Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Bounty
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Na Gang-in made a proposal to the president of the CF production company.
"Let me handle tracing that hacker."
An Seong-hwan laughed from the side.
"Nah. You doing a security firm's job instead? Don't joke. You think the folks here aren't the real pros?"
"It's real."
"Huh?"
"I said it's real."
An Seong-hwan's expression stiffened slightly.
He recalled the time he'd been captured by the stock manipulation crew and forced to create a hacking program.
'The hacking program I'd installed at the PC bang went down, and not long after, a masked man showed up...'
That man had crushed the villains with overwhelming power and saved him.
An Seong-hwan had someone with insane martial arts skills right there in his circle too.
He stared hard at Na Gang-in. Then he raised a hand to cover Na Gang-in's mouth and nose.
The feeling hit him.
"Whoa. That was you, bro?"
"Ssh."
That was answer enough.
"Yup!"
Shin Eun-ha leaned in and asked,
"Why? Why? What's up? What's going on?"
An Seong-hwan glanced back and forth between Shin Eun-ha and Na Gang-in.
"Well, it's like..."
The CF production president knew the faces of actors Shin Eun-ha and Kim Yu-chan, but had no clue who Na Gang-in was. So he figured Na Gang-in must be a security expert like An Seong-hwan.
The president declared,
"Just track down that hacker bastard's current address, and it's ten million won!"
"Perfect."
Na Gang-in sat down at manager Park Woo-seop's laptop. He plugged in a USB stick and launched a few programs he'd used last time for the reverse trace.
An Seong-hwan asked,
"Bro. What'd you just run?"
"A tracking program I made."
"I stared at the monitor with my own eyes and hammered the keyboard with my fingers to build it."
The reverse trace didn't take long. It was even easier than locating An Seong-hwan had been before.
An Seong-hwan watched from the side, peering over.
You couldn't decode every technique AI Jeon Ji-in was using just by peeking. Still, he could follow the general progression stages.
An Seong-hwan started freaking out beside him.
"Huh? Huh? How's the result popping already? Huh? Why'd it just punch right through?"
"Quiet."
"Bro. How the hell did you pull all this off?"
Na Gang-in knew zilch about the reverse trace; AI Jeon Ji-in handled the whole thing.
"Just did it well."
The reverse trace wrapped up in a mere four minutes.
AI Jeon Ji-in reported.
Na Gang-in spun his chair around and said,
"Found him."
An Seong-hwan gawked at the tracking results on the screen, impressed.
"Whoa. It actually worked."
The president and PD looked flustered. The president asked,
"You really tracked down where that hacker scum is?"
Na Gang-in converted the on-screen info into a standard address format.
"Address... Huh? This is right near our neighborhood. He's still connecting every now and then to check for more data to steal. So yeah, that guy's sitting at this address right now."
The president grabbed his phone and asked,
"I don't know much about this stuff myself, but how in four minutes... This is legit certain, right? I'm calling the cops now—if it turns out to be a prank later, it'll be a huge mess."
"Deposit the fee after confirming on site."
"Y-yeah, sure."
The president stepped out to make the call.
Shin Eun-ha asked An Seong-hwan,
"Gang-in oppa's kinda skilled, huh?"
"Kinda? Nah. He's straight-up god-tier."
"Gang-in oppa's a brute force guy. Isn't that brainiac territory?"
"Bro's god-tier in body and brains. It's like..."
"Like?"
"Like seeing a real sword-mage who wields both blade and magic—that vibe?"
"Ah. Gotcha."
An Seong-hwan turned to Shin Eun-ha.
"Huh? You get it? Wow. Noona knows sword-mages too."
"Shh."
Na Gang-in said to the PD,
"Then let's leave the hacker to the president and get back to CF talk."
Shin Eun-ha's manager Park Woo-seop asked,
"Um, Na Gang-in-ssi. My laptop getting hacked would be a problem too..."
"That laptop already had defenses this hacker couldn't crack. That's why the internet cut out."
The college hacker An Seong-hwan boasted,
"That's the security program I pushed out this morning."
Na Gang-in added an explanation.
"If that gets breached, an alert pings right away—I rigged something up, so you're good."
Park Woo-seop was impressed.
"Already set that up..."
"Let's get to the meeting. Internet won't drop even if you connect now."
The detectives showed up at the officetel.
No warrant, so they couldn't search inside. They rang the doorbell and flashed their badges.
But the guy inside keeled over backward the second they mentioned hacking, went ghost-white, and started spilling everything.
"It was me. Not for anything bad, I swear. Just curious—pulled some phone numbers is all. Really!"
Detective Park Ki-jeong, thinking just in case, asked,
"What for the phone numbers? Hacking smartphones for pics or wiretapping maybe?"
"Eek! Sorry! Smartphones I just tested one for kicks to see if it'd work!"
The team leader said,
"Hey. Cuff this punk."
After hauling the hacker into the car, Park Ki-jeong asked the team leader,
"Team leader, how'd that company know a hacker was here? Not even an IT firm—CF production, right?"
"They commissioned some expert for a reverse trace."
"Must've hired a beast."
"Company said they left every computer on to lure this hacker scum. Begged us to nab him quick..."
The team leader glanced at the hacker in the car and said,
"Guess we tell 'em they can shut down the computers now."
Na Gang-in slipped into a green full-body motion capture suit to assist Shin Eun-ha and Kim Yu-chan's movements. His figure would get CG'd out later.
They'd just wrapped discussions and stood up when word came of the hacker's arrest.
The PD stepped out, got the update, and returned to say,
"They nabbed the hacker. Turns out some creep trying to hack celebrities' smartphones. Wiretapping maybe?"
"Investigation'll shake it all out. Location confirmed, so deposit the bounty now."
