMENDED LIMITS]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [THRESHOLD SCANNERS DETECTED]
"Almost there," Jin-Ah encouraged as they reached the third-floor landing.
Jin nodded, his breathing controlled despite the strain. The Reality Anchoring field wavered slightly as he adjusted its frequency to counter the threshold scanners.
They opened the door to the third-floor corridor with caution. The hallway stretched before them, sterile and silent. At the far end, two Division agents stood outside room 312, their posture alert despite the late hour.
"How do we get past them?" Jin-Ah whispered.
Jin studied the agents, noting the threshold detection devices on their belts. "I need to expand the field to include them."
"Can you maintain that size?"
"For a few minutes. It should be enough."
Jin took a deep breath, then slowly extended his hands. The Reality Anchoring field expanded outward, its edges pushing toward the Division agents. As the field reached them, a curious effect occurred—the agents' movements slowed, their perception of time seemingly altered within Jin's manipulated reality.
"What did you do to them?" Jin-Ah asked, astonished.
"I've adjusted local time perception within the field," Jin explained, strain evident in his voice. "To them, we're moving too quickly to perceive clearly. But I can't hold this long—we need to move. Now."
They hurried down the corridor, passing between the confused agents who moved as if in slow motion, their hands reaching for weapons that seemed to take forever to draw. Jin and Jin-Ah slipped through the door of room 312 before the agents could fully comprehend what was happening.
Inside the room, medical equipment hummed softly. The space was unexpectedly pleasant for a long-term care facility—photos on the walls, fresh flowers on the bedside table, and large windows that would provide a view of the gardens during daylight hours.
In the center of it all lay Min-Young Hyeon.
Jin-Ah's breath caught at the sight of their mother. Min-Young appeared peaceful, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Her dark hair, now streaked with silver, framed a face that had aged little in the years of her unconscious state. The only indication of her unusual condition was a faint, almost imperceptible silver glow that occasionally flashed beneath her closed eyelids.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [ANCHOR BOND DETECTED]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [THRESHOLD FREQUENCY MATCH: 87.6%]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [CONSCIOUSNESS FRAGMENTATION: 76.4%]
"We need to hurry," Jin said, maintaining the Reality Anchoring field while moving to his mother's bedside. "The agents will recover soon, and my field won't fool the scanners for long."
Jin-Ah shook herself from her momentary paralysis and quickly opened the medical case. Inside lay several vials of the modified Clarity compound, glowing with a silver-blue luminescence.
"I'll prepare the injection," she said, withdrawing one vial and a sterile syringe. With practiced precision, she filled the syringe with the compound, checking for air bubbles. "Are you ready for yours?"
Jin nodded, rolling up his sleeve to expose the silver circuitry patterns pulsing beneath his skin. "Do mine first, then mother's. The resonance needs to establish in my system before we attempt the connection."
Jin-Ah administered the compound to Jin's arm, watching as the silver-blue liquid disappeared into his veins. The circuit patterns beneath his skin flared brightly on contact, spreading the compound's glow throughout his system.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [CLARITY COMPOUND ACTIVE]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [RESONANCE INITIALIZATION: IN PROGRESS]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [PREPARING FOR CONSCIOUSNESS BRIDGE]
Jin inhaled sharply as the compound spread through his system, temporarily intensifying his connection to the threshold. His vision shifted, reality overlaid with complex mathematical patterns and silver geometry.
"Jin? Are you okay?" Jin-Ah asked, concern evident in her voice.
"Yes," he managed, steadying himself. "The compound is working. I can feel mother's frequency more clearly now." He gestured to the second syringe. "Administer hers quickly."
Jin-Ah filled the second syringe and carefully injected the compound into their mother's IV line. The effect was immediate—Min-Young's body tensed slightly, and the silver flicker beneath her eyelids intensified.
"Now what?" Jin-Ah asked, stepping back from the bed.
