Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: College Student Hacker
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Na Gang-in clenched his fist experimentally.
"Anyway, I get that my strength is incredible. No wonder the frying pan full of rice felt so light even when I shook it."
College student hacker An Seong-hwan blinked in disbelief. Those terrifying guys had been sent flying, crashing into the corner of the office.
But he couldn't just celebrate. In his eyes, Na Gang-in looked like another one of the people who'd come to grab him.
'A cop? Or a government agent? Here to arrest me for hacking?'
He recalled the things he'd done back in middle and high school.
An Seong-hwan shouted desperately.
"I swear, I didn't do much bad stuff before! Well, okay, I did hack, but I never stole systems or data! I just left a note saying 'improve your security' and bounced!"
Na Gang-in asked his AI, Jeon Ji-in.
"You can tell that kind of thing apart?"
An Seong-hwan was cornered right now. That's why the analysis was so accurate.
"So there's a 12% chance he's lying?"
Na Gang-in asked An Seong-hwan.
"Why are you here?"
"I fell for their 'security check part-time job' scam and got stuck here for three days."
An Seong-hwan pointed at their suits and shirts as he yelled.
"Those bastards are the real bad guys! They were gonna keep making me do shady stuff even after this job!"
"What shady stuff were you gonna do with them?"
"Stock manipulation."
"Huh? Them?"
Na Gang-in glanced at the crumpled men.
"They look too dumb for that."
"They told me to make a program that rigs comment rankings on stock forums. They handled installing it at the PC bang themselves."
Even An Seong-hwan was starting to feel a little off about it.
"So they're not the main pump-and-dump crew?"
"Looks like there's someone bigger behind them. These guys are just subcontractors."
Na Gang-in had come here because someone had crippled the internet at his temporary base, the PC bang.
But the culprit he'd tracked down wasn't targeting the PC bang after all.
"That doesn't mean I can just let these guys go. And we still need to deal with whoever's behind them."
He didn't need to handle it personally, though.
Na Gang-in said to An Seong-hwan.
"Hey."
"Yes!"
"Call the cops."
"Huh?"
"Call 112 and say you've been kidnapped. When the police get here, just tell them exactly what you saw and went through."
An Seong-hwan hesitated.
"Um, but what about you, sir...?"
"What about me?"
"You crumpled two guys that bad. Won't you get in trouble too...?"
The two were wedged between shattered desks. They didn't look good.
Na Gang-in asked.
"You know my face?"
An Seong-hwan shook his head vigorously.
"No, you're wearing a mask."
"I'm just a passerby who saved you. I heard you getting hit, came in, saw you were in trouble, and rescued you."
"Ah! Thank you!"
"Use one of their smartphones and call it in quick. I'm outta here."
An Seong-hwan panicked again.
"Wait, you're leaving?"
"You want me to stick around for the cops?"
"No, better if you go. But, um."
"What now?"
An Seong-hwan asked cautiously.
"Can I beat these guys up a bit too?"
"Why ask? Just hit 'em."
"What if they wake up?"
"You see their condition? Even if they do, they won't get up. They can't even block with their arms. Go wild."
The local police who responded to the report were stunned by the scene.
"No way, these are people...?"
"They're all crumpled up."
"They're alive, at least. Call 119."
One of the officers asked college student hacker An Seong-hwan.
"What happened here?"
An Seong-hwan teared up as he recounted everything he'd been through.
"Those bastards locked me up here and made me code a program to rig stock forum comments while beating me. See that knife? They said they'd kill me if I failed."
"That's awful. What's your job?"
"I'm a freshman in computer engineering at Korea University."
A university freshman was barely out of minor status. He might still be a minor. If so, the case got more serious.
And with suspicions of hacking and securities crimes on top...
As soon as it was clear this wasn't just assault, detectives from the station rushed over. The cyber crimes unit joined too.
The detective team leader surveyed the scene and said.
"These idiots weren't trying to manipulate stocks alone. Something smells off. There's definitely someone bigger behind them."
Detective Park Ki-jeong nodded.
"Yeah, makes sense."
"Interrogate them as soon as they wake up in the hospital. Drug them up and get them talking—they spill more when they're loopy."
