“Will someone who knows what they're doing please get him out of that operator's chair?” Hwanmyeong's picture blinked a light pink as she spoke, emphasizing the word 'please'. Her voice was tinted with a hint of annoyance and irritation that she often used around him. Soonyoung couldn't help but roll his eyes as she continued, “I'm not going to take orders from a Rank 6 Plebe,”

“Look Ming, I don't think we have any other choice,” Seungcheol answered back, making Soonyoung double take – was that egotistic macho man actually defending him?

A lowly Rank 6 Plebe on his first day there? Well. Soonyoung would have never thought The Great Inferno had it in him. He listened to the seniors argue with Hwanmyeong about him being their last resort, but she wasn't backing down. Doyoon promised that he would verbally guide him on what controls he had to press since he had been a K-ontriever before, but still she refused. Her reason? Simply because there was absolutely now way she going to submit to the guy she detested the most. Soonyoung's brows furrowed together the more he listened to their conversation; what had he done so wrong to make her hate him so much? He'd only met her that morning! In the midst of all their arguing, Jinli warned that she was entering American territory and was preparing for Weigyein contact. K-ommunicator Iz, who had heard that call, opened up the lines to the American Division requesting permission for entrance. And then there was Doyoon and Seungcheol who were still trying to convince Hwanmyeong to “just let it go this one time,” because they still haven't left the hangar.

“You know what, Your Highness?” Soonyoung butted into the conversation, sarcastically addressing the higher ranked girl. This shut up the other two K-aptains as well. “I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my little heart that I'm not what you would like right now, but could you just up your pride this one time and listen to me? There are thousands of lives at stake here, and at the end of the day, you'll be the one that'll get recognized by the public. Not me,”

That shut her up. Once those words left his mouth, Soonyoung didn't feel high and almighty at all. In fact, there was a clenching feeling in his gut as he imagined what would become of him when she arrived back at base. She didn't seem like the type of person to hold back on him especially not after letting slip by her grasp in IA class. Next to him, a pink dot started blinking on Iz's map as Astute Sage steadily approached the East Coast. She immediately began drawing up a course into the territory. On the other hand, not a word came from Hwanmyeong. She was either thinking about what Soonyoung had just said, or decided to go rogue. After a few seconds, then Hwanmyeong spoke, “Fine. I'll listen to you, but get this straight, plebe. I'm not doing this because you, or Inferno, or even Ryder told me to. I'm doing it for the citizens of New York,”

“Fine with me,” Soonyoung shrugged his shoulders as he navigated over to kickstart Raging Storm's, Seungcheol and Doyoon's Kestrel, take off. He was silently praying that whatever he was doing was right because if he made even the littlest mistake, it could mean the lives of innocent people. Just as he was about to press the enter key, there was a tap on his shoulder; it was Seohee. That small smile on her face told him that she was going to help him as best as she could. Gazing back up at the screen, Soonyoung loaded the coordinates of the Weigyein spotting into Raging Storm, then pressed the enter key, “Kestrel Pilots Eight and Nine, a Category 4 Officer has been identified in Manila. Raging Storm is downloading the coordinates as we speak. Good luck, Mecha Team,”

Pressing the Tab button, he switched screens to watch the news broadcasts. The crisp image enlarged on the curved glass as he streamed four different local channels – FOX 11 for LA, CH12 for NYC, ABS-CBN for Manila, and CCTV for China. He focused on the first box which Jinli was being shown in. This was the first time he had ever seen her Kestrel in combat, and this was saying something since he pretty much knew all of the Kestrels that had ever fought. The Austere Amarok, just like the name states, was crafted and built to resemble the legendary Amarok wolf. The gleam of the evening city lights shone off the metallic surface of the robust wolf. On all fours, it was about the average height of a New York City building (and mind you K-ombatant robots were the smallest Kestrels). With it's surprisingly slender and pliable joints, Jinli navigated through the streets of Los Angeles, flexibly avoiding from knocking down any buildings. The camera zoomed up on the marvelous face of the platinum beast, capturing the highlight of the creature – a few hundred feet long canine teeth. The sharp add-ons shimmered under the bright moonlight with each step Jinli took. It's beauty was absolutely breathtaking.

“Grunt in sight,” Jinli's voice crept up his earpiece, snapping him back into reality. He realized now that she was only a few meters away from him, and that she was going to engage in battle now. His heart beat started to pick up; what was he to expect? From what he had read in the manual Jinli had loaded into him, it was the pilot who did the fighting and the operator was just there to monitor nuclear drainage and Kestrel conditions. Other than that, it was all textbook. Was he going to have to do any in-house piloting too?

