They left the records room together.
The hospital was changing shifts. Nurses passed with tired eyes. A janitor pushed a cart down the corridor, humming softly to himself. Somewhere a child laughed, the sound thin and bright against the sterile walls.
Ordinary life.
It always unsettled him now.
Outside, the air was cool. Early morning mist hung between the buildings, turning streetlights into pale halos.
They walked without direction at first.
No lab coats. No badges. No underground levels.
Just two people moving through a city that had no idea what lived beneath it.
After a while, Dr. Seo spoke. "There's a small lab space near the east wing. Old neurology unit. Hardly used anymore. I still have access."
He glanced at her. "You're already planning."
A faint smile touched her mouth. "I'm a scientist. Planning is how I breathe."
They crossed the road when the signal changed. A bus passed close enough to stir her hair. She pushed it back automatically, the movement unthinking.
He noticed.
He had started noticing small things lately. Habits. Pauses. The way people carried themselves when they weren't guarding anything.
"You shouldn't be seen too often with me," he said.
"I know."
"Helix is watching."
"So am I."
They reached the corner where their paths split. Her apartment lay one way. His, another.
She stopped.
He did too.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
The city filled the space for them: engines, footsteps, a distant vendor calling out morning tea.
"I don't know where this ends," she said finally. "And I don't know what you'll become if you keep using what's inside you."
"I don't either."
She looked up at him. Really looked. As if trying to memorize something that might not last.
"But I know what they're doing," she said. "And I know what they did to you. And I won't pretend it's not my problem anymore."
He studied her face. The quiet resolve. The tired intelligence. The fear she wasn't hiding, only managing.
"That's not a small choice," he said.
She shrugged lightly. "None of mine have been."
A car horn sounded behind them. Someone brushed past.
Time moved.
"I need information," he said. "About Yoon. About the board. About how the money flows inside Helix now."
"I can get some of it," she replied. "Research budgets. Shell projects. Internal approvals. But if you want to move against him…"
"I don't want to move yet," he said. "I want to understand."
She nodded.
"That lab space," he continued. "I'll need it. To learn what I can do. To learn what I can't."
Her gaze softened, just a little. "And I'll need to know what you're becoming."
They stood there, the decision forming between them without ceremony.
Not a pact.
Not a vow.
Something quieter.
"Come tomorrow night," she said. "After your shift."
He inclined his head.
She hesitated, then added, "And… try to sleep."
The corner of his mouth lifted faintly. "I'll try."
She turned to leave.
Took three steps.
Then stopped and looked back.
"When you were in those trials," she said, "did anyone ever tell you what they were looking for?"
He thought of the white rooms. The needles. The long, quiet days where survival had been the only expectation.
"They said they were studying resilience," he answered. "They never said what it was for."
Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag.
"They were looking for a foundation," she said. "Something they could build on."
He watched her walk away.
The morning light caught her figure as she crossed the street, softening the hard lines of the city around her.
For the first time since his rebirth, he didn't go straight home.
He wandered.
Past bakeries just opening their shutters. Past a school where children were gathering, voices loud, bags too big for their backs.
He stopped at a small tea stall and ordered a cup.
Held it between his hands.
Felt the warmth.
A simple thing.
But real.
His phone buzzed.
A notification from a private Helix channel he had quietly reactivated.
Internal audit initiated.
Department: Advanced Regeneration.
Scope: Unknown anomalies.
He stared at the screen.
Then closed it.
They had felt him.
Good.
He finished his tea and started back toward Han Jae-Min's building.
Tomorrow, he would step into the lab space she'd mentioned.
Tomorrow, he would begin learning what his body truly was.
And somewhere deep inside Helix Crown, Chairman Yoon would be sitting at his desk, unaware that the foundation he had built his empire on had begun to move.