The air at 9:30 PM was chilly.
Yet, the nape of Jin-woo's neck was burning.
Even as the cold night wind passed, cold sweat trickled down first.
Under the streetlight next to the public phone booth.
Yellow light spread thinly on the ground.
And at the end of that light, Mi-ra stood.
It wasn't the face of the fox-like new recruit he saw during the day.
A face with laughter removed, leaving only calculation.
The certainty of dismantling the opponent stuck to her entire face.
Mi-ra had placed her tablet on top of the public phone.
A transmission bar floated on the screen.
Precariously, almost at the end.
Not ten percent, not ninety percent—
'Almost finished' was the scariest number.
Jin-woo stopped.
If he rushes immediately, he loses.
If he makes a sound first, the opponent gains the advantage.
Initiative starts with words.
Jin-woo inhaled deeply once, then exhaled very slowly.
And deliberately spoke as usual.
"Ms. Mi-ra."
Mi-ra's fingertips paused.
The loading bar on the tablet screen seemed to pause as well.
Short silence. Just enough to swallow a breath once.
Mi-ra turned around slowly.
Her eyes confirmed Jin-woo first, and only then did her expression follow.
The smile trying to hide her fluster was very minutely late.
"Kang… Section Chief?"
Mi-ra cleared her throat.
"How did you get here…."
Jin-woo glanced at the tablet screen and laughed.
It was laughter, but not warm at all.
"Kang Section Chief?"
Jin-woo tilted his head.
"Ms. Mi-ra, did you forget my face already? It's not easy to forget someone this handsome."
Mi-ra's eyebrows went up very slightly.
That much reaction was enough.
Jin-woo didn't miss that gap and stepped one step closer.
"And I said let's do overtime at the office."
Jin-woo put his hand in his pocket and took it out.
Pulled out his phone and tapped the screen. Tok tok.
"Doing this here will give you a cold. If you catch a cold, our Team Leader will blame me again saying 'personal condition management is also work'."
Mi-ra pulled up the corners of her mouth.
This time the smile was a beat late.
"Chief… is this the time for jokes?"
"It's always time for jokes for me."
Jin-woo shrugged his shoulders.
"If I don't joke, I turn off first. Not the company, but me."
Mi-ra tapped the tablet lightly.
The transmission bar moved minutely again.
Ninety-five. Ninety-six. Ninety-seven.
Mi-ra spoke low.
"Chief, you don't seem to grasp the situation."
Mi-ra's voice was soft.
But that softness was like the cloth of a scabbard.
"I just started transmitting files to the main contractor's security team leader. Very pretty evidence… that you 'directly' opened the server backdoor and tried to steal confidential info."
Jin-woo nodded his head very slowly.
Hoped that expression looked like 'admission.'
Because the opponent reveals their true colors only when they let their guard down.
"So you came all the way here to transmit?"
Jin-woo tilted his head.
"You could have done it at the office. Why here specifically, a public phone booth? Retro sensibility?"
"Because the office where you are stuck is uncomfortable."
Mi-ra laughed.
"Outside is freer. Especially… public Wi-Fi."
As that word came out of her mouth, Jin-woo's pupils narrowed very thinly.
Mi-ra said 'public Wi-Fi' too naturally.
It wasn't easy for an office new recruit to roll that word like that.
Jin-woo pretended to smile and bobbed his head.
"Right."
Jin-woo stepped one step closer.
Mi-ra's perfume scent pierced his nose.
Sweet but suffocating scent.
"But Ms. Mi-ra, do you know that? Public Wi-Fi… captures something else the moment you capture it."
"Capture what?"
Mi-ra's words popped out fast.
Exactly that reflex speed.
Proof that she was 'pricked.'
Jin-woo spoke without even showing the screen, lifting his phone.
"Terminal."
Mi-ra's gaze shook briefly from the tablet and moved to Jin-woo's phone.
The shorter that shake, the less prepared the person is.
Jin-woo split that short gap.
"Ms. Mi-ra."
Jin-woo's voice lowered.
"I told you earlier. Do overtime at the office."
He placed his finger on the 'Execute' button of his phone screen.
"Security is vulnerable here. And I… have an occupational disease where I can't stand not touching vulnerable places."
Mi-ra laughed.
If pushing with laughter, the opponent becomes a beat late.
But this time the laughter was too thin.
"Chief, surely…"
"Yeah."
Jin-woo spoke lightly.
"Surely is right."
Click.
Jin-woo's finger pressed the screen.
At that moment, Mi-ra's tablet screen crackled. Jijik.
As noise spread, the screen shook, and red letters floated up.
'Connection Force Quit'
The transmission bar stopped at ninety-eight percent.
Like breath stopping stuck in the throat.
"Uh… what is this?"
Mi-ra tapped the tablet repeatedly.
"Why is this happening? Why…!"
Instead of answering, the tablet spewed out letter fragments like broken records.
Not the truth she was waiting for, but useless shards.
Jin-woo stepped one step closer.
Tapped Mi-ra's bag placed on the public phone lightly. Tuk.
Really lightly.
But that lightness was rather scary.
"The file I dropped earlier."
Jin-woo laughed.
"Called it 'Boomerang', right?"
Mi-ra opened her eyes wide.
Momentarily, eyes that were genuinely 'startled.'
First time eyes that weren't acting.
"The moment you open it, it doesn't take data from the connected device…"
Jin-woo touched the tablet screen with his finger. Tok.
"It binds your device first."
Mi-ra swallowed saliva.
Her throat moved big.
