Chapter 13

13. Traces of the Past

That night, the two of them talked until late.

Jiseul explained Phoenix, the Ghost Bird team, and the dark faction operating within the National Intelligence Service in detail.

“…The leader of Ghost Bird is someone called ‘Albatross’. The deputy leader is ‘Falcon’, and the squad leader is ‘Sparrow’. We only knew each other by code names. We didn’t know each other’s faces or real names. Originally, the other team members didn’t even know one another’s code names. But while Crow and I were digging into the case, we stole various records and ended up learning the other members’ code names. The team has about thirty members.”

“When did you first begin suspecting something was wrong?”

Jiseul’s expression darkened.

“About two years ago. Albatross, the Team Leader, started acting strangely. At some point, he began assigning us suspicious missions. Things like monitoring prominent public figures inside Korea or stealing private information from specific individuals. Whenever we asked why, he’d say they were anti-government figures or anti-state forces and use all kinds of alarming descriptions. But on the surface, they looked like ordinary people. There wasn’t any evidence that justified that kind of suspicion.”

“So that’s when you started becoming suspicious of the Ghost Bird team?”

“Yes. And Crow had the same suspicions. We secretly started investigating. But we didn’t make much progress. Everything was hidden behind layers of secrecy. Then, through a classified document we happened to obtain, we found concrete proof that Phoenix was being abused.”

Woohyun carefully listened to everything she said and recorded the details.

If they wanted to win this fight, they needed to prepare thoroughly.

“Then when did Crow disappear?”

“About six months ago. The Team Leader started suspecting him, and it became impossible for him to continue operating as a Ghost Agent. He was completely branded a traitor. Certain hidden forces are hunting him. If his whereabouts are exposed, he’ll lose his life.”

“Then how do you contact Crow?”

“There isn’t any way to contact him. Today was the first time he’d contacted me since disappearing six months ago. But he’ll probably reach out again. He said he’d look for a solution.”

Woohyun and Jiseul talked deep into the night.

Even then, there was still far more left unsaid.

“For now, let’s stop here. What does your schedule look like tomorrow? If you have time, I’d like us to go through my brother’s computer files together.”

“It’s Sunday, so I’m free. I can work on it all day if necessary.”

“That’s good to hear. Then let’s meet tomorrow. I’ll pick you up in the morning.”

“Okay.”

After a brief farewell, Woohyun left the officetel.

Left alone, Jiseul felt strangely emotional.

Now that Shin Woohyun knew the truth, she no longer had to keep hiding everything.

After finally telling someone everything, she felt lighter somehow.

Just as Woohyun had said, now wasn’t the time to drown in despair.

Making sure Prosecutor Shin Junghyeon’s death wasn’t in vain.

Eradicating the unidentified criminal organization.

Those were things she herself had to accomplish.

* * *

Sunday morning, Woohyun arrived early to pick up Jiseul.

The two stopped by a café to buy coffee and sandwiches before heading to Junghyeon’s apartment.

The plan was to copy all the data from the desktop and laptop, then search every corner of the apartment for potential clues.

Woohyun transferred all of the files from Junghyeon’s computer onto an SD card.

However, most of the folders were password-protected, making it impossible to immediately view their contents.

After checking the situation, Jiseul pulled out her treasured laptop from her bag.

It was her secret weapon, loaded with password recovery programs and every hacking tool she could possibly need.

More than half of those programs had been developed by Jiseul herself.

“Don’t worry. With this, I can crack almost any password.”

When Jiseul spoke confidently, Woohyun examined her laptop with interest and jokingly commented,

“Sounds like quite an impressive piece of equipment.”

“It is. It’s my treasure. There are so many things I can do with this.”

Jiseul smiled brightly before connecting the SD card to her laptop.

Soon, the password-cracking program began running at high speed.

However, many folders were protected by multiple layers of encryption, making them difficult to crack immediately.

It looked like the process would take several times longer than usual.

“It’ll take some time, but I’ll definitely find the passwords. I’ll start with the folders that seem the most important.”

“Good. Then while the program is running, tell me more about Phoenix. How exactly does it work?”

Jiseul paused to think.

The program was so massive and complex that it wasn’t easy to explain.

“Simply put, Phoenix is a multilayer infiltration program. It first bypasses firewalls using zero-day vulnerabilities, then escalates privileges at the kernel level. Once that happens, it can take complete control of the system.”

A zero-day vulnerability referred to a security flaw that had not yet been discovered by anyone, meaning no security patch existed for it.

During her years working at the NIS, Jiseul had discovered roughly a hundred zero-day vulnerabilities.

Phoenix was created by integrating, strengthening, and upgrading the most powerful among them.

Woohyun nodded in understanding.

“I see. Then is there any way to stop Phoenix?”

“Of course there is. I made it, after all. I’ve already developed a defense program. It works by detecting Phoenix’s unique intrusion patterns and blocking them.”

Jiseul answered quietly.

Creating the defense program had been complicated, but not particularly difficult.

The truly difficult problem was something else.

And that was exactly what Woohyun asked about.

“Then couldn’t you neutralize Phoenix by distributing the defense program widely? You could even include it in a popular antivirus program.”

“Yes, that’s possible. But there’s a problem. If they’ve modified and upgraded Phoenix, their newly written code could potentially bypass my defense program. And there’s another problem too.”

“What is it?”

“If I publicly distribute the defense program, the world will learn that I’m the original developer of Phoenix. If that happens, I…”

“You could end up facing legal responsibility.”

“Yes. Violations of the National Security Act, violations of information and communications laws… A number of charges could apply. And it’s true that I illegally hacked NIS servers in the past.”

Woohyun fell into thought.

He considered practical ways she might avoid legal consequences.

“Then the order of operations is important. We need to catch the people abusing Phoenix first. Once their crimes are clearly exposed, your actions could be recognized as self-defense or whistleblowing in the public interest.”

“But we don’t even know exactly who they are. Among the people currently abusing Phoenix, there’s only one person I know for certain. Albatross, the leader of Ghost Bird. But I don’t really know him either. I know his face, but not his real name. What’s even more frightening is not knowing who might be above him.”

“Let’s secure evidence first. We’ll analyze the files my brother left behind and conduct further investigations if necessary. Then we’ll need to find someone we can trust. Someone who can investigate officially. A prosecutor or detective, for example.”

“What about him? CDH. Detective Choi Dohyup. He was mentioned constantly in Prosecutor Shin’s notebooks, and judging from how often they met, they seemed very close. And if he’s with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Violent Crimes Unit, wouldn’t he have a very broad range of investigative authority?”

Jiseul spoke cautiously.

Under the current circumstances, Detective Choi Dohyup seemed like the most suitable candidate.

Of course, helping them would require tremendous resolve on his part.

Woohyun appeared to have been thinking the same thing.

He nodded with a serious expression.

“We’re on the same page. He was the first person who came to mind for me too. Let’s meet him first and make our judgment after that. Whether he’s someone who can help us or someone we should keep our distance from.”

“I think we need to approach him carefully.”

“Agreed. We’ll be careful.”

Having reached that conclusion, they divided the immediate tasks between them.

Jiseul focused on cracking the passwords protecting the locked folders.

Meanwhile, Woohyun searched throughout the apartment for anything that might serve as a clue.

Both of them were convinced that something had to be hidden somewhere.