Mr Love: Dream Date Chap 14 Silent Farewell

Chapter 14 marks the end of the second arc of the story The Darkest Hour. It unlocks at level 58 which was quite a hard climb. It now takes about 2-3 days to up one level. The chapter continues after you learnt about Lucien’s real identity. Spoilers ahead.

You awoke to a cold and gloomy morning, the weather reflecting the emotions in your heart, weighing down on you after learning about Lucien’s allegiance. You struggled to call it betrayal especially since he had never said he was gunning for the same things as you. You tried to shake it off and commit to solving the issue with Evol going out of control in Loveland City. Gavin and Victor were still uncontactable.

You contemplated sharing the information that Loveland TV tower was the source of all the disturbances with STF but without Gavin, you’re not sure if they could be trusted. Not wanting to give up, you went to the police station with the hopes of sharing your intel with Officer Landsman. However the police station was in chaos dealing with incessant reports of weird incidents. It appears that explaining that these incidents were due to Evol going out control was too outlandish and you were soon chased out of the station.

So it seemed that while Evolvers, STF and BSC knew these were all due to Evol going out of control, the concept of Evol was still something that wasn’t widely accepted as fact.

After leaving the station, you returned to your office to pick up your dad’s notebook. The city was going into a lockdown as a result of all the unexplainable events hence your office building was deserted. The lone security guard patrolling the area warned you of rumours of ghosts in elevators. Though you didn’t believe in ghosts, the stories did nothing to settle your nerves either. Just as you picked up your notebook, your phone rang. It was Kiro.

He told you to listen to his instructions very carefully. Instead of taking the elevator back down, he told you to take the fire escape to leave the building. You asked him what was happening and he told you to just follow him for now and he would explain later. You could hear him typing away in the background. As you went down the flight of stairs towards the basement carpark, you heard footsteps following you from above. You picked up your pace, with Kiro’s voice as your sole source of comfort. As you exited the stairwell to the carpark, a black car sped towards you. You tried to run in the opposite direction but someone reached out and pulled you into the car.

You struggled in the hold of your sudden captor and only relaxed when you heard the familiar voice of Kiro. He apologised for shocking you in this manner but he had to get you out immediately as you were being followed. Even now, the car was being tailed by those from Black Swan. Kiro had managed to hack into their computer systems and have been monitoring their movements. When he thought you might be in danger, he immediately took action to come for you. He told you to sit tight while he tried to shake off your pursuers using his computer to manipulate the traffic lights.

Having finally lost them, Kiro decided to bring you home. When you questioned the safety of going home, he told you that the STF had sent agents to protect you all these while. He would also be watching you through surveillance and quickly added that this was the only time he had done that. This made you finally break out in laughter at his proclamation. Kiro shared that he was also under watch hence he couldn’t stay with you. When you still looked lost, Kiro held your hand and told you to wait for him and not go anywhere. After he had settled his personal matters, he would come for you. He flashed you his signature smile which warmed you up.

Back in your apartment still feeling shaken over BSC’s bolder moves against you, you realised that Victor had tried to call you. He left you a voice message, informing you that he had to go somewhere to take care of important matters. He told you not to worry and to keep yourself safe. He ended with a cryptic line of hoping to see you in the future. You had a sense of foreboding and tried to call Victor back but no one picked up.

Meanwhile, minutes ago at Victor’s house, after he had left you the voice message, an intense pain engulfed him, stronger than before. A black vortex tore open in the space behind him and the wind current sucked him into the vortex, with him powerless to resist. After he entered the darkness, the vortex closed leaving the room exactly as it was previously. Outside his house, an STF agent reported sudden energy spike of unprecedented levels and requested support from HQ to investigate. At the same time, we see Kiro cracking open a BSC document, with the chilling words ‘Evol Amplification Experiment in Loveland City.’

