[System Notification – 6:15 PM]
Black Layer Missions Now Available.
Warning: These missions are classified. Failure results in irreversible penalties.
Access granted only to Users with Covert Ally clearance.
You are being watched.
The message faded from Jihan's screen, but its weight stayed in the air like a noose.
He stood beside Hana in the darkened server room beneath the school—the one she'd claimed as her base of operations. Monitors glowed with endless code. Old towers hummed like ghosts.
Hana didn't speak immediately. She let him soak in the silence.
Finally, she said, "Everything you've seen so far—the Dominance Code app, the gang rankings, the power-ups—it's all just the surface."
She turned a monitor toward him. On it, dozens of profiles flashed. Names. Pictures. Stats.
Users.
But not students.
"These are Black Layer users," she continued. "High-tier system candidates—ex-convicts, mercenaries, failed beta testers. The system uses them to test unethical mechanics."
Jihan frowned. "Why show me this now?"
"Because they're coming for you."
[Black Layer Alert: SIEGE PROTOCOL TRIGGERED]
Mission Type: Survival / Infiltration
Target: Jihan (Code Class: Wildcard)
Objective (Enemies): Disable or eliminate Jihan within 24 hours.
Reward: System Upgrade Token, 50 Authority Points.
Status: 4 Black Layer Users have entered Zone 9B.
They will begin hunting you within the hour.
This is not a simulation.
Minho was the first to react when the alert reached the rest of Jihan's crew.
"Four full-on murder machines are coming, and we're the bait now?!"
Sora checked the nearby cameras. "These guys… they're not students. One of them snapped a cop's spine on livestream and smiled after."
Jihan stared at the screen, mind calculating.
"This is a message from the system. It doesn't want me growing stronger with Hana. So it's sending killers."
Taejin asked the question none of them wanted to: "Can we win?"
Jihan turned to Hana.
Her answer was cold and razor sharp.
"If we use them… maybe."
[30 Minutes Later – West Wing Underground Arena]
The arena had been a gang's playground. Now, it was a war zone.
Jihan had gathered what remained of his gang—forty students total. Most injured. Many terrified.
He stepped onto the platform, bruised but upright.
He raised his voice.
"They're not here for us. They're here for me."
"But I won't die quietly. Not for their game. Not for some code."
"You want to survive? Then sharpen your fear into rage."
"Because tonight, we fight monsters."
Some nodded. Others just clenched their fists, too scared to speak.
Then Hana appeared beside him.
"I'm unlocking the Override Perimeter. We'll trap them in here."
"You last five minutes… I'll hack the kill switch."
Jihan looked at her. "And if we don't last?"
She didn't blink. "Then we die."
[10:07 PM – Siege Begins]
They came fast.
The first Black Layer user—"Breaker"—was a tank of a man. No shirt. No weapons. Just his fists and an executioner's stare.
He smashed through two walls before slamming into the first line of defense.
Students tried to slow him down with metal poles and baseball bats.
He caught one and used it to crush someone's shoulder.
Screams. Blood sprayed the floor.
Jihan didn't wait.
He activated Overdrive Mode Lv. 2 and lunged.
Their fists collided mid-air.
Jihan's knuckles shattered. Breaker's nose cracked.
They both stumbled, but Jihan moved first.
He slipped under Breaker's next swing and drove a pipe into the back of his knee—then twisted.
Breaker howled and dropped, but only for a second.
He grabbed Jihan by the neck—then suddenly, his grip loosened.
A voltage spike surged through his body.
Hana.
She'd overloaded a shock trap they planted minutes earlier.
Breaker convulsed and dropped like a slab of meat.
[Enemy Down – 3 Remaining]
But there was no time to celebrate.
The next two arrived together.
"Vice" – twin daggers, fast, thin, lethal.
"Mute" – a silent woman with a black helmet, using sonic disruption tech.
Sora was already screaming, clutching her ears. Blood ran from her nose.
Mute's device triggered nausea, confusion, and hallucinations.
Taejin puked in a corner.
Jihan's ears rang like someone poured acid into his brain.
Vice appeared behind him like a phantom—blades aimed for his spine.
Jihan dropped low at the last second, kicked backward, and rolled.
He barely avoided the kill shot.
Mute activated her device again—then—
POP.
Her tech exploded in her hands. Sparks. Flames.
She reeled backward.
Hana stood on the catwalk above, hacking tool in hand.
"Don't play with signal jammers when you're in my zone," she whispered.
Jihan took the chance.
He charged Vice, grabbing a loose bat and smashing it across his head—
The first hit missed.
The second knocked Vice's mask off.
The third?
It dented his skull.
[Enemies Down – 2 Remaining]
"Mute" tried to run.
Hana dropped a steel door in her path.
Jihan walked up to her, bruised and heaving.
She raised her hands. "I was just following the mission—"
Crack.
He didn't let her finish.
[Final Black Layer Enemy: "The Priest" – Status: Approaching]
This one was different.
No footsteps. No noise.
A tall figure in white robes and red gloves walked calmly into the arena.
He smiled like he was seeing old friends.
"You did well, Jihan."
"But now, it's time to meet your judge."
End of Chapter 27