The woman in the tactical suit was carrying the man alone, using a device that resembled a high-tech version of a traditional wooden A-frame carrier. We were making our way back up to the rooftop.

  "Ugh, why are you so heavy? Lose some weight, old man," she grunted.

  "..."

  The man didn't even have the strength to reply, leaning his head against the carrier with his eyes tightly shut. Dong-jun watched the scene with a mix of fear and wonder. The woman appeared fit, but the man had to weigh at least 80 or 90 kilograms. Seeing her climb the stairs with such a massive load without a single sign of struggle was nothing short of incredible.

  When they reached the rooftop again, it was still dark. However, the red moon hanging in the sky cast a crimson, eerie hue over the shadows. Below, several broken humanoids and drones lay scattered, but unlike before, the area was hauntingly silent.

  Dong-jun immediately ran toward a specific spot. It was the gardener drone. It was damaged beyond recognition—a mere heap of scrap metal.

  ‘Drone...’

  He felt strangely numb. He had already steeled himself, knowing the drone would be attacked the moment the elevator doors hissed shut. He could only remember the way its lens had flickered one last time.

  "..."

  He grabbed a basket from the vegetable garden and carefully placed the dismantled pieces inside. He didn't know if it could ever be repaired, but he felt he had to do something.

  The woman in the tactical suit climbed onto a wheelless motorcycle parked at the edge of the roof, still carrying the man on her back.

  "Man, you're heavy," she muttered before calling out to Dong-jun. "Your name is Dong-jun, right?"

  Dong-jun looked up at her.

  "I need to drop this guy off first," she said. "Can you wait here for a bit?"

  Dong-jun had no other choice but to nod. She looked at him for a moment, then grabbed something from the back of the bike and tossed it to him.

  "Catch."

  It was a black jacket. She seemed to want him to stay warm while he waited.

  "Oh! And... I’ve scrambled the signal for those androids using a chip. They won't even dream of looking for you here."

  With those words, she started the engine. Four fan-like blades emerged from the bottom, and the machine began to hover. As she hit the throttle, a faint blue flame erupted from the back, and the bike shot forward.

  ‘Should I call that a motorcycle... or an air-bike?’ It sliced through the air, keeping a safe distance from the building's exterior as it descended at a terrifying speed.

  "..."

  It was Dong-jun’s first time seeing a 'flying bike' in person. ‘That must be incredibly expensive.’ Not that it mattered right now. What mattered was what he would do next.

  As she disappeared from sight, Dong-jun replayed the conversation they’d had in the elevator.

  "You’re Dong-jun, right? I’m Lia, an agent for the FAI’s direct headquarters' Mobile Strike Team. Nice to meet you. Oh! And the old man’s profile? It’s a fake. We manipulated the national database to create a cover story to deceive the enemy."

  Only then did Dong-jun’s questions begin to resolve. As he had suspected, the old man was no ordinary person.

  But Lia had reached out her hand immediately after speaking.

  "..."

  Dong-jun, still unable to find his voice, froze in a moment of panic. Noticing the cast on his right arm, Lia smiled and shook his left hand instead.

  "Hehe."

  He felt even more flustered now. It wasn't just her behavior; up close, she was strikingly beautiful with somewhat exotic features. Her Korean was flawless, and her strength was... terrifying.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Dong-jun looked back and forth between the chip in her hand and the capsule-shaped chip in his own palm. He had a mountain of questions, but only ragged breaths escaped his throat. Lia seemed to read his eyes as she had strode up the stairs.

  "Oh, the chip? You're curious, aren't you?" She hadn't looked back as she kept talking.

  "There are no humans here. Except for the patients, everyone is a robot. This is a 'Prisoner-Only Hospital' built by the state. They were going to build them nationwide, but a bunch of old-timers complained about human rights, so this is the only pilot site. But the results were great. Criminals getting rehabilitated and treated by robot hands."

  She had paused for a second to readjust the carrier on her shoulders. The man's large body shifted, but she didn't seem to care.

  "You know what happened next. Robot corporations smelled the money and started lobbying, pushing their own tech... Eventually, this hospital became a showroom and a battlefield for giant corporations. The reason the ones you saw earlier looked so different is that they all belong to different companies."

  Only then did Dong-jun understand why the androids, humanoids, and drones had reacted so differently. Lia had waved the chip in her hand as they passed a circuit breaker.

  "We planted that chip in the drone because we needed to gather intel. Your chip was our 'eyes,' and mine is the 'hand.' It’s a master key that can force any nearby electrical device to wake up."

