Chapter 43 : Kim Siyeon rips out the brakes (3)

“Phew, hoo… hwooo…!”

A cafe near the TM Entertainment building.

A man tapping away at his laptop, with a chocolate latte and cake in front of him.

People glance at him as he heaves heavy breaths, sweating from his chubby body.

Taptap… taptaptap…

The tapping sound echoes unpleasantly.

It might be mistaken for the sound of tissue paper stacked up next to him, but it was the sound of typing.

Dongsoo carried out the task he discussed with Siyeon, his hands trembling.

“U, uooh…! D-did it… huff.”

Dongsoo seemed to have succeeded in something.

He almost screamed in excitement but quickly covered his mouth.

After all, he was currently performing a very dangerous operation.

It was scary just a moment ago, but now that he had succeeded in one step, it felt somewhat fun.

Dongsoo suddenly recalled the day Siyeon had visited him.

“W-what are you saying, Siyeon? T-To hack TM…”

“Exactly that. You’re good at hacking, right? You’ve looked into things for me before. And clean up your room, it smells.”

“I… I cleaned it…”

Siyeon, who came over suddenly, looked around Dongsoo’s room with a disgusted expression.

Dongsoo felt wronged for some reason.

He had cleaned up and thrown away all the tissues that were piled up on his desk.

“You told me about the Sweet Black incident before.”

“That… That time, I just shared some info floating around on the dark web… But actually hacking TM, that’s a bit…”

When Siyeon had made a contract with Jaeyoung, Dongsoo had shared some things about him.

Dongsoo had always been a fan of Sweet Black.

He had even researched a lot when Naeun from Sweet Black committed suicide.

He had shared that info with Siyeon.

“From what you’re saying, it’s definitely strange. And no matter how I think about it, I can’t imagine the CEO treating his idols like that.”

“No, no, Siyeon, I…”

“From experience, it’s a typical move. There must be someone behind TM.”

Siyeon ignored Dongsoo’s words and started pouring out his own reasoning.

Dongsoo didn’t understand why Siyeon would use the word “experience” for such things.

What Dongsoo had told Siyeon was that Sweet Black and Jaeyoung had a very good relationship.

And though it’s no longer the case, there were various testimonies from related people.

Conspiracy theories about TM and explicit content related to TM idols were buried on the dark web.

When considering all of this, it seemed hard to believe Jaeyoung was the only one abusing Sweet Black.

Dongsoo had told Siyeon that.

“I need to know exactly what happened during Sweet Black Naeun’s suicide. The related materials must be in TM, right? You should hack TM’s servers and bring them.”

“W-w-wait, what? What do you want me to bring?!”

“Evidence that the CEO is not a bad guy.”

“Uuuhhh?!”

Siyeon suddenly appeared and nonchalantly asked him to do something enormous.

Hack TM’s servers.

“It’s a typical pattern. Cutting off the tail. Especially in this world… no, this country, the power of public opinion is strong. Common people just believe whatever is said on the news without thinking. The internet is full of agitators and it’s easy to stir things up, and it’s a place where the darkness of those in power can be hidden. I think there’s someone with even more power behind that suicide incident.”

“Ugh, ughh…?”

It sounded like a story that could be dismissed as delusion.

But Dongsoo had also, to some extent, thought along similar lines.

After all, Jaeyoung’s character and skills were widely known when they planned other idols.

It was hard to imagine that he suddenly started doing things like sexual harassment or bribery only with Sweet Black.

But sometimes explicit materials involving TM idols circulate in the underground, so it seemed clear that such things were happening within TM.

So, it was only natural to think the issue wasn’t just Jaeyoung.

But conspiracy theories were best kept to oneself.

Even if he did have such suspicions, what could an individual do against a giant entertainment company?

Dongsoo was too timid.

“Search the servers and bring it. It must be there.”

“Even if something like that exists, it’s not easy to bring it. And who would even…!”

“Of course, it’s not easy. But is there no way?”

“Well, there might be a way… but realistically, it’s impossible…”

“There’s no such thing as impossible.”

Siyeon said sharply.

Dongsoo just looked dumbfounded.

He had always thought of Siyeon as a unique person, but this…

What was scary was that Siyeon was speaking seriously about this.

He really wanted to hack TM.

“You once took a video from the broadcasting station, remember?”

“That… Yuna was bothering you, and at that time, I was able to access the editing room thanks to you.”

In the past, Dongsoo had uploaded a video where Yuna had splashed water on Siyeon.

Dongsoo was always on Siyeon’s side. He had been helping Siyeon with online tasks, like catching trolls or managing fan club activities.

At first, he helped in the name of supporting Siyeon’s game production, but…

He hadn’t realized when he started following Siyeon without any expectations.

He just did what Siyeon asked. That strange charisma Siyeon had.

“But this time is different. Back then, it was an editing room for making films, so it was relatively easy to access. But if there’s such information, it would be company confidential. Accessing those servers would be tough!”

Dongsoo had no confidence this time.

To get the information Siyeon wanted, he’d have to break into TM’s high-security servers.

It wouldn’t just be a simple matter of hacking.

There would be many variables, and they would need direct access to the data center server racks.

For that, someone would have to infiltrate TM’s security and break into the computer room.

There were spies who carried out such operations in movies, and hackers who could only do something if the spy breached the security.