Based on Victor’s response, he was probably aware that whatever experiment he had commissioned Lucien to do earlier had gone awry and he would now need to go into another dimension or possibly the future to fix matters.

You awoke the next morning to the sound of ambulance siren blaring in the nearby streets. Plumes of smoke can be seen in the distance. Suddenly, your head throbbed violently and you saw another vision. You were propelled into the Loveland TV station and rode the elevator to the top floor. There you met an unknown woman who held a box in her hands. When she opened the box, the city below exploded into flames. Then you saw a red switch and a hand that pulled on it.

You broke out of your vision and wondered what it was telling you. No matter how you thought about it, it led you to the source of the current problem that was causing the city to sink into chaos. You turned to look at the news and learnt that an explosion had just gone off killing 5 and injuring a lot more. You felt the weight of responsibility on your shoulders. Whatever BSC was trying to do involved you, and now it was also driving the city to its knees.

You dropped Leto a call. He answered promptly. You asked him if it was true that every time you had a vision, you would change the future. He told you that that were the case, but whether the alternate future comes to pass rests solely on your actions. With that he hung up. With a firm resolution in your heart, you knew what you needed to do. I found it quite weird that Leto replied you in such a short and abrupt manner, rather than try and understand the rationale for your question.

The next day, you sent all your notes to the police station, left instructions for Anna to run the studio and tried to contact Kiro. You couldn’t reach him but didn’t want to hesitate any longer. After putting on a disguise you left your apartment to go look for Kiro. You felt the sensation of being watched and tailed and picked up your pace. As you rounded a corner, a pair of hands grabbed you. It was Kiro in disguise. He was on his way to find you but didn’t expect to bump into you. He told you that you were being tailed and you needed to shake them off. He held your hand and on the count of three, both of you sprinted as fast as you can to the metro station and onto the departing train, leaving your pursuers in the dust.

In the empty cabin, Kiro turned towards you, anger flashing on his face. You told him you had to find him urgently but couldn’t get him on his phone. When Kiro saw that his phone screen was black, his expression dimmed but he quickly brushed it off. You told him that the cause of the chaos in the city was due to Evol going out of control and the source of it was due to an emitter located at the top of the TV Tower. You were concerned that Kiro would laugh at you, but his face was only one of trust. You asked if he would be able to turn off the emitter remotely.

Without another word, Kiro connected a mini keyboard to his phone and started typing a string of code into it. After what seemed like eternity, the word ERROR flashed on his screen. Kiro looked disappointed and apologised that he wasn’t able to do it. You held his hand to comfort him and he squeezed back, a look of determination on his face. This gave you courage and you told him that you needed to go shut it down. Kiro told you he would accompany you.

When you told him it would be dangerous as Evol was involved, he told you he was an Evolver too. You were surprised to hear this from Kiro’s mouth. His Evol was the power to passively attract others hence his popularity. Recent events had caused his Evol to go haywire resulting in the violent riots by his fans. This had led to his retirement from public eye together with another important thing he needed to do. As such he also have the responsibility to resolve this as soon as possible, together with his desire to protect you.

I had the impression that you already knew that Kiro was an Evolver during the previous encounter with Victor. In any case, it appears that you are always learning something new about Kiro, from superstar idol to legendary hacker and now Evolver with the power of charm. It did feel weird that Kiro owed his success to his Evol and one wonders to what extent is this even ethical. Kiro is still keeping another secret from you about this important matter he needed to settle. Now that Lucien’s secret is out of the bag, perhaps the next most mysterious person is actually Kiro. I hope he doesn’t end up becoming another of your enemy…

When both of you got to the TV tower, you were surprised to see throngs of people gathered at the entrance holding up placards with Kiro’s face. News had somehow leaked that Kiro was coming to the TV station and it had spread like wildfire. Kiro noticed that in all the photos published by the media outlet, there was the word ‘warning’ in them. Too much of a coincidence, Kiro surmised that someone must be warning him about something. A bit lost here. Who is giving warning to who and what warning? We already know it would be dangerous to get retrieve the emitter and the BSC was still on the hunt for you.

