The Briefing
“Seo-hyun! A package just arrived for you!”
“Oh! I’ll take that! Just a moment, please!”
Yulia handed me the box with a bright, excited expression, clearly thrilled by the rare delivery. The other servants looked mildly surprised as well. Even though I had been granted the right to own private property, a slave purchasing something still felt like a delicate matter that invited scrutiny. Yet no one ever spoke ill of me for it. I had carefully cultivated a good reputation, and for reasons I still did not fully understand, most people who approached me treated me with genuine kindness.
That’s the child who was abandoned by her parents and sold into slavery at five…
Her health is poor, too. And she’s an unawakened—no unique ability at all…
In a world that discriminates against anyone whose unique ability is weak, an unawakened… and yet her heart is so pure. What on earth is the Lord thinking…
If you ever need anything from us older sisters, just say the word. We’ll handle almost anything for you…
At first their pity had made me want to crawl into a hole and disappear from sheer embarrassment. Now I simply accepted it. Their goodwill never turned toxic, and thanks to it I had adapted far more smoothly to life in the mansion.
“What’s this? Something to eat?”
“No, Miss. This isn’t food.”
Yulia’s face wilted instantly at my answer. I had anticipated exactly that reaction, so I pulled out the little treat I had prepared in advance and held it out to her.
“But I always keep something sweet on hand.”
“Wow! Chocolate!”
“Only a little, though. The head maid will scold you otherwise.”
“Okay! Just this one!”
I was glad I had saved the chocolate another maid had given me instead of eating it myself. With that thought, I lifted the package from the floor and carried it toward my room.
“Oh my, Seo-hyun? Shall I help you?”
“No! I’m fine! I’ll move it myself!”
Countless people offered to assist along the way, but I refused every hand. Even if I was frail, if I could not carry a single box on my own, the pride of someone who had once worked for the National Intelligence Service would shatter into dust.
“Haa… finally done.”
The moment I shook off the last of the well-meaning helpers and reached my room, I grabbed a nearby box cutter and sliced the package open.
“Let’s see… Oh, the design’s actually pretty decent.”
Inside was a cheap computer microphone. Why had I bought it? Because the first remote briefing with the administrator—scheduled after the employment contract with Leviathan was signed—was finally approaching.
As expected, when I inquired with the administrator I learned their true goal during the merger period was self-protection and the elimination of rivals. Their failure to explain that beforehand had been a serious breach of etiquette, so I used it as leverage to extract additional commission fees. Fortunately they accepted. A contract that subtly blended mercenary work with hacking services was drawn up, mutually agreed upon, and sealed. My participation in the underground battle between dark factions next week was now official.
Two days later I received a request from Leviathan’s administrator to attend the briefing.
Through negotiation I pushed the contract fee up to around ninety million won. Factoring in the bonuses for extra conditions, this is a deal I can’t afford to pass up even if I choke on it.
There was a slight risk of identity exposure, but attending the briefing was still the better choice. Since I was moving on commission, written summaries alone had limits; I needed detailed explanations of the situation and the inner workings. Especially because I was an unknown hacker contracted solely on the administrator’s gut feeling, with no real track record. Skipping the briefing entirely would have made it impossible to predict how Leviathan’s people might react.
After finishing the microphone setup and returning from dinner, evening had already settled in. Exhausted from studying in the morning and working in the afternoon, I dragged myself to the computer. As always, the artificial intelligence program Laplace greeted me warmly.
Today is the briefing day, correct?
[Affirmative. The briefing will be conducted through the encrypted circuit prepared within the Leviathan site.]
“First, let’s get the voice modulation program ready.”
[Understood.]
Three hours later, as midnight drew near, I used the decryption code provided by Leviathan to enter the virtual conference room.
“It seems everyone has arrived. In that case, we will conduct a final personnel check.”
After confirming several times that no one was missing, the Leviathan representative bowed deeply toward the screen.
“Good evening. I am Riemann, assigned to brief this operation. For security reasons I cannot reveal my real name; I ask for your understanding. As we have invited mercenaries from across the country, the briefing will be conducted in English. Thank you for your cooperation.”
