A Tanker Truck Full of Gasoline
KS Telecom. The flagship carrier of South Korea and the nation's number one mobile operator, raking in twenty trillion won in annual revenue and two trillion in operating profit — a genuinely juicy company by any measure.
It began on a peaceful weekend morning, when agents from the National Intelligence Service stormed the data center housing the carrier's servers. Within a single day, the commotion had swelled into a nationwide uproar.
KS Telecom boasted no fewer than seventeen million customers. When news broke that the servers holding the personal data of roughly thirty-five percent of the nation's fifty million people had been ransacked from top to bottom, the public was stunned — and then it was furious.
People were enraged that their personal information had fallen into the hands of hackers. But KS Telecom's attempt to contain the crisis only poured gasoline on an already raging fire.
"Excuse me. You got hacked — why haven't you sent me a single text message about it?"
[Yes, valued customer. Once we became aware of the breach, we sent out a mass text notification to all customers.]
"Well, I never got one."
[Could it be that your phone blocked it as spam?]
"No, it didn't."
[Ah, then it must have been a system error. We apologize.]
"……? An apology is supposed to fix this?"
[……We sincerely apologize, valued customer.]
"Fine, whatever. Just swap out my SIM chip."
[We're sorry, but SIM replacements cannot be handled through the customer service line. You'll need to visit a retail store in person to apply for one.]
"……? You want me to go there myself?"
[Yes, valued customer. However, we are currently out of SIM chip stock, so a replacement may not be possible.]
"Are you kidding me? You can't replace my SIM because you're out of stock? What am I supposed to do if I get hacked?"
[That will not happen, valued customer.]
"How can you possibly guarantee that?"
[In any case, it will not happen.]
It was an almost unbelievably irresponsible response for the very party responsible for the largest personal data breach in history. Consumers who had lost all faith in the company flocked to defect to other carriers — but even that proved far from easy.
Consumers were left slack-jawed and seething as they watched KS Telecom slam penalty invoices in the faces of customers trying to leave — in flagrant disregard of the very terms written in its own contracts.
But in practical terms, there was very little those customers could actually do.
Because……
KS Telecom was a facilities-based carrier controlling more than seventy percent of the nation's core telecommunications network — a piece of critical national infrastructure that even the government could do nothing about.
And so…… amid a nationwide blaze of public fury, the government and the members of the National Assembly did nothing but stage one meaningless show after another, all of them simply waiting for the whole affair to quietly blow over.
[Mr. Yoo Min-jun! It's written plainly in KS Telecom's terms of service, isn't it? Termination due to company fault exempts the customer from penalty fees! It's stated this clearly — so why won't you waive the penalties?]
[……We will review the matter comprehensively from multiple angles before reaching a decision.]
[I'm sorry — "comprehensively from multiple angles"? What does that even mean?]
[Well, legally speaking…… well…… in any case, we intend to review it comprehensively.]
[Minister! Is this acceptable? Hm? What do you think?]
[I don't believe it would be appropriate for me to share personal opinions in this setting.]
[An incident of this magnitude — KS Telecom ought to be shut down over this. Shouldn't measures like a business suspension or a service shutdown at least be on the table?]
[We have determined that suspending the services and operations of KS Telecom, a facilities-based carrier, would inflict even greater disruption on the public, and are therefore not considering such measures.]
[No! Minister! Is that seriously what you have to say? Isn't this a situation where someone has to take responsibility? How can all of you be this irresponsible?]
Assembly members shouted themselves hoarse, faces flushed with anger, demanding accountability, while the officials responsible for the crisis bowed their heads in meek apology — offering regret, but never once the words "we will take responsibility" — and slithered out of every question like loaches.
Voices were raised, tempers flared, but not a single practical alternative emerged from this utterly hollow hearing. It was…… little more than a show. A piece of political theater.
And that was how I knew.
Nothing would change because of this hack. Nothing at all.
[The National Intelligence Service has started backtracking from the traces left on your phone, Grandpa, but they'll never find the main culprit. Technically, breaking through their obfuscation network is impossible for them — and besides, the Korean government is party to the international sanctions. Asking a country like Iran for investigative cooperation? They wouldn't even dream of it.]
With the culprits beyond reach, there was no one anywhere who could prove how the stolen data was being circulated and exploited.
And that meant……
No matter how severe the damage became, KS Telecom would never actually be held accountable for it. They would never have made such an insane promise so publicly and boldly otherwise.
[Please don't worry too much, valued customer! The leaked personal data consists only of fragmented, partial information, so the likelihood of it being exploited for financial fraud is extremely low.]
"Is that so?"
[Yes, valued customer. Furthermore — though of course this will never happen — should any financial damage occur as a result of the hack, KS Telecom will take one hundred percent responsibility for it. So please, rest assured.]
The agent declared, with absolute confidence, that no harm would ever come from the hack — and that if it somehow did, the company would shoulder every last bit of it. At those words, I asked again.
"And by that, you mean…… that you'll pay up only after I personally prove damages that are practically impossible to prove, then fight a brutal court battle stretching on for who knows how many years against old-boys'--network lawyers who charge nine figures in retainer fees alone — and win through all three trial levels? Or do you mean you'll just pay whatever I ask for?"
[……? I'm sorry?]
"No, I'm right, aren't I? How am I supposed to believe 'one hundred percent responsibility'? Would you actually compensate me without a lawsuit?"
[……We apologize, valued customer. That is something I'm unable to answer.]
"Then how about waiving the penalty fee, at least? So I can switch to another carrier."
[That would also be difficult at the moment. You signed up for a new flagship phone contract only two months ago. As things stand, switching your number would incur a penalty fee of 1,020,000 won.]
"And if I can't pay that penalty?"
[We're very sorry, but the penalty fee will still apply, valued customer.]
"And if I just refuse to pay it? What then? Are you going to sue me?"
[……]
The agent dodged my question in circles. They said they would pass my inquiry up to a higher department and call me back — but just as I'd expected, that call never came.
"Well, well…… how convenient for them."
[I told you, didn't I? This is water so stagnant it's already rotting. There's no fixing it.]
For anyone else, this would have been a matter of venting their outrage, filing endless complaints, raising hell — and then, worn down by the grind, giving up and waiting forever. But because I could observe KS Telecom's inner workings through Alex, I couldn't help but find their conduct all the more infuriating.
KS Telecom's senior executives, huddled together scheming every possible way to minimize the damage — dismissing it all as a fuss over nothing, as the misfortune of stepping in dog mess. Watching the very man who had bowed his head at the hearing, wearing that expression of contrite reflection, I felt a bitter smile creep across my face.
[Honestly~ the problem is all these people kicking up a fuss over a bit of personal information nobody even needed. Who are they, anyway, that they're so important? It's not like the hackers can even make use of it.]
"Is that so……"
These people were utterly convinced that if they simply stalled long enough, the blazing firewood would lose its momentum and the flames would die out on their own. They had no intention of genuinely reflecting or changing — if anything, they were colluding with their rival carriers, resorting to every sordid trick imaginable just to protect their monopolistic grip.
And watching it all, I made up my mind.
I was going to slam a drum full of gasoline onto that burning firewood — no, an entire fuel tanker truck, right on top of it.