??? ??.

  ??? ?? ?????? ????.

  ???? ????? ???? ??????, ???? ?? ???.

  ??? ? ?????, ??? ?? ????.

  ???? ???? ???? ??? ???? ????, ??? ??? ??? ???? ?? ?????.

  ??? ??? ? ? ?? ????, ?? ???? ??? ??? ??? ???.

  ??? ?? ??? ??? ?? ? ??? ?? ?? ?? ??? ?? ????? ????.

  ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ??? ????. ??? ??? ?? '?? ?? ??? ? ??'?? ??? ???.

  ???? ?? ???? ?? ??, ??? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??? ????.

  ???? ??? ??? ???? ? ?? ????, ??? ??? ??? ?? ??? ?? ???? ?? ?? ??? ?????.

  ??? ????… ?? ?? ??? ??? ?? ???? ??? ???? ???. ?? ???? ??? ??? ?? ???.

  ??? ?? ? ????? ?????. ??? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ? ??? ?? ?? ??? ?? ?? ???.

  ?? ?? ??? ?, ?? ????? '? ???' ??? ???? ????? ??? ?? ???. ?? ???? ?? ?? ??, ???? ?? ???? ??? ???.

  "???? ??? ??? ???. ??? ??."

  ???? ??? ???? ???? ???.

  "??? ???? ????."

  ??? ?? ?? ???.

  "?1??. ??? ?? ???? ???."

  ?? ?? ??? ??? ??? ???. ?? ?? ?? ??? ??? ?? ??? ????? ??? ???? ???? ??? ?????.

  ??? ??? ?? ???? ??? ?? ????.

  "?? ???, ??."

  ??? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??? ??? ???? ???.

  "?? ?? ? ? ????."

  "?? ? ???? ??." ??? ??? ???? ??? ?? ???.

  "???? ? ???."

  ??? ????? ???? ?? ? ??? ???? ??? ????.

  "Hyung, what’s the second rule?"

  "Rule Number Two. Civilian safety is the priority."

  Tae-yoon’s gaze swept over Han So-hee, then toward the memory of Da-yeon, before returning to the group.

  "What we are looking for is not a 'correct answer', but 'people'. If a person gets broken, we lose. The moment we sacrifice a life for data, we’ve already lost the war."

  Hyun-ah swallowed hard, the weight of the statement settling in her gut.

  "And the third?"

  Tae-yoon held up three fingers.

  "Rule Number Three. Evidence must be distributed in 'indestructible forms'."

  Oh Se-na asked in a small, trembling voice.

  "Indestructible forms?"

  "Paper, analog logs, comparison charts, legal data."

  Tae-yoon looked at the tip of Se-na’s pencil.

  "Your pencil is that form, Se-na-ssi. Someone can delete a file from a system remotely, but they can’t wipe a piece of paper in your pocket."

  Se-na’s eyes widened.

  It wasn't because she felt complimented. It was because she realized the pencil in her hand was a weapon much heavier than she had ever imagined.

  Hyun-ah uncrossed her arms and sat up straight.

  "Fine. Rules are set. But what about roles? We can't just sit here staring at each other. How does this work?"

  Tae-yoon nodded and stepped toward the whiteboard.

  He wrote seven names in a vertical line. Beside each, he wrote a short phrase. He didn't use long descriptions; in a war, complexity breeds hesitation.

  Lee Hyun-ah: 'Field Eyes' + 'Document Intuition'

  Han So-hee: 'Legal Routes' + 'Human Legs'

  Oh Se-na: 'Cross-referencing' + 'Finding the Blanks'

  Ha-jun: 'Pattern Interpretation' + 'Core Analysis'

  Min-su: 'Field Procurement' + 'Cleanup'

  Hwang Seo-hui: 'Defense/Response' + 'Reading the Opponent'

  Tae-yoon: 'The Board' + 'Decisions'

  Min-su hummed a jaunty tune.

  "Oh... this feels like a proper heist movie meeting."

  Tae-yoon shot him a look, and Min-su immediately raised his hands in mock surrender.

  "Joke. Just a joke. Don't look at me like you're going to delete my existence."

  Seo-hui finally spoke, her voice like a cold wind through a graveyard.

  "Fine. But leave my revenge to me."

  Her tone was icy, but Tae-yoon heard the desperation beneath it—the need to justify her presence in this room.

  Tae-yoon replied.

  "Rescue over revenge. But I acknowledge your 'claim'."

  He paused for a beat, his voice dropping an octave.

  "I’ll catch you before you fall, Seo-hui. So you don't crumble."

  Her eyebrows twitched.

  It wasn't that she hated the words.

