-Character Introduction
1. Park Seongho
-24 years old
-Male
-Nyx’s squad leader
-Always wears a white shirt and suit
-Main weapon: tactical baton
2. Eun Danbi
-24 years old
-Female
-Hacker
-Black hoodie + training pants
-Brown hair with thick waves
-Puppy-like face
Nyx’s headquarters was thrown into chaos.
Nyx’s intelligence chief: "...W-what...what!!"
The intelligence division of Nyx, which prided itself on top-tier security, had been completely stripped from one end to the other.
Important documents, even files that only the intelligence chief could open, were opened in an instant, and all the information was stolen.
Nyx’s intelligence division turned into chaos in no time. They tried to hurriedly sort through the remaining files, but they kept getting hacked at a steady, rapid pace.
In the end, Nyx’s intelligence division was paralyzed in just 30 minutes.
The only good thing was that they succeeded in tracing it back and found out where the hacker lived.
Park Seongho, the squad leader, headed straight for the place he’d been told to go.
Where he arrived was an ordinary villa.
He got to the front door, rang the bell, and soon someone came out.
It was someone unexpected.
Eun Danbi: "...Who are you...?"
A woman with a small frame.
She looked to be in her early twenties, and her tearful eyes looked up at Park Seongho.
For a moment, Park Seongho was taken aback.
Park Seongho: "....You..."
Eun Danbi: "Huh...? Me? Do you know me...?"
Park Seongho steadied his expression and asked in a calm voice.
Park Seongho: "....Your name."
Eun Danbi was flustered.
A stranger had suddenly shown up asking for her name, and the atmosphere was hardly pleasant.
Eun Danbi: "Who are you... asking for my name...?"
Park Seongho shoved the front door open and went inside.
The small apartment inside was ordinary.
A sofa, a TV, and half-eaten kimchi fried rice.
But Park Seongho’s sharp eyes didn’t miss the faint blue light leaking from one room.
When he flung the door open, a monitor that looked around ten inches wide was displaying all sorts of computer code, and one of the documents that had been stripped earlier was up on another monitor.
Park Seongho: "....Hah."
The whirring of the computer was interrupted by Eun Danbi’s voice.
Eun Danbi: "What are you doing! Why are you opening doors in someone else’s house...!!"
Park Seongho leaned lazily against the doorframe.
Park Seongho: "So it is you. The one who stripped our intelligence division bare."
Eun Danbi: "...W-what are you talking about..."
Eun Danbi’s face stiffened, and her words faltered slightly.
Eun Danbi: "Please leave. I’ll report you for trespassing."
At around 150 cm tall, Eun Danbi was looked down on from above by Park Seongho.
Park Seongho: "Where did you sell the information?"
Park Seongho exuded a chilling aura, as cold as frost.
It almost felt like there was a hint of killing intent in it.
As the corners of Park Seongho’s mouth tilted up, the scary atmosphere grew even heavier.
Park Seongho: "You’d better talk now. We traced it back and found out you hacked from here,"
Park Seongho tapped the document displayed on the monitor.
Park Seongho: "and our documents are sitting right out in the open here. Don’t even think about getting away with excuses."
Eun Danbi: "....Herot hired me, and I just did what I was hired to do."
Park Seongho: "If you knew it was Nyx,"
Park Seongho strode closer, stuffed a hand into his jacket pocket, and bent down to meet her eyes.
Park Seongho: "you shouldn’t have touched it."
Seeing Eun Danbi frozen stiff, Park Seongho stood crookedly and lifted the corner of his mouth.
Park Seongho: "...If you cancel the transfer now, I’ll let you live."
Eun Danbi: "....So you’re saying I should take the money and run? If you don’t kill me, Herot will come kill me, you know?"
Eun Danbi thought for a moment before speaking.
Eun Danbi: "Promise me. If I cancel it, you’ll protect me from Herot."
Seeing Park Seongho’s face crease into a frown, Eun Danbi quickly added,
Eun Danbi: "Instead...!! I’ll come work as an informant for Nyx...!"
Cold sweat slid down Eun Danbi’s spine.
If she messed up, she really could die.
Eun Danbi: "Isn’t that a pretty good offer?"
Park Seongho: "......Ha, seriously..."
Park Seongho thought over it while staring intently at Eun Danbi’s computer screen.
The transfer progress was 78 percent.
There wasn’t much time.
If those documents got out, Herot would take everything.
Park Seongho tore his gaze away from the screen and stared at Eun Danbi as if glaring at her.
Nyx’s intelligence and security divisions were not incompetent.
On the contrary, they were far better than other organizations, and thanks to that, Nyx had maintained a stable number one spot domestically without having its information stolen.
But that person had broken through the intelligence and security divisions alone and was going to join Nyx’s intelligence division?
That was a pretty big gain for Nyx too.
Park Seongho: "....Fine. We’ll do it that way."
As soon as she heard the answer, Eun Danbi frantically worked the computer screen and canceled the transfer.
Eun Danbi: "....You’ll protect my life, right?"
Park Seongho: "Got it."
Park Seongho let out a sigh.
It felt like he’d somehow been outmaneuvered by that woman.
Eun Danbi packed only the essential equipment.
She said they’d move to Nyx right away, since they didn’t know when Herot might attack.
While riding in the black van, Park Seongho placed Eun Danbi in the very back seat and didn’t say a single word from the front.