**The shelter's alarms wailed** as Min-jun burst into the hallway. The acrid stench of burning metal filled the air—not from the gates this time, but from human weapons.
"They're shelling us!" A bloodied guard staggered past, clutching a shattered arm. "The military thinks we're harboring gate-spawn!"
Ji-hoon grabbed Min-jun's arm. "They'll kill everyone!"
Through the shattered windows, Min-jun saw the truth: Tanks had surrounded the block, their barrels glowing with the telltale blue of experimental energy weapons. Between them slithered creatures from the gates, their forms flickering unnaturally.
Xia's words echoed in his mind: *Both sides will come for him now.*
Hye-jin shoved a pistol into Ji-hoon's hands. "The tunnels under the gym—go!"
A deafening *crack* split the air as the first tank fired. The east wing of the school vaporized in a blast of cerulean light.
Min-jun moved on instinct. The Third Form unfolded—not to attack, but to *protect*. His hands moved in a circular motion, and the next energy blast *bent* around them, shearing off the roof but leaving their small group unharmed.
Ji-hoon gaped. "How did you—"
"Later." Min-jun grabbed his son's wrist—and *felt* it.
A pulse.
Faint.
*Familiar.*
The same energy that had once dragged him through the gate now slept beneath Ji-hoon's skin.
Xia hadn't just wanted a sacrifice.
She'd wanted *bait.*
---
**The tunnels reeked of mildew and blood.**
Hye-jin led them through the darkness, her flashlight beam bouncing off graffiti left by previous survivors: *THE END IS COMING. WE MADE THEM OPEN IT. REMEMBER NAMSAN.*
Ji-hoon's breathing came in ragged gasps. "They think *we're* the monsters?"
"Doesn't matter what they think," Hye-jin snapped. "Only what they'll do."
Another explosion shook the ground. Dust rained from the ceiling as the tunnel groaned in protest.
Min-jun stopped suddenly. "Wait."
His brand burned—not toward the surface, but *deeper* into the tunnels. The Eclipse Rot whispered of something buried here long before the school was built.
Hye-jin followed his gaze to a rusted maintenance door. "That's just the old boiler room."
Min-jun pried it open.
The space beyond wasn't a boiler room.
It was a *laboratory.*
---
**Dust-covered equipment lined the walls,** decades out of date. At the center stood a massive machine—part particle accelerator, part archaic ritual circle—its surface etched with the same symbols as Min-jun's brand.
Ji-hoon paled. "This looks like the thing Mom was studying before..."
Hye-jin touched a faded placard. "'Project Blacklight. 1999.' But that's impossible. The gates only appeared five years—"
"Not here," Min-jun interrupted. He pointed to a yellowed photo on the wall—a group of scientists standing proudly beside the machine. One face stood out: a young woman with sharp features and silver hair.
*Xia.*
Not as a disciple of the Shattered Sky Sect.
As a *human* researcher.
Ji-hoon stumbled back. "She's from our world?"
Min-jun's Rot hissed in confirmation. This wasn't just about the Murim or the gates.
This was about *time itself.*
A noise came from the tunnel behind them—not the military, not the creatures.
Something *worse.*
The sound of a gate opening *underground.*
---
**TO BE CONTINUED...**