“I'm going in,” Jinli pranced up from behind one of the buildings, landing right in front of the Grunt at the four-way intersection it was currently tangled up in.

Car horns and sirens blared throughout the streets as the Weigyein's feet dragged across the blacktop. It's tail that trailed behind, picking up debris was about as long as an extra large cargo ship. It barred jagged teeth at the machine, neon blue liquid dribbling from the sides of it's mouth, forming pond-sized puddles on the ground. A ring locked onto the grunt, identifying it as one of the Leatherback species. It was logged as the longest Weigyein species existing, but not the heaviest. Crouching, Jinli channeled the electrical current towards the of her Kestrel, listening to the loud whirring and humming of the machine echoing around her. Even with two stubby legs, the Weigyein reached Amarok in no time, and charged towards the machine, beating it's long, four digit hand-wings to fly up from the ground. Buildings crumbled to the ground as the wings sliced right through them, while Amarok dug it's heels into the ground to slow down the monster. With every beat of the Leatherback's wings, the impact of the gusts rattled Jinli from inside. Lights flickered on and off as the core shook until she took control once again. From the amber tinted windshield, Jinli cringed at the luminescent slobber flying onto her beloved Kestrel as she pried open the Leatherback's jaws.

The vibrant blue rings that ran up the side up to the Weigyein's chest glowed as it began pumping energy into it's tail. A stream of information flooded in Jinli's head informing her that it was preparing to swing it's tail up once charging was complete. Sparks surrounded Amarok like a cloud the harder Jinli pushed against the Leatherback, unknowingly feeding energy into the alien. It's tail was slowly expanding as the Weigyein pumped more energy at into club-like end, waiting for the right moment to strike. Taking advantage of it, Jinli swung her arm upwards, forcing Amarok to open it's jaws and bring them back down on the alien's long, plated and ridged neck. Canines punctured the sac at the base of the neck, causing a bioluminescent acid to slowly ooze out of it. Her windshield was now covered with the neon fluid. Jinli's vision started blinking a bright red as the internal temperature started to rise. Thinking quickly, Jinli pulled back and quickly rammed Amarock's head right into the exposed belly of the Leatherback. Upon impact, Jinli could hear the crunching sound of metal above her as she forced it onto it's back. But there was a bigger concern.

“Control, Amarok's come in contact with the Leatherback's corrosive fluids!” Jinli cried out, “Kestrel Pilot 25 awaiting orders, sir!”

Sounds of strained creaking filled the air as Amarok then dug it's teeth into the Weigyein's side, spewing more of the neon blue fluids as it broke past the plated body. The tissue was dragged along with the rest of the outer plates as Amarok flung it over his shoulder and onto the street below him. The hissing of the acid smeared all along Amarok's body began to steam as it ate away at the metal. The emergency siren blared overhead, warning Jinli to prepare for emergency evacuation. Soonyoung's voice entered her helmet, telling her that he was going to initiate Pilot Escape but instead, she shook head, and flatly told him, “No.” She had gone so far to just back out now. Lines came in from left and right as the other K-ontrievers and K-ommunicators yelled at her to “Don't do anything stupid!” but she simply muted them by pressing the glowing yellow button at the side of her helmet.

“Ryder, what do I do?” Soonyoung's panicked voice entered Doyoon's helmet as he and about two other K-ommunicators worked to reestablish communication with their now offline Kestrel. Seohee was right at his side, using the extensive keyboard to see if she could provide him with any help at all, “She's cut off the line, and I can't get it back online!”

“No , Sherlock,” Hwanmyeong answered for him with a sarcastic undertone as she swung Astute Sage's left arm at the Plasmacaster species ahead of her, blowing a hole right through it's bottom jaw and cleanly through it's right hemisphere, “Jinli's no amateur, I mean, she helped build these things,”

“So what do I do?”

