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  On the enemy's surveillance screen, there would be no 'Error Message'. No 'Connection Blocked'. Just a blinking cursor and eternal silence. A state of limbo where the line wasn't cut, but nothing came through.

  ‘Is the code wrong? Is it a network lag? Or... is there truly no one there?’

  They would doubt their own skills. They would blame their equipment. They would dig meaningless holes in the air until they withered away from frustration.

  Fighting without fighting. Making the opponent a fool without lifting a finger.

  This was the true horror that only the legend, Phantom, could deliver.

  "Sleep well, little bait. Talk to yourself in a dream you can never wake up from."

  Tae-yoon adjusted his glasses, satisfied. The Hounds would spend long, sleepless nights waiting for a ghost that would never appear.

  Bang!

  The office door flew open. Team Leader Park rushed in, sweat beading on his forehead.

  "Manager Kang! Kang! What are you doing here?! This is no time to nap!"

  Tae-yoon jumped, pretending to bang his head on the desk.

  "Ack! Team Leader! Ah, I ate too much lettuce wraps for lunch... Is there an emergency?"

  "Emergency call from Sungjin Group Headquarters! All security partners are summoned. I should go, but the auditors are raiding us right now! If I leave, our team is dead meat. You go!"

  "What? Sungjin Headquarters? Me? Can a low-level manager like me go to such a holy place?"

  "Yes! Just go there, nod your head, say 'Yes, yes, sorry,' and come back! You're good at spacing out, right? It's not hard. Take the briefcase and run! If you're late, our contract is terminated!"

  Tae-yoon took the worn leather briefcase Park threw at him.

  Sungjin Headquarters. Entering the tiger's den on his own two feet.

  But he couldn't avoid it. In fact, it was a golden opportunity to smell the fear in the enemy's camp up close.

  "Understood! I will be back! I'll earn my salary!"

  2:00 PM. Sungjin Group Headquarters Lobby.

  The lobby was a cathedral of capitalism. The ceiling was impossibly high, the floor was cold marble that shone like a mirror, and the air hummed with the busy steps of Korea's elite.

  Tae-yoon intentionally buttoned his suit jacket wrong and loosened his tie slightly. He walked with the hesitant, shrinking posture of a subcontractor employee, passing through the revolving doors.

  ‘Security checkpoints have doubled. All lobby guards have been replaced.’

  While looking around with his mouth hanging open like a country bumpkin, his sharp eyes scanned the security systems and patrol routes. Since the 'Great Raid' on Sunday, Sungjin Group was on high alert. The air was razor-sharp.

  He was heading to the reception desk to get his visitor pass. The post-lunch crowd was thick.

  Suddenly, he collided hard with someone walking from the opposite direction.

  "Oof!"

  Tae-yoon exaggerated his stumble, flailing his arms. Usually, the other person would stumble too, or at least say "Oh my!"

  But the person he hit didn't budge. It felt like walking into a stone pillar rooted in the earth.

  The sensation of the impact was strange.

  It wasn't soft flesh. It was hard, disciplined muscle hidden beneath fabric.

  "Watch where you're going."

  A voice cold enough to freeze nitrogen dropped from above. A tone devoid of a single gram of emotion.

  Tae-yoon looked up.

  A woman in a sharp, tailored suit was looking down at him. Razor-sharp bob cut, pale skin, and above all... eyes that seemed to dissect a person’s soul.

  The moment their eyes met, a jolt of electricity shot through Tae-yoon’s brain.

  ‘...Huh?’

  A shard of memory surfaced from the deep waters of his mind.

  Months ago. When he was wandering the southern coast of Korea, trying to erase his existence. A rough, rocky shore where waves crashed violently. A narrow crevice in the rocks.

  He had brushed shoulders with someone then, just like today.

  Even then, amidst the roaring wind and salt spray, those eyes were the same. Dry. Cold. Devoid of any lingering attachment to life. And a center of gravity that didn't waver even in the fiercest gale.

  ‘It’s her.’

  The woman from the southern coast. Why is she here?

  A wave of unpleasant déjà vu washed over him, but Tae-yoon quickly masked his face.

  The woman—Choi Seo-hyun—also frowned microscopically. She scanned Tae-yoon’s face slowly, her eyes narrowing as if trying to grasp a fleeting familiarity.

  "...You."

  Her gaze drilled into Tae-yoon’s pupils.

  Tae-yoon instinctively sensed danger. This woman wasn't a normal employee. Her attire, her posture, her aura—she was high-ranking, executive level or higher. Or perhaps, something far more dangerous.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  He hurriedly bowed his head, putting on his most pathetic smile.

  "Aigo! I am so sorry! I was distracted... Are you hurt? My eyesight is terrible... Hehe."

  He hunched his shoulders, acting clumsy. But Seo-hyun’s suspicion didn't evaporate.

  She had seen it.

  The moment of impact. This man’s body had reacted reflexively to maintain balance. From an angle where a normal person would have fallen, his lower body had gripped the floor instantly. Like a martial artist. Or a soldier.

