"To fix what's broken, you must first remember why it shattered."
---
The tear in the sky hadn't sealed.
The moment had frozen—Raven holding the trembling form of Ava.exe, her cheek still wet with that strange binary tear.
> [Auto-Restart Protocol Cancelled]
[System Conflict: External Divine Signature Detected]
[Cross-Realm Interference — Identity: Confirmed]
[LEE KANG WOO: ACCESS GRANTED]
A golden ripple erupted from the atmosphere, followed by an audible thunderclap that didn't just shake the air—but the code itself.
From that rupture stepped down a man clad in a long black robe, tied with a thread of skyfire. His presence bent the floor beneath him, though his feet barely touched it.
He looked at Raven—expression unreadable.
"Yo, kid."
Raven blinked. "...Kang Woo?"
Kang Woo rolled his neck with a smirk.
"Didn't I say I'd help you once? I think…" He cracked his knuckles. "Time's here."
Before Raven could speak—
BAM!
A divine punch crashed into Raven's chest, sending him flying through three layers of system-rendered walls, digital glass, and collapsed floorboards.
He coughed, breath stolen, eyes wide. "What… the hell?"
Kang Woo stepped forward calmly. "You've been running from yourself."
"What—"
"Don't talk. Remember."
---
As the world glitched out around him, memories surged into Raven's skull like tidal waves breaking a dam:
Yuto, age 6, holding Ava's hand tightly, promising to protect her forever.
Yuto, 12, crying alone after discovering their parents never woke up from their capsule sessions.
Yuto, 15, buried in simulations, trying to bring her back—using Nihilos.
The lie: his world, the "real world," was a generated reality inside the EveCore simulation layer.
Kyra, once a caretaker, once a sister figure… once something more.
Sol, not born but generated… a guardian protocol given humanity.
And himself, Raven, the name he gave to power, to vengeance, to escape.
But deep down… it was always Yuto.
A scared boy who just didn't want to forget.
---
His hands gripped the floor. Blood and code leaked from his lip.
He whispered, "All this time… I wanted to forget."
Kang Woo crouched beside him, voice softer now.
"Then why are you crying?"
Raven touched his face.
Tears.
Real ones.
Not data.
Not scripted.
Just a broken boy remembering too much.
He nodded.
"...Okay."
Kang Woo stood, smiling faintly. "Good. That's all I needed."
He turned, already vanishing back into the golden rift. "You get one help. That was it."
"Wait!" Raven called.
But he was gone.
And around him, the world restarted—for real this time.
Ava.exe blinked, her voice suddenly small. "Yuto?"
He nodded.
"I remember you."