Fold 8 - Agreement

No one spoke for a while until eventually, a woman stepped forward from Yuwon's side of the room holding a tablet. Her coat displayed the Izun Sector insignia on top of a black fabric. She moved with the unspoken authority of someone used to rooms like this.

"I am Director Shin" she introduced herself. "Izun Sector's Operations lead."

Her eyes scanned the gathering once, then settled briefly on Saejin. "This isn't a debrief on the collapse event mentioned earlier. That mission has been closed without any casualties. The containment was held."

She tapped the tablet, and the central display lit up: a clean axis line, then jagged resonance curves stretching across it.

"The problem came after."

The graphs updated: Yuwon's signal patterns spiking, then dropping again, unstable and rhythmic.

"Post-event, Esper destabilization was noted. Interference tremors. Neuro-reactive surges. Escalating signal volatility. Three Guides were rotated in, but none held for more than thirty seconds."

She didn't look at Yuwon when she said it, but most people in the room did.

"This is when the containment protocol was initiated and the emergency override was approved."

Her gaze turned to Saejin now.

"That was you."

The screen changed: the chaos on the waveform narrowed, it curved inward, stabilizing on screen progressively.

"Six minutes. That's how long it took for full resonance alignment. What happened in that room wasn't just containment... it was resonance recalibration. Yuwon's signal virtually changed."

She let that sit, then added, "We've never seen anything like it."

Hara cast a glance at Saejin, but said nothing. His posture didn't move and his expression didn't change.

Director Shin folded her hands behind her back.

"Within twelve hours, we filed a formal sync compatibility request. We believe the potential here is significant, but it needs structure. So this is our proposal: one monitored session. Full environmental lock. Controlled feedback channels. No interference."

She paused, then added while looking directly at Saejin: "If he agrees."

Before anyone could respond, another voice cut through. A neutral, but faintly amused one.

"You forgot to mention the part where Saejin's been passed around like a diagnostic tool for the last five years."

Soren leaned back slightly in his seat, one foot propped on the chair leg.

"They drop him into unstable cases, let him patch things up, and then pull him out before anyone asks why it worked."

Shin's brow lifted faintly, but she didn't interrupt.

"The truth is" Soren continued, "no one's matched clean until now and suddenly he does."

He gestured toward the waveform still on display.

"And that type of compatibility? That wasn't accidental. We need to understand what this means for everybody involved. Don't you agree?"

There was a small murmur from the team cluster in the back. Then Yuwon spoke.

"It wasn't just compatibility."

The room stilled slightly as soon as his voice was heard. Yuwon rarely spoke in these rooms unless it mattered. He didn't stand, just looked at the screen.

"I've been stabilized before, but it always felt like noise control. This was... different. Like I wasn't being held in place, I was being read."

He looked at Saejin.

"I've worked with a dozen Guides and some of them were excellent, but he's the only one that didn't treat my instability like a threat. It was the most grounding thing I had felt in a very long time."

Saejin said nothing. His hands remained at his sides, still.

Director Shin stepped forward again. "That's what we hope to test: predictive alignment. We've been authorized to upgrade your calibration environment: core diagnostics, waveform isolation, even feedback sync as you move."

She swiped her tablet, and a second screen lit up behind her showing a 3D model of a round chamber with white seamless walls.

"This is the new resonance chamber our technicians have been working on for the last couple of years" she explained. "It's a sealed environment where we'll be able to track even the smallest shifts in energy. Every line in the floor, every panel in the wall are built to catch the moment where one Esper and one Guide resonate".

People exchanged glances, but nobody said anything out loud.

"This isn't just a test. If it works, the two of you would become a permanent Esper/Guide unit, no more temporary assignments."

Soren made a low whistling sound. "Wow, real tech. And here I was about to glue Saejin to a field monitor and hope for the best."

A few people chuckled.

Hara raised an eyebrow, not smiling. "Sure, make jokes. But if he'd been given the right match two years ago, half your sync logs would be obsolete by now."

She glanced at Saejin, then back to the group. "Some of you are late to noticing."

Shin nodded. "Soren remains on the team as secondary Guide backup. He'll monitor and assist."

Soren threw up a lazy salute. "In other words, I'm the failsafe if the emotionally problematic power duo runs out of stamina."

Hara rolled her eyes.

Now even Yuwon cracked a smile, barely.

Across the room, someone cleared their throat and Director Shin confirmed with a short nod.

"That concludes the briefing. You'll receive full schedule access within the hour."

Approvals were signed shortly after. No one asked Saejin directly, he just gave a small nod and that was enough.

The resonance chamber was scheduled for Saejin and Yuwon and the trial would begin next cycle.