  Dong-jun felt a chill run down his spine. ‘Such a function is possible?’

  Lia continued, "I intercepted your chip's signal and forced that elevator to come up earlier."

  "..."

  Her explanation was long, but it wasn't hard to grasp. It felt like the pieces of a puzzle were finally falling into place. She had stopped suddenly, looked at Dong-jun, and winked.

  "So? Didn't I do a good job?"

  "..."

  Dong-jun hadn't reacted. He was momentarily frozen. Disappointed by his silence, she had pressed a small indentation on the back of her right hand, and a slot opened. She tucked the round chip inside.

  "You still don't trust me, do you?"

  ‘It’s not that...’

  She then manipulated some buttons on her right arm. A nearby drone, which had been partially destroyed, emitted a brief sound before shutting down again.

  "Do you believe me now?"

  Dong-jun knew her words were true, but questions remained. Who were the FAI androids, and why had he been able to communicate with the drone?

  Now alone on the roof, Dong-jun walked toward the edge and looked down. The hospital roof was about fifteen stories high. Vertigo washed over him, but he forced himself to look. Below the windows, he saw the wreckage of dozens of humanoids that had fallen earlier.

  He moved to another side of the railing. ‘Is that the entrance?’

  He looked down again. There was a lower building nearby. It looked like a prison. ‘So that’s how they’re connected.’ The prison walls were joined to the hospital's exterior. The area looked like a mountainous region, far from any city center.

  The fear of heights became too much, and he stepped back.

  ‘Whew...’

  He lay down on the roof and stared at the sky. ‘I need to rest, even if it's just for a moment.’ Sleep wouldn't come, but his body was exhausted.

  ‘Less than five days left...’

  He reflected on the past two days. Every day felt packed with events, yet he felt as though he had achieved very little. There was nothing he could be certain of, yet nothing he could give up on. He felt lost. The weight of being alone pressed down on him.

  ‘Soan... if that day comes without you, can I stop it?’

  He lay there for a while, lost in thought.

  Five minutes? Ten? He wasn't sure how much time had passed when a voice called out.

  "Dong-jun! Hurry up and get on!"

  She was back. Dong-jun steeled himself and climbed onto her bike.

  "Ah!" He remembered to grab the basket containing the drone parts. Lia saw this and tucked the basket into the rear compartment.

  "Hold on tight. I won't know if you fly off."

  Dong-jun lightly gripped the fabric of her jacket.

  "I told you, you'll fall if you hold on like that."

  As she started the engine, she pulled his arms around her waist.

  ‘Wait...’

  Then, she hit the gas.

  Vroom—

  The wind was freezing—a literal 'blade-wind.' He hadn't realized how cold it was while running for his life, but it was still only February. As they descended along the outer wall, the first rays of sunlight were hitting the distant mountain peaks.

  On the road leading to the prison, he could see police cars approaching. Lia turned the air-bike in the opposite direction, away from the sirens. The bike sliced through the sky at a speed that felt like over 300 km/h.

  "..."

  About five minutes later, they arrived. As they neared the ground, he saw a sign. It said Daegu.

  ‘So we were in Daegu...’

  The blue flames from the air-bike faded, and the blades slowly came to a stop as they touched the ground.

  "We're here."

  "..."

  Dong-jun stepped off cautiously. It was an old building complex, dark and nearly deserted. She manipulated some controls on the bike, and it flew off somewhere on its own.

  "Follow me."

  He followed her deeper into the complex until she stopped in a simple parking area. Just as Dong-jun began to wonder why they were there, the parked cars started to reverse on their own.

  Pshhhh—

  With the sound of releasing air, the metal floor in front of him opened in a circular pattern. It was like a scene from a movie—or the produce elevator he had taken before.

  "You might be the first civilian to ever come here, Dong-jun."

  She took out a pair of glasses from her vest and put them on. After descending for about thirty seconds, the platform stopped.

  ‘How deep did we go?’

  But it was strange. In front of him was nothing but a solid wall.

  "Behind you."

  ‘Oh...’

  Dong-jun turned around. The doors slid open to both sides, and a blinding white light hit his eyes.

  "Ugh..."

  Squinting against the sudden brightness, Dong-jun saw a space that felt like the underground base from the movie Men in Black. In the center, a large FAI logo was visible, and beyond transparent glass walls, dozens of agents were moving busily.

  Strange monitors, peculiar robots, and bizarre high-tech gadgets were everywhere.

  And there... stood someone familiar. Someone he had missed dearly.

  Then, a voice rang out.

  "Dong-jun!"