“What did I tell you, Ryder? He's not capable of handling situations like this,”

Opening his mouth to answer back, Soonyoung was interrupted by a beeping. His first reaction was to let go of the controls and cover his ears. It wasn't your average mid-toned alarm, rather, it was a high-pitched whistle-like sound that could almost shatter glasses. With one eye closed, he glanced down at Seohee who was doing the same. The disturbed screams of the other plebes came from the back of the room. Yelling over the ruckus, he asked Seohee what that was supposed to be and how he was supposed to turn it off; unfortunately she didn't know either. Staring around, he realized that the other operators around them didn't seem to be bothered by it, and continued on with their their work. Not long after, a message popped up on the screen which Soonyoung read out loud, “Category 3 Grunt, New York City area – Contained,”

“Good work, Ming,” Doyoon congratulated the junior, “Inferno and I are almost finished here. Head over to LA and lend Amarok a hand,”

“Copy that, Storm,” Hwanmyeong recited, “Coordinates are being downloaded as we speak,”

Soon after the beeping was gone, and Soonyoung and Seohee's hands flew right back to the controls. They switched the screens to CH12 to watch what was going on in New York. A headline scrolled across the bottom in red, “New York City Literally Bleeds Blue!” Now was not really the time to be joking. Soonyoung squinted up at the stream, straining to see what was in the middle of the crowding New Yorkers. A pool of blue, lava-like substance leaked from the dead Plasmacaster's body. From this angle at least, Soonyoung couldn't even tell whether or not it was a Plasmacaster since it was missing some limbs, critical face structures, and most of the general Weigyein anatomy. It was a rather disgusting thing to look at with all the insides just pouring out, but it was the least of the peoples' worry. The camera zoomed out to show the big TV which replayed the final seconds of the battle. Soonyoung found himself ogling at how crisp and fluid Sage's fighting style was. Although Sage was an oversized scrap of deep red metal, it's motions flowed, one blow, after one swing, after one jab. It was like watching a theatrical dance. It didn't even look like fighting anymore.

“Hey guys, can one of you do me a favor and vent the coolant!” Soonyoung heard Jinli's voice once more. She had restored communication. He could have jumped in his seat right then and there.

With a few taps of a series of buttons, Seohee switched to FOX11 while trying to locate the vent program in the files. The most Soonyoung could do was stare at her, watching her eyebrows furrow together in concentration, lightly chewing on her bottom lip as she worked. Her profile stated that she was merely fifteen years old, yet she had a pretty impressive Skills list. And she was working on the floor too. That was really something. Getting up from the operator's chair, Soonyoung offered access to the main controls to her, and in an instant her face lit up with excitement. He wasn't really needed there anyway. He had no idea to work the wires. He watched her slip into the leather seat, switching profiles within seconds and locating the vent program that she was looking for. After typing in a string of words that was foreign to Soonyoung, she pressed the enter button and immediately the command started. He never realized how challenging and stressful it was to be a K-ontriever, or even a K-ommunicator. But now he knew.

“Hell yeah! Now we're talking!” They heard Jinli yell into her microphone when she heard the hissing sound of the icy cold air escaping from Amarok's body armor plates. Damn, she really got into it. With the liquid nitrogen steaming from the engine hold and flash freezing the Weigyein under Amarok, Jinli started feeling sweat trickling down the sides of her forehead. Amarok was overheating – and fast. As the temperature rose, Jinli continued to concentrate the electricity and heat towards the core, hoping for one final blast before she climbed into the escape pod.

The entire class was now standing just a few feet from them watching the last tensing seconds of Jinli's fight unfold right there on FOX11. It was weird watching it on a huge glass screen instead of their regular home TV sets. For one, the dimensions were about a hundred times bigger and video quality was a million times clearer. There was this one kid though, standing on the far left with navy blue patches scattered all over his school uniform, literally gaping at the screen as he watched the stream. For some reason, Soonyoung could see himself in the young boy; same narrow eyes, similar face shape – it was like he was staring at a younger, more underdeveloped Soonyoung. He had to admit, it was kinda creepy. His processor identified the young boy as Rank 6 Kestrel Plebe Lee Chan. Rookie Kestrel K-ombatant. Fourteen years old from Gangnam, South Korea. 2009's Mathlete of the Year and four time champion of the National Speed Programming Competition. He carefully watched each strong blow the driver drilled into the Weigyein. Soonyoung noticed this too. Although Amarok wasn't as agile as Sage had been, Amarok had a bigger build, and harbored more strength in one careless punch than Sage did in a precisely planned uppercut. In all his years religiously watching Kestrels battle on the news, not once did Soonyoung notice the differences in the techniques of the war machines.