  It was that they were too familiar, and that made them hurt. Years ago, someone else had said they would protect her. And then that person had vanished into the smoke.

  She turned her gaze away.

  "Enough with the sentiment. What’s the first move?"

  Tae-yoon clicked the master switch.

  "First, we have to see how Sungjin sets up its 'Public Face'."

  The Mask of Fear.

  In the days following the team's formation, Sungjin Group began a series of suspiciously 'clean' announcements.

  When a scandal breaks, organizations usually split into two types: those who panic, and those who pretend to be calm.

  Sungjin was the latter.

  But their calm didn't smell like innocence. It smelled like 'performance'.

  In the early morning, the Chairman appeared on every news channel.

  His face was a mask of stern righteousness as he looked directly into the camera.

  "The recent controversies are the result of cyber-terrorism by external hacker organizations. Sungjin will respond with the full force of the law."

  In the office, people actually clapped.

  "As expected of a conglomerate," they whispered.

  But Tae-yoon looked into the Chairman’s eyes on the screen and knew immediately.

  ‘That... is fear.’

  Fear wasn't necessarily a sign of guilt.

  The problem was the way he packaged that fear into 'aggression'. A man swinging a sword at the world to pretend he isn't the one bleeding.

  If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Min-su muttered through a mouthful of coffee.

  "Is the Chairman 'S'? That temper. It fits."

  Seo-hui didn't answer.

  Instead, she tapped her finger once on the table.

  Tap.

  Tae-yoon turned to her at the sound.

  He pointed at the screen.

  "It's too easy."

  Ha-jun blinked.

  "Hyung? What is?"

  "The Chairman is being 'set up' to look like 'S'," Tae-yoon’s voice was cold.

  "The real player never shows their face that easily. 'S' is someone who stands behind another person's face. He uses the Chairman’s ego as a shield."

  Hyun-ah whispered low.

  "Using the Chairman as bait...?"

  Tae-yoon nodded.

  "Someone is using the Chairman’s rage as a weapon. And people look at him and conclude: 'He’s the villain.' It’s a perfect redirection."

  Right then, Tae-yoon’s phone vibrated with a short, sharp buzz.

  Anonymous. No number, no sender ID.

  The exact same format 'Ghost' used to use, but the encryption was different.

  Tae-yoon opened the screen. A single line stared back at him.

  [ Guess who. Is it the Chairman, or someone who believes in the Chairman? ]

  Ha-jun gasped.

  "Hyung... another one?"

  Tae-yoon didn't reply.

  Instead, he looked at Seo-hui.

  Her face had hardened.

  It wasn't fear—it was fury. A cold, burning rage that the person they had fought years ago was still alive, still playing with human lives like chess pieces.

  Tae-yoon spoke low.

  "It’s starting. The opponent has initiated the 'conversation'."

  The Firstborn’s Visitation.

  Soon after, Sungjin moved more aggressively.

  As if trying to bury the security and foundation scandals at once, they began 'inspecting' their partners.

  Daon Solution was on the list.

  One morning, Team Leader Park walked in, his face a sallow shade of yellow.

  "Hey... we're in trouble. Sungjin is coming for a 'Partner Audit'. It’s basically a full-scale inspection."

  Hyun-ah clicked her tongue.

  "Again? I'm sick of this."

  The paper in Park’s hand was shaking.

  "This time is different. It’s a special team directly under the Chairman. And... the representative of that team is coming personally."

  That "representative" was a young man.

  The First Son of the Sungjin Group.

  The face the media hailed as the 'Next Generation Leader'.

  The moment he opened the office door and stepped inside, the atmosphere shifted.

  He wasn't the CEO, but the employees' backs bowed instinctively. That was the weight of pure, unadulterated power.

  The man didn't smile.

  The reason a man who doesn't smile is scary isn't because he hides his emotions.

  It’s because he doesn't need to use them.

  He scanned the Daon office slowly, his eyes lingering on nothing.

  And then, he stopped.

  Directly in front of Tae-yoon’s desk.

  Tae-yoon immediately donned his 'Manager Kang' mask.

  His tie was crooked, he fumbled with his documents, and he dropped his pen. He cranked the 'clumsy' persona to its maximum setting.

  The Firstborn spoke low.

  "Manager Kang Tae-yoon."

  Tae-yoon acted startled, jumping slightly in his seat.

  "Yes! I... yes! That’s me! I'm Kang Tae-yoon!"

  The Firstborn stared at him for a long time.

  His gaze wasn't the gaze of a man looking at another man.

  It was the gaze of a man looking at a 'file'.

  A file that could be opened, copied, or deleted.

  The Firstborn spoke very quietly.

  "Among our partners... there seems to be someone who is incredibly lucky."

