Chapter 140
Chapter 140
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: Hacker
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Yulmyeong Bio President Kwon Dong-jin had deliberately scheduled the meeting after lunchtime. It was because Kwon Soo-yeon couldn't have a normal meal.
He had called her in hoping Na Gang-in might change his mind.
Kwon Soo-yeon was far brighter than last time.
"Oh my. Gang-in. What brings you here?"
Kwon Soo-yeon hadn't known Na Gang-in was coming either.
Kwon Dong-jin quickly spoke up.
"I called him for a security check on our company. Your friend is supposed to be good at that sort of thing."
"Gang-in? I thought he'd just been training in martial arts while we hadn't seen each other."
Na Gang-in said,
"I just know a bit of this and that. Looks like you've been discharged."
Kwon Soo-yeon smiled radiantly.
"Yeah. This morning. They said it was just low stamina, so I could go home."
Na Gang-in knew about her illness. He also knew she was trying to hide it.
"Ah... I see."
Kwon Dong-jin said to Kwon Soo-yeon,
"I'll let the data center know you're coming, so guide your friend there. They'll take care of everything once you're there."
"I'm not even an employee here. Is that okay?"
"I just authorized your visitor security card for data center access. It's fine."
Kwon Soo-yeon pretended to roll up her sleeves.
"Alright then. I'm well-rested today, so my stamina's good."
She wasn't just saying that. She'd been full of energy ever since hope had appeared.
Yulmyeong Bio's research institute had its own IT department, but some research data was also stored in the headquarters data center.
As Na Gang-in walked to the data center, he muttered softly,
"If a hacker's targeting Soo-yeon's laptop, they've probably already tried everything else. That means they've gone after the research institute and even attempted to breach headquarters' firewall."
"I'm counting on you. Just find out who it is."
The data center manager had only been told by the president that someone was coming to perform a security check.
The manager grumbled,
"The president's acquaintance is coming to check our security status, so cooperate fully."
The information security team leader in charge of hacking defense asked,
"Hold on. Not a security company, just some guy he knows?"
"Yeah. Supposedly knows a bit about it."
"Some shaman must've boasted to the president."
"Amateurs who half-know stuff always misunderstand the field."
"What should we do?"
"If our data center gets hacked by an amateur, would the president feel bad paying our salaries?"
"He would."
"Then what do we do?"
The team leader declared loudly,
"I'll show him the terror of the pros."
"I'm counting on you, Manager Kim."
Na Gang-in entered Yulmyeong Bio headquarters' data center with Kwon Soo-yeon.
The manager recognized her from before.
"Huh? The president's daughter?"
He saw Kwon Soo-yeon chatting and laughing with a man about her age.
"Wait. The president said he was sending an acquaintance, but it's actually someone the president's daughter knows?"
He racked his brain trying to figure out the situation.
"Maybe that guy's the president's daughter's boyfriend? Or lover? He's young, but could he be her fiancé? Royal family?"
His train of thought rocketed straight to "royal family."
"Why would someone like that come to our data center..."
His thoughts quickly surpassed the royal family stage.
"Gasp! Could he marry in, then infiltrate the data center, start as team leader, build power step by step, and take my position?"
The manager imagined himself losing a power struggle to Na Gang-in and being demoted to a warehouse manager in some rural outpost.
He could almost see himself sitting alone by the warehouse door, downing a bottle of soju with a bag of snacks. A broken forklift loomed in the yard.
The manager waved his hands to dispel the vision.
"No, that can't happen."
Kwon Soo-yeon approached the manager and greeted him.
"Hello, Manager."
"Uh, uh. Nice to see you."
"You look really pale. Have you seen a doctor?"
"Ha, haha. Thanks for worrying. But..."
The manager glanced at Na Gang-in and asked in a slightly tense voice,
"Who's this?"
"A friend."
"What kind of friend..."
To the manager, whether Na Gang-in was Kwon Soo-yeon's boyfriend was crucial.
Kwon Soo-yeon glanced at Na Gang-in and said,
"School friend..."
Her voice trailed off, but it was still audible.
The manager's tense expression instantly relaxed.
"Ahh. I see."
The dark future brightened again. Color returned to his face.
"Ah. So, what's the reason for checking our company's security systems?"
Na Gang-in answered,
"I'm here to hunt down the hacker targeting this company."
The manager's expression relaxed even more. Having ascended from hell to earth, the data center felt like heaven. He smiled leisurely and said,
"Hahaha. Got it. So the data center isn't the target—you're after the hackers. We always get hackers attacking our company."
"What kind of information do the hackers usually go after?"
The manager beckoned the information security team leader.
"Manager Kim. Explain."
Manager Kim approached and said,
"There are always plenty after our new drug data. Of course, we've perfectly defended against all of them."
"I'm not here thinking you've been breached."
The team leader had boasted to the manager moments ago about showing Na Gang-in the fear of the pros. The manager had definitely wanted that earlier.
But now, with a changed mind, the manager subtly signaled to go easy on the guest.
The team leader misinterpreted the glance.
The team leader started probing Na Gang-in's background.
"Hunting hackers? That's not for just anyone. Have you worked in the field? Which company?"
Na Gang-in had an emergency team leader position at Iron Man Tech, but that company made gear for military and police—not for catching hackers.
"I don't work at a company in that field."
"Ever worked at one?"