The PD hemmed and hawed before saying,
"But the promised bounty... President's saying ten million won for four minutes' work feels steep..."
Na Gang-in smirked.
"Deposit if you don't wanna get fleeced by hackers again."
"Huh?"
"Not saying I'd hit you up."
To the PD, it sounded like a threat all the same. He blurted,
"President'll pay up for sure. Yeah. Of course he will."
In the car afterward, Shin Eun-ha asked,
"Gang-in oppa. What if that creep snagged my number too? Check if my smartphone's hacked?"
An Seong-hwan asked,
"Noona. You ever shot a CF there?"
"No. We're about to."
Na Gang-in said,
"Your number wasn't in the stolen data. Pre-contract, so no your info on their computers."
Shin Eun-ha asked,
"Then now? We're signing the deal."
"They're calling a security firm."
"Still! Feels sketchy—can you check anyway?"
Na Gang-in borrowed Park Woo-seop's laptop and scanned Shin Eun-ha's smartphone.
AI Jeon Ji-in reported.
"Hacking traces?"
"None. Clean."
Shin Eun-ha let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew. Thank goodness. But..."
Shin Eun-ha stared intently at Na Gang-in. He asked,
"Why?"
"Why's Gang-in oppa so ridiculously good at everything? Thought you were pure muscle-head, but you're a total genius."
Three days later, CF shooting kicked off.
Shin Eun-ha griped,
"Weirdly, every time we shoot with Gang-in oppa, it feels like we're always racing the deadline."
Kim Yu-chan explained the reason.
"Air date's right around the corner. One big reason they scouted Gang-in-ssi was to wrap action scenes fast."
The original actor slated for this drink's CF had ended up hospitalized from an accident. By the time they sorted that mess, product launch was breathing down their necks.
Now they had to rush the CF to hit broadcast slots. But skimping on quality wasn't an option.
Kim Yu-chan said,
"Everyone in the know gets how our movie pulled off those top-tier action shots so quick."
"That many people in the biz know?"
"Yeah. Plenty."
"Hold up. Yu-chan oppa. Does that mean we're the sidekicks in this CF?"
"Not sidekicks—this is synergy between us and Gang-in-ssi. We click great."
The CF director said,
"Here's the drink. You two fight over it. I'll handle the overall composition, but action's fully in Na Gang-in-ssi's hands."
They'd used an average of three cameras per setup for the movie Sunny Day. This CF set had seven.
Na Gang-in asked,
"Planning to splice the footage, huh."
"Haha. Got time for CG background wipes. Way better setup than your movie shoot."
Na Gang-in checked his reflection in the mirror. He was decked out in green tights head to toe.
He muttered softly,
"They still wearing this crap in 2082?"
AI Jeon Ji-in replied.
"You just called it embarrassing?"
"Oh, so we're suddenly someone else when it's convenient?"
Shin Eun-ha paused mid-stride entering the set when she spotted Na Gang-in. He'd even got a green mask on his face.
"Huh? No way..."
"Don't laugh."
"Kyahaha!"
"I said don't."
Kim Yu-chan strolled in and said,
"Man. Gang-in-ssi, our builds match so the tights actually look good on you. Stylish. Haha."
"Want an extra set of tights?"
"Nah, not for me... I'm a top star—can't do that."
"I'm rocking it right now... Sigh."
Na Gang-in let out a deep sigh, then declared,
"Today's shoot's gonna be brutal."
"Oh dear. Tights that uncomfortable?"
"Not for me. You two are the ones in for it."
"Huh... Pardon?"
Shin Eun-ha jumped in quick,
"Oppa. Go easy. I didn't call it weird—just laughed. Okay?"
"You're the worse one."
Prep ramped up steadily. Sound gear got positioned too.
The BGM composer was a young woman. She beamed at Na Gang-in.
Na Gang-in said,
"That girl's laughing at me too."
"Quiet."
Shooting began.
The custom track for this drink ad started playing.
Shin Eun-ha and Kim Yu-chan went at each other mercilessly.
Shin Eun-ha unleashed kicks with her yoga- and Pilates-honed flexible body. Kim Yu-chan mixed hand strikes and blocks.
But it lacked real impact feel.
Na Gang-in orchestrated from between them. He tapped Shin Eun-ha's leg to redirect her kick. Her foot sliced toward Kim Yu-chan's face at a razor angle.
Na Gang-in shoved Kim Yu-chan's upper body backward. Kim's torso arched back a touch. Her foot whistled through the space in front of his face.
Na Gang-in now pushed Kim Yu-chan's back forward. The arched body lunged ahead. Kim Yu-chan snapped up a hand blade toward Shin Eun-ha.
Na Gang-in nudged Shin Eun-ha's shoulder. She staggered back a step. The hand blade cleaved empty air.
The two locked glares.
Na Gang-in's assists didn't mean they could slack off. They poured full power into every motion.
Power alone didn't cut it. When Na Gang-in shoved them this way and that, they had to hold balance. That meant even more effort. No dropping focus either.
Na Gang-in said,
"Cut ends here."
Both gasped for breath in unison.
Shin Eun-ha whined,
"Gang-in oppa. I'm dying."
Na Gang-in chided her,
"That scene was barely two seconds."
"We rehearsed ten times for those two seconds. Back-to-back, no breaks!"
"Gotta drill it in. At your level, one breather and poof—gone."
Kim Yu-chan protested too,
"Gang-in-ssi. Movie we nailed every scene in one go. Why so many repeat drills per clip here?"
"Movie I did the jumps myself."
One-and-done had been easier for him back then.
"Now I'm training you two to make it look good."
AI Jeon Ji-in piled on.
Shin Eun-ha asked,
"Gang-in oppa. This isn't payback for laughing at the tights, right?"
"I'm already cutting you tons of slack."
"Liar! Where?!"