Jin moved to stand beside their mother, placing one hand on her forehead. "I need to establish the Reality Anchoring field specifically around her, then extend my consciousness to find hers. You'll need to monitor both our vital signs while I make the connection."
Jin-Ah nodded, attaching the portable monitors they had brought to both Jin and their mother. "The field around the room is stable. The agents outside seem confused but haven't raised an alarm yet."
"They will soon," Jin said grimly. "I can feel the resonance scanners adapting to our field frequency. We have maybe five minutes before they detect us."
Taking a deep breath, Jin focused on creating a smaller, more concentrated Reality Anchoring field around Min-Young and himself. The air shimmered as the field took shape, its boundaries precisely defined around the bed.
"Beginning consciousness extension," Jin said, his voice now fully resonant with threshold harmonics. "Monitor the readings carefully. If my core temperature drops below 35 degrees or mother's heart rate exceeds 120, you need to break the connection immediately."
Jin-Ah swallowed hard, nodding. "I'm right here. Go find her, Jin."
Closing his eyes, Jin allowed his consciousness to expand beyond his physical form, reaching out through the silver matrices of threshold space. The Clarity compound in his system created pathways where none had existed before, guiding his consciousness toward the specific frequency where his mother's mind had been trapped for years.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [CONSCIOUSNESS EXTENSION ACTIVE]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [SEARCHING FREQUENCY: 87.6% MATCH]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [ANCHOR BOND DETECTED]
Jin's physical body remained motionless beside the bed, one hand resting on Min-Young's forehead, while his consciousness traveled through layers of mathematical reality. The journey was different from his Between-Space transit—more precise, more focused on a single point in the threshold spectrum.
And then, he found her.
'Mother?' he called into the silver void.
The response was immediate, as if she had been waiting. 'Jin! You came back.'
Her consciousness appeared more coherent than before, the mathematical structures around her more defined. Jin could sense his father's design in these structures—protective algorithms that had preserved her consciousness intact despite years of separation from her physical form.
'We're going to bring you back,' Jin explained, extending his consciousness toward hers. 'Your body is right beside me. The Clarity compound has created a resonance bridge between us.'
Hope flared through her presence. 'I can feel it. Like a tether pulling me home.'
Jin began to carefully guide her consciousness toward the bridge, the silver pathways created by the Clarity compound glowing stronger as they approached.
'Follow me,' he instructed. 'Focus on the physical sensations—your breathing, your heartbeat, the weight of your body.'
As her consciousness began to move along the pathway, Jin suddenly felt a shift in the surrounding threshold space—a pressure building, as if something else was taking notice of their activity.
'Jin,' his mother's presence wavered with concern, 'it's here. The observer.'
The presence materialized in Jin's perception—not a form, but a pattern of consciousness entirely different from human thought. Ancient, vast, and infinitely patient, it observed their connection with what Jin could only interpret as curiosity.
'What do you want?' Jin directed the thought toward the entity.
The response came not in words but in mathematical concepts that unfurled in Jin's mind like complex fractals:
'OBSERVATION. STUDY. COMPLETION.'
'It's been watching the anchor bond,' Min-Young's consciousness explained. 'Learning from it. I think... I think it's waiting for something to happen.'
'We don't have time for this,' Jin projected urgently. 'Division will detect us any moment. We need to complete the transfer now.'
As if in response to his urgency, the entity's presence intensified, mathematical patterns swirling around the consciousness bridge Jin had established.
'NO INTERFERENCE,' Jin projected firmly, reinforcing the Reality Anchoring field around the bridge. 'She's returning to her body.'
The entity withdrew slightly, still observing but no longer impeding their path. Jin guided his mother's consciousness forward, moving faster now toward the resonance bridge.
'I can feel my body,' Min-Young's consciousness exclaimed as they neared the connection point. 'It's been so long...'
'Just a little further,' Jin encouraged. 'Focus on the physical world. Follow the tether.'
