I Became a Scoundrel of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 296: 30. Emergency

The place that prided itself on having the highest-level security in the Korean Peninsula had been breached.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) already had powerful security measures since the institution itself dealt with national secrets, but even within it, the deeply veiled Abyss had been mercilessly penetrated.

"Good morning, sir!"

"Uh... right."

"Have a great day, sir!"

"...You too, Frodo. Have a good one."

"Yes, sir!"

A staff member from another department, whom she encountered in the hallway, greeted her energetically.

It was a look only possible because they had no idea what was happening.

The breach of the Abyss and the massive leak of confidential information to the outside world remained a top-level secret even within the NIS.

In fact, the majority didn’t even know that the Abyss existed at all.

Thus, the office atmosphere remained unchanged, as always.

Suppressing a sigh inwardly, she headed toward her destination.

A certain floor accessible only by a freight elevator and a secret code—a non-existent zone.

Whirr.

The moment she entered the code, the inside of the elevator turned completely red.

WARNING!

WARNING!

WARNING!

Holographic warnings flashed all around her.

"Tsk. Can’t they update this? It's the same every damn time...."

Grumbling, she nonetheless entered her access authorization number.

Beep.

The WARNING! hologram shifted into a flat display, listing the authorization details and time limits in a long scroll.

Authorization Number: 207703-5090KCUF.F-651235432

Authorized Area: Corridor 31, Zone Z, sections A to D; Corridor 1, Zone A, sections A to C; Corridor 3, Zone B, sections F to I

Authorized Duration: 7 hours 56 minutes 21 seconds

Authorized Actions: Data acquisition, report compilation, situation reporting

The specifics showed exactly where she was allowed to go, what permissions she had, and until when.

If she tried to enter unauthorized areas, stayed beyond the time limit, or attempted unauthorized actions, immediate sanctions would be imposed.

Access approved.

For security purposes, consciousness will be forcibly shut down until arrival at authorized zone.

Countdown begins.

"Ssshh... hoo...."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

5

4

3

As the mechanical voice counted down to zero, she inhaled again.

The air felt slightly different than before.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing blankly in a corridor that felt both familiar and foreign.

"..."

She turned her body around, scanning the surroundings.

There was no elevator, just a simple passageway.

It resembled the so-called 'backrooms' that once trended in horror media—a place that shouldn't exist, the very heart of the NIS: the "non-existent zone."

"This... still doesn't feel natural."

She must have reached the non-existent zone via the elevator and "walked" here.

Her consciousness had merely awoken now.

'Z, 31'

At the end of the hallway, an alphabet letter and number indicated the zone and corridor.

Her mission today was to compile the results from two weeks of precise inspections and submit the final report.

"Let’s see... just how many times will I have to lose consciousness this time?"

She hadn't even properly started, yet she was already sighing.

++++

"Yeah... I guess it’s come to this."

After completing all other tasks, she entered the Director’s Office «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» on Floor A to submit the final report.

The Director, who oversaw all matters relating to the Abyss and the Dema (Enhanced Beings) under the NIS, sat as always with his chair turned sideways, showing only half of his body, as he skimmed through the report she brought.

"Estimated that the hacking route used belonged to missing agent V... 3,211 reports, 227 external communication documents, and 1,021 research papers leaked. Though materials related to Koryo Group are notably overrepresented, overall the leaked volume is not negligible.

Documents from a wide range of projects were leaked, and the concepts related to Dema and enhanced humans have all been compromised."

"..."

The atmosphere was suffocating.

She literally struggled to breathe.

The Director was not only the real power behind the Abyss but also the strongest Dema ever produced by the NIS.

For an ordinary person, just facing him would have been enough to faint from the sheer oppressive presence.

"So basically, the most important and confidential information was completely exposed."

"...I’m sorry."

"What’s there for you to apologize for? V opened the gates."

Despite his words, Han Chae-young couldn't lift her head.

It was a project they had spent years pursuing, waiting for the right moment—and now everything was at risk of being exposed because of this hacking incident.

"Did you find out who's behind it?"

"Not yet, sir."

"Of course. Whoever pulled off something this big wouldn’t leave a trace that easily."

"We do have strong candidates."

Han Chae-young handed over an additional document.

"Agent V's disappearance coincides almost exactly with the disappearance of several other agents. Considering the regular reporting intervals between agents, it’s highly likely they were either eliminated or secured by the same group."

"Hmm... the largest project team was stationed at Prestige, right?"