  ‘This man... what is he? He doesn't move like a clumsy salaryman.’

  To Seo-hyun, Tae-yoon felt strangely familiar yet deeply unpleasant. A blurred image stuck in her memory. The southern coast? She couldn't be sure. But her animal instincts were screaming.

  This man is different from his outer shell.

  "Forget it. Be careful next time. Unless you came here to play."

  Seo-hyun shot back coldly and turned toward the elevator.

  Click, click, click.

  Her high heels struck the marble floor with a rhythmic, flawless cadence.

  Tae-yoon swallowed dryly as he watched her back.

  A woman walking that confidently in Sungjin Headquarters. Definitely not ordinary. It was a rotten coincidence. It felt like a piece of the past he wanted to bury had walked right up to him and slapped him.

  ‘Please, let it just be a passing bad luck.’

  His mind was tangling. Just then, as the elevator doors were closing, Seo-hyun turned and looked straight at Tae-yoon through the narrowing gap.

  Her lips moved, cold and precise.

  "I hope it's a coincidence."

  "......"

  "So we don't meet again."

  Ding.

  The doors closed. Tae-yoon was left standing alone in the middle of the lobby. A single drop of cold sweat trickled down his back.

  Coincidence? Or a cruel joke of fate?

  The piece of the past he wanted to avoid most had just walked into his life with physical impact. Tae-yoon clenched his fist inside his pocket.

  ‘Damn it. Bad start.’

  He adjusted his suit, putting the mask of the clumsy Manager Kang back on. As he walked toward the reception desk, his back looked like a timid salaryman's. But behind his glasses, his eyes were burning with a sharpness he could no longer hide.

  18th Floor. Strategic Security Conference Room.

  Tae-yoon opened the door and intentionally dragged his feet. Screech.

  The room was filled with Sungjin’s core security team and experts from other subcontractors. Everyone was radiating cold professionalism, armed with expensive laptops.

  Tae-yoon hugged his worn leather bag and shuffled to a corner seat.

  "Ah, hello... I am Manager Kang Tae-yoon from Daon Solution. Sorry I'm late, hehe."

  He bowed obsequiously, but the response was cold silence.

  A middle-aged man with a mustache—the Security Team Leader of Sungjin—pushed up his glasses and sneered.

  "Daon? Ah, that corner store subcontractor. Sit quietly in the back. Today's meeting is about countermeasures against the 'Ghost' who breached our network last weekend."

  Tae-yoon scoffed internally.

  They have no idea the 'Ghost' is sitting right in front of them, looking for mix coffee.

  He sat on the edge of a chair in the corner, sipping a cup of instant coffee he had made himself.

  The meeting began. The massive screen displayed the attack logs from Sunday—the very chaos Tae-yoon and his team had unleashed. The Sungjin employees gulped nervously seeing their own humiliation on display.

  "As you can see, they pierced our defense loopholes precisely. This isn't just hacking; it's the work of someone who understands our internal architecture perfectly."

  The Team Leader’s voice trembled with rage, but their analysis was disappointing. The logs on the screen showed only superficial data. There was no deep insight into the attacker's intent or methods. The other experts nodded along, offering generic solutions about reinforcing firewalls or system recovery.

  ‘Is that all they could read? No, they don’t have the ability to read deeper. Sungjin’s security team is at this level...’

  Tae-yoon pretended to stare blankly out the window, but he was meticulously analyzing the level of their data, the airflow in the room, and the tension of each individual. Everyone was consumed by anxiety. Only Tae-yoon, sipping his mix coffee, was observing the situation with leisure.

  Toward the end of the tedious meeting, the Team Leader glared at Tae-yoon again. Distrust and irritation filled his eyes.

  "Manager Kang. I heard your company blocked a ransomware attack yesterday. What's your secret? Are you in league with the hackers? Our headquarters was looted on Sunday, but your tiny company is clean. Isn't that suspicious?"

  Tae-yoon felt a prick, but he immediately waved his hands in a flustered panic.

  "Eyy, Team Leader! What a scary thing to say! We just... got lucky. Our Assistant Lee is very meticulous. I was just making coffee next to her, hehehe. Honestly, we spent all night blaming the program, and then in the morning, it was magically fixed! Maybe the hacker made a mistake? Or had a change of heart?"

  Seeing Tae-yoon crawl so low, the Team Leader clicked his tongue and looked away in disgust. The other experts looked at him with pity.

  It was humiliating, but it was a perfect success. Tae-yoon had completely gauged the alert level and technical limitations of Sungjin Headquarters. And he saw how deep their arrogance and incompetence ran.

  3:30 PM. Daon Solution Office.

  Tae-yoon returned to the office with a sagging gait. Team Leader Park spun his chair around to welcome him, a satisfied grin on his face.

  "Oh! Our Manager Kang! Good work! How was the air at Sungjin Headquarters? Suffocating, right?"