By now, the Leatherhead's entire left side was just about completely frozen solid, and a good chunk of Amarok's side had been hollowed out thanks to the thing's corrosive acid. Amarok pushed itself up with it's front legs, positioning the core near the heart of the beast lying helplessly underneath him. The large inwards hemisphere on Amarok's glowed a fiery orange much like that of freshly spit up lava. He warning sirens blared inside Jinli's helmet now as if it were a mercy chant, but she was so close. The side of quirked upward as she locked on to her prize, clenching the lever in her biker gloved hands. She could almost taste the salty sweet taste of victory in . Her second Weigyein since her promotion last year. Her one-way ticket into the General's good books. Releasing a strained cry, Jinli yanked at the level with all her might, letting out a triumphant yelp when she heard it click.

“Frickle Franklin, Zai Jinli did it again!”

Even though it probably wasn't their business, Soonyoung and the rest of Doyoon's BOS class were at his heels as the moment he emerged from the Pilot Prep room like Usain Bolt on a good day. His hair was sticking up all over the place as he had just thrown his helmet off, and he didn't even have on his uniform properly; one boot was untied, while his belt was only slipped through one loop. Waiting for the other pilots to return for their mission, Soonyoung was lagging around in the back, taking occasional glances over his shoulder. As if on cue, Jinli and Hwanmyeong raced out of the prep room at the same time, both still zipping up the front of their uniforms up to their necks, hair flying wildly behind them not bothering to tie them up. Soonyoung almost fell over when Hwanmyeong shoved him out of the way. How rude. Next to him was that Chan kid whose eyes never left Jinli until she naturally disappeared when she ran around the corner. Soonyoung swore that kid either really admired Jinli after that battle, or developed had a major crush on her.

Unfortunately for the plebes, their stamina and speed wasn't as developed as the average K-ombatant was, so they ended up taking a rest somewhere in the Hong Wing. Upon entering the Hong Wing, a few of the students who belonged to the division found that the color sensitive areas of their uniform changed to a warm shade of champagne while the rest remained with solid black uniforms. Soonyoung's chest heaved up and down as hard as it would have if he had been running on a threadmill for about three hours. At least he held himself together more that the guy next to him. Seokmin had already topped over on poor Yoora who was already too tired from running the corridors to roll him off her. For some reason, he was so sure that Seokmin was just doing this to touch her, but he might be wrong. Nah, knowing Seokmin, he probably wasn't wrong.

After about a minute since they stopped running, a tall, blonde haired boy walked out of his bedroom, head tipped down as he tapped furiously at the surface of the white device he was holding. Soonyoung's eyes widened; damn, he hadn't seen an iPad in years! Noticing the hand on the floor from behind the screen, the boy raised an eyebrow and lifted his head to see what was going on. Now that Soonyoung had a good look at the boy, his processor identified him as Rank 2 Kestrel K-adet Jeon Wonwoo. Kestrel Pilot 36 of the Delta Raiju. Blade Extraordinaire and two time Heavy Weight Lifting Champion. Although the last specialization was questionable, Soonyoung could tell that from the guy's nicely sculpted biceps, and thicker hands that he picked up a sword at least twenty times a day. Soonyoung watched Wonwoo's eyes follow the person's arm and stop when he got to Yoora's face. He could tell from the twinkle in the boy's eyes that the processor had identified Yoora for him, and he was skimming over the girl's profile. Once he was done, Wonwoo smiled down at Yoora before stepping over her, resuming his game, and continuing on his merry way. Soonyoung couldn't help but chuckle at how quickly pink was taking over Yoora's face.

“I seriously can't wait until we start conditioning,” Yinzhi clutched her side as she leaned up against the wall, sweat dripping from her forehead, “The hospital is literally at the end of this hallway, and look at us. We're already this tired,”

For the first time that day, Soonyoung agreed with her. Then again, there was still a bit of hesitation in his agreement mainly because they had just run all the way from the right-most part of the facility, up about ten flights of stairs, not to mention the multiple hallways the had to run up and down in since they got separated from the trio in the Choi Wing. And apparently, the Choi Wing was the last place you wanted to get lost in. The upperclass ranks had a hobby of squashing any plebes that got in their path – and they were an entire class that had gotten lost. Running a hand through his soaked hair, Soonyoung waddled his way over to the end of the hallway. If he was going to die from over-exhaustion, he figured that it might as well be in the hands of a pretty nurse or whatever. Even though he was some sort of supercomputer now, he was still a boy at heart. No computer could take that away from him.

