NETIZEN

BLACK

Su Jung worried as he wondered why Soo Yeon advanced the project. He worked with her during all this time; she never changed plans abruptly, but since she went to Lee Bum Mi's concert and met Bo Ra and Chae Yeong, Soo Yeon was eager and more impulsive. They agreed to gather evidence first before doing the hack on the SPO.

Su Jung accepted, thinking it was better to help Soo Yeon than let her try the operation alone.

Hacking was like a game of Hide and Seek. You either tried to avoid the radar or sought information.

The SPO system was particular; there were codes at every level. One error and the whole system would set off the alerts. One person couldn't hack the system on his own; being two was good, but it would be great if there were one more person.

Unfortunately, GBanks was only helpful in situations where money paved the way for the rest he watched.

The plan was simple: one would present themselves to the system who would verify his identification information. While the first answered by codes to the system, the other would go in by the back door and try to retrieve the file.

The hackers argued for a while about who would do what.

Su Jung preferred being the one to retrieve the file, afraid of the reaction Soo Yeon could have if she saw it, but Soo Yeon was stubborn. Also, she was right to say the most skillful one should reply to the system.

The night was going to be long Su Jung warmed up in front of his computer, cracking his fingers as if he was going to wrestle.

Soo Yeon didn't need any preparation for the operation. The anger which drove her eradicated her fear.

At 11 PM NETIZEN hour, they started.

The operation was fastidious. The SPO was like a virtual Fort Knox with dead-ends at the end of a long series of commands. One had to be patient and calm with dry fingers. If a slippery finger pressed the wrong key, it was game over.

It was almost 2 AM when Soo Yeon finally said, "got it."

Soo Yeon started the downloading; once complete, she just hung up without even thanking Su Jung for his hard work. The young man prayed the information Soo Yeon would find wouldn't add fuel to the fire that already resembled a backdraft.

Soo Yeon read and reread what she thought was absolute nonsense.

Finally, the young woman took a decision. She would directly go and see the author of the reports.

Seoul, Donjak-Gu

The next day she didn't go to school, Su Jung panicked. He called her, but Soo Yeon didn't answer. He tried to track her down with CCTV, but she had at least three decoys on the streets.

In the meantime, Soo Yeon sat quietly at the back of his car; she had spent the whole day there. At one point, he would need his car, she thought, and she was right, inspector Gwan came down to his vehicle. His wife wanted to eat a particular sponge cake from Paris Baguette.

The proud father couldn't say no to the woman who had recently given birth.

He sat down in his car seat with a smile, which disappeared as soon as he saw the black figure in his rearview mirror and heard the familiar click of a gun.

"Inspector, Gwan."

"Who are you?"

"I'm a ghost, inspector Gwan."

"You're black, Moja."

With her hood and mask, the man didn't see much of Soo Yeon's face.

"Listen, inspector Gwan; I know the world thinks I'm some saint, but I'm none of that. Right now, I need some answers, and if you give me the right ones, you'll be able to carry on living your happy-go-lucky life. So I'm going to ask questions, and you will answer if you try any funny business, this gun will go off. If you tell anybody about our little encounter, I suggest you leave the police and live protecting your family 24/7 because I will haunt you 24/7."

"What do you want to know?"

"Seo Kwan Gi, what happened during his interrogations?"

"I don't-."

"Don't play stupid please, I'm not in the mood," Soo Yeon said, making the gun click once again.

"Alright, I was supposed to interrogate him, but Choi thought I was too soft, so we changed. Inspector Choi questioned him, and I watched."

"Was Seo Kwan Gi in his normal state of mind?"

"If you saw the reports, you know I noted he didn't seem well, he looked like a lost child, he didn't defend himself much I thought it was guilt."

Soo Yeon wanted to kill inspector Gwan at that moment.

"Guilt?"

"Well, I don't know he didn't defend himself much. He just kept nodding, and then the SPO prosecutors came to take him, and inspector Choi went with Seo Kwan Gi. I did my job correctly."

Soo Yeon gathered they must have forced her father to confess.

"Correctly, you say, can you tell me who transferred 12million won on your account on the day of Seo Kwan Gi's death?"

"Listen, I did nothing wrong, I-."

"You omitted to write the truth; you omitted testimonies and other details. How dare you say you did your job when you took a bribe. A man died, and a family decimated, and you say you did your job you deserve to die; I should kill you now."

"Please, jebal, my wife just had a baby."

"Jebal, did you pity Seo Kwan Gi's family when you wrote those reports? Say your prayers."

Soo Yeon pressed the trigger, and inspector Gwan squinted his eyes.

The door slammed. Inspector Gwan opened his eyes and turned to look on the back seat where he found a teddy bear with a note:

SPEND YOUR LIFE ADORING YOUR CHILD, FOR HE'S THE ONLY REASON YOU ARE STILL ALIVE.

Inspector Gwan cried. The man regretted what he had done, but back then, he had just bought a house, he had mortgages and debts.

When a prosecutor approached inspector Gwan from the SPO to sabotage the reports, he didn't see the consequences it would have. It was only later he discovered he wasn't the only one obeying; inspector Choi was a veteran at the game.

Since the Seo's case, he didn't receive other requests until Kang Jun Ho's arrival. He and Choi were to watch him and avoid the Senator's son from discovering the network.

Even without Black Moja's warning, inspector Gwan had no intention of telling a soul about his encounter with The Hat, for what he feared more than the gun she held was the wrath of an individual senator.