"To be precise… what you were trying to send just now."
Jin-woo tilted his head.
"You showed it yourself."
Mi-ra struggled to make a smile.
Only the mouth smiled.
A smile where eyes don't smile is a smile hiding fear.
"Chief."
Mi-ra spoke in a low voice.
"Don't joke. I—"
"Joke?"
Jin-woo cut off those words.
"Ms. Mi-ra, if I had time to joke, I would have clocked out already. Clocking out is my lifelong mission."
He paused for a beat and added.
"And this isn't a joke… it's a log."
Mi-ra hardened her expression.
"Stealing my account."
Jin-woo folded a finger.
"Attempting main contractor server access."
Folded another.
"And like now, 'evidence transmission' from a public phone booth."
Jin-woo folded the last finger and spoke very low.
"You, did similarly at your previous job too."
Color drained from Mi-ra's face.
Turning pale happened in an instant.
"Someone told me."
Jin-woo lowered his voice close to Mi-ra's ear.
"Said it's your habit to bury people."
Mi-ra's pupils shook.
That shake was just once.
That once was fatal.
Jin-woo didn't miss that shake.
"But this time you found the wrong address."
Jin-woo laughed quietly.
"The fox isn't you… it's my system. And I am the administrator."
Mi-ra gritted her teeth.
The jawline of a person trying to force calm became hard.
"Chief."
Mi-ra spoke low.
"Do you think it will end with this right now?"
Jin-woo lifted his head.
Cafe 'Sum-pyo's glass window was visible.
Inside, Da-woon and Da-yeon were organizing mugs, closing up.
They were laughing.
That laughter was so peaceful that it looked rather more dangerous.
Jin-woo fixed his gaze on Mi-ra again.
"End?"
Jin-woo smirked.
"No. This is the start."
And added very lightly.
"But to make the start like a start, first have to turn you off here."
It was then.
Cafe door opened and bell sound rang. Tinkle.
Da-woon poked her head out.
"Huh? Oppa?"
Da-woon blinked.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night? Uh… Ms. Mi-ra is here too?"
Jin-woo switched expressions instantly.
Not the cold face from earlier.
The face of the 'sly boss' he always used at the company.
"Oh, Da-woon."
Jin-woo waved his hand.
"Ms. Mi-ra said she got lost passing by nearby, so I guided her a bit."
Da-woon scanned Mi-ra up and down.
Eyes full of "Isn't it your conscience that got lost."
"Lost, but at a public phone booth of all places?"
Da-woon snapped.
"These days when people get lost, they turn on maps, not public phones."
Jin-woo laughed.
"Da-woon, there is retro in the world. Our company is retro too. There's still a Team Leader who uses fax."
Da-woon let out a dry laugh.
That laugh loosened the tension a little.
Just that much.
Jin-woo turned his body toward the cafe and said.
"Alright, let's all clock out now."
He deliberately spoke loudly.
"Night wind is cold. If you catch a cold… Team Leader blames me again."
Da-yeon lifted her head from inside.
Eyes looking at Jin-woo shook anxiously.
Jin-woo didn't avoid that gaze.
Instead, very small, visible only to Da-yeon, made a sign with his fingers that 'it's okay.'
Jin-woo strode into the cafe.
Made Da-woon and Da-yeon go out first.
Naturally.
Too naturally, like a scene where just "Oppa is taking care of clocking out" to anyone watching.
The moment coming out, Jin-woo never looked back at Mi-ra.
But Jin-woo's words pierced accurately even without looking back.
"Ms. Mi-ra."
Jin-woo spoke lightly.
"Wi-Fi around here… is weaker than thought. Do it at a better place next time."
Mi-ra stood frozen.
The tablet couldn't escape the black screen.
And over that black screen, one last sentence floated and fixed.
Like a notice left by someone.
No, like a warning.
'Access authority has been permanently revoked.'
Mi-ra's hand trembled.
What Jin-woo planted wasn't a file, but a leash.
Jin-woo led Da-woon and Da-yeon out of the alley.
Night air pierced the lungs.
Cold, but strangely clear.
Da-woon asked low from the side.
"Oppa."
Da-woon's voice was forcing playfulness attached.
"That person, really right she got lost?"
Jin-woo shrugged his shoulders.
"Lost indeed."
Jin-woo said.
"But what lost wasn't the way… but life."
Da-yeon asked following with a small voice.
"Chief… that person earlier, why so…"
Da-yeon couldn't finish the sentence.
Fear caught in the throat.
Jin-woo said without stopping his steps.
"Ms. Da-yeon."
Jin-woo's voice lowered again.
"In the world… there are people who like pressing buttons."
"Buttons?"
"Yeah."
Jin-woo laughed.
"'Force Quit' button on other people's lives."
Jin-woo paused for a beat, and added very small.
"But today."
His eyes headed toward the darkness at the end of the alley.
"I pressed that button."
Da-yeon swallowed a breath.
Da-woon was silent for a moment too.
Jin-woo laughed again as usual.
"Alright, let's go home."
Jin-woo said.
"Tomorrow will be more tiring. Main contractor… is a type that wakes up at dawn to bully. Very healthy villains."
Even while saying that, Jin-woo was already seeing the next.
Real hand behind Mi-ra.
Main contractor's security team leader.
Jin-woo's mouth corner went up very thinly.
"Shall we go clear the real trash now."
Coolness of the night air made Jin-woo's breath deep.
Algorithm interference ended.
From now on—
It was turn for the 'Force Quit' procedure designed by Kang Jin-woo to begin.