While the man who called himself Riemann explained the operation’s objectives, I studied the other participants. Aside from Riemann, most had their cameras off or wore masks even when the feed was on, so I could not make out proper faces. Still, other information was obtainable.
There were roughly twenty people in total. More than half appeared to be leaders commanding their own groups; the rest were independent mercenaries or villains. Among them was one figure even I—newly arrived in this world—recognized: a man sitting with his arms crossed, camera boldly switched on.
World Hero Association assessment: A-class. Four years of active service, a relative veteran. Official Association designation: the Gambler, if I recalled correctly. He wielded abilities involving dice, cards, and the like. The sheer peculiarity of how he used his unique ability had stuck in my mind even from a brief glimpse.
“This operation is divided into two main teams. The first is the combat unit, which will use pre-gathered intelligence to strike the enemy headquarters directly or protect our own headquarters from physical threats. The second is the hacking unit, which will paralyze the enemy’s dark web, seize communications, and take control of their systems in order to support the combat unit.”
Naturally, I belonged to the hacking unit. I possessed no combat power worth taking into a real fight, and I had been brought here precisely for my role as a hacker.
“From this point we will split the conference room into two according to unit assignment. I will continue to handle the combat unit’s briefing. The hacking unit’s briefing will be conducted by the Supreme Administrator.”
The Supreme Administrator?
That title belonged to none other than the founder of Leviathan. For such a person to personally conduct the briefing was genuinely astonishing.
“Ah, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear. Then we shall proceed with the split.”
With that exchange the participants divided into two separate rooms. The moment the transfer finished, one of the black screens lit up, revealing a woman with crimson eyes.
“Greetings. I am Yekaterina, founder of Leviathan and current Supreme Administrator.”
She let her black hair hang loosely and manipulated the screen with a weary expression.
“I’m busy in more ways than one, so I won’t drag this out. I’ll explain only once. Record it, burn it into your skull—whatever you need to do to understand. Ah, and if any of you record this and let it leak to the other side, I’ll personally rip your heart out. Any complaints?”
When no voice answered, she looked satisfied and projected the prepared materials into the center of the screen.
“You have three objectives. The most important is Leviathan’s security. Everything else can go to hell as long as you give your absolute best to defending and restoring the confidential data and the site itself.”
No one knew how the hacking attacks would come. Leviathan operated in the form of a corporation; the headquarters was well hidden, yet a successful hack could still expose its location. If that happened, the villains and mercenaries I had just seen in the main room would come storming in to wreak havoc. Exposure of the shell accounts Leviathan used could mean losses ranging from tens of billions to hundreds of billions of won. Our first priority was to prevent any of that by intercepting hacking attempts in advance.
“The second is to launch hacking attacks against the dark webs that have entered a hostile relationship with us. Siphon funds, leak confidential documents—whatever works. If you can track IPs all the way to their headquarters, you could inflict truly catastrophic damage.”
From this point onward, additional compensation would be paid on the assumption that the first condition had been met. They were free to act as they pleased, but the overarching purpose was to minimize damage to Leviathan while advancing the merger of the dark webs and maximizing the organization’s size.
“The final objective is to assist the combat unit. Frankly, I know perfectly well that giving this kind of order to a hacking unit rarely produces good results… but it’s a secondary goal. Only those who want to bother. I’ll leave a separate file.”
Yekaterina explained the last objective with strange brevity, her tone making it clear she held little expectation for it. Because of that, I never even properly heard what “assisting the combat unit” actually entailed.
“Any questions? I know some of you have worked with us for a long time, while for others this is the first commission.”
At her words I unconsciously hesitated over whether to switch on my microphone. No matter how I looked at it, her remark had clearly been aimed at me.
In that instant one of the black screens in the room activated, revealing a man wearing a white mask.
“I have a question. How exactly will the hacking be conducted? Will we gather in one place? Or communicate solely through long-range channels? Surely you don’t intend to leave everything purely to individuals.”
“We selected only experts of a caliber where leaving it to individuals would pose no major problem… but communication failures could tangle the operation, so we have prepared an encrypted communication program on our end.”
The man seemed satisfied and cut his feed again. When no further questions came, Yekaterina clapped her hands once and moved on to the next topic.
“From here I will convey the detailed operational instructions. First, the primary duties of Leviathan’s own hackers are…”