"Got it."
Park Ki-jeong asked.
"But team leader, who crumpled these guys like that?"
"Victim doesn't know?"
"Yeah. He said a passerby heard the beating, came in, rescued the kid, and that's how these guys ended up like this."
"No life-threatening injuries?"
"Some breaks, but not fatal. And they pulled the knife first. What do we do?"
"Secure any CCTV first and ID the guy. No need for arrest, but we can't just ignore this."
Park Ki-jeong looked troubled.
"No CCTV in this building."
"Then check the nearby ones."
His AR lens didn't just show navigation routes—it marked CCTV surveillance zones too. Safe paths and danger spots were crystal clear, letting him move without getting caught on camera.
He took a route with no witnesses or cameras back to the PC bang. Then he settled into his old corner seat.
A short while later, the night shift part-timer who'd said they'd be late arrived.
Cha Eun-seo handed off her duties to them and plopped down next to Na Gang-in. She held a paper bag of special mixed nuts.
Cha Eun-seo munched on the snacks and said.
"These are so good. I'm rationing them."
"I'll make more later, so eat up."
"Sweet!"
Gathering intel from the internet was tough with someone beside you. Repeatedly skimming docs in one second flat looked suspicious.
"Didn't your shift end? Why not go home?"
"Got something I'm curious about, oppa."
"I'm just chilling."
"No games?"
"Games?"
Most PC bang customers came for games. Some surfed, watched dramas, or checked stock boards, but gamers were the majority.
Na Gang-in hadn't had time for games amid intel gathering and hacking government networks.
He turned to check other seats. One guy was in a battle royale, gunning down foes to survive.
"That looks fun."
Cha Eun-seo shouted excitedly.
"I'll teach you!"
"Huh?"
"I'm really good. Come on, let's start now. You need an account, so verification—pull out your smartphone quick. Gimme your number too."
"Smartphone? Don't have one."
Cha Eun-seo freaked.
"What? Why? You from the Joseon era or something?"
Na Gang-in thought for a sec. He had an ID here in his name. Fingerprints matched.
'Maybe I had a smartphone too?'
"Lost it."
"When? Today?"
"Nah, a while back."
"Then buy a new one! Tomorrow, let's go shopping."
Na Gang-in said.
"Then this game waits till I get a phone tomorrow."
"Okay. Let's play something that doesn't need verification."
Na Gang-in ended up making an account for an AOS game. The foreign-made title allowed PC sign-ups without a phone.
Cha Eun-seo sat beside him, explaining.
"Two teams of five, fighting each other."
He died fast at first, clueless on controls. Characters respawned, but each death worsened the battlefield.
Cha Eun-seo grumbled from the side.
"Enemy carry's probably a smurf."
"Smurf?"
"Someone with a main account making a new one. Low level, pro skill. This game's toast."
"That's why we're losing? Figures. In a real fight, no way I'd lose."
"Ah, gotta take this call."
Cha Eun-seo stepped away. The in-game situation grew dire.
"Their carry's a smurf."
"Beat it."
The game was pretty fun. Na Gang-in played till dawn, then heeded Jeon Ji-in's rest advisory and crashed.
The next day, he worked as PC bang chef for two hours over lunch.
In the afternoon, Cha Eun-seo suggested.
"Let's go buy that smartphone."
"You got no work?"
"I covered evening shift yesterday. He came early today to make up."
Na Gang-in got paid by the hour. But he hadn't worked much yet.
"Hmm... Not enough cash for a phone."
"Get it on 24-month installments. Come on."
The phone store had all kinds of smartphones on display.
Na Gang-in looked them over and asked Jeon Ji-in.
"Any you can control?"
"I know, anti-hacking rules. You said it'd be good to have one, so I wondered. Thought maybe you could do stuff through it."
He eyed the displays.
"Which one...?"
Virtual arrows popped up over two phones—AR images from Jeon Ji-in via his lens. The latest models from two major Korean conglomerates.
"Those are pricier."
"I'd still input by hand. Does it really speed things up?"
"You just want the latest model, huh?"
"Yeah, you totally want the shiny new one."