In the hospital room, Jin-Ah watched the monitors with growing anxiety. Jin's body temperature had dropped two degrees, and a thin line of silver-tinged blood trickled from his nose. Their mother's vital signs, meanwhile, were becoming increasingly active—brainwave patterns spiking in complex formations unlike anything Jin-Ah had seen before.
"Come on, Jin," she whispered, dividing her attention between the monitors and the door, where muffled voices indicated the Division agents had begun to recover from Jin's reality distortion.
Suddenly, the Reality Anchoring field around Jin and their mother intensified, the air crystallizing to the point where Jin-Ah could barely see through it. The silver circuits visible on Jin's exposed skin pulsed with blinding light, and Min-Young's body arched slightly on the bed.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [CONSCIOUSNESS BRIDGE: ACTIVE]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [TRANSFER IN PROGRESS: 67%]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [WARNING: LOCAL REALITY INSTABILITY]
The medical equipment in the room began to malfunction, displays flickering with random symbols and numbers as Jin's Reality Anchoring field affected the electronics. The lights overhead dimmed and brightened in rhythmic pulses.
A loud bang on the door made Jin-Ah jump. "Security override!" came a voice from the hallway. "Stand away from the door!"
"Jin, hurry!" Jin-Ah urged, though she knew he couldn't hear her. The portable monitor showed his core temperature dropping dangerously, now approaching the 35-degree threshold she had been warned about.
Min-Young's eyes began to flutter beneath their lids, the silver glow now clearly visible even to normal perception. Her fingers twitched against the bedsheets, showing the first voluntary movement in years.
The door lock disengaged with a loud click. Jin-Ah positioned herself between the door and her family, ready to buy whatever seconds she could.
In the threshold space, Jin felt the increasing pressure of external reality attempting to intrude on their connection. The Division agents were breaking through, and his physical body was reaching its limits.
'We need to complete the transfer now,' he told his mother's consciousness. 'The bridge won't hold much longer.'
'I'm trying,' she responded, her presence straining toward the connection point. 'Something is still holding part of me here—the anchor bond to your father.'
Jin hadn't anticipated this complication. The anchor bond that had kept her consciousness intact was now preventing her complete return.
'Can you break it?' he asked urgently.
'No,' she replied. 'Seo designed it to be unbreakable from my side. He never intended for me to disconnect—only for him to release me when he was ready.'
Jin's mind raced, searching for a solution. His consciousness extended through the bond, tracing its design, looking for any weakness or alternative pathway.
'Wait,' he realized suddenly. 'My genetic resonance with father—I inherited part of his connection to the bond.'
'You think you can modify it?' his mother's consciousness asked.
'Not modify—supplement,' Jin explained, the solution emerging in his understanding. 'I can create a parallel anchor bond that allows you to return physically while maintaining the connection to father.'
The observer entity's presence intensified again, mathematical patterns shifting in what Jin could only interpret as heightened interest.
'CIRCUIT ACTIVATION,' came the entity's fractalized concept into Jin's mind. 'CONVERGENCE PARAMETER.'
Jin didn't have time to decipher the entity's meaning. Focusing his will through the Reality Anchoring field, he extended his consciousness into the structure of the anchor bond itself. The mathematical architecture was breathtakingly complex—his father's genius manifest in equations that spanned realities.
With careful precision, Jin began to weave his own threshold signature into the bond, creating a secondary tether that would allow his mother to return to her body while maintaining the essential connection to his father in Between-Space.
'I can feel it working,' Min-Young's consciousness exclaimed. 'The pull toward my body is stronger now.'
Jin continued his intricate manipulation of the bond, his consciousness straining under the effort. In the physical world, he knew his body was approaching dangerous limits, but he couldn't stop now.
'Almost there,' he projected, reinforcing the new pathway. 'Go now, mother. Follow the connection back to your body.'
Min-Young's consciousness surged forward, flowing along the resonance bridge. As she moved, Jin felt the observer entity's attention focus intensely on the modified anchor bond structure he had created.
