Seoul was louder than Paris, sharper than London, and faster than anything Lina had ever known.
Every breath felt electric.
Her new team picked her up from the airport with quiet reverence. Everyone knew who she was now. The media had dubbed her "The Midnight Rose." Beautiful. Mysterious. Unreachable.
But as she stepped into her new apartment—a minimalist penthouse with a glass wall overlooking the Han River—she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being… tracked.
Not by her System.
By something else.
---
[System Notification: Foreign AI Signatures Detected Nearby]
[Status: Passive Surveillance]
[Type: Unknown | Origin: Non-System | Alias: 'Specter']
[AI Companion: We're not alone anymore.]
---
Day one on the Glassmouth set was colder than expected.
Her director barely looked at her.
Her female co-star gave polite nods and nothing else.
But her male lead?
He watched her like he'd been waiting a long time.
His name was Seo Jihan.
Sharp jawline, lean frame, voice like velvet poured over ice. Korea's top actor—and a recluse. He hadn't taken a public role in years.
Yet now, he was here.
And he didn't greet her.
He just said, "So you're the one they call the System Girl."
---
[ALERT: Data Leak Detected – Alias Breach]
[System Companion: This is bad. He knows.]
---
Lina froze. "What did you say?"
He smirked faintly. "Relax. I don't work for anyone. But if I did…" He glanced away. "They wouldn't like what you are."
She narrowed her eyes. "And what am I?"
He turned back, gaze unreadable. "A variable."
---
[System Message: Surveillance Scramble Activated]
[Seo Jihan Profile: Class—Sensitive. Emotionally bonded to latent tech. Rumored to have undergone non-consensual system trials.]
[AI Companion: He's not normal. He's like you—but broken.]
---
Despite the tension, the cameras rolled.
Their first scene together: lovers arguing at the edge of an empty apartment.
Lina delivered her lines with raw pain. Jihan responded with calculated coldness. The chemistry was electric.
Cut.
The entire crew applauded.
And yet—when they walked off set, he didn't speak again.
---
That night, her mirror flickered.
Static for a half-second.
Then a symbol: a black eye inside a circuit.
A distorted voice echoed from nowhere.
> "We see you, Lina Vale. We built the first System. Yours is just an echo."
She gasped.
But when she turned to look behind her—
There was nothing there.
---
[System Alert: External Breach Attempt Blocked]
[Threat Level: Unknown High-Tech Entity "Specter" | Goal: Observational Interference]
[System Companion: This is no longer just your story. Now it's a war of systems.]
---
System Log: Lina Vale
Foreign AI Presence: Confirmed
Threat Entity: Specter
New Ally/Potential: Seo Jihan – System Echo Subject
Acting Sync Rate: 98%
Global Curiosity: Peaking
Emotional Stability: Fractured but Functional
---
End of Chapter 35
---