FLAW

"Uh, sir…" a rookie operator called out nervously.

"Isn't the Awakening signal supposed to be for newborns?"

His senior looked up. "Yeah? What about it?"

The rookie hesitated.

"…It might be a defect, but… we've got an Awakening. And it's not a newborn. It's something really old."

He pointed at the monitor.

The screen displayed the name of the location—

a glowing red dot at:

NATIVITAS OF PAX.

—

Confusion and unease crept across the senior operator's face. The rookie expected a scolding—or at least a harsh correction—but instead, he was met with silence. Not the calm kind. A nervous, uncertain, and eerily cautious silence.

"Young man," the senior finally spoke, voice steady but eyes tight, "this screen isn't a computer. It's a live map—tracking everything within this layer. It doesn't glitch... unless something came up from Layer Zero."

Despite trying to remain calm, the sweat on his forehead betrayed him.

"Go. Report this to Director Victor. Now."

The rookie didn't question it. Reading the tension in the room, he rushed upstairs to deliver the news directly.

—

Victor sighed deeply as he heard the report.

"Let me guess," he muttered, rising from his seat, "those damn cockroaches crawled back out—and angrier than before."

He turned to his secretary.

"Deploy the E.X.T. nanobota. Make sure whatever came out of there is reduced to dust."

His secretary nodded without hesitation.

[E.X.T nanobots are advanced tracking robots created from nano technology, there function isn't just tracking but hunting, it can be dangerous to mankind itself ofcourse, that's why they're rarely used]

—

Back in the graveyard...

Sumei gently brushed the dirt and tangled hair off his face—revealing not a monster, but an exhausted, innocent expression. His eyes were closed. His breathing was slow, but steady.

What caught her off guard the most...

Was his scent.

"Why does it feel like… he's crying on the inside?" she whispered.

Still struggling beneath him, she kept trying to push him off. Every effort was wasted.

"Ughh… that was a bizarre experience…" she sighed, breathless. "Hey, mister? You gonna get up or not?"

She tried shaking him, poking his face.

"Aww man… it's almost cute how innocent he looks under all that long hair."

Despite herself, she felt a strange pity for him. Her enhanced sense of smell let her read emotions like an open book—but she pushed those thoughts aside.

Twisting her body, Sumei managed to crawl through a narrow gap beneath his unconscious weight, thanks to her slim frame.

"Phew… ugh, this place reeks. My clothes—ugh... and my head."

Her hand went to her temple.

"What was that blurry image?"

That moment—when his body collapsed onto hers—it triggered something in her mind. A flash. A hallucination. A memory?

"This is so confusing…" she muttered.

This wasn't new for her. Panic attacks had haunted Sumei for as long as she could remember. Sometimes they came from nothing—no threat, no memory, just a sense of overwhelming dread. Mnemophobia? Maybe. But how can you be afraid of memories you don't even have?

After a long pause, she glanced back at the man.

"Hm… is this guy like… my great-great-great-grandpa or something?" she muttered. "No way. Grandpa's don't look this young…"

It made no sense.

And yet, what bugged her the most right now—

Was how filthy he was.

"I don't know why…" she said, opening her toolkit. "But I really want to clean him."

She looked at the cleaning supplies she used for gravestones.

"I wonder… can I use these on a human?"

—

It didn't take long.

She cleaned him the same way she would a grave—awkward, yes, but effective.

"Well… for a 'grandpa,' he's built like a tank," she muttered, stepping back.

She stood in silence, watching the unconscious man lying in front of her.

"What should I do now…? It's almost midnight. Leaving a guy like this alone here would be..."

She hesitated. "But I don't even know him. Still… he doesn't smell like he has any bad intentions…"

Just then, her wristwatch lit up—glowing red.

Her eyes widened. "An alert?! No way… not those things again…"

Her gaze snapped back to him.

"I can't leave him here. It's too dangerous."

With a resigned sigh, she re-materialized her hoverboard from the keychain and positioned it behind him.

"Alright… let's get you out of here. Don't make me drop you."

After struggling and gritting her teeth through the effort, she finally managed to haul him onto the board. Then, carefully, she guided it out of the graveyard—leaving only disturbed dust behind.

—

Moments later, a swarm of tiny robotic drones—shaped like glowing mechanical fairies—arrived at the site. They scanned the area.

Inside the monitoring chamber, confusion rippled through the operators.

"Strange… World Map's never wrong," one muttered.

"Could it be a map error?"

"No way. I mean, come on… how could the World Map be wrong?"

Victor stood behind them, silently watching.

His secretary, reading his expression, whispered cautiously,

"Director… that one grave…"

He interrupted.

"Yes. Something did come out of Layer Zero. But…"

His eyes narrowed.

"I don't know what it is.

But one thing's for sure—it's not what we thought it was."

—

Elsewhere…

Sumei brought the unconscious man home. She wasn't sure why she did it. Maybe it was her instincts. Maybe her nose. Maybe… curiosity.

"Alright, grandpa," she muttered, slapping his cheek lightly, "how long are you planning to sleep?"

No response.

She sighed.

"So annoying… At least he's alive."

So many questions swirled in her mind—but she was too tired to care.

Slumping to the floor beside him, she opened her interface:

[Name: Sumei]

[Age: 18]

[Influence: 4289 (-211)]

[Charisma: 1001]

[Potential: 987]

She groaned.

"Lost 211 Influence Points today… Damn it. Guess I'll need to work extra hours again."

> (In this world, Influence Points are everything. Earned by benefitting society or completing a FEAT—dangerous challenges with big payoffs. Most non-Awakened rely on small tasks. Sumei was one of them.)

"What a pain…" she muttered.

Her eyes drifted toward the man. He hadn't moved an inch.

"I wonder what his Influence stats are…"

Curious, she activated her scanner and pointed it at him.

When the results loaded, her breath caught.

[NAME: ???...]

"Huh?!"

[Calculating…]

[Error Detected. Retrying…]

[NAME: ???]

[AGE: ???]

[INFLUENCE: ERROR]

[CHARISMA: ERROR]

[POTENTIAL: 0]

"What the—?!"