Chapter 3

3. Blacklist

After returning home, Jiseul sat down in front of her computer to work.

There was an online shopping mall project that had to be completed by the weekend. With only three days left until the deadline, she was pressed for time.

But she couldn’t focus.

It seemed to be the aftereffect of meeting Shin Woohyun.

The memory of that cold-faced man and his unsettling questions kept circling through her mind.

Judging by the circumstances, he seemed to be investigating Prosecutor Shin Junghyeon’s death.

If he’d been clinging to that case for three whole months, then they might have already noticed him.

No.

The chances were very high that they had.

If that was true, then he could end up in danger too.

Shouldn’t she check?

Only then did the thought occur to her.

She needed to look at the list.

For a long time now, a secret blacklist had existed within the company’s hidden network.

Names were added and removed once a week, and the list was updated every week.

Two years ago, Jiseul had discovered its existence by chance.

From that day on, she’d been wary of the company.

If Shin Woohyun’s name was on that list, then it meant he could be in danger as well.

After hesitating for a moment, Jiseul finally pulled out the laptop she’d hidden deep inside her closet.

It was her favorite laptop, optimized for hacking.

She had thrown away everything from her past, determined to forget it all.

But she couldn’t bring herself to discard this one.

So she’d hidden it away.

She’d never imagined the day would come when she’d use it again.

She placed the laptop on the desk and carefully steadied her breathing.

Then she calmly got to work.

She powered it on and opened the console window.

Her fingers began moving at incredible speed.

As she rapidly entered the necessary commands, Jiseul vividly recalled the place where the blacklist was stored.

A specific server belonging to the National Intelligence Service Cyber Security Bureau.

Ghost Bird Computer No. 14.

To conceal her location, she chained together three VPN servers and two SSH tunnels.

Switzerland.

Argentina.

Kenya.

Vietnam.

And finally, Seoul.

She slipped into the heart of the server.

As she continued erasing all traces of her intrusion, she searched the computer for what she needed.

A password-protected Excel file.

It was exactly where she’d expected it to be.

Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have changed the storage system yet.

After quickly copying the file, Jiseul escaped from the server at a frantic pace.

Only after confirming that every trace had been erased did she terminate the connection.

She hurriedly decrypted the Excel file.

Rows of personal information belonging to specific individuals appeared on the screen.

It was the blacklist.

There were around seven hundred names on it.

Jiseul scanned through them at high speed.

She prayed that his name wouldn’t be there.

But contrary to her desperate hope, the name she dreaded appeared almost immediately.

[Shin Woohyun. Male. Age 34. Single. CEO of WS Soft Co., Ltd…]

At this rate, Shin Woohyun could be in danger too.

If he kept digging into that case, he could end up disappearing without a trace, just like Prosecutor Shin Junghyeon.

That was what it meant to investigate the Prosecutor’s death.

It meant directly confronting the unknown dark force lurking inside the National Intelligence Service.

That man had no idea.

But the war had started long ago.

‘What do I do now?’

Jiseul fell into thought.

Watching someone die helplessly before her eyes had already happened once with Prosecutor Shin Junghyeon.

She didn’t want the consequences to reach Woohyun as well.

If there was one person who had a duty to protect him, it was her.

Because she was the one responsible for Junghyeon’s death.

Jiseul steeled herself and thought it through again.

First, she needed a way to get close to him.

A way to stay near him and protect him if anything happened.

After thinking for a long time, she opened the WS Soft homepage.

She carefully examined every announcement, trying not to miss a single clue.

The lifeless eyes she’d worn for the past three months gradually regained their spark.

Her mind was working as sharply as it had in the old days.

She had to pull herself together somehow.

If she sat around doing nothing, Shin Woohyun would be the one to suffer.

* * *

Five days later.

WS Soft Headquarters.

Woohyun had been extremely busy since early morning.

There was a recruitment test for experienced developers who would join the New Technology Team.

Because it was an important hiring process, all of WS Soft’s executives, including him, would be serving as judges.

They were looking for a full-stack developer capable of handling both frontend and backend work.

Since the position demanded expertise across multiple fields, the selection process itself was exceptionally rigorous.

On top of that, the successful candidates would be joining the elite New Technology Team, made up of only WS Soft’s very best.

Outstanding skills alone weren’t enough.

Applicants also had to pass a wide range of evaluations.

Three positions.

Seven hundred thirty-eight applicants.

The competition was fierce.

After the first written test, only three hundred seventeen remained.

More than half had been eliminated.

After the second practical exam, only fifty-four people were left.

The third stage was a code review.

Applicants had to examine the code of a specific project and submit a review.

This was where their true abilities would be measured.

However…

As Woohyun reviewed the résumés of the fifty-four remaining applicants, he suddenly paused and narrowed his eyes.

A familiar name and photograph had caught his attention.

Han Jiseul.

It was definitely her.

Woohyun couldn’t help feeling a little surprised.

The experience listed on her résumé covered only the past year.

She was a freelancer, making it difficult to clearly verify her work history, and most of her projects involved building online shopping malls.

Most of the other applicants had over three years of experience and steady careers at established companies.

Jiseul’s application wasn’t just bold.

It bordered on reckless.

What had she been thinking when she applied?

Had she simply decided to take a shot since she technically met the qualifications?

Did she think her degree from Hyemyeong University would work in her favor?

All sorts of thoughts crossed his mind.

Then again, it was surprising she’d made it this far.

She had already defeated countless competitors with stronger résumés and more experience to reach the third round.

He found himself curious about her abilities.

At the very least, she certainly had courage.

Applying for an experienced position with only one year of freelance work was proof enough of that.

Clap. Clap.

Jung Yuna, the leader of the New Technology Team, clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention.

The applicants looked toward her with tense expressions.

“All right, everyone, please take your seats. The project for today’s task will already be open on the laptops in front of you. Feel free to analyze it and write an appropriate review. You’ll have two hours.”

As quiet murmurs spread through the room, all the applicants took their seats.

Woohyun casually swept his gaze across them before stopping at one spot.

Han Jiseul was sitting down.

Unlike the day he’d met her bare-faced at the café, Jiseul was wearing light makeup today.

Judging by her semi-formal suit, she had put some effort into her appearance.

Her long hair, which had once fallen loosely around her, was neatly tied back.

Her bright eyes were filled with determination.

Her tightly closed lips and resolute gaze showed how seriously she was taking the test.

There was even something almost solemn about her.

As Woohyun reviewed the documents, his eyes occasionally drifted toward Jiseul.

The chances of her passing were probably slim.

Even so, he was genuinely curious about the review she would submit.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Yuna quickly organized the next stage of the examination.

“All right. We’ll now have each of you present your review one at a time. Everyone, please wait outside. Enter when your number is called.”

The applicants came in one after another and gave impressive presentations.

Insightful observations and clear analyses followed one after another.

Thinking that this was a fairly strong group of candidates, Woohyun listened carefully.

Jiseul’s turn came around the middle.

She walked in calmly with a composed expression.

Looking quietly at the panel of judges, she spoke in a low voice.

“The project’s overall design direction is excellent. However, the dependencies between functions are far too complicated, and the error handling hasn’t been properly organized.”

Those were her first words.

The unexpected statement caused a major stir among the judges.

Not a single applicant until now had openly challenged the project provided by the company.

‘Well, now.’

Woohyun suppressed a quiet laugh.

As he looked at Jiseul, his eyes gleamed sharply with interest.