Chapter 99

“Ugh….”

A faint groan escapes from the tightly closed mouth of the girl.

Her eyes, shut as if she is having a nightmare, flinch, causing her eyelashes to tremble naturally.

She sits firmly with her arms crossed and her body buried in the chair, but she is not asleep. Of course, it would also be ambiguous to say that she is awake in a state of self-awareness that shows no signs of digging deeply into her thoughts, so ultimately, one could say she is in anguish.

‘It’s not as rigid as engineering, nor as rude as hacking.’

Rosaline Serino, who introduces herself as a net artist, is a prodigy and a genius.

Looking objectively, whether from her peers or within the organization, or even from the perspective of unrelated outsiders, she is a genius that even those in her industry, who are full of pride and ego, would begrudgingly acknowledge if asked to evaluate her.

However, she has never boasted about it or felt the need to elevate it as if it were something special.

It wasn’t a particular virtue of humility; it was simply a fact that had established itself as something obvious and had no reason to be repetitively mentioned.

In her childish days, using the cyber engineering skills she taught herself while listening to her father’s complaints about slow wage negotiations, she cracked the network of a local mid-sized company subcontracted by Mega Cop. This led to anonymously tipping off the media about unusual cash flows and the hidden slush funds created by the company’s CEO. After her tumultuous debut on the front page of the local electronic newspaper, she eventually joined the Five Eyes, becoming part of one of the front-line special task forces.

Having fought on a consistently disadvantaged battlefield, Rosaline does not carry a legend of invincibility, but compared to her age, she has built quite a dazzling resume—legal troubles included—and if matched under equal or similar conditions, she was confident she could thoroughly defeat elite hackers affiliated with Elysium. No, she had been.

Specifically, just until a week ago.

“Che…”

She snorts violently.

With only Asyef, who is calmly resting next to her, there was no one to witness her actions, yet she crossed her legs as if to show off to her rival who had occupied the empty seat across from her before leaving.

…Soon, following the elegant and aloof posture of the black-haired girl who had been instructing her like a superior, she pouted and relaxed.

The large-scale technology seizure assault disguised as securing city safety by Paradise Corporation.

Once a request was posted on the black market, significant casualties were anticipated, prompting various organizations to heighten their alert and monitor the situation.

Moreover, it was the event where the hacker and mercenary, Anastasia Valentine, who had recently monopolized Rosaline’s attention and thoughts, was first observed in action.

Just counting the hacking damage reports filed to the police and businesses surrounding the event before and after the incident, there were approximately 8,000 cases.

This was only the sum of anonymous unauthorized access records that had been checked and reported, so considering cases where people ignored it due to a lack of direct damage or didn’t even know they had been affected, it was evident there was a large-scale offensive reaching into the tens of thousands.

“…What does the leader think of her?”

“I can’t view her entirely favorably, but it’s probably okay not to be hostile immediately. At least regarding Paradise, it’s clear she has connections higher than those we’ve brought in.”

“Is that all you have to say about such an obvious thing?”

Even when Rosaline grumbled, Asyef, showing a sulky expression, merely let out a shallow laugh.

Since it was a level of operation that naturally required backing support, all organizations were engaged in a contest to discover who was behind her.

The fact that Five Eyes deployed Rosaline and Asyef was part of an investigation disguised as a suggestion. They were pretentiously trying to draw in Anastasia, who would undoubtedly have played a significant role in the operation, while probing for her backers.

However, as a field agent, Rosaline personally investigated the explosion incident that had recently occurred at a checkpoint and realized it while exchanging hand speeds.

Wherever a famous net hacker had been, there would be clear traces left due to their unique working methods.

These were things like intrusion paths, exploited security vulnerabilities, commonly used commands and code formats, and unremoved device allocation numbers, which would inevitably remain unless the system they had infiltrated was entirely restored after being done.

So, if it was a collective act, there should have been a variety of traces left corresponding to the number of participants. Yet, there was not a single weed left in the network where Anastasia had swept through.

Order within chaos, a rule in the irregular. One could say it was a level of force and skill that transcended thoroughness, as well as the boldness and spontaneity to take action fearlessly even on bare ground devoid of preparatory work—all of this was read by Rosaline from a series of seemingly unrelated incidents.

She had the capability to hide her tracks and yet chose not to.

Embodiment of confidence that could be called violent without failing to convey it adequately.

For this reason, Rosaline categorized the incident at Harvest Planet’s lower level as Anastasia Valentine’s ‘initial observed activity.’

No one of her caliber would have emerged from nothing, so it was certain that a dazzling past existed.

Moreover, there must be some reason for her sudden emergence into the spotlight.

“…I don’t know.”

Rosaline thought that as a fellow genius, she might understand.

But as she exchanged words, she increasingly felt the divergence in perspective, values, and even character, leading to waning trust.

‘I don’t think it’s good to view the world too dichotomously.’

‘Have beliefs, but don’t get lost in ideologies.’

‘I didn’t say there aren’t one or two secrets hidden.’

Questions were thrown at her as if standing atop her head, probing into her heart.

Experiencing it firsthand made it challenging to guarantee victory with how sharp her skills were.

Moreover, after she had boldly executed several major projects on her own, her intentions also remained unclear.

Blowing up an entire checkpoint could be explained as revenge for family, but what could be said about the DDoS attack Rosaline had meticulously prepared for over a week, which was so casually dismissed as something trivial to make nonexistent?

There’s a limit to how benevolent one could be; after all, she seemed to be even considering the common citizens, and even their own heads, by continuously creating escape routes for them!

To those who called for the sacrifice of the small for the greater good, it felt as if she wanted to show them something.

In the end, Rosaline’s conclusion, after much thought, resonated similarly to Asyef’s.

A gray figure to make hasty judgments about, and a suspiciously multifaceted, and too talented to ignore freelancer hacker.

“…Hmph!”

…A topic that truly made one ponder from various angles.

When faced with her in person, however, Rosaline found it hard to hate the beautiful woman radiating irresistible charm, as she stretched her legs on the spacious table and enjoyed a moment of rest…

Bang—!!

“Yikes?!”

“!!”

The sudden loud bang shakes the chair and the entire vehicle.

Without needing to say who reacted first.

Instinctively drawing his gun, Asyef begins to sharpen his hearing while scanning for threats. Ignoring Anastasia’s previous admonitions, Rosaline hastily pulls out her laptop to access the observation cameras inside and outside the train.

Even though they were ranked as team leader and team member, if Asyef was the Power Player, then Rosaline was the operator and supporter.

It was imperative to gather the necessary information for him to make a situational judgment.

However… they had no chance to interfere—disguising as ordinary citizens and keeping their heads down—between blocking the driving route, ambushing with hovercraft, and stopping them by threats.

A rumbling sound erupts, and torn door panels are buried in the sand as the self-proclaimed rulers of the area, members of the Taito gang, pour inside in droves.

“Those whose lives are worth little should stay cramped inside the cabin! If you don’t resist, no one will get hurt!!”

At the crude threat echoing throughout the train, both of them frowned at the same time.

Unlike the relatively calm duo, screams and swearing erupted from the other cabins.

While Asyef, with his life experiences, merely fixed his empty shoulders, Rosaline, who had secured all the doors and entryways with locks and entered a defensive stance, could only express her fury.

“Damn… so simple and barbaric! Is it common sense for both this person and that person to at least try to hack a locked doorlock if it exists?!”

Normally, if there was an easy and convenient way, there wouldn’t be a need to go around, but… her ‘common sense’ wasn’t universal for everyone.