“Doyoon, everything is going to be okay,” Soonyoung heard Hwanmyeong's voice from around the corner when he entered the first hallway behind the exit door to Hong Wing. He stopped short, swiftly pressing his back against the wall separating the two upper ranks from him. It didn't stop him from eavesdropping though. Peering so at least a third of his face was showing, he scanned the end of the hallway for the two superiors. Two rings locked onto them the moment his processor identified them – there they were, standing outside the metal doors of the infirmary. Hwanmyeong placed a hand on Doyoon's arm since she was still too short to get a hand on his shoulder, “Look, I've known Jinli since she was scouted. She knows what she's doing,”

“But, what if something happens to Yuki in the process?” Soonyoung could hear a hint of desperation mixed in with the older boy's voice as it shook, “If something wrong happens to that processor, she could lose everything – her personality, her memories – everything! I can't let that happen again! I won't let it happen again!”

Voice rising, Hwanmyeong used that authoritative tone she had used on Soonyoung earlier that morning, “Yuki's brain has been depending on that hardware for too long; four years at most. We can't just take it out of her head. Without it, she can't survive. Decide on that option and you're basically just asking them to kill her,”

No words came out of the older boy's mouth. In the back of his mind, he knew that Hwanmyeong was speaking the truth – but what he didn't like was that it was the ugly truth. His mouth opened and closed serveral times trying to find the right words to say, but he couldn't formulate proper sentences. Sentences with words and actual meaning to them at least. As Hwanmyeong stared into Doyoon's eyes, she could see them glistening with tears he was trying his best to hold back. Unfortunately, the most she could do was sympathize with him. She knew that she would never be able to understand how horrible Doyoon was feeling right now, but the last thing she needed was an emotional wreck making any life-changing decisions. She knew more than anyone that Doyoon wasn't in the right position to be making any decisions, especially when it came to Yuki. Lightly tilting her head, Hwanmyeong gestured to Doyoon that he should go back to Jang Wing and rest. He was already worn-out from today's mission, and a good sleep would help him release the weight on his shoulders. Biting his bottom lip, Doyoon nodded, and started walking down the opposite hallway back to Jang Wing.

Once the older boy was out of earshot, Hwanmyeong turned her head where Soonyoung was. Soonyoung pulled his head back behind the wall, mentally cursing himself since he knew he had just gotten caught. His shoulders dropped when she called him out, ordering him to come over. Which he did. A whole tornado of scenarios invaded his mind as he envisioned what was going to go down in the next minute. Was she going to yell at him for doing something so stupid earlier? Was she going to congratulate him for his valiant efforts? Or maybe confess her undying love for him? Okay the last one was impossible, but the first one was pretty legitimate. The moment he stopped next to her, only then did he realize how much shorter than she was to him. It was already pretty evident when he saw her with Doyoon but looking at her from this angle, the height difference was pretty astonishing.

“Aren't you going to ask anything?” was the first thing that came out of .

He was confused, “Ask about what?”

“I don't know. Don't you usually ask something stupid?” she replied, this time with almost a playful tone. He decided to just ignore it since now wasn't really the time to be making jokes.

“I'll have to hand that one to you,”

Turning his head, Soonyoung scanned the infirmary's interior. He wasn't exactly sure of the color, but he assumed that it was white since the light blue wall he was looking through reflected off the walls. Unlike the hospitals outside the Academy, or as what most of the people around the school called it 'The Common Grounds', there were no stretchers or beds. Instead, there were large silver pods lined up side by side. Wires were attached at the head of the pod, running up the wall and disappearing into the ceiling above them. There were a few students in there, resting in the pods. They didn't look like they were resting though, more like they were robots in sleep mode. A single navy cord plugged into the back of their neck, and the circular lights that decorated the side of the pod lit up a light green. An almost-clear white energy field surrounded the pod, encasing the student inside to prevent any outside interaction. Moving on to the far right, there was another door leading into another room which Hwanmyeong called the 'Basic Infirmary'. Apparently what they were looking at now was the intensive care unit. Soonyoung caught sight of an amber colored field, and realized that it was the one Yuki was enclosed in. He didn't even need to ask why it was amber, because Hwanmyeong just bluntly said that it was because Yuki was in a critical condition.

“So what happened back there? In the control room?” Soonyoung asked, watching Jinli converse with the male doctor, maybe in his early twenties. He couldn't get a good look at the guy's face so no profile showed up. He did get a name though. Doctor Chang – or at least, that's what the floating name above him said.