As both of you contemplated what to do, a sudden fight broke out between two of Kiro’s fans which spread into an all out brawl. Kiro’s hands tightened into a fist and he looked pained. Kiro had always cared for his fans and to see them now fighting due to his Evol going out of control was too painful for him to witness. In the midst of the commotion as security tried to break up the fights, both of you managed to slip into the TV tower. Kiro told you that he thinks that this was a failed experiment by BSC to amplify the Evol gene and Loveland City was just one of several experiments.

You stepped into the main lobby of the TV Tower and awed at the cracks that have appeared all over the place. They had suddenly appeared in the tower two days ago, prompting authorities to shut the place to tourists. You were concerned that the structural support for the tower could have been compromised to which Kiro observed that the cracks looked too controlled and precise to be an accident. Whoever did this was a powerful Evolver.

He took out his computer and opened a file which showed the 3D image of the whole tower. After comparing the surveillance feeds, calculations and routes available, Kiro determined that the best course of action was to take the service elevator to the 90th floor observation deck. You rode quietly in the lift fearing what awaited you at the top. Neither Kiro nor you were fighters. Nonetheless Kiro assured you that he was the legendary hacker Key and that he would be able to protect you.

As you got off at level 90, you heard voices in the corridor. They had detected your entrance into the building and were now hunting for you. Both of you quickly hid in a nearby recess to avoid detection. After the men left, Kiro studied the map again and decided that you needed to change course to take the freight elevator instead. You had avoided it originally as the cracks may have caused it to be unsafe for use. After a gruelling wait for the elevator to come up from the first floor, Kiro stepped into the elevator first but immediately realised that something was wrong. He pushed you back into the lobby just as the elevator suddenly dropped as Kiro disappeared from view and the doors shut.

As you panicked over the safety of Kiro, a group of men led by a single intimidating looking woman clad in black appeared in the corridor. They walked slowly towards you. You asked if they were from BSC and what they had done to Kiro but the lady only replied coldly that Kiro was still alive. You quickly scanned your surroundings for an escape route. A vision flashed before you of broken glass. You picked up the phone that had dropped on the floor and threw it at a glass wall behind the woman, causing the already cracked glass to shatter into a thousand shards over her. I like it that your vision is finally coming to good use in real time.

Without waiting for another moment, you got up and ran in the opposite direction. You haven’t gone far when a sudden crushing pain caused you to buckle to your knees. To your surprise the glass shards were hovering above the woman, not a single one touching her. It was then you realised there must be another Evolver that you are not seeing.

You were brought to an observation area with a glass floor below you, though not as strong as before, you still felt the invisible weight holding you down. The woman lifted your chin gently and retorted condescendingly that there was nothing special about you, and couldn’t understand how you could have caused him to sway. She removed her gloves revealing a snake beneath it. The serpent eyed you menacingly looking ready to pounce. Fear gripped you at the fate that awaited you.

Suddenly a phone vibrated and broke the tension. The woman picked up her phone, her expression softening upon seeing the caller. She cast a look at you and moved away to take the call. It seemed like she was here to pick up the emitter which was showing unpredictable results. The caller seemed to reply that he knew and that he was already ahead of her. Ending the call, she returned to your side, this time rage seething within her eyes.

She told you she wasn’t going to kill you but if you could get out of her clutches, it would show your value. With that she stretched her hand towards you, her fingers dissolving into a grey mist. As it neared you, you felt a scorching pain. Just then, there was a loud boom, glass shattered, floors cracked and thick smoke quickly filled the room. The pressure on you was released and you quickly got up. The woman tried to grab you but hesitated for a moment. You grasped the opportunity to escape and ran straight into Kiro.

