Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Pursuit
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Cha Eun-seo passed out the snacks Na Gang-in had made to the PC bang customers. After that, she returned to the kitchen and asked.
"Oppa. The customers want to know the name of these snacks."
Na Gang-in didn't know either.
"Uh..."
"Hodgepodge snacks."
Cha Eun-seo tilted her head.
"Huh? This is hodgepodge too?"
"Snacks made by roughly tossing in whatever ingredients are on hand at the time. That's why they're hodgepodge snacks."
Cha Eun-seo clapped her hands.
"Wow. Even though you whipped it up casually, the customers are loving it. I'm dying to try it myself, but they keep asking for more, so I haven't gotten a taste."
She smacked her lips.
Na Gang-in started kneading more flour.
"Only the customers get to eat? We need a taste too."
"Yay! This is exciting!"
She watched Na Gang-in cook with sparkling eyes.
"Huh? The dough looks a little different in color from before."
"The batch we served earlier was basic service. This one's special for us. Way tastier."
"Waaah. Special hodgepodge snacks!"
Her voice carried outside. A customer who overheard quickly placed an order.
"One special here!"
Na Gang-in said.
"Tell 'em it's not for sale. Service menu's done for today."
Na Gang-in whipped up the special hodgepodge snacks in a small frying pan and handed the whole batch over to Cha Eun-seo.
She took a bite and beamed.
"It's so good!"
Na Gang-in grabbed a few pieces, scarfed them down, and left the PC bang.
"Not to brag, but it's tasty."
"Let's talk mission."
"Got it. That's why we're off to nab the hacker. Guide me."
A virtual line appeared through the AR Lens. It snaked through the alleys.
The hacker's hideout was a second-floor office in a rundown commercial building.
"Hiding their base in a dump like ours?"
"Enemy surveillance setup?"
"Makes sense they'd pick a CCTV dead zone on purpose. Gotta hide their identities."
Na Gang-in cracked his neck.
"Time to go in."
Na Gang-in slipped on a white mask. With so many people wearing masks these days, it didn't draw eyes.
A new blue line appeared on the street. The virtual line visible through the AR Lens led around to the back of the building.
"Was heading that way anyway."
The rundown commercial building had back stairs too. He climbed them to the second floor.
A narrow hallway branched left and right with several office doors.
"Which one."
A semi-transparent red border highlighted one of the hallway doors.
He headed that way.
"Hearing voices inside."
Na Gang-in had an independent auxiliary module installed in his ear. The AI Jeon Ji-in communicated with him through it, and it came with various hearing protection features.
But that module had no dedicated listening function.
Instead, AI Jeon Ji-in filtered out just the voices from the sounds Na Gang-in heard directly. She stripped the noise, boosted quality, amplified the volume, and fed it back to him.
The processing happened near-instantly. Voices leaking from beyond the door rang clear in his ear.
The first voice was cursing.
"You bastard! I told you you'd die if this doesn't work right! Why's it already crashing? Wanna die?"
A young voice explained desperately.
"It's still the test version, so it's unstable. Just fix the bugs... Agh!"
An Seong-hwan was a college freshman.
He'd been hooked on computer viruses and hacking since middle school. In high school, he posted frequently on security forums online. Even as a senior dialing back his activity, he'd still answer questions left by working pros now and then.
This year, he started college and ramped up his forum presence again.
That's when a DM hit his inbox on a community board: a part-time gig auditing a company's security. Supposed to take a few days.
He'd been hunting for work since starting school, so when an offer came for something right up his alley, he jumped at it without a second thought.
'College means real gigs. So pumped.'
That optimism led him here—but it was all a mistake. This wasn't a legit company.
An Seong-hwan clutched his gut, collapsed on the floor.
A man in a suit squatted down in front of him.
"Hey. Did I ask for something tough? Bot for posting comments? Nah, just rig likes and dislikes. Pump likes so comments hit best."
An Seong-hwan curled up tighter and replied.
"Likes or comments, same underlying principle anyway."
The suit man slapped him across the face with an open palm.
"Talking back now?!"
An Seong-hwan threw up his arms to shield his face and yelled.
"Ack! I'll do it! I'll do it!"
The suit man said.
"Same principle mean same results? Same nick spamming comments raises flags, but likes/dislikes? No nick shown. Same? Or different?"
"D-Different!"
"Know it's different? Then get your ass up and fix it right! Bastard!"
An Seong-hwan scrambled to his feet. He asked cautiously.
"Um, but... I've been locked in here three days already. You'll send me home once it's done, right?"