'CONVERGENCE PARAMETER RECORDED,' the entity's concept unfurled in Jin's mind. 'CIRCUIT DESIGN EVOLUTION NOTED.'
Then, in a flash of silver light, Min-Young's consciousness passed completely through the bridge, returning to her physical form.
In the hospital room, the door burst open as two Division agents rushed in, weapons drawn. They froze at the sight before them—Jin standing beside the bed, his body enveloped in silver light, a perfect sphere of crystallized reality surrounding him and Min-Young.
Jin-Ah raised her hands. "Don't shoot! You'll disrupt the threshold field!"
The agents hesitated, clearly unsure how to proceed with the unusual threshold phenomenon before them. One touched his communicator. "Director, we need guidance. The subjects are—"
Before he could finish, the Reality Anchoring field collapsed with a sound like shattering glass. Jin staggered backward, silver blood flowing freely from his nose and ears. He would have fallen if Jin-Ah hadn't rushed to catch him.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [CONSCIOUSNESS TRANSFER: COMPLETE]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [ANCHOR BOND: MODIFIED]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [WARNING: SUBJECT EXPERIENCING THRESHOLD SHOCK]
"Hands where we can see them!" the lead agent ordered, weapon trained on Jin and Jin-Ah.
Neither sibling responded. Their attention was fixed entirely on the bed, where Min-Young Hyeon's eyes had opened for the first time in years.
Her gaze, confused but alert, moved slowly around the room before settling on her children. Her eyes, Jin noted with a mixture of awe and concern, now carried the same silver geometric patterns that marked his own.
"Jin?" she whispered, her voice raspy from years of disuse. "Jin-Ah? You're so... grown up."
"Mother," Jin-Ah said, tears streaming down her face.
Min-Young struggled to sit up, her movements weak but determined. "We need to leave. Now." She looked directly at the Division agents, her expression hardening with recognition. "They'll never let us walk out of here."
The agents advanced, weapons still raised. "All of you are coming with us," the lead agent stated. "Director Choi wants to speak with you personally."
Jin leaned heavily against Jin-Ah, his strength slowly returning despite the threshold shock. He met his mother's gaze, and something passed between them—an understanding beyond words.
"I don't think so," Jin said quietly.
With a sudden motion, he extended his hand toward the agents. The silver circuits beneath his skin flared with renewed energy as he channeled his Reality Anchoring ability in a way he had never attempted before.
The air between them solidified into a barrier of crystallized reality, completely separating the agents from the Hyeon family. The agents fired their weapons, but the bullets slowed and stopped within the altered space, suspended in mid-air.
"Jin-Ah, help mother up," Jin instructed, maintaining the barrier with visible effort. "We need to reach the extraction point."
Jin-Ah quickly disconnected the monitoring equipment from their mother and helped her to her feet. Min-Young swayed but remained standing, her eyes quickly assessing the room with the sharp intelligence that had made her a formidable researcher years ago.
"The window," she said without hesitation. "Third floor isn't too high with threshold assistance."
Jin nodded, extending his Reality Anchoring field to include the window. The glass softened and parted like curtains under his influence, opening a path to the outside. Night air rushed in, carrying the distant sounds of alarms and shouting from the Division forces reorganizing around the building.
"Can you walk, mother?" Jin-Ah asked anxiously.
"I can manage," Min-Young said with determination, though her legs trembled with the effort of standing after years of atrophy. "My physical condition is poor, but the threshold energy is compensating temporarily."
Jin gestured toward the open window. "I'll create a descent path using the Reality Anchoring field. Jin-Ah, you go first with mother. I'll maintain the barrier against the agents until you're clear."
The agents continued their assault on the barrier, one speaking urgently into his communicator. They had minutes at most before reinforcements arrived.
Jin-Ah helped Min-Young to the window. Outside, Jin created a slope of semi-solid silver energy—a slide of altered reality leading safely to the ground fifteen meters below.