  Tae-yoon’s heart missed a beat.

  But his face remained the same—a foolish mask with a servile grin.

  "Ahaha... luck? Me? Oh, I'm very lucky. I buy the lottery every day..."

  The Firstborn’s eyes didn't even flicker with amusement.

  "Not the lottery."

  He turned his head to Team Leader Park.

  "The partner audit will continue for the time being. Document submissions, field routes, personnel lists. Every single detail."

  And then he turned and walked out.

  Only after he left did the office finally dare to breathe.

  Team Leader Park muttered to himself.

  "That man... he’s terrifying."

  Tae-yoon answered only in his mind.

  ‘What’s terrifying... is that he looks exactly like "S".’

  The Hand Behind the Face.

  When they gathered at the hideout that night, Ha-jun ran a hand through his hair.

  "Hyung, when that First Son looked at you... I felt like he was checking something."

  Hyun-ah ground her teeth.

  "Then they're targeting the Manager. To eliminate him."

  Tae-yoon didn't confirm or deny it.

  Instead, he looked at Han So-hee and Se-na.

  "We go our way," Tae-yoon said.

  "No full-scale infiltration. Sungjin is waiting for that."

  Seo-hui laughed low.

  "Then what?"

  Tae-yoon tapped the screen.

  "The leaks."

  The '0' section of the legal stats So-hee brought.

  The blank spaces in H-GLASS Se-na cross-referenced.

  The physical routes Hyun-ah felt at the foundation.

  And the 'open cracks' Seo-hui could catch with her fingertips.

  Seo-hui nodded.

  "Good. We only look at the metadata of public pages. We don't touch sensitive information."

  Ha-jun caught his breath.

  "Then the traces..."

  "Traces can remain," Tae-yoon said.

  "As long as they aren't 'our' traces."

  Min-su grinned.

  "Classic Phantom style."

  Seo-hui’s fingertips moved.

  What appeared on the monitor wasn't a file, but the 'skin' of the system.

  Hidden names, erased entries, and the metadata leaking between them.

  It was enough.

  In a place scrubbed too clean, only the odd glints remained.

  Ha-jun froze as he stared at the screen.

  "Hyung... here."

  H-GLASS.

  It appeared again.

  This time, not in the depths, but in a very shallow layer.

  As if someone had deliberately placed it there, saying, "You can see this far."

  And beside it, the final transport line.

  But the destination wasn't a hospital.

  It wasn't a private address.

  'VIP PROTOCOL.'

  It remained as an anonymized code.

  A barrier that said, "This is where your access ends."

  Tae-yoon stared intensely at the screen.

  Then, Ha-jun whispered.

  "Hyung... the VIP Protocol code... it mirrors the Choi Seo-hyun line."

  The air grew colder.

  Tae-yoon couldn't say a word.

  Choi Seo-hyun.

  The woman at the gala who said, "Touch this and you'll die."

  The woman with the expressionless face and trembling eyes.

  The woman who blocked him in front of the GLASS box.

  In Tae-yoon’s head, the name 'Yuri' echoed again.

  The time Yuri lived and the time she died flashed simultaneously.

  His breath hitched.

  Min-su nudged him.

  "Hey. Breathe."

  Tae-yoon finally exhaled.

  And spoke very slowly.

  "The Firstborn... is too perfect."

  Seo-hui narrowed her eyes.

  "What does that mean?"

  Tae-yoon pointed at the screen.

  "He looks like 'S'. He looks too much like 'S'."

  His voice was heavy.

  "And that makes him suspicious. Someone is crafting the 'Face of S'."

  Hyun-ah asked.

  "Then the real one?"

  Tae-yoon replied.

  "The real one... is behind that face."

  Seo-hui paused, then spoke quietly.

  "Fine. Then let's find them."

  ??? ??? ????.

  "?."

  ?? ???? ??.

  ?? ???? ?? ????? ???.

  ?? ?? ??? ?? ??? ???? ???.

  ??? ????? ? ?? ????.

  "?? ??? 'S'?? ??? ?? '?'? ??."

  ?? ??, ??? ????? ?? ?? ????.

  ??? ?? ??? ?????.

  ??? ??? ??. ? ?? ?? ???.

  [??? ????. ?? '??'? ??? '???'? ?????.]

  ??? ???? ???.

  "?… '???'??"

  ??? ?? ?? ??? ?? ?? ?????.

  ??? ?????, ??? ?? ?? ???? ???.

  '?? ??? ??? ?????.'

  ??? ??? ?? ???.

  ??? ??? ??? ????.

  ???? ????? ? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?? ????.

  "??." ??? ???? ???.

  "?... ?? ?? ??? ??? ??."