Divergence Protocol

Jin-Woo stood in stillness.

The world around him was frozen — not just paused, but suspended in an eerie silence. The Guardian's bladed strike hovered inches from Seo-Yeon's neck, frozen mid-spark. Dust and debris hung in the air like flecks of light trapped in amber.

Ten minutes.

His pulse pounded louder than the silence around him.

He turned the Root Key over in his palm. It pulsed faintly — not with heat, but with awareness. He could feel it pulling him — no, offering him a thread.

A thread through time.

He closed his eyes.

And the Chain unraveled before him.

The First Divergence

He saw it now. The very first fracture.

A lab. Rows of scientists monitoring a brain scan — his brain. A conversation he couldn't fully hear, except for fragments:

"…Subject 13 has retained 78% memory integrity..."

"…the rollback trigger is unstable…"

"…inject the paradox manually…"

Then, blackness.

Another thread — a different timeline.

Jin-Woo at sixteen. He'd passed the exam. Gotten into the university. Didn't meet Seo-Yeon. Didn't get into trading. Died in a train crash at 23.

Thread cut.

Next thread — he became rich early. Played the markets flawlessly. But power corrupted. He died surrounded by wealth — and no one mourned.

Thread cut.

More and more possibilities. Versions of him that broke, that succeeded, that killed, that saved.

But one version stood apart.

The Hidden Version

It was him — but younger. No memory of his past life. No interference from Janus. Just Jin-Woo. Honest. Hard-working. Failing — but smiling. Living quietly.

No power. No paradox. But peace.

The Root Key flickered violently.

"Choose," said a voice — maybe Yoon Mi-Ra's, maybe his own.

"Return to peace and forget — or fight and remember everything."

Jin-Woo opened his eyes.

The room remained frozen.

But inside, he had already made his decision.

"I remember too much to let go now."

He pressed the Root Key into the Guardian's frozen chest.

The Code Breaks

Time shattered.

The construct roared — this time, not in challenge, but agony.

The vault exploded in blinding light as lines of corrupted code split from its chest, unraveling midair like burning threads.

Seo-Yeon blinked — time resumed.

Jin-Woo pulled her back just as the Guardian collapsed in a heap of fractal shards.

"You did it," she gasped.

"No," he said. "We just opened the next door."

Behind the pedestal, a hidden chamber opened. Inside, a staircase led downward, spiraling into darkness.

Etched on the wall:

SECTOR 0 — CORE INTERFACE BELOW. NO RETURN.

Jin-Woo turned to Seo-Yeon. "You don't have to follow me."

She scoffed. "You're not doing this alone."

They stepped onto the first stair.

Behind them, the door sealed.

Ahead — the heart of the Chain.