2 Days later.

I think I thought it over better; it will be difficult, but unfortunately, it is the only way; my parents don't want to know anything about me, I abandoned the best friend of my whole life, and my dream is stagnating. I'm sure they would accept joining him.

Jeongin was heading to Dilka's apartment. Entering, he greeted his friends. Paulina, who was having breakfast, dropped her cutlery upon seeing that Dilka's guest was her team host. Rowan was barefoot.

‘Guys, I think you're right, the only way to move forward… is by accepting how my country works, so—’

‘Hey Jeon, wouldn't you like to have breakfast with us?’

‘Oh, no thanks, but I've just had breakfast.’

Dilka waved her hands delicately, indicating to Jeongin to continue.

‘I’m going to believe in you, after seeing that the police were after us, without even bothering to investigate the case… I know this will turn out well; we should contact Kim’.

Paulina, who was swallowing a Kimchi, let the bite fall out of her mouth, turning to look at Dilka, while Rowan just smiled and raised an eyebrow as a sign of approval.

In the afternoon, the team went out looking for communicators, as in this country, there is a centre where people go to receive news or messages from the world. The closest thing to cell phones. Many people choose to go to those centres, unlike Jeongin, Dilka and Paulina, who have one of their own; they leave them at home.

They waited, but there was never a response, no updated or complete signal, but Paulina insisted that if the transmission was interrupted, it was likely Kim would do everything possible to resend the message.

Dilka encouraged Jeongin to manipulate the communications and see if he could find the signal and then decipher it.

Elsewhere in the city, Jae-seong watched the alleyways from the upper floors of the flats, under a cloudy sky, with electronic music playing loudly.

‘Is it ready?’

‘Not yet, boss. I don't know what system he uses, but it's difficult to
hack.’

‘Just do it before he prevents me from sending the signal to the communications.’

‘Uff, boss, it seems he's trying to get in. Here, I can see interference that matches what we're looking for.’

‘I think he already knows we were the ones who have been deleting his database before’.

Back at the origin, Paulina was putting on makeup, and then offered to do the same with Dilka.

‘I thought you two had already sorted things out before leaving.’

‘Yes, but… I saw something I didn't like, and Dilka wanted it too. ’

Dilka smiled and blew a kiss at Rowan.

On the other hand, Jeongin was trying to manipulate the system; there was no guard there, so there was no need to try it in a surveillance room or even to wear a disguise; he was just there as if nothing was happening.

This is very strange. I see that there is an encrypted file; it seems to have been here for a while, but for some reason, it is still frozen, as if someone… had prevented me from getting in.

Wow, this matches the date when my friends showed it to me, or could it have been there before and someone prevented it from being sent? But who? The government? Huh…

Well, I'll just make a few adjustments and…let's go.

Done.

Suddenly, all the people using the communications inside the shop fell silent upon seeing that everything was interrupted: calls or messages, everything was cut off, to make way for an announcement.

The message Jeongin had heard was now played in every communications centre, even on laptops.

‘Our government is trying to control us by entertainment; I promise this is true. If you have ever noticed that some recording centres, films, as well as music, have taken a different turn, it is because they want to control us, they use it to manipulate information.’

In an abandoned and unlit workshop, Lâm was using a tool to improve his arm, while listening to ‘I know it's difficult to believe, but soon I will bring more evidence, everything will come out to be heard’.

Inside a giant container, Anna was there, preparing her food, her music had been interrupted by the transmission, ‘even those young people who are blamed for the mafia disaster’.

In an apartment, with neon lights, a large bed made of fine fabrics, was Kim Eun-ju, cleaning her blood-covered shoes, while tears streamed down her face, as if her innocence wanted to cleanse what had just happened, with a transmitter beside her, ‘and the murder of the singer Sujung Myórtsiche, was not—’

‘Because of them, but rather—’ It was the last thing Yi heard, inside his monitor, while he was injecting himself with a bluish-green drug..

Just then, the transmission was cut off.

‘Done, boss, now everything is ready.’

‘That should have been done before’, Jae-seong commented.

‘It was tried, boss, but it's as if someone… had intervened; the good thing was that we managed to delete every record, we left them with nothing’.

‘It must have been that bastard Kim’. Jae-seong said, after spitting on the floor.

