A day after the appearance of So Min and squad advanced training.
The night was quiet.
Too quiet.
Ha Neul lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of the shared dorm room. Ji Han was asleep on the bed across from his. His breathing was soft and even, like always. Peaceful on the outside.
But Ha Neul could feel something else. Something strange had been happening for the past few days.
Every time Ji Han was upset, he felt it too.
Every time Ji Han was tired, his own body felt heavy.
And tonight, that strange connection felt stronger than ever.
Ha Neul turned to the side and closed his eyes, trying to sleep.
But the moment he did—
A wave of emotion hit him.
Hard.
Cold.
Painful.
He didn't know if it was a dream or something more, but suddenly, he was somewhere else.
The world around him was dark.
It was raining. The ground was wet, and the wind was cold.
Ha Neul blinked, confused. This wasn't the dorm. This wasn't even the academy.
He looked down and saw small hands.
He wasn't in his own body.
He was looking through someone else's eyes.
Ji Han.
The body was smaller. Younger. Maybe around eleven or twelve years old.
And Ji Han was standing alone in a broken street, shivering in the rain. His clothes were torn, and his knees were scraped. There was blood on his arm.
He was crying.
But no sound came out.
Only the sound of thunder in the sky.
Ha Neul tried to move, but he couldn't. He was just a watcher in this dream—seeing what Ji Han had seen, feeling what Ji Han had felt.
The memory kept going.
Ji Han walked slowly, barefoot, trying to find shelter. Every building was locked. Every person turned away.
People looked at him like he was dangerous.
Some crossed the street to avoid him.
Some just stared.
No one helped.
The pain that hit Ha Neul was heavy. Not just physical pain—but the kind that lived deep inside the heart.
Rejection. Loneliness. Fear.
A child abandoned by the world.
The dream moved forward. Ji Han collapsed behind an old trash bin, hugging his knees to his chest.
His eyes were dull now.
Empty.
And then, it happened.
A sudden burning feeling inside the chest.
A flash of red and black light.
His system awakened.
Ha Neul felt it clearly—the emotions all around Ji Han, floating in the air like mist. And one by one, they were pulled into his body.
Anger.
Sadness.
Hatred.
It hurt. Like swallowing fire.
But Ji Han didn't scream. He just sat there, letting it all come in.
Until finally… the glow faded.
And he was left with nothing but silence.
Ha Neul woke up with a gasp.
His heart was beating fast. Sweat clung to his forehead.
He looked across the room.
Ji Han was still asleep.
Still calm.
But Ha Neul couldn't forget what he saw.
It wasn't just a dream.
It felt real.
Too real.
He had seen Ji Han's past.
He had felt Ji Han's pain.
And for the first time since they met, Ha Neul understood something deeper.
Ji Han didn't just have a powerful system.
He carried the weight of other people's emotions every day.
And he carried his own pain—quietly, secretly.
Ha Neul sat up in bed, breathing slowly.
His chest still ached from the dream.
He didn't know why their bond was growing like this.
Maybe it was the System Mirror.
Maybe it was something else.
But he knew one thing for sure:
He would protect Ji Han.
Not just as a teammate.
Not just because of the system.
But because no one should carry that kind of pain alone.
Especially someone like him.