"No."
The team leader's lip curled slightly.
"Any hacking competition awards?"
"Never entered."
Kwon Soo-yeon didn't know much about this field, but she could tell the mood was turning weird.
But she wasn't a company employee. She couldn't openly intervene.
Instead, her expression soured.
The manager, noticing her look, gently reined in the team leader.
"Uh... Manager Kim. He's still a guest..."
The team leader didn't notice the shifting atmosphere. He smirked at Na Gang-in.
"No company experience, no awards—sounds like an amateur. Do you even know what Haemosu is? If not, you shouldn't be here."
Haemosu was Korea's famous IT security community site. Thanks to vulnerability info posted there last month, the server OS maker and firewall company had issued emergency patches.
Na Gang-in said,
"I know it."
"Oh, really? I'm a full member there. Nickname: Dolsan Warrior."
The manager bragged,
"Our Manager Kim's pretty well-known there."
"If you've diligently read the junior member board posts, you'd have seen my nickname occasionally. What's your nickname, sir?"
"Dawn Rabbit."
"Gasp!"
The team leader unwittingly stepped back.
The manager asked,
"Manager Kim. What's wrong?"
"Uh, no. It's just..."
The team leader swallowed hard and asked,
"You're really Dawn Rabbit? The real one, not some other rabbit?"
"That's me."
The team leader's jaw dropped.
"Wow. The president's connections are insane. Even Haemosu's admins failed to recruit this guy..."
Kwon Soo-yeon didn't know the details but grasped how things had turned.
She quickly boasted,
"He's my friend."
"Impressive."
"It's impressive just because he's a friend?"
"Yes. Because..."
Na Gang-in said,
"Can I use the equipment here now?"
Manager Kim quickly stepped aside and pointed inward.
"Of course, sir. This way."
Manager Kim guided him to an inner seat. Na Gang-in sat down.
Manager Kim moved to a spot slightly behind and away from Na Gang-in, where he could see the monitor.
The manager approached and whispered,
"Manager Kim. Is he a big deal?"
"If he's the real Dawn Rabbit, yes. We'll see from here on. Anyone can impersonate."
Na Gang-in quietly said to AI Jeon Ji-in,
"Ji-in. Let's start."
"Not just one hacker, right?"
"Among them, excluding amateurs, any skilled ones?"
"Nationalities?"
"Trace back and find hackers whose origin is domestic."
Na Gang-in turned to the team leader and asked,
"Do you have a terminal connected to the internet where I can install external programs? Doesn't need to connect to the server room internals."
"Ah. This way."
"I also need to copy files analyzed here to that terminal."
"I'll handle that."
After moving seats, Na Gang-in installed the program AI Jeon Ji-in created. Manager Kim copied over the analysis files.
"The one who tried planting a hacking program on Soo-yeon's laptop. He's in the country right now. If there's a domestic hacker among the backtrace targets, we investigate him first."
The data center manager asked Manager Kim,
"How is it?"
Manager Kim stared at Na Gang-in's monitor from behind, looking flustered.
"Why isn't that one breaching? Huh? And why did that one fall so easily?"
"I asked how it is? Like the real Dawn Rabbit?"
"Not 'that rabbit'—Dawn Rabbit. At this point, he must be the real deal."
"Then maybe..."
The manager wanted to ask if Na Gang-in might be royal family coming to take over the data center. He'd relaxed briefly, but now anxiety returned after seeing the skills.
But he didn't voice it. Instead, he expressed another wish.
"They're just friends, right?"
"Pardon?"
"Nothing."
"They hit here too, huh. Couldn't breach, so they tried bypassing via Soo-yeon's laptop. Address?"
"Let's meet that guy first."
Na Gang-in stood up.
"All checked."
The data center manager approached and asked,
"How'd it go? Find any hacks?"
"No. Plenty attacked this company, but you blocked them all perfectly."
The manager deliberately raised his voice so Kwon Soo-yeon could hear, boasting,
"Hahaha. That's our info security level. Especially the hacking defense system—we manage it thoroughly."
After Na Gang-in and Kwon Soo-yeon left, the manager grinned.
"See? All talk, then leaves. No big deal, right?"
The team leader reacted differently. With an admiring face, he said,
"Wow. Dawn Rabbit lives up to the name."
"Huh? Lives up? He didn't find anything specific. Didn't even catch a hacker."
"No. He definitely found something."
"What?"
"Traced in seconds, gathered data, got what he wanted—how does it even go that fast?"
"Wait. Manager Kim. Then why didn't he share info with us?"
"We weren't breached by hackers."
"Huh?"
"No damage here, so outsiders stay out. Anyway, Dawn Rabbit seems to have found his target hacker."
Na Gang-in couldn't take Kwon Soo-yeon to his next destination. Not because it was dangerous—she lacked the stamina to wander around.
Na Gang-in waved from the first floor.
"I'm off. See you later."
"Yeah."
Kwon Soo-yeon couldn't hold him back either. They couldn't even grab tea or eat together now.
But now there was hope: surgery. She smiled brightly and said,
"Once I'm all better, let's eat. Drink like old times too."
Na Gang-in didn't remember what they'd done back then, but he knew what he could do for her going forward. Her illness required surgery by both Lee Jeong-ho and him.
Na Gang-in said,
"You'll recover quickly."
"Yeah. I hope so too."