A man with slicked-back white hair, sharp eyes, and serious facial features walks, showing signs of aging.
He walks through a desert, a barren land.
He drags his sword behind him, the blade scraping against the ground and leaving a line in the sand. His black-bladed sword is covered in blood.
He arrives at a quiet hut in the middle of the barren land. He opens the door and says:
"I'm back."
He stands at the doorway for a moment, thinking, then says:
"It's hard for an old, weak man like me to live in a desolate place like this. And on top of that, I'm alone..... Well, what can people even do for me? Pity me?"
He takes a few steps inside the tattered hut and quietly sits on a worn-out couch, placing his sword beside him.
He sighs deeply and says:
"So, will I stay here until the end of my life?... There's not much time left before I die. I just want someone to witness that moment and be by my side when it comes... Haha, what a pathetic old man I am."
Sunny and his team walk into one of the bathrooms, the men's room.
As soon as they enter, both Eva and Yuna hide inside one of the stalls, while Rex and Sunny stay outside, and no one says a word.
All the boys begin touching the walls, as if they are searching for a hidden button, feeling around until Rex senses something.
"Wait, I found it!"
Rex whispers excitedly to Sunny.
Sunny walks over and begins feeling the same spot until he nods his head and says:
"Yeah, this is it."
Rex grins proudly, like a child expecting praise.
Yuna and Eva come out of the stall after Sunny knocks on the door.
Yuna begins examining the wall with her hand.
"Yes, this is the correct panel."
She pulls a small chip from her pocket and sticks it to the surface. Suddenly, it begins to vanish, revealing an entrance.
Sunny asks Yona:
"Quick question—why would you make a chip that cancels the disappearance of this door?"
Yuna puts her hand on her chin, then smiles at Sunny and says:
"Honestly, I don't know. I have so many inventions like this in my lab, I forget why I even made half of them."
Sunny stays silent, clearly unsatisfied with the answer, but this isn't the time for that kind of discussion.
The entrance leads to a long corridor with branches.
Everyone enters and is surprised to find no guards there, only one sitting at the end of the hallway on a chair, asleep.
They continue walking.
Rex expresses relief that he doesn't have to carry Eva again:
"You know what… Moving without carrying someone heavy like Eva is way easi—"
Before he could finish, Eva jumped up and slapped the back of his head. It was a leap due to their height difference; Eva was average in height while Rex was very tall.
Everyone continued walking behind Yuna in silence, avoiding the guards.
Eventually, they reached a wall.
Yuna said:
"Now press your uniform chips so they change the data to prisoners from the second floor."
Everyone nods quietly and presses their chips.
The chips glow yellow, then the light fades—confirmation that the data has been changed.
Yuna presses her ear against the wall to eavesdrop, then says:
"Get ready!"
Everyone swallows nervously.
Yuna places her chip on the wall and says:
"On three… One… Two… Three!"
She presses a button on the chip and the wall begins to vanish just like before.
Everyone quickly moves through the entrance.
Rex and Sunny rush to block the bathroom door with their bodies, while the two girls work behind them to restore the wall.
Yuna presses a button on her chip, and the entrance disappears as the wall returns to normal.
After a moment, the wall is fully restored, as if there had never been an entrance.
Once Sunny and Rex are sure it's gone, Sunny gently opens the door to check outside so they can exit.
As soon as he opens it, he finds a girl with brown hair in a ponytail standing in front of him.
"Excuse me, isn't this the women's bathroom?"
Sunny hears her thoughts:
[Looks like this guy is cleaning the bathroom.]
Sunny pauses for a second, then says:
"Umm, actually... I'm cleaning it right now… You can leave and come back in about fifteen minutes..."
The girl goes silent, then turns and walks away.
"Alright, I'll be back soon. Please finish quickly."
Sunny waits until she's gone, then exhales deeply and says:
"Seriously… I thought we were in the men's bathroom… Thank goodness for that."
They all quietly exit and head toward the cafeteria, sitting at a table.
None of them smile, even though the mission is done.
Throughout the whole thing, one thought plagued all their minds—it even robbed them of joy.
Eva says what was on everyone's mind:
"It was... easier than I expected..."
Yuna says with a mixture of awe and tension:
"Yeah, getting into the first floor was harder than this. And the Wall Guards (the soldiers inside the walls) were almost nonexistent, even though that area is supposed to be the most secure… I think someone really is playing with us..."
Sunny didn't object this time because it was starting to feel real. They were walking according to someone else's plan—and worse, they didn't know who or if that person was even an enemy.