When Hwanmyeong didn't answer, Soonyoung side eyed her, noticing how her previously calm expression hardened. He could see her neck slightly go up as she swallowed, probably wondering what to say to him. Taking a deep breath, Hwanmyeong looked away from her friends inside the infirmary, and down at the pentagonal tiled floor. In her mind, she fought a war with herself debating or not whether she should or shouldn't tell Soonyoung. For one, it was Doyoon's personal life she was going to be talking about and for two, Soonyoung was just a plebe. She barely knew anything about him. How did she know that he was trustworthy enough? Taking her chances, she lifted her chin up, and met his eyes, fixating her gaze right into Soonyoung's eyes. Her deep brown orbs bore no emotion, making him wonder whether she had any heart at all. Her face, as straight as it was, was completely void of emotion as well.

“I shouldn't be telling you this, but I guess you've already heard a part of it from eavesdropping, I have no choice to explain it to you,” her shoulders slightly drooped before she dropped her gaze and back at Yuki, “A few years ago when Doyoon first enlisted at the Academy with Seungcheol, he met Yuki. They were in the same wing, same advanced classes, and at one point even worked alongside each other as rookie K-ombatants,”

So that's why in her profile, it stated that she was an ex-Kombatant. Soonyoung nodded his head; he could see that. Yuki being a K-ombatant. He could also see that Doyoon and Yuki had a really strong friendship in the time that he had known them for. And that was saying something since he had only known them for at least twelve hours. He gestured for her to continue and she did, “I'm sure you know of this already, but when you reach Rank 2 K-adet status, you undergo training to see if you are physically and mentally compatible for dual piloting. And Doyoon and Yuki were. So for a while they piloted the same Kestrel together. But that was only up until they...”

“They what?”

There was a silence. At this point, Hwanmyeong wanted to sink into a deep hole and stay there forever. She hated remembering this part. Even talking about it made her uncomfortable. It was one of the worst experiences her life, the next part. At least once a month, she would wake up in cold sweat from a nightmare revolving around the memory. Taking a quick glance at Soonyoung, she brought her eyes back down when she say that he was looking at her eagerly, still waiting for answer. She knew he wasn't going to back down from getting an explanation. Pushing her glasses up, she stalled for a few more seconds before continuing her story, “Category 3 Grunt. Hammerhead species. The largest Weigyein to surface that year. As usual, Doyoon and Yuki were called down to eliminate the Weigyein. Now, I was one of the rookie K-ombatants that were lucky enough to accompany them. I mean, it was everyone's dream to fight alongside the Ryder Jang and the Adrian Allen. I know it was one of mine,”

Her voice lowered into a soft whisper, but she continued anyway, “The Weigyeins back then weren't as advanced as they are now. In fact, back then, they didn't have have corrosive fluids. That was just something they had adapted to while fighting here on Earth. Doyoon was piloting the left side, and Yuki took the right. Just like they always did. But when that Hammerhead brought it's jaws down on them, the fluid glands just happened to be at the right as well. Yuki's side was completely damaged and torn open, and the acid had gotten on the wires connecting her to the Kestrel,”

Soonyoung's eyes widened; by now he could sense where the story was going, “It was eating away at the wires rapidly, and Yuki couldn't disconnect. She was ordered not to by the head K-ontriever at the time, because if she had, all the information would enter Doyoon's and fry his neural processor. In the end, Yuki took the fall for him, and luckily, only the exterior of her processor was damaged. But even that was enough to corrupt a majority of her system. Beemer, or Jisoo as you'll find out later, was the one who helped reconstruct her processor. Doyoon had asked him to erase that memory since he thought it would be too painful for her, but Jisoo could only do so much at the time so he was able to erase only bits and pieces. In helping cover up the incident, Jisoo and Doyoon decided to twist the memory and -”

“Pretend that it was Doyoon who had gotten injured and not her,” Soonyoung finished off, to which Hwanmyeong nodded, “I'm guessing that when she starts relapsing, her system shuts off so that she doesn't go digging where she doesn't belong?”

“More or less. It's actually a kink in her program, but if you try to get rid of it, she just doesn't wake up. Anyway, by the looks of it, Yuki might have to go under restructuring again. ” Hwanmyeong bit her lip as she watched Jinli rub her temples, frustrated at the options Doctor Chang was giving to her, “I can't say that I'm not worried. I mean, Yuki's been my friend for almost four years. It's nerve-wrecking, having to know that someone close to you may or may not come back,”

I guess she has a heart after all.