The rooftop battle had ended. Aria was gone. But her final words haunted me like a virus in the back of my head:
"You were never supposed to have this system…"
And now?
The system was going haywire.
System: [Initiating Emergency Memory Sync…] Unlocking Sealed Fragment 001. Warning: Flashback Event Triggered.]
The world around me shimmered—and then vanished.
I woke up in a hospital bed.
Blinding white light. A dull pain in my chest. Machines beeping around me.
"Patient 046 has stabilized."
A voice from behind a curtain.
"His compatibility rate is… unexpectedly high."
"No one else has survived the install. This kid… he might be the one."
I tried to speak—but nothing came out. My throat burned. My body refused to move.
"Run a soft boot of the system. Don't let him remember this."
"We need to wipe the test logs. The Supreme Devs can't find out."
The voices faded. A cold sensation spread through my brain.
Then—darkness.
I jolted back into my body like I'd been dunked in freezing water.
Agent 7 caught me before I hit the floor. "What did you see?"
"I…" My voice trembled. "I was in a hospital. Woke up after… something. People were talking about installing the system into me. They said I survived when no one else had."
Luna looked horrified. "Wait… You mean the system wasn't an accident?"
Cynthia frowned. "Someone experimented on you?"
Celia clenched her fists. "Whoever did this—I'm going to break their face."
Null's voice dropped an octave.
"That's not all," he said grimly. "If those logs were sealed… it means someone went to great lengths to hide your identity."
I looked at him. "Identity?"
Null flicked his hand. A screen appeared, displaying a flickering, half-corrupted name entry:
[System Candidate Log: Name — Ethan Cross… a.k.a. Prototype ████]
System: [Further Flashback Data Locked. Decryption Required: 2/3 Fragments Collected.]
Agent 7 stared at the screen.
"I've seen that codename before. It was wiped from the System Archives… along with the entire test facility."
My heart dropped.
I wasn't a chosen one.
I was a failed project.
Or worse… a stolen one.
But who took the system? Who gave it to me? And why block my memories?
Luna stepped forward, suddenly serious.
"We need answers."
Cynthia nodded, cheeks puffed. "Yeah! No more secrets!"
Celia raised her taser-spear. "Let's find whoever did this and shove a system chip where the sun doesn't shine."
I swallowed hard.
One thing was clear: my past was a lie.
And my system wasn't a gift.
It was a time bomb.
System: [New Main Quest: "Recover the Past"] Objective: Discover the truth about the System Installation. Progress: 2/5 Memory Fragments Unlocked. Clue: Seek the girl with the broken pendant.]
A pendant?
I suddenly remembered a girl.
Dark hair. Warm smile. Glass necklace around her neck…
And then—nothing.
"Guys," I said slowly. "I think I've met someone before all this. Someone important."
Null's face turned serious.
"If you're thinking what I'm thinking… she might be the key."
That night, I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
The system that ruined my normal life…
Might have been meant to erase it completely.
And now?
Someone out there was pulling the strings.
If I didn't stop them soon—
This wouldn't end in a harem comedy.
It would end in a massacre.