Relief flooded you when you realised he was safe. He grabbed your hands and pulled you to safety. Kiro told you that the man in the shadows was dangerous and you needed to get out of the place as quickly as possible. With all routes now blocked, the only way to the emitter was via the stairs. Meanwhile, the mystery man materialised from the shadows and asked if the woman was giving chase. She replied flatly no. He smiled maniacally that it was now his turn then.

Though Lucien didn’t appear in this chapter, one can only guess that he was the one who was on the other side of the phone, which would have explained why this woman seemed to have something against you. Whatever he told her had resulted her in sparing your life somewhat. At this point of the story, we have no idea who these two BSC agents are but they do strike me as very intimidating adversaries indeed.

Kiro and you started the climb up the spiralling staircase to the roof. Suddenly you heard the dull sound of a thud coming from below. You looked back and horror swept over you. The flights of stairs were slowly being ripped apart from its base and crashing to the ground. The Evolver who had held you down had this much destructive power. Both of you picked up your pace and dashed towards your goal. Kiro held your hand tight pulling you along, encouraging you to keep going even when your body felt like giving up.

Finally you hauled yourself out of the door to the roof. One step in, Kiro stopped abruptly. Before you could react, Kiro’s expression changed. His eyes turned amber and you could almost make out rows of codes in his pupils. He spoke in a slow mechanical and unfamiliar voice commanding you to walk out to the roof and lock the door behind you. Some unknown force took control of you and you involuntarily followed Kiro’s instructions. He strode past you with determination back into the stairwell to face your mysterious pursuer who was now suspending in mid air. You desperately tried to break control but your body refused to listen to you. As you closed the door to the roof, you heard Kiro’s final words asking you to wait for him as the final step of the stairs gave way to nothingness.

When I saw the trailers about Kiro leaving you, I had the impression it was because he needed to go somewhere but to leave you in this manner was unexpected. Kiro hadn’t been 100% truthful about his Evol, it wasn’t just about passively charming others but he literally have the ability to control a person to do his bidding. Kiro knew that the only way for you to accomplish your mission was to stall the powerful Evolver who was pursuing you. I really don’t know how Kiro thinks he would be able to defeat that guy but he must be confident enough to tell you to wait for him. This is also why Kiro continues to be my second favourite character. He is cool and sweet and mysterious in his own ways. If Lucien represented the shimmering moon in the dark night, then Kiro would be like the eclipsed sun in the morning sky.

After some time, you finally regained control of your body. You tried to open the door but it refused to budge. You fell to the ground in despair. It was you who wanted to resolve this issue, yet it was now Kiro who had sacrificed himself to save you. Why did people around you keep getting hurt to protect you. You looked up and saw a red light flickering at the top of the tower in the dark sky. Picking yourself up, you climbed each rung of the ladder leading up to the emitter.

As you got closer to it, the pain in your head intensified and the crackle of electricity in your ears boomed. You bit into your lips, bearing the pain and pushing your overly exhausted body to make the final heave. Your hands felt a box. You slid it open and pulled down hard on the red switch to turn it off. As you did so, all strength seemed to leave your body as you fell backwards and plunged into the eternal night.

Scenes from your past with Kiro, Gavin, Lucien and Victor flashed in your mind as well as memories of your father. Then everything went white as you heard the distinct sounds of the city. The final moment was approaching. In that moment, you felt the presence of someone familiar, a white light breaking free from a vortex and swooping towards you. His last words “I will accompany you to the very end.”

Once again, a cliche Gavin entrance. Where did he come from though and how did he know you were in danger when he had been uncontactable all this time? Was he in control of his abilities since the emitter had been turned off? I also wonder what would become of you. Another cliffhanger ending to keep players going until the next arc is available. The common theme here seemed to be separation – Gavin left when his powers went out of control, Victor sucked into another dimension, Lucien to rejoin his original objective and Kiro’s sacrifice to protect you. Look forward to seeing what the next arc holds.