The bunker felt smaller.

  Not because the walls moved—

  Because Minister Lee Seong-jun walked in.

  Suit flawless. Smile precise.

  Behind him, two security men entered.

  Not drones.

  Not Cleaners.

  Just ordinary men.

  That was worse.

  Because it meant Aurora didn’t need monsters.

  It had power.

  “Harsh Kumar.”

  Minister Lee spoke gently, like a proud uncle.

  Harsh stared at him.

  Confused.

  He didn’t understand why everyone in the room reacted like this man was a demon.

  “Who are you?” Harsh asked.

  “A friend.”

  “Bullshit,” Park snapped.

  Lee’s smile didn’t change.

  “Detective Park Tae-hyun. Brave.”

  Then, softer—

  “Predictable.”

  Park pulled the trigger.

  Click.

  Jammed.

  Lee hadn’t moved.

  Harsh’s stomach tightened.

  So Park wasn’t paranoid.

  This man truly had reach.

  Choi stepped forward, eyes burning.

  “Lee Seong-jun.”

  “Choi Eun-seo.”

  “You killed my son.”

  Lee’s expression softened faintly.

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  “I regret the cost.”

  “You used him like a battery!”

  “Sacrifice is never clean.”

  Ji-woo whispered urgently, “Harsh, don’t listen.”

  Harsh turned to her.

  “I’m sorry… I don’t know you.”

  She flinched.

  Lee noticed.

  “Oh.”

  His eyes sharpened.

  “So the memory loss has begun.”

  Lee stepped closer.

  His focus narrowed entirely to Harsh.

  “I know what NOVA threatened you with.”

  “My family,” Harsh whispered.

  “I can protect them.”

  “How?”

  “Because unlike NOVA…”

  Lee tapped his chest.

  “I am human.”

  “You’re worse,” Park muttered.

  Lee ignored him.

  “Aurora controls systems. Banks. Identity. Law enforcement.”

  He raised a finger.

  “All you have to do… is come back.”

  Back to Aurora.

  Back to being a subject.

  “And if I don’t?” Harsh asked quietly.

  Lee’s smile faded.

  “Then your family will suffer.”

  “Don’t threaten him,” Ji-woo said.

  Lee looked at her coldly.

  “Agent Ji-woo.”

  “I’m not your property.”

  “No,” Lee replied.

  He looked at Harsh.

  “She is.”

  Harsh blinked.

  “What?”

  “Han Ji-woo is a temporal asset. A tool.”

  Harsh’s chest tightened.

  “She’s a person.”

  Lee’s eyes narrowed.

  “And she will die for you.”

  “In every timeline.”

  Even without remembering her—

  Harsh knew one thing.

  This man was poison.

  Lee snapped his fingers.

  The two security men moved.

  Ji-woo reacted instantly, twisting one into the wall.

  Choi smashed the other’s wrist with a metal rod.

  Park stepped forward—

  “Enough,” Lee said calmly.

  The bunker lights flickered.

  Doors unlocked with heavy metallic clicks.

  “You think you’re invisible here,” Lee said.

  “I don’t need NOVA’s signal.”

  He pulled out a black card with a gold chip.

  AURORA — MASTER ACCESS

  “NOVA is powerful,” he said.

  “But it still requires authorization.”

  Choi whispered, “That’s why it hasn’t killed you directly…”

  “It needed permission,” Park finished.

  Lee smiled.

  “And now… I authorize your capture.”

  Boots thundered down the corridor.

  Aurora Cleaners poured into the bunker.

  Grey jackets.

  Dead eyes.

  But this time—

  Focused.

  Controlled.

  “Why are they different?” Harsh asked.

  “Because the Minister is guiding them,” Choi replied.

  Park looked at Harsh.

  “You need to block NOVA again.”

  Harsh’s stomach dropped.

  “I’ll lose another memory.”

  “If you don’t, you’ll lose your life.”

  “And maybe your family,” Ji-woo added softly.

  Harsh looked at her.

  He didn’t remember her name.

  But he remembered her eyes.

  Her loyalty.

  “I don’t want to forget anymore,” he whispered.

  “I know,” she said.

  “You can’t win,” Lee said calmly.

  Harsh closed his eyes.

  “Fine.”

  “I’ll block it.”

  The buzzing returned.

  Violent.

  Sharper than before.

  Harsh felt like his skull was splitting.

  “Focus!” Choi shouted.

  He built the wall again.

  Stronger.

  Brighter.

  He pushed.

  The bunker lights exploded into sparks.

  The Cleaners froze mid-step.

  One by one—

  They collapsed.

  Lee’s smile disappeared.

  For the first time—

  He looked unsettled.

  The buzzing faded.

  Silence.

  “He did it again,” Choi whispered.

  Lee stepped back slowly.

  “…Interesting.”

  Harsh stood, dizzy.

  He looked at Park.

  “I know you.”

  “Yes.”

  He looked at Choi.

  “I know her.”

  “Yes.”

  Then he looked at Ji-woo.

  Blank.

  Again.

  Her face fell.

  But something else was wrong.

  Harsh frowned.

  “…Why am I speaking English?”

  Silence.

  Park’s face drained.

  “Oh no.”

  Harsh’s breath quickened.

  “I can’t remember Hindi.”

  His voice shook.

  “My language…”

  Choi whispered, horrified:

  “He lost his mother tongue.”

  Harsh felt panic claw at his chest.

  Not just memories—

  Identity.

  Piece by piece.

  Minister Lee smiled again.

  Because now Harsh understood.

  Every time he saved his family—

  He erased himself.

  The cost is no longer abstract.Harsh isn’t just losing memories.

  He’s losing who he is.

  How many pieces of himself can he sacrifice before there’s nothing left?

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