Fold 7 - The Luxury of Theory

The room was too white. All Axiom debrief chambers were the same: sanitized, symmetrical, full of echo and artificial light. But this one had more people in it than usual: too many matching uniforms, too many overlapping jurisdictions.

Saejin stood in silence near the wall, observing. Hara was next to him, a sense of impatience running through her, visible in the way her arms locked tighter and her weight shifted from one foot to the other, as if waiting for something to break the silence.

The doors slid open with a soft hiss.

"Look at that" came a voice, amused, unapologetically loud for a debriefing space. "They even sent the quiet one!"

Soren stepped in like the room already belonged to him. He was tall, loose-limbed, seemed sharp-eyed. There was a crooked badge on his coat and a half-finished protein bar in his hand. His smile was too relaxed for the tension lingering in the air. He quickly scanned the room, caught Hara's eye and gave her a finger-gun salute, then turned toward Saejin.

"You're shorter than I imagined."

Hara made a strangled sound, somewhere between a laugh and a threat.

"Soren" she said tightly. "Please don't test him."

"Test? I'm complimenting him." He grinned. "Takes presence to stand that still without evaporating."

Saejin didn't move, instead he kept his gaze forward, unbothered by any of the comments. Soren strolled over to the central display table, tossing the wrapper into a bin with practiced accuracy.

"Just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Yuwon's been different since that little session. Thought maybe you glowed or levitated or something."

"Soren."

The name was spoken low, but clear. Everyone turned and saw Yuwon entering the room. His coat was undone, boots still dusted from whatever sector he'd just returned from. His hair seemed damp at the edges, eyes carrying the trace of a storm. He looked at Soren first.

"Enough."

Soren held up his hands, smirking. 

"Relax. I'm being good."

But his tone softened, just enough to mean it.

Yuwon's gaze then flicked past him, towards Saejin. As their eyes met, the air between them felt heavy, familiar, charged. Saejin didn't look away and neither did Yuwon.

After the moment passed, Yuwon leaned against the wall beside the display screen, arms crossed, gaze level. Saejin had already returned to stillness, back to being the room's quiet anchor. Then the briefing began. Or tried to.

"Alright, alright" Soren said, settling into one of the edge chairs, legs sprawled across a second one. "I'm Soren, by the way. Official Guide-slash-disaster-mediator for Mr. Stormcloud over there."

He tilted his head toward Yuwon, who said nothing.

Hara cleared her throat. "Liaison Hara Choi. This is Guide Saejin Ryu. Our tech strategist will arrive shortly."

"Tech strategist" Soren echoed, grinning. "Nice. Let me guess, pale, jumpy, and allergic to daylight?"

Hara didn't answer and Saejin didn't so much as blink.

Soren clicked his tongue. "You two are a joy."

The room dimmed slightly as the projection interface powered on. One of Yuwon's team members cleared their throat and began speaking, easing the tension as they transitioned into the official briefing. They outlined the mission's proximity to a new interference zone, unstable, deep-range, and highly reactive. The volatility had pushed their existing resonance protocols to the edge.

Saejin's attention stayed on the data until Soren broke the silence again.

"Hey, Saejin."

Soren's voice cut across the room and the conversation faltered.

"You know what the most effective matching method ever recorded was?"

The way he asked it, loud, direct, almost curious, made it feel like a casual pop quiz. Saejin looked at him without expression. Soren grinned.

"Sex."

Silence followed.

"Full physical contact during peak resonance. Brings down volatility by sixty percent. At least, that's what the data says."

He leaned forward on his knees. "Not exactly your style, is it?"

Soren grinned at his own remark but in reality he was more interested in how Saejin would answer than in the words themselves, he wanted to see if he would flinch. And he did, but not in the way Soren had imagined. Saejin's brow tightened, barely noticeable, and when he answered, his voice was calm, but completely in control.

"Some of us didn't have the luxury of theory."

Soren blinked. The grin faltered, he hadn't expected that kind of response. As it slipped, Yuwon pushed off the wall.

"Soren."

The voice had weight this time. Soren held up a hand.

"Yeah. Got it."

He tipped back into his chair, casual on the surface, but the air still felt wired with tension refusing to bleed out. Yuwon looked at Saejin but his time, Saejin didn't meet his eyes.