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  “For a person called Security Audit Team Leader, you seem to keep forgetting the basics of security. Disappointingly.”

  He tilted his head slightly to the side and smirked.

  “Threats are done when logs don’t remain. Or do it in a whisper.”

  Choi Kang-seok’s eyebrow twitched. Tuk.

  “The words you just said, Team Leader. ‘Bury you’, ‘Insubordination’… those gem-like comments.”

  Jin-woo tapped lightly under his desk with the tip of his shoe. Tok tok.

  “They are being recorded very cleanly, vividly like ASMR, on the high-performance recorder attached under my desk. It has noise canceling function too, so even breathing sounds will be heard.”

  Instantly, Choi Kang-seok’s gaze reflexively dropped into the darkness under the desk.

  The fear of having to check even knowing it’s a trap.

  It was that moment.

  Tak, tak, tak.

  Jin-woo’s fingers tapped the keyboard again.

  This time it wasn’t fast, nor slow.

  Accurate like a machine, as if executing the sequence he had practiced hundreds of times in his head every night for the past 3 years.

  [Screen Transition: Mode Change]

  The large presentation monitor screen filling the office wall transitioned.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Mi-ra’s logs disappeared, and a pitch-black screen appeared.

  And in the center, a single photo floated up.

  It was a woman’s face.

  Resolution a bit low and blurry, but a woman with eyes vividly alive.

  Smiling brightly, but an expression with deep sadness buried somewhere unknown.

  Below the photo, three characters of a name appeared as if being typed.

  [Choi. Yu. Ri.]

  Something heavy sat down with a thud in the deepest part of Jin-woo’s chest.

  A name like a thorn stuck from a very long time ago.

  A sealed file he pressed down firmly unable to take out because it hurt too much.

  Sound of someone swallowing a lament “Ah…” was heard inside the office. It was a face the old-timers remembered.

  “Team Leader.”

  Jin-woo called. This time emotion was mixed in. Suppressed anger.

  “The ‘Yuri Data Security Incident’ 3 years ago. Do you remember? There’s no way you forgot.”

  His tone lacked emotion, so it was rather cooler and scarier.

  “You remember the article back then. The headline was like this.

  ‘Subcontractor Employee Sole Negligence. Data Loss due to Internal Security Regulation Violation.’

  That incident where a young female employee in her 1st year took all the blame and quietly disappeared from the industry without being able to say a word of explanation.”

  Jin-woo flipped the screen.

  Provocative article screenshots of the time, company internal disciplinary notices, and the written apology Yuri wrote passed by like a panorama.

  And the last page—

  The ‘fragment of logs’ that should have been erased but Jin-woo recovered risking his life floated up.

  “That stigma Yuri took on.”

  Jin-woo’s gaze pierced Choi Kang-seok’s brow again.

  “Actually, it was fabricated to raise your promotion performance, Team Leader, and cover up the mistake you made. Yuri was just… a scapegoat.”

  Choi Kang-seok’s body trembled visibly like an aspen tree.

  The moment the name ‘Yuri’ came out of his mouth,

  the bluff and authority that had held out until the end on his face crumbled down like a sandcastle.

  “Thanks to that incident, Team Leader was recognized for ‘Crisis Management Ability’ and promoted to HQ, even wearing the armband of Security Audit Team Leader. You went from strength to strength.”

  Jin-woo continued slowly, as if chewing and spitting out the words.

  “And Yuri… got sick because of that unfairness… and left the world without being able to say anything.”

  The inside of the office became suffocatingly quiet like a vacuum state.

  Keyboard sounds, printer running sounds, air conditioner noise all stopped.

  As if everyone was sharing the same screen, the same tragic memory.

  “Why do you think… I rejected Silicon Valley offers and stayed quiet as if dead for 3 years in this narrow subcontractor company?”

  Jin-woo laughed self-deprecatingly.

  “Because I lack ability? Because I have nowhere to go? Because I couldn’t ride the ladder up?”

  He shook his head slowly.

  “No. I waited.”

  Jin-woo’s voice lowered to the 100th floor underground.

  “Until the real log floats up. Until you make a mistake again. Until people remember that forgotten name again. For 3 years… I waited sharpening my knife.”

  He flipped the screen one last time.

  [Mail Transmission Complete]

  [Attached File List]

  Yoon Mi-ra Internal Network Hacking Attempt Log.log

  3 Years Ago Choi Yu-ri Data Manipulation Original Log.log (Recovered Copy)

  [CC]

  HQ Audit Office Chief / Legal Team Leader / Server Management General / Group Chairman Secretariat

  “In the mail I sent today.”

  Jin-woo explained very kindly.

  “It doesn’t contain only Ms. Mi-ra’s incident yesterday. That’s just an appetizer.”

  His gaze brushed the monitor screen softly. As if caressing Yuri’s photo.

  “The incident 3 years ago no one took responsibility for. The ‘real log’ original of that fabricated incident that drove Yuri to death is also included. With timestamps perfectly recovered.”

  Choi Kang-seok was staring only at the monitor blankly, like a person whose soul had left.

  His lips trembled, but not even an excuse came out.

  His pupils had already lost focus and were floating in the air.

  Only then did he understand painfully.

  That he thought he was the hunter, but actually he was the prey.

  That for the long time of past 3 years, he had walked step by step with his own feet into the giant spiderweb intricately designed by Kang Jin-woo.

  “Section Chief Kang….”

  A careful, tearful voice was heard from behind.

  It was Da-yeon.

  She was holding the edge of Jin-woo’s shirt sleeve very slightly, carefully as if it would break.

  Her hand was trembling thinly.

  A pure face not knowing how to react because this situation was too overwhelming and burdensome to handle.

  Jin-woo looked down at that trembling hand.

  And—

  His gaze loosened gently.

  The cool ‘Phantom’ gaze that was hacking Choi Kang-seok until just now disappeared, and he returned to the usual loose and sly ‘neighborhood hyung’ face.

  “Ms. Da-yeon.”

  He spoke lightly as usual, as if nothing happened.

  “Did you change all the copier toner? Don’t you smell ink?”

  Da-yeon became blank for a moment and only blinked. Toner in this situation.

  “Since we cleared all the trash (Choi Kang-seok)… isn’t the office air a bit stuffy? Go open the windows wide. Let’s ventilate. It smells too rotten.”

  Casual tone as if it’s nothing.

  That indifferent attitude rather reassured Da-yeon, and the frozen office employees.

  Jin-woo strode to the window and threw it open.

  Drrrk.

  Between the damp and turbid office air, cold but fresh and clear outside wind rushed in.

  The office began to breathe again little by little.

  Jin-woo fidgeted with the worn leather wallet in his pocket.

  Deep inside the wallet, the texture of the old ID photo stained with handprints.

  ‘Yuri.’

  That name felt a little lighter for the first time in 3 years.

  “Now!”

  Jin-woo clapped his hands jjak and refreshed the atmosphere.

  “Shall we stop watching and do the piled-up work? We have to earn our salary.”

  He looked around the office once, and winked at the colleagues still with blank expressions.

  “Tell them not to look down on us just because we’re a subcontractor. That we are not such an easy place to be trampled by just anyone—now those people above should know a bit too. Don’t you think?”

  Only then did Assistant Manager Yoon Se-jin give a thumbs up saying “Wow… Chief… Daebak…”.

  Sighs of relief and small laughter burst out here and there.

  Jin-woo sat back at his seat and placed his hands on the keyboard.

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