"Yes, sir."

Among the many teams V had been relaying for, several went silent at around the same time.

And among them, the team closest to an entity capable of pulling off an operation of this scale was Koryo Prestige.

It had been a massive infiltration project: brainwashing and training agents over long periods to infiltrate Prestige as secretaries, finally embedding them as close aides to the owner family.

The number of personnel mobilized wasn’t huge, but the investment of time, money, and the effort it took to breach Prestige's defenses made it an enormous project.

And that team had vanished along with V.

Reading the documents, the Director pressed his temples and let out a heavy sigh.

"This is the worst-case scenario. If the materials ended up in Koryo’s hands, it couldn't get any worse."

"..."

"Everyone will be raising hell over this. I don't even know what kind of excuse we can give."

"...I'm sorry, sir."

"Even CSA raised a ruckus early this morning. Those arrogant bastards."

Perhaps recalling the incident, anger flashed across the Director’s face.

"They still think they’re the old America or something. Those goddamn white bastards."

Grinding his teeth, he turned his body fully to face her.

"...!"

Han Chae-young, who had been lowering her gaze, flinched instinctively.

Though she had seen it several times before, it never failed to shock her every time.

"I don’t like making comparisons, but compared to them, we're doing much better.

At least our country didn't split apart. Or was it three pieces in their case?"

"..."

The exposed half of the Director’s face was a grotesque patchwork of reinforced bone frames, a bulging eyeball the size of a ping-pong ball, and scattered patches of muscle and flesh.

Wires and mechanical devices sprawled chaotically over the surface.

And it wasn't just his face.

Under his clothes, his entire right half was like that.

Knowing this, he always showed only his normal side whenever possible.

"In two hours, there’s a video conference.

Time to stroke the useless white bastards’ egos a bit.

I'll bluff my way through for now.

Meanwhile, Director Han Chae-young, you find out exactly who's behind this."

"Yes, sir."

"Depending on who it is... we might have to advance 'Winter.'"

"...Yes, sir."

++++

Thursday, April 1st

"Now, we have the honor of introducing a distinguished guest who has graced us with his presence. Please welcome Representative Go Muyeol."

I stood up and waved as applause broke out.

The already intense clapping and cheering grew even louder.

Well, considering that everyone here had undergone the brutal brainwashing of the training center, it was only natural.

Just laying eyes on a member of the owner family like me was enough to make them cry tears of joy.

Honestly, this level of reaction was on the milder side.

"We would be honored if the young master would grace us with a few words of blessing."

Nodding half-heartedly, I stepped up onto the podium.

Before me were apprentice knights who had finally completed a hellish 20-year process and were now being formally knighted.

It was basically like a graduation ceremony.

Why was I even here all of a sudden?

There were multiple reasons, but the biggest one was Baek Seol.

All these kids were Baek Seol’s batchmates.

Originally, she should have been here today to receive her knighting alongside them,

but after becoming my exclusive knight last year, she dropped out.

Well, thanks to that, Baek Seol had her own private early graduation ceremony, but still—

this was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

It felt wrong for her to miss it completely.

I figured I should show up in her place.

"You’re free as hell anyway, so just do this for me.

Just go, say a few words, and hand out the knighthood certificates.

Your slave’s batch is this one too, right?

Perfect chance for her to catch up with her old classmates."

The second reason was Go Minji’s so-called "request."

Go Minji, who somehow assumed I had nothing better to do,

asked me to cover for her for just one week by handling the knighting ceremonies.

Compared to her, buried under the handover work for the Incheon branch,

yeah, I guess I was relatively free, so I didn’t have much to say.

But damn, it still felt unfair and ridiculous.

"I’ll make it up to you later, you little shit.

Just go.

It’s something only those of our bloodline can do anyway."

Still, I agreed gladly—because of Baek Seol.

Definitely not because of anything Go Minji promised me.

"Three knighting ceremonies scheduled for this week alone....

Roughly a hundred graduates per event,

so that’s about three hundred in one week...."

Of course, there would be weeks with no ceremonies at all,

but across the year, they said about ninety to a hundred places would produce knights.

Each training center, after producing apprentice knights,

would start another 5-year production and manufacturing cycle,

followed by 15 more years of training.

Considering how these training centers were scattered across the continent and the Korean Peninsula in uncountable numbers,

even with a 20-year-long process,

almost ten thousand new knights were churned out every year.

"Thinking about it in numbers... it’s dizzying."