Chapter 838
It must be because he trusted Yoo-hyun.
-Hmm, when do you want to meet?
“The sooner, the better. I’m in China right now, so I can make time for you tomorrow if you want.”
-You seem to be in a hurry. All right. It won’t be hard to arrange a meeting, but it might take some time. He’s the kind of person who moves only after reviewing everything carefully.
“That’s fine. Thank you for your attention.”
-Don’t mention it. Oh, and…
“Yes. Go ahead.”
Son Jeong paused for a moment and repeated what he had said to Yoo-hyun a while ago.
-It’s good to follow your dreams, but the River Alliance is still nothing but a fantasy. You need to have something solid to attract Mawin or me.
“Of course. I’ll show you the results.”
-I hope that time comes soon. You might be the one who can make that huge vision come true. I’m rooting for you.
‘If only you would join me instead of just cheering me on.’
But he had no choice.
Son Jeong was at the top of the Japanese IT industry, and the River Alliance lacked substance to pull him in.
He needed to show him some clear innovation in the fields of self-driving, virtual reality, or the new cloud environment.
But before that, he had to deal with Huawei.
“Watch me. I’ll smash them to pieces, no matter what it takes.”
If he couldn’t do it through Mawin in China?
He would mobilize all his connections in the US, Japan, Europe, and anywhere else to stop Huawei’s plan.
Crack!
Yoo-hyun clenched his fist and steeled his will.
He went back to the living room after sorting out his thoughts on the terrace and brewed some coffee.
He chose the capsules according to the preferences of Nadoha, who liked a rich flavor, and Hyun Jin Geon, who enjoyed a refreshing acidity.
Chiiing.
He took the coffee cups and headed to the room, but it was too quiet.
He couldn’t hear Nadoha’s crisp typing sound at all.
It was supposed to be the peak of their work.
Yoo-hyun opened the door with a puzzled look on his face.
“Jin Geon, how’s the progress…”
“Shh.”
Hyun Jin Geon put his index finger on his lips and made Yoo-hyun shut his mouth.
“What? What’s going on?”
Tap tap.
Hyun Jin Geon tapped on the phone that was on the table and perked up his ears.
As he approached, a scream came out of the silent speaker.
-Woo-hoo! We hacked the backdoor!
-Awesome! It’s amazing that you found the backdoor, and you got in on the first try.
-No way, I can’t believe it. How is this possible?
What?
Did they succeed already?
It was a tight schedule to connect to the Chinese network safely.
But they cracked the password too.
It seemed that the CIA had some solid information, contrary to his expectations.
Amid the commotion, George Cornell apologized profusely.
-Steve, I’m really sorry for doubting you. I had no idea you prepared so much for this. Please forgive me for my rash words.
“Huh? Why are you calling my name all of a sudden?”
Yoo-hyun pressed the mute button and asked, and Hyun Jin Geon waved his hand.
“The call just connected, so they probably don’t know you were away for a while. We’re exhausted, so you deal with them.”
“What should I say?”
“Just say hello. Then I’ll enjoy my coffee. Nadoha, sleep.”
Hyun Jin Geon got up from his seat and handed the coffee cup to Nadoha.
They must have worked hard, as sweat beads were on their foreheads.
Yoo-hyun had no choice but to unmute the call and play along.
“There’s no need to apologize. We cooperated and got a good result, and that’s enough.”
-No, we didn’t do anything. We owe you a lot.
“Thank you for saying that.”
-No, thank you. Thanks to you, we got into Huawei’s network, which was like a fortress. You have no idea how amazing this is. Ah…
Was this the same person who was throwing a tantrum a few hours ago?
George Cornell was so moved that his voice cracked.
Yoo-hyun suppressed his disbelief and summed up the situation.
“We just got in. Don’t let your guard down until it’s over.”
-Of course. Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it from now on.
“Take care of it?”
-I know you won’t like it, but please listen to us this time. Steve, this is for the safety of you and your companions.
He had to tie the knot himself to make it neat.
He needed to check the final process in case something went wrong.
But the word safety caught Yoo-hyun’s ear.
“Please explain.”
-If they find out that we touched their network, it could cause a lot of damage to you, your company, and even Korea. You don’t need to take that risk, do you?
“Hmm… Wait a minute.”
Tick.
Yoo-hyun pressed the mute button and asked Nadoha.
“Nadoha, what do you think?”
“I want to finish it for sure. I want to access their main data center and see what data they took.”
“We were only going to get the hot key.”
“That was the first step. I want to blow it up if I can. So they can’t do this again.”
Nadoha’s eyes sparkled with anger.
Yoo-hyun looked at Hyun Jin Geon next.
“What about you, Jin Geon?”
“I think we should back off here. We have nothing to gain from helping them here.”
“I guess so. What should we do?”
Didn’t Yoo-hyun want to destroy them too?
Using the hot key to make the existing network’s backdoor useless was just buying time.
He had to finish it here so that this wouldn’t happen again.