  "Don't even ask, Team Leader. I almost got a herniated disc from bowing so much. Please don't send me next time. My heart shrank to the size of a pea."

  Park laughed heartily, slapping Tae-yoon’s shoulder.

  "Rascal. But thanks to you being the punching bag, our company is quiet. Sungjin guys just need someone small to vent on because they lost face. Alright! Since Manager Kang did a big job today, everyone go home early! Especially you, Kang. Go home and sleep!"

  "Oh! Really? Team Leader, you are the best! Long live the King!"

  Tae-yoon grabbed his bag immediately. Assistant Lee Hyun-ah looked at him with disdain as she wrote her report, but Tae-yoon ignored it and waved.

  "Assistant Lee, Assistant Han! I'm leaving first! See you tomorrow! If you block ransomware without me again, I'll be jealous and might not come to work!"

  Leaving the office, Tae-yoon’s steps didn't head home. They headed to the hideout.

  It was time to take off the mask and return to being the Phantom.

  A cynical smile crept onto his face.

  10:00 PM. Underground Hideout.

  In the space illuminated by the blue glow of multiple monitors, Tae-yoon, Min-su, and Ha-jun gathered. Ha-jun’s eyes were bloodshot from reviewing yesterday's battle logs a thousand times. Min-su was poking at a cold cup of noodles in the corner.

  "Hyung, you're here? How was the atmosphere at Sungjin?"

  Tae-yoon threw his coat onto a chair and sat down. His expression had already erased any trace of 'Manager Kang'. He was pure Phantom.

  "It's a mess. They don't know who the culprit is, so they're just venting anger. Well, thanks to the 'Digital Vacuum' I planted, they'll be kicking at empty air forever. Their self-destruction is only a matter of time."

  Min-su nodded, sipping the noodle soup.

  "Da-yeon’s perimeter is clear. I watched all night from the Goshiwon. No suspicious movement yet."

  "Good. Don't let your guard down. They didn't retreat; they're waiting for an opening. Anyway, Ha-jun. Pull up that record I mentioned yesterday."

  Ha-jun typed, and the logs from the final moments of the Great Raid appeared on the screen. Amongst the red and blue lines of attack and defense, the specific segment Tae-yoon pointed out was clearly visible.

  "Look here. Right before we reversed the flow to Sungjin’s central server. That one second when they tried to stab our weak point. This record is weird. It's completely different from the coding habits of any of us three."

  Min-su frowned, leaning in. He lit a cigarette and stared at it.

  "This? I thought you blocked it? Ha-jun, was it you helping secretly?"

  Ha-jun shook his head violently.

  "No, Hyung! I was busy controlling the central server, and Tae-yoon hyung was blocking the external net. And this code... it's like a martial arts master deflecting a blade with a subtle wrist movement. Not killing or trapping the enemy, but just nudging them aside. Like a warning saying, 'Not yet.'"

  Tae-yoon nodded.

  "Exactly. It's completely different from our style. We usually smash or trap the enemy. This touch is clean, minimalist... like a master who doesn't use unnecessary force."

  A heavy silence settled in the hideout. To think they were the hunters, only to realize another set of eyes had been watching their hunt... it was terrifying. The fact that an unidentified expert was observing them was beyond creepy.

  "Someone with this skill level... we should know their name. Why help us? Does he have a grudge against Sungjin? Or is he digging into us?" Min-su voiced his suspicion.

  Tae-yoon stared blankly at his reflection in the monitor, then spoke heavily. His eyes held a deep abyss.

  "He didn't help. He watched. He intervened slightly to test who we are and what skills we have. He hid his identity while reading all our cards. Like a ghost observing us in the dark."

  "Whoever it is, they're no amateur. Hyung, should we backtrace this? I need to know who it is to sleep at night," Ha-jun suggested.

  Tae-yoon shook his head firmly.

  "No. People like this can't be caught by chasing. If we force a trace, we might walk into their trap. The fact that they showed off their anti-trace tech means they are confident. There is etiquette even in backtracing."

  Tae-yoon spun his chair to face the two. His eyes had turned into those of a hunter.

  "Don't chase. Invite."

  Min-su raised an eyebrow. "Invite? How? Will he just come out?"

  Tae-yoon placed his hands on the keyboard. His fingertips moved without hesitation.

  "If he is watching us, we need to open a channel for conversation. I'll send a signal so precise he has to react. We can decide if he's friend or foe then. But I won't give him time to think."

  Tae-yoon’s fingers danced. In the dark basement, only the blue light illuminated their faces. He opened an 'anonymous communication room' with a 'covert frequency' that standard security tools could never find. Through an encrypted tunnel, leaving no trace on the outside.

  And there, he left a single line of message.

  Short. Concise. Provocative.

  [ The weekend was fun thanks to you. Shall we have a cup of tea? ]

  Tae-yoon hit Enter and leaned back deep into his chair. His gaze remained fixed on the screen, unwavering.

  "Now we wait. If that ghost is real, he will reply."

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