Chapter 70.2

Chapter 70.2

“It’s similar to when the NongHyup system was breached in 2011. It started with phishing emails, and after being infected with malware, the system momentarily froze before recovering—only to find that Park Kwangdu’s account had been wiped clean.”

Na Wonchang’s eyebrows twitched. Although he was surprised, it wasn’t enough to get him to rise from his lethargy. His voice came out flat.

“Is it North Korea again?”

“Not sure, but don’t you think it looks similar?”

North Korea’s cyberattack capability ranked among the top two in the world alongside Russia. How fiercely had they trained their hackers that such lunatics emerged from a country with no basic IT infrastructure?

They had hacked Sony Pictures for producing a film mocking the North Korean regime and had crazily stolen 2.9 trillion won from cryptocurrency exchanges.

Moreover, they had hacked Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Korea Aerospace Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, stealing internal information while grabbing whatever technology and money they could find.

Every time it seemed they could be forgotten, North Korean hacker organizations resurfaced. Just days ago, they had hacked 207 computers to spread malware, targeting vulnerabilities in financial security certification.

“Is the email account Kim Sukhyang?”

“No, it wasn’t Kim Sukhyang this time. It was during the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power breach, but not now. We’re considering the possibility it’s not North Korea, but the scope is too broad. Honestly, is there any citizen who wouldn’t resent a 5 billion won severance payout?”

Won-chang’s expression remained indifferent.

All he could think about was “the owl”, his online “sister-in-law”, and the headache that she gave him. Why should he care about some stolen money? He massaged his tired eyes with his fingers.

“The thing is, the guy’s related to the VIP’s in-laws. If we don’t recover this money, our entire team’s heads are on the line. So you need to help out! They’ve taken that huge sum of money, and there’s no trace at all!”

“….”

“Anyway, it’s an account we’ve never seen before, but every time we trace it, the name ‘Kim Hyun’ keeps popping up. So, our team is looking into whether ‘Kim Hyun’ is some kind of code or–”

At that moment, the pencil balanced on his upper lip rolled off and fell to the floor.

“What did you just say?”

Won-chang, who had been slouched, shot up from his seat. The chair clattered loudly as it fell backward.

“What did you say the email name was?”

His voice cracked with urgency.

    *

A bad dream had left her feeling good since morning.

It felt like something was going to happen on this refreshing day. Waking up on a soft mattress instead of in an uncomfortable, hard training camp was indescribably perfect.

The cheerful voice that had been laughing for days and nights no longer echoed.

Channa had said she had stashed the stolen 5 billion won in a bank in Manila, Philippines. She used a middleman to withdraw the money in four parts and transferred it to a casino account. To prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, Seoryeong sent Channa into the Blast SA.

Now alone again, she unpacked the items she had stuffed into her sports bag and tackled the backlog of household chores one by one. Whenever the warm sunlight reached her toes through the veranda, the moments she had napped with her husband would flash painfully in her mind.

“….”

She could also recall the warmth she had shared with Lee Wooshin…

Wait, what? Her hands, which had been folding laundry, suddenly froze. What am I thinking… Am I going crazy? Seoryeong shivered as if she had been struck.

Having suddenly dropped from the noisy camp to her home felt like some kind of side effect…

It was indeed strange to feel a little awkward now that the instructor she saw every day had vanished.

The last time she had seen Lee Wooshin was that day on the cliff. Despite constantly bumping into each other for two and a half months, the moment the training ended, he never appeared before the team again.

His ability to cut off their relationship was exactly as she had expected. Suddenly, she felt tension in the fingertips folding the towel.

At that moment, a buzzing sound rang out from her phone, signaling a text message. She glanced at the screen to find an unknown number.

Invitation to welcome the new members of the Special Security Team and a team dinner.

We will hold a dinner to foster teamwork, and we hope to see many of you attend.

20XX. 02. 14 (Thursday) 19:00

Jureemgwan (2249, XX-daero, XX-dong, Seoul)