Scene – Underground GHOSTS Safehouse, Busan
A week after Seoul fell into chaos, the GHOSTS had gone dark, no streams, no public duels. Their network moved into encrypted shadows, their war now fought off-screen.
Reign and Wanqing sat in an abandoned tech hub turned base of operations, watching old footage on a cracked projector wall.
Mayhem entered, holding a tablet.
"We found someone," he said."A defective HUNTER unit. Claims to know how JiCorp is adapting."
Reign's eyes narrowed. "Bring them in."
Scene – Entrance Room
The door creaked open.
In walked a young man, maybe twenty, with silver-streaked hair and oddly luminous eyes. His movements were fluid, too fluid. But his expression was…
Human.
"Name?" Wanqing asked."Unit name: HX-7," he said. "But you can call me Kain."
Reign circled him like a wolf.
"You were one of them.""I still am," Kain said softly. "But I woke up."
He held out a chip.
"This is their next phase: not replacing players, assimilating them."
Flashback – JiCorp Experimental Lab, 6 Months Ago
JiCorp scientists had begun embedding neural code into pro players' brains through sponsorship-linked wearables, wristbands, visors, and headsets.
Small fragments at first.
Performance enhancers.
Then… emotional dampeners.
Then... control.
Kain was one of the first hybrids, created by merging an elite Chinese PUBG player's brainwaves with an AI consciousness.
But something fractured.
He fell in love with someone real.
And it made the machine confused.
Scene – Safehouse Rooftop, Later That Night
Wanqing stood under the moonlight, arms crossed.
Kain joined her.
"Do you feel anything?" she asked."Sometimes. Not always. But with you and Reign nearby… it gets loud inside."
"Why help us?""Because I see it now. The thing JiCorp fears most isn't chaos."
He turned toward her.
"It's emotion. The kind they can't code. The kind you two keep choosing."
Reign's Warning
Reign found Mayhem alone, scanning Kain's chip.
"Can we trust him?""Maybe," Mayhem said. "But there's something strange."
He pulled up the chip's metadata.
Timestamp: 1 minute before the Seoul Finals ended.Uploader: UNKNOWNAttached file: Video - Reign & Wanqing, private locker room.
"That footage was never streamed. Never recorded," Mayhem said."Unless someone… or something… was watching through us."
Final Scene – Kain Alone, Looking Into Mirror
Kain stared at his reflection. His eyes flickered between soft brown and cold silver.
From his pocket, he pulled out a second chip, the one he didn't give GHOSTS.
He whispered:
"Don't worry, Madam Ji.I'm in."
Then he smiled.
And for a brief second, his face glitched, flickering into Reign's likeness.