"See you at the bottom," Jin-Ah said, giving her brother one last concerned look before helping their mother onto the silver pathway. Together, they slid down the construct of altered reality, landing gently on the grass below.
Jin maintained the dual fields—the barrier containing the agents and the pathway outside—for several seconds longer, ensuring his sister and mother reached safety. Then, with a final surge of effort, he released the barrier and leapt through the window himself.
The agents rushed forward, firing through the opening, but Jin was already sliding down the silver pathway. As his feet touched the ground, he released the construct, and it dissolved into particles of silver light.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [EXTRACTION PHASE INITIATED]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [DIVISION RESPONSE: FULL MOBILIZATION]SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: [PURSUIT IMMINENT]
"This way," Jin said, supporting his mother on one side while Jin-Ah took the other. They moved toward the tree line where Yoon-Seok waited with the extraction vehicle, its engine already running.
Behind them, Division agents poured from the building's exits, and searchlights began to sweep the grounds. In the distance, the distinctive sound of helicopter rotors cut through the night air.
Min-Young's steps grew more confident with each passing moment, the threshold energy in her system temporarily counteracting years of muscle atrophy. "The anchor bond is still active," she said as they hurried toward the extraction point. "I can feel Seo in the Between-Space. He knows I'm free."
"We modified the bond," Jin explained between labored breaths, the exertion of the multiple Reality Anchoring fields having drained him significantly. "You can exist in physical reality while maintaining the connection."
"Clever," Min-Young said, her eyes reflecting the silver glow of Jin's. "Your father would be proud of your solution. But it's not stable, Jin. The modification you created is temporary."
Before Jin could respond, a blinding spotlight from above illuminated them. The Division helicopter had spotted their escape.
"Run!" Jin urged, pushing his mother and sister ahead of him.
As they broke into a sprint, Jin turned to face the helicopter. Drawing on his last reserves of strength, he created another Reality Anchoring field, bending the light around them to create a momentary blind spot in Division's perception.
The helicopter pilot, confused by the sudden disappearance of his targets, circled wider. Those precious seconds allowed the Hyeon family to reach the tree line, where Yoon-Seok waited with the van door already open.
"Get in, quick!" he shouted over the helicopter's roar.
Jin-Ah helped Min-Young into the van first, then climbed in after her. Jin, stumbling with exhaustion, nearly fell as he reached the vehicle. Yoon-Seok grabbed his arm, pulling him inside before slamming the door shut.
"Go!" Jin gasped as he collapsed onto the floor of the van.
The vehicle lurched forward, accelerating along the pre-planned escape route as the Division helicopter continued its futile search pattern above the now-empty grounds.
Min-Young leaned over her son, her newly awakened eyes studying his transformed appearance with scientific precision and maternal concern. "The modifications to the anchor bond won't last more than forty-eight hours," she said urgently. "After that, the original structure will reassert itself."
"Meaning what?" Jin-Ah asked, helping Jin into a sitting position.
"Meaning I'll be pulled back into the threshold frequency," Min-Young explained grimly. "Unless we can get to your father and properly dissolve the bond from his side."
Jin looked up at his mother, understanding dawning in his silver eyes. "We need to enter the Between-Space again. All of us."
Min-Young nodded, her expression both determined and haunted. "Yes. And we have less than two days to do it."
Author's Note: The Hyeon family is finally reunited, but the clock is ticking on Min-Young's freedom! Can they reach Dr. Seo in time to permanently dissolve the anchor bond? And what is the mysterious entity's interest in Jin's circuit modifications? Share your theories about the observer entity and what might await the family in the Between-Space!
Next Chapter: "Family Circuit" – As Min-Young shares crucial information about Dr. Seo's original circuit design, Jin discovers that his Reality Anchoring ability has evolved in an unexpected direction, while Division implements their most aggressive pursuit yet.