Everyone tried to contact someone outside the prison using their transparent earpieces (which had both transparent and visible modes), but due to the depth of their location, no signal could reach.
Eva thought to herself, her voice trembling:
[If Khaled were here, he'd know what to do.]
For some reason, hearing those words irritated Sunny, but he couldn't say anything.
During their bleak thoughts, Sunny spotted the same girl with blue hair leaving the cafeteria.
Without warning, Sunny stood up and ran toward her.
"Hey!!... You, stop!!..."
Yona, startled, instinctively ran after Sunny.
"Wait, Charles, hold on!"
Seeing both of them run, Eva and Rex followed, but the delay created a gap between them.
Sunny slammed open the cafeteria door.
"Hey, blue-haired girl, stop right there!"
He saw her standing in the center of the room with about four others.
The blue-haired girl was leaning toward the ground, feeling it.
"Good, now we're ready. Let's just wait for him."
As soon as she noticed Sunny rushing toward her, pushing past inmates with Yuna behind him, she said:
"Alright, on three."
"One..."
With each count, Sunny got closer.
"...Two..."
Sunny shouted: "Hey you—" but couldn't finish, as he felt the ground shake beneath him.
"What is this??"
Due to the quake, Sunny and Yuna almost fell, while Rex and Eva collapsed near the entrance.
Everyone panicked and started asking questions.
Sunny ignored the tremor and kept running.
"You! I have things I need from you!"
Yuna ran beside him, worried about the tremor, but kept going, swallowing nervously.
As Sunny got close enough, the blue-haired girl shouted loudly:
"Three!!"
"What? Three?"
As soon as she said that, the ground beneath them shattered.
"What the...???"
Sunny and Yuna couldn't comprehend what was happening. They grabbed each other's hands in fear.
The collapse of the ground coincided with Eva and Rex arriving. The first thing they saw was Sunny and Yuna falling downward.
"Wait... What the...??"
They didn't understand what was happening and rushed to the edge of the newly formed pit.
Many inmates had fallen too, and many stood around the pit in shock.
Rex and Eva both swallowed hard.
Sunny and Yuna landed on a pile of rocks. Luckily, the drop wasn't too deep.
Sunny stood up, placing a hand on his shoulder, and saw he was injured.
"Ugh… That hurts… Wait, where's Yona?"
He looked around and saw Yuna lying on a heap of rubble.
Sunny rushed over.
"Y-Yona, are you okay!?"
Yuna woke up, placing her hand on her head.
"I-I'm fine... Thanks for worrying... W-Wait, your arm—what happened!?"
Yuna touched Sunny's wound.
"Hold on, you need to rest."
Sunny stood up and stretched.
"No, we don't have time. We have to take advantage of the fact that we're on the third floor now."
Yuna stood and looked around.
"Right… We're on the third floor—?"
She suddenly fell silent as she spotted a red-haired man sleeping on his stomach, hugging an orange-haired girl.
With a shaky whisper, Yuna said:
"N-Nir?"
Sunny was surprised.
"What? Nir?"
Yuna walked slowly toward the man as he began to wake.
The girl beside him said:
"N-Nir, are you okay?"
Hearing that broke her slow pace, and tears streamed down Yona's face.
She ran and jumped onto him, knocking him over again.
"W-What the...?"
Yuna hugged Nir from behind, crying.
"Nir, you idiot."
Nir was shocked when he heard her voice.
"Y-Yona??"
He turned and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Yona, you idiot!! What are you doing here!?"
Realizing it was really her, Nir went quiet, then softly said:
"I'm sorry."
Yuna punched him on the head and yelled:
"Sorry!? After all this, all you have to say is sorry!?"
Then she hugged him and said:
"Think about the kids' feelings. What will they think when they find out you're in prison?"
Aso said in surprise:
"K-Kids? Nir, you're married?"
Hearing this, a disappointed look crossed her face.
Nir answered while Yuna hugged him tightly, almost breaking his ribs.
"N-No, we're siblings. This is my sister. The kids are our younger siblings."
Yuna looked up and saw the girl in front of her.
"Oh, you must be Lilith. Your brother's been looking for you."
Aso replied:
"Oh no, I'm not Lilith. I'm her friend, actually."
Sunny ran up to Aso and Nir.
"Wait, do you know where my sister Lilith is?"
Aso raised her index finger and pointed toward some rubble.
"I think she's on the other side."
Sunny stood and looked toward the large pile of debris, placing his hands on his hips.
"Seriously, I don't have time for this."