But the word safety kept bothering him.
When Yoo-hyun was hesitating, Nadoha said.
“Hyung, I’ll follow whatever you decide.”
“Okay. Yoo-hyun, you decide.”
“Got it.”
Yoo-hyun nodded at their gazes.
Yoo-hyun, who had made up his mind, spoke to the speaker.
“Mr. George, please take care of it. Make sure they never do this again.”
-Of course. We have a lot of grudges too. We will make them pay for what they did.
“Please report the progress to me in a summary.”
He didn’t need to get involved as long as he could receive reports from the CIA.
Yoo-hyun asked as if it was obvious, and George Cornell nodded.
-Sure. You not only gave us access to the backdoor, but also found the password and opened the door for us. We will live up to your trust.
Yoo-hyun’s eyes widened at his words.
Huh?
We found the password?
Not the CIA?
He turned around and saw Nadoha smiling bitterly.
It was past midnight.
After handing over everything to the CIA and finishing the cleanup, Yoo-hyun walked along the hotel’s promenade with Hyun Jin-geon Gun and Nadoha.
Following the cute lights, they reached the lake behind the hotel.
Yoo-hyun sat down and opened the can of beer he brought.
Clack.
“Ah! It feels like we’re at Han River Park.”
Nadoha, who was trying to shake off his frustration, asked Yoo-hyun.
“So that’s why you wanted to drink outside?”
“Not really. I just felt suffocated and wanted some fresh air.”
“I get it. Come on, cheers.”
Yoo-hyun clinked his can and drank the cold beer, looking at the lake.
The lotus lights floating on the lake sparkled softly.
Whoosh.
Yoo-hyun, who was feeling the cool breeze, recalled the previous incident.
“So Sunhu left the password, right?”
“That’s right. The special string he left on the link was what I taught him.”
“So you were sure it was the password?”
“I wasn’t sure. I had to gamble when the CIA said they couldn’t crack the backdoor password. It was a gamble, but…”
Was it a mistake to hear him say he wanted to believe?
He was a junior who hit him on the back of the head and ran away, but Nadoha still seemed to have regrets.
He must have had a lot of feelings for him.
Splash.
Nadoha threw a stone into the lake and lamented.
“That bastard. I cared for him so much.”
“That’s why.”
“What do you mean?”
“He left the password for you.”
Wasn’t the note saying he was sorry and thankful for that?
Maybe it was thanks to Sunhu that they could get out of Huawei easily.
No, looking back, that was the only way everything made sense.
Nadoha, who met Yoo-hyun’s gaze, got up angrily.
“Then who do you think he should thank? He should have stayed instead of running away.”
“…”
“Why did he make such a cowardly choice? Damn it!”
He shouted and threw a big stone with all his strength.
Splash!
The waves rippled for a long time before they calmed down.
Hyun Jin-geon Gun, who was watching him quietly, spoke up.
“By the way, how did Sunhu know the password?”
“Now that I think about it, yeah. It’s not an easy information to find out…”
Knowing the password meant having the administrator privileges of Huawei’s main communication.
Did Sunhu have such a close relationship with Huawei?
No, if he did, he wouldn’t have leaked the information in the first place.
Hyun Jin-geon Gun, who had the same thought, wrapped his head with both hands.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. It’s so complicated, this whole thing.”
“You’re telling me.”
Yoo-hyun nodded his head and looked back on his schedule.
The unexpected journey started with twists and turns and ended up reaching the CIA.
It was a series of unimaginable events.
Could he have done it alone?
He knew better than anyone that the answer was no.
Swish.
Yoo-hyun handed out the cans and looked at the two people who helped him.
“Anyway, you guys did a great job. I couldn’t have made it this far without you.”
“Stop it. Thanks to you, I had a great experience.”
“I’m glad. You wanted to come so badly.”
“What are you talking about? Doha dragged me here, Doha did.”
“Let’s just drink quickly. I’m thirsty for alcohol today.”
Clang.
The three people who sat on the bench drank their beer gulp by gulp.
The moonlit lake view was very scenic.
The next day, Yoo-hyun returned to Korea after hearing the news of the CIA’s successful mission.
Not long after, George Cornell sent him the first report.
They infiltrated the main communication equipment and obtained the hot key, and secured evidence that Huawei had stolen information through the backdoor of the communication equipment.
They did well enough, but they couldn’t threaten China in one go.
“China is such a big country.”
Clack.
Yoo-hyun turned the pages slowly and organized his thoughts.
He didn’t intend to just disable the existing Huawei communication equipment with the hot key he obtained.
He realized that such a passive method would not completely solve this problem through the series of processes.
He had to counter Huawei’s attack more actively.
To do this, he planned to involve Alibaba, China’s largest online shopping and cloud service company.
That was why he barely made an appointment with Ma Win, who was busy, through Son Jung Eui.
Due to Ma Win’s meticulous personality, who had to review everything, and his busy schedule, the appointment was only made two months later, but it was worth the wait.