A guy in a flashy colored shirt sat in a chair behind the suit. He waved a jackknife and chimed in.
"Screw it up, and home's off the table. Deep sea or somewhere. Like drums?"
An Seong-hwan went pale. Once his program started half-working, their tune changed.
The suit laughed.
"Hahaha. Look at the kid shake. We don't pull that old-school crap anymore."
"Me? I kinda like the classics."
The suit patted An Seong-hwan's shoulder.
"Chill. Nail this, I'll pay big and send you packing. Trust me and grind."
"B-But..."
"Why off you? We gotta keep working together."
An Seong-hwan blinked in confusion.
"Huh? What?"
The suit smirked.
"You're in on it with us now. Busted? Not just us doing time. And hey, crank out a few more like this, you'll bank tuition plus pocket cash through graduation. Long haul, us. Heh heh."
Suit dangled cash up front while flashy shirt waved the blade behind. For a wide-eyed freshman like An Seong-hwan, no real choice.
He eyed the monitor where he'd been working. Target: stock forum board. Specifically, analysis threads for certain companies.
He'd clocked the securities fraud angle the moment they locked him down three days back.
His family's back in the provinces; he'd moved to Seoul for school. Lived in a one-room rental. No one to notice a weekend disappearance.
Could've snuck report code into the program for an online SOS. But fear froze him—and he'd bought the line that it'd end after this job.
Now that it half-worked, the thugs flipped scripts. This nightmare wasn't wrapping up anytime soon. Tears welled up on their own.
As a drop hit the floor, the office door flew open.
An Seong-hwan whipped his head around.
A masked Na Gang-in stood there.
Despair crashed in.
'More of 'em.'
Suit scowled at the shirt guy.
"Hey. Door wasn't locked?"
"It was."
"Then how's this trash waltz in?"
"I'll boot him now."
Na Gang-in scanned the room.
Na Gang-in's AR Lens could overlay virtual images on reality.
A red outline highlighted the jackknife in the shirt guy's hand. A virtual knife icon appeared on the suit's clothes too.
Inside: three desks, a few laptops, ramen pots, portable gas stove. Way too sparse and cramped for a real office. Compared to the PC bang he'd claimed as his temp base, this was stone age.
Na Gang-in glanced around.
"What is this, some mom-and-pop hacker sweatshop?"
The word "hacker" dropped the suit's face temperature to freezing.
"Who the fuck are you?"
Three response options scrolled across his vision. None clicked.
Na Gang-in pointed at the terrified college hacker An Seong-hwan.
"Passing the hall, heard beating noises, so I poked my head in. Overheard on the way in—you're having him make some manipulation program?"
That line wasn't in any of AI Jeon Ji-in's suggested scripts.
The suit grinned, but his eyes stayed ice-cold.
"Dumbass. Shoulda played deaf and kept walking. Why creep in? Peeked at shit you shouldn't—now you eat fists."
Suit sidestepped suddenly and barked.
"Grab that fucker!"
Shirt guy vaulted a desk, charging straight at Na Gang-in, jackknife gripped in his right hand. Room so tight, distance vanished in a blink.
The flashy-shirted thug raised his blade overhead, spitting curses.
"You bas—"
STOMACH KICK
Thug launched backward—desk shattered
Na Gang-in's foot slammed the shirt guy's gut. The thrust came so fast it blurred.
"Gaaack!"
The charging thug screamed, flew back, and smashed between desks.
One desk exploded into splinters.
Suit had already shifted sideways. Na Gang-in's leg was thrust forward.
Suit yanked a jackknife from his inner suit pocket in a flash. He raised the blade, dead certain of his strike.
'One-legged stance... perfect stab window...'
SIDE KICK
Boss crumpled—desk demolished
Na Gang-in's front kick whipped into a side kick in a heartbeat. No pullback—just swung the leg sideways like a flail.
It hooked the suit's ribs. Impact like a sledgehammer.
"Kek!"
Suit's body folded sideways midair, crashed through a desk, and slammed into the corner.
Leg still extended sideways, Na Gang-in asked.
"Yo. My kicks pack a punch, right?"
"I barely tapped 'em."
"Steroids?"
Na Gang-in scowled.
"Knew it. Not just eyes and ears—legs got mods too, huh?"
"This is nuts. 2082 everyone's modding up like cyborgs?"
"Mine's the military grade?"
"Military's gotta outpunch medical, right?"
"Military riskier though? Can I trust army hardware? Feels iffy."
"Evidence?"
"You make it worse."