Epilogue

“Huh. That’s it? It’s over?”

N smacks the back of K’s head and points to the screen. “Can’t you see? Show’s done. What, didn’t like it?”

There’s a brief pause before K continues. “But … that can’t be all? What happens to them after? What happens to their relationship? Is it really just going to end that way? There’s still so much to fucking explore that—.”

All N does is lower herself to be leveled with K so he can see the cocky little smirk on her face. “So do you admit it?”

K glances away. “Admit what? I ain’t admitting squat, damn it.”

“Tch, that fluff isn’t so bad. At least you’ve got more to rotate with next time you’re on break.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I get it. Fluff’s decent—yada yada. Now will you hand me back the damn remote, N?”

Shrugging, satisfied with his response, N flicks him the control, leaving him nearly flying out of his seat just to try and catch it. “Bitch.”

As K returns to the previous channel he was watching, the TV flickers and now shows a scene of a bloodied Kim Gaeul staring down an even worse-for-wear An Yujin. “What the hell happened here? Fuck, N, now I have to rewind this shit.”

But something beeps on her person. Her TemPad.

“How do you work this again? Was it this button?” K asks, mashing different keys on the remote. But N doesn’t even respond. She’s too busy scrolling through the holographic screen of her device. “Oh shit. K?”

“What? Are you going to help me or—?”

“Break time’s over. Check this out.”

With the flick of a finger, she sends the notice over to K’s TemPad, which he fishes out in a hurry. “Oh you’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Another batch? But we just finished—.”

“Take a closer look again.”

Not sure what she meant by that, K reluctantly obliged. It’s only when he scrolls down to see the list of names towards the end that he widens his eyes. “Excuse me—what?”

“Yeah. Apparently we’re going after them too now.”

“Are they insane?” he hollers, reading out the list of names. “Sakai Moka, Yoo Jeongyeon, Park Sooyoung, Choi Jisu—these entities aren’t even within our jurisdiction here.”

“Beats me. This didn’t come from Z. It came from the higher-ups themselves,” she points out, closing her device and pocketing it once again. “Heard something about some mergers and shake-ups at the top brass from J and L earlier. I didn’t think it was real.”

“Well, shit, whatever those reshuffles were, it’s come to bite our ass more than theirs.”

As K reaches out for his Time Stick and his belt full of Reset Charges, he gets up and starts to outfit himself accordingly. “How much time do we have for these?”

“Not a lot. It’s as urgent as the others. So we best get a move on.”

“Right, lead the way. You know I’m not familiar with these types of variants—.”

But before either of them can leave their team breakroom, a large tremor thunders throughout the building they’re in, nearly knocking them off their feet.

“Shit … it’s that serious,” K curses under his breath. “Quick, let’s go. Let’s go!”

“Right behind you,” N assures him, wielding her dual batons.

And as they both think they can make it to the hangar in time to reach their chronojet, the duo feel something prod and stun them from behind.

And before they know it, their bodies began disintegrating into pure motes of light.

Eliminated from existence.

The cloaked figure behind them wields its own Time Stick and chuckles in a coarse and low tone.

“So … sorry … that happened …”