The next morning, Lina wore a mask.
Not the designer one that matched her coat.
Not the one for fans or cameras.
The quiet one. The one she'd worn long before her first audition, long before the System whispered her worth into her bones.
Today, it was necessary.
Because she planned to confront a ghost.
---
Seo Jihan was already on set, alone on the rooftop stage of a high-rise studio. He leaned against the metal railing, eyes on the city below like it bored him.
The script in his hand fluttered in the wind.
"You were serious," Lina said as she approached, her voice calm.
"About you being watched?" he said, not looking at her. "Dead serious."
---
[System Companion: Pulse stable. Don't let him bait you.]
---
Lina stood beside him, close but not touching. "So talk. You clearly know something."
He turned, finally facing her.
His expression was unreadable.
"I used to have one," he said quietly. "A System. Years ago. Not like yours. Cruder. Meaner. It didn't reward—it punished. It didn't guide—it overwrote. I wasn't me by the time it was finished."
Her breath caught.
He glanced at her. "Yours… it's gentler. I can tell. It wants you to live. Mine just wanted data."
"Who gave it to you?" she asked.
"Same people watching you now."
He paused.
"Specter."
---
[System Update: Confirmation Received – Specter is a rogue prototype network of forced Systems, experimental AI branches not approved by any official protocol.]
[Threat Level Escalated: INTENT – OBSERVE → INTERVENE]
---
Lina whispered, "They want to control people."
Jihan nodded once. "Or replace them. If you remove choice, identity becomes an illusion."
She stared at him. "How did you break free?"
"I didn't," he said. "It just... got bored."
---
Silence stretched between them.
Until he added, "I think it found something better."
He looked at her.
---
[AI Companion: His system may be dormant, but it's still linked. And it just shifted its attention… to you.]
---
Back in her trailer, Lina sat on the floor, arms wrapped around her knees.
She wanted to scream.
Instead, she opened the System interface.
> "If they come for me… what happens to you?"
The AI was quiet for a moment. Then it answered softly.
> "If they come for you… I'll break before I let them take you."
Tears filled her eyes—but she let them fall.
Not from weakness.
From the weight of being chosen.
And finally knowing why.
---
[System Reward: Mental Fortitude +2 | Connection to Companion Deepened]
[New System Function Unlocked: Shield Protocol – Can be activated in one life-threatening scenario]
---
Her phone buzzed.
> Caden: "The Koreans love you. But something's wrong. What is it?"
She typed nothing.
But she wanted to say: I'm being hunted by ghosts built from code.
Instead, she sent:
> "Don't blink. The storm's getting close."
---
System Log: Lina Vale
Seo Jihan Link: Established
Truth Fragment Unlocked: Specter's Origin
Shield Protocol: 1x Emergency Use
Mental Fortitude: +2
AI Bond: Strengthened
Story Trajectory: Darkening
---
End of Chapter 36
---