Inside a room, with communications all around and men working without taking their eyes off the monitors, he spoke to his superior.

‘Sir! We did it! The message was transmitted’.

‘I'm glad, but I'm intrigued to know how they able to do it?’

‘Well, we tried even with interference, but the strange thing, is that I notice something odd around this area; do you see it?’ he said after pointing at a location on a terminal.

‘And is that ours?’

‘I don't think so; we don't have any location of our men around there; it must be someone external to us’.

‘Try to locate them, and let me know’.

‘Yes, sir’.

Suddenly, there was a blackout where the Deep. Opportunity was; everything was pitch black. Jeongin activated a torch; he and the people who carried prototypes of bodily augmentations were the only ones with access to light.

Every civilian wondered what was happening, but they all had the interference in exchange for that revolutionary signal. Jeongin approached with his team.

‘Jeongin! You had me worried!’ Dilka shouted and then gave him a hug.

‘Don't let go of us because we can't see a thing’.

‘Ow, thanks, I'm fine, I'm glad you are too’.

‘You're doing, I suppose,’ Rowan commented.

‘So, they're not the bad guys?’ some people around them shouted.

‘If it wasn't them, then who?’

‘It was the government!’ Paulina shouted.

‘Shhh! Shut up!’ Jeongin shouted at her.

‘Who said that?!’

‘Play the message again!’

‘Poor Sujung, I'll kill whoever did that to the love of my life’.

Few people left; most stayed to wait for a signal. Rowan advised his team to move, and they followed his lead.

Immediately, smoke came out from the doors, and as soon as they turned around, Rowan caught sight of and pointed at the team; everyone realised that if possible, it could be a sarpionist, due to the peculiar disguise, who entered and every door closed.

‘Did you see them?’ Jeongin asked.

‘Yeah, it's as if they control every door that opens’.

‘It's not their power; they must have activated some mechanism at the entrance.’

‘I already know that, idiot!’ Paulina shouted at Rowan.

‘This doesn't look good,’ Dilka said.

‘So what do we do? Go in?’ Jeongin suggested.

‘It's useless; no one will be able to open it, and possibly the law will be here soon’.

‘Oh come on, I know someone capable of getting in wherever’. Dilka smiled at Rowan.

‘Well, there are limitations with…’

Soon, without letting him finish his sentence, the patrol cars arrived with their engines roaring, parking almost wherever they wanted and getting out in droves.

‘Stand aside!’

‘Stand aside! Police!’

Paulina and Dilka had their eyes lowered, while Rowan put on dark sunglasses.

The men arrived and established themselves just as quickly as they had arrived, some watching the doors, others from their vehicles.

‘Well, there… that's your answer,’ Rowan complained.

The group had no choice but to leave, and as they did, a statement appeared on a large screen, and a reporter came out to speak.

‘We apologise for the unfortunate incident. There was an error in our system that we don't know how it happened entirely. We only inform you that don't panic, as it was only an attempt to scare us by—’

‘Yeah yeah, sure,’ Paulina commanded.

‘Wow, so the blackout happened everywhere’. Dilka said.

‘You saw it, Jeongin! Your government doesn't even bother to take a moment to say something better,’ Paulina added, complaining with her arms crossed.

‘I know! I know, we'd better get out of here’.

‘We need to go somewhere where there aren’t any police; they must still be looking for us,’ Rowan suggested.

‘Yeah, remind me to look for some good sunglasses like yours,’ Dilka added.

After a while, they were just a few steps from Dilka's house, already on Jeongin's street.

‘What makes me happy is that now people will see us for who we really are,’ Jeongin said, relaxed with his hands behind his head.

‘As their gods?’ Paulina suggested.

‘As if we were their reason for living?’ Dilka asked.

‘As a bunch of thugs?’ Rowan spoke.

‘No!’ Anything but that,’ and he looked at Rowan with his mouth twisting. ‘I meant that they would now see us as true Sarpionists,’ he smiled as if his mouth were kissing the clouds.

‘That's exactly what I said, Jeongin,’ Dilka commented while holding his arm.

‘Hey, but why the hell are there police nearby?’ Paulina commented, upon seeing uniformed men on the other side of the street.

‘Oh no!’ Jeongin said as his face crumpled, almost as if he was about to cry.