The meeting with PG the next day led to a fight of nerves. The leader of the PG was a woman in her early 30s, with her dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail.
On her head were roundish, triangular ears with light brown, fluffy fur. Just looking at her ears was cute, but her expression wasn't like that at all.
"Long time no see, Jean Olta."
"Long time no see, Alex Chang."
'Alex's sounds like a man's name, but it's a woman.' Seol raised her head straight up.
Alex's gaze fell on hers. She snorted. "It looks like that macho-like hardheaded man got a hole in his head, right? You got yourself a female crew member."
"We'll take anyone good enough."
Alex narrowed her eyes at Jean's comment, then bit her lips hard. It was obvious she was holding back something she wanted to say.
Alex let out a long sigh and spoke. "So, we'll take care of the security."
"Put Minho on the security team. I'll keep an eye on the rest."
"If it's Minho, that's alright." Alex nodded. Minho, the Wise Sage, she knew the man. Everyone on Alpha Team had a nickname, and this nickname was the one she liked the least.
Alