Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Chapter 046 of the Black-Haired Investor Awakened as a Superhuman
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[ Phantom: Target acquired. Attack Payload loading confirmed. Win32k.sys Injection successful. ]
Red Montage had manufactured and stockpiled a variety of weapons.
Among them, the weapon used to attack Hyun-woo was a lethal tool classified as 19Z1.
19Z1 was not just a chunk of code.
Like a master key that opens a vault, it was a monster designed to exploit a critical vulnerability found in Microsoft's operating system, Windows 10.
A core component of Windows.
The Win32k.sys kernel driver.
Targeting a memory management error found here, this malware was designed to penetrate the deepest part of the system, the highest authority known as 'Ring0'.
Once executed, it triggers a memory error, opening the door.
The attacker gains all privileges.
[ Phantom: Ring0 access acquired. ]
[ Jet: Looking at the logs, the connection is coming up nicely. We'll get good use out of it this year too. ]
[ Phantom: Then I'll turn on the cam first. ]
The leader of Red Montage, codenamed Phantom, loved this moment the most.
Beyond simply infiltrating code and stealing data, the practical pleasure of seizing control of the other party's most private domain.
That was the source of his joy.
In that sense, Hyun-woo, who was recently successful on Wall Street, was a special target.
Waiting for the screen to appear, a faint smile appeared on Phantom's lips.
Soon the monitor flickered and the screen appeared.
A neatly organized desk.
Professional books standing upright. Even the indirect lighting emitting a subtle glow.
Everything was perfect.
Hyun-woo was sitting in the center of the screen. He was looking at the desk with his hands clasped together.
[ Sword: Just like a big hedge fund player. The room and the person are perfect, right? A luxury Manhattan villa, right? ]
[ Mika: Wow, he looks even better in person? ]
[ Jet: That's because you haven't seen me in person. ]
[ Mika: I love you, Jet. ]
[ Sword: Cut it out. But what's with that guy, sitting there posing by himself? He has no idea we're watching. ]
Phantom frowned, watching Hyun-woo on the screen.
The fun of peeping usually comes from the unguarded appearance of the other person.
But Hyun-woo was different. There was nothing to criticize about him.
"Tch."
[ Phantom: I'll dig through the directory a bit. ]
[ Shiva: Wait. I already found it. The AlphaHelp Session Token was still in the browser's in-memory area. Surprisingly careless. It's still active. ]
[ Phantom: Good. If the Session Token is valid, it means it has already passed 2FA authentication. But we can't use it right away. We might raise suspicion during the browser session cloning process. ]
The user's IP range and device information must also match.
[ Shiva: I'll write the script. ]
[ Phantom: Do it thoroughly. If the Session Hijacking is exposed, we'll be left twiddling our thumbs. ]
Phantom's mood had soured at the sight of Hyun-woo on the screen, who seemed to have no flaws, but that was only for a moment.
Soon a faint smile appeared on his lips. Because it matched exactly what he had investigated.
In a way, Hyun-woo Na, the hot star of Wall Street, was a person who was overly confident in himself.
So much so that he seemed unable to trust others at all.
Hyun-woo operated a large hedge fund, yet he didn't have a single employee and handled all the work himself. Unbelievably.
Regardless of whether that was really possible, it was something that should never be done.
There was a reason why all companies put so much effort into security.
Was it because he had succeeded too quickly?
Phantom concluded that he must have become trapped in his own world, overconfident in his extraordinary abilities. There were often geniuses like that.
In fact, Phantom himself belonged to that category, so he could vaguely understand the arrogance of the man named Hyun-woo Na.
'Even so, not having a security team... that was a stupid thing to do. All you're good at is investing.'
Phantom sneered inwardly and turned his gaze to the chat window.
[ Phantom: It would be amazing if there really was $1.6 billion in the AlphaHelp account. ]
Then Mika made a fuss.
[ Mika: Wait, wait. AlphaHelp? Why is it progressing like this? This wasn't discussed beforehand. ]
[ Phantom: Jet. Didn't you explain it to her properly? What's wrong? ]
[ Jet: I did. Properly. ]
[ Mika: Jet explained it well. The problem is this ominous feeling. I have a feeling that if we mess with it, things will get complicated. You shouldn't ignore a woman's intuition. ]
[ Phantom: We can just pass the buck to the client. ]
[ Jet: But... the client. It's Richard Reed's son. ]
[ Phantom: Richard Reed? Who's that old-fashioned name? ]
[ Mika: He's our Secretary of Defense. Boss needs to learn some social skills. ]
[ Phantom: Why are you telling me this now? ]
"No... sigh."
Phantom sighed.
There was no need to verify the truth of what Mika said. It was probably true. Because Mika, who was the best in the team in terms of skill, had said it.
The reason Phantom sighed a moment ago was not because he was frustrated or ominous.
It was the opposite.
It was the excitement that came from Mika doing so well.
It didn't matter whether the British government had actually led the request or whether it was a private request from the Secretary of Defense's son.
A person from the Secretary of Defense's side requesting surveillance from a shady hacker group.
The important thing was that at this moment, they held the weakness of a high-ranking official, the Secretary of Defense, in their hands.
'We can use it as a bargaining chip if we get caught.'
Phantom smiled and typed at the same time.
[ Phantom: Very good. Mika. ]
[ Jet: Mika and Boss. Congratulations. Should I go to England too? ]
[ Mika: No. There's nothing to congratulate. ]
[ Jet: Why not? ]
[ Mika: You guys don't know what the Reed family is like. Believe me. Boss, let's not touch the account. Let's just go as requested, okay? ]
[ Phantom: Let's just check. Do you think there's really $1.6 billion in there? ]
The chat window soon fell silent.
Phantom watched Hyun-woo on the screen while waiting for Shiva to complete the script.
Hyun-woo was moving.
He was holding a pen and writing something on a piece of paper, but the angle was ambiguous to see the exact content.
Phantom's brow furrowed slightly.
'Is it an investment idea or something? It seems like the information the client is after.'
The moment Hyun-woo finished writing and slowly put down the pen, Shiva's message flashed.
[ Shiva: ...Everyone, see it with your own eyes. ]
Phantom immediately logged into the AlphaHelp Foundation's Barclays account.
Because he had already secured the active Session Token and Shiva's bypass script.
Phantom and his team were able to seize access to this account in an instant.
A few seconds later.
A new screen appeared on Phantom's monitor.
There was only one line of numbers on it.
[ • Balance: $1,640,000,000 ]
It was really there. Hyun-woo's treasure trove had been opened.
Phantom's eyes widened.
The chat window was silent. Not even an exclamation point was typed.
Normally, Jet or Mika would have made a joke first, but now no one could open their mouths.
Mika was the first to break the silence.
[ Mika: ...What do we do now? ]
Even then, Phantom couldn't take his eyes off the AlphaHelp dashboard and was only breathing faintly.
Messages from team members poured into the chat window, but Phantom couldn't see anything.
He only saw that huge, huge number.
$1.6 billion.
A number that was difficult to launder into cryptocurrency right away.
So first, it had to be transferred to a Swiss account.
'No, no. Before that, we need to strengthen security.'
No matter how much money they stole, it would be over if they got caught.
"We have to hide it in layers."
Thinking of the Tor Network's multi-layered anonymization method, Phantom vowed.
[ • Account Number:
CH93-1234-5678-9012
• Receiving Bank Code (SWIFT):
UBSWCHZH80A ]
So he didn't proceed with the transfer right away.
He had already overlaid the multi-layered anonymity network, Tor Network, with five more VPN Servers.
In addition, he wrote a transfer request script with a Custom SSL/TLS Protocol, making it difficult to detect even by the Swiss bank's security system.
Phantom checked the completed transfer request script again.
Perfect.
He couldn't find any flaws.
Nevertheless, Phantom's entire right hand, which was holding the mouse, began to tremble like crazy.
'Calm down. It's what you've always done.'
It was at the beginning of this year, before Corona broke out.
Even when he succeeded in stealing 10,000 Bitcoins through various ransomware attacks, he didn't tremble this much.
At that time, it was a joy that accumulated little by little. Like small stones gathering to form a hill.
But it wasn't like that now.
Now it was a mountain.
It felt like it had fallen right in front of him all at once.
'If I just click... $1.6 billion... will be ours.'
Phantom forgot everything outside the screen. Only that huge number was clear, and all the other backgrounds were faintly blurred.
Finally, Phantom's index finger pressed down on the mouse button.
Click!-
[ Processing Transaction… 10% ]
Phantom held his breath. He licked his parched lips with tension and couldn't take his eyes off the screen.
The progress bar slowly began to rise.
[ 30%… 40%… ]
As the progress bar slowly rose, Phantom's heart began to beat faster and faster.
But suddenly.
The screen stopped.
At the point where the progress bar stopped at 45%, a red warning message window suddenly popped up.
[ Transaction Canceled ]
Phantom stared at the screen with an unbelievable expression. At that moment, he saw Hyun-woo moving slightly in the corner of the screen.
Now Hyun-woo was changing his movements, unfolding the paper he had written something on and bringing it closer to the cam.
The letters gradually became larger and clearer, filling Phantom's screen.
「 You guys have just committed a global financial crime. 」
It was a simple sentence.
But the implications were so terrifying.
The shock that this whole situation might be a trap designed in reverse pierced Phantom's mind.
In fact, Phantom screamed and jumped up from his seat.
That's when it started.
That moment.
The Red Montage team's chat window began to fill with messy and confusing code strings.
Like a pouring rain, the entire screen was quickly submerged in unidentified code.
Phantom muttered in a frightened voice.
"He... was waiting... for us?"