The gate closed behind Kim Suho with a low thud, sealing off the light of the outside world.
He stood in silence, letting his eyes adjust.
Before him stretched a wide, half-collapsed botanical research dome, once part of an abandoned university. Now, it was overgrown with black vines and twisted roots. The air was thick with decay. Faint purple spores drifted in the air like snow.
The facility's name still flickered above the shattered entrance in dying green light:
"Sector 9 – Experimental Garden Wing (Mana Ecology Research)"
Suho stepped forward. The dirt crunched underfoot. Something howled faintly in the distance—high-pitched and wet.
He raised his hand.
From the shadows behind him, the undead rose like mist from a forgotten grave.
Undead Roll Call Skeletal Wyvern — bone wings spread wide, tail flicking slowly. Phantom Swordsman — hovering, pale, cloaked in shredded echoes. Shadow Infantry x3 — less refined, humanoid, barely holding form. Newborn Soul Remnant — a gentle, glowing light beside him.
The soul didn't speak.
But it was humming again.
The same lullaby Areum once sang when they were children.
System Notification:
[Gate Type: "The Broken Garden"]
Classification: Mid-D Rank (Infection-Type)
Anomaly: High Soul Residue Detected
Objective: Purge the Bloom Core
Optional: Rescue or Bind Wandering Soul Echoes
Estimated Hostile Count: 30–50
Warning: Named Soul Detected (Unstable Form)
Phase 1 – Infiltration
Suho and his army moved slowly through the ruined glass tunnels. Greenhouses, once lush with magical herbs, were now twisted into overgrown nightmares. Stems had teeth. Flowers twitched at movement.
The first enemies appeared as they crossed the overgrown atrium.
Bloomspawn.
Creatures made of rotting plants fused with corpse tissue. Once human. Now something far worse.
They crawled on all fours, eyes replaced with petals, torsos torn and stretched with root-like limbs.
Three charged.
"Hold formation," Suho said, stepping back.
The phantom swordsman blinked forward, slicing cleanly through the first.
The wyvern slammed its claw into another, crushing it into spores.
A shadow infantry was tackled to the ground and shredded—then reformed instantly at Suho's side, twitching but loyal.
He narrowed his eyes.
"They're adapting. Fast."
More came.
Five. Then eight. Then a dozen, bursting from vine-choked vents.
Suho gritted his teeth.
System Notification:
Hostiles Eliminated: 12 Bloomspawn (Lesser)
XP Gained: 180
Soul Residue +6
Shadow Infantry-02: Reconstructed (Integrity: 72%)
Current Level: 15 (92%)
Undead Command Range Stable
Phase 2 – The Soul in the Lab
In a broken lab chamber, half-covered by crawling ivy, Suho found a strange glow hovering near a shattered terminal.
A floating soul.
She was faint, like a ghost, dressed in what had once been a lab coat. Her face was blurred, but her energy was gentle. She turned toward Suho as he entered, and hummed softly.
That song again.
"You knew her… didn't you?" he asked, voice quiet.
The soul flickered. Her glow sharpened.
System Notification:
Unclaimed Soul Echo Detected:
Name: Unknown (Memory Resonance 12%)
Stability: Passive | Alignment: Support-Type
Synchronization Possible
>> Assign Name?
Suho nodded once.
"Seyeon. That's your name."
The soul glowed brighter. Her shape stabilized slightly. She floated close, no longer afraid.
Phase 3 – The Bloom Core
Deeper inside, the air grew thick. Roots curled like snakes through the floor. Mana pulsed in unnatural rhythms.
Then he saw it—the Bloom Core.
A massive flower-heart fused with corrupted mana stones and the corpses of the original research staff. It pulsed like a living creature, wrapped in layers of thorns, bones, and flesh.
Suho's stomach tightened.
The Core screamed as it noticed him.
The room came alive.
Dozens of blooms pawn swarmed from the walls. Vines thrashed. Spores exploded from the ceiling.
"Circle formation!" Suho ordered. "Protect the soul!"
The battle was chaos.
The wyvern let out a bone-cracking roar and unleashed a dark flame that scorched half the enemies.
The phantom swordsman danced through them, striking in ghost-fast bursts.
Two shadow infantry were torn apart—but reformed at Suho's call, even more unstable.
Suho stepped forward, sword glowing faintly with dark mana.
He stared at the Bloom Core.
And then ran straight for it.
"Seyeon," he whispered, "watch me."
He jumped onto the twisted root structure, climbed the vines mid-battle, dodging a whip of thorns—and drove his sword deep into the core's heart.
System Notification:
[Gate Boss Eliminated: Bloom Core]
XP Gained: 400
Soul Residue +8
Gate Collapse Initiated – Return Zone Activating
LEVEL UP! → 16
New Skill Unlocked: "Soul Nest" (Undead Recovery Node)
Undead Capacity Increased: 8 Units
Soul Echo Stabilized:
>> Name: Dr. Han Seyeon
>> Role: Support (Soul Interface – Healing Boost I)
After the Gate
Outside the gate, night had fallen.
Suho walked out alone, face covered in ash. His undead had vanished back into shadow—except for the soul.
Seyeon hovered beside him, flickering softly.
Yura stood at the gate perimeter, leaning on a concrete block.
"You took longer than usual," she said. "Didn't think this one would be hard."
"It wasn't hard," Suho said. "Just… heavy."
She noticed the glowing soul at his side. "Still collecting strays?"
He nodded. "They're not strays. They remember things."
Yura crossed her arms. "You keep doing this, Suho, the Association's gonna start noticing."
"Let them."
There was something new in his voice. Steady. Cold. Focused.