Dongsoo wasn’t good at physical tasks; he could only waddle around in his room.

The actual operation was even harder.

Dongsoo explained this to Siyeon, spitting as he spoke.

“That’s obvious. Who expects you to do everything alone, even infiltrating? No one’s asking that. Just stick to your computers.”

“So, it’s not just hacking. Someone needs to go in directly…”

“I’ll do the infiltration.”

“What, what, you’re doing it, Siyeon?”

“Of course. There’s no one else I trust. No one else has the skills I do. Just tell me what to do with the data center or whatever.”

“Ugh, but… No…”

Naturally, Siyeon was thinking of infiltrating the facility himself.

Dongsoo was at a loss for words at Siyeon’s calmness.

It was a common occurrence for Siyeon.

He had done similar tasks many times in his past life.

Of course, the world wasn’t filled with online servers back then,

but covert operations were always carried out with a team consisting of players, and operators who helped with things like code decryption and information delivery through radios.

“I’ll take full responsibility.”

“W-what responsibility? If we get caught, it won’t end well!”

“We won’t get caught. And isn’t this a case of juvenile delinquency? You haven’t had your birthday yet, right? If you’re under 14, it doesn’t matter.”

“T-that’s what you’re saying so casually…”

Indeed, since their birthdays hadn’t passed yet, they were both 13 years old.

Siyeon was certain they wouldn’t get caught.

But Dongsoo wasn’t so sure.

Of course, if Siyeon managed to infiltrate perfectly as planned, he was confident they wouldn’t get caught.

But no matter how skilled Siyeon was, infiltrating and hacking the data center was something a middle schooler couldn’t do!

“Ah, no… This doesn’t make sense…”

“It’s nothing, Dongsoo. You can do it.”

“No…”

Siyeon’s persistent persuasion… or rather, threats.

After a long back-and-forth, Dongsoo reluctantly had to start preparing for the hack.

“…Then, first we need to shut down all the CCTV in the security room.”

Honestly, Dongsoo didn’t think it would be possible.

What kind of middle schooler does infiltration? Siyeon had watched way too many spy movies when he was younger.

So, as a test, Dongsoo suggested the first task: shutting down the CCTV in the security room.

To avoid being caught, Dongsoo had to plug the USB he provided into the central computer in the main security room.

It was absurd for an outsider to enter the central security room.

It was even crazier to secretly plug the USB into the main computer without the security personnel noticing.

But, just as Siyeon confidently claimed, if this first step succeeded,

maybe it was possible for two middle schoolers to hack the largest entertainment company in South Korea.

‘C-could it really happen… What the heck are you, Kim Siyeon…!’

Back to the present.

Having just shut down the CCTV at TM, Dongsoo thought while sipping his chocolate latte.

He didn’t know how it happened, but Siyeon had indeed plugged the USB into the security room’s central computer.

At that moment, Dongsoo’s pre-installed program would have taken root in TM’s security system.

With that, Dongsoo managed to shut down the CCTV at TM just as Siyeon sent the signal for the operation to begin.

“Ugh, clothes… that was faster than expected. TM… Heh heh. But can you avoid my attack?! Bwahahaha…”

Less than a minute had passed when TM immediately started messing with the backdoor Dongsoo had inserted via the USB.

Such a quick response wouldn’t be possible with average skills.

This meant that TM’s security team had some skilled individuals.

Usually, large corporations outsource their security and take time to react to unexpected attacks,

but this time, the response was incredibly fast.

“Heh heh… should I have some fun?”

Now that the operation had truly begun, Dongsoo felt like the main character in a spy movie, getting immersed in the situation.

He began typing at an incredible speed.

Dongsoo had accessed TM’s security system by directly implanting a backdoor through Siyeon.

A backdoor is a code secretly inserted into a system that allows remote manipulation of it.

The backdoor Dongsoo had prepared was highly advanced, so it was difficult to solve with ordinary skills.

This alone would keep control of the CCTV for a while.

But Dongsoo was even more thorough.

He had secretly accessed the system, hiding his hacking traces and also planting a rootkit throughout the system.

If the backdoor was breached, the rootkit would completely take over the system, making it almost impossible to remove Dongsoo’s malicious code without a full format.

If there were no skilled personnel, the rootkit’s existence might go unnoticed.

“…Whoa?!”

But unexpectedly, the opponent’s skills were even better.

They had immediately dealt with Dongsoo’s backdoor.

Now, they were starting to deal with the rootkit that had spread throughout the system.

“T-this is impossible… How could they react this quickly, even going this far?”

Capturing the malicious code of a rootkit that had fully taken over a system is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Especially when the needle is actively trying to escape.

But the opponent seemed to have incredible vision, catching each of the hidden codes one by one.

“Ugh… if this goes on…”

Tatatatatatak!

Dongsoo desperately hammered on the keyboard, trying to interfere with the opponent’s actions.

But the enemy was clearing the web of codes Dongsoo had laid out at an astonishing speed.

Though he was managing to hold on, it was only a matter of time before the CCTV would be restored.

No matter how long he held out, the limit would be 10 minutes.

In a panic, Dongsoo quickly texted Siyeon.

[Siyeon, I can’t hold on for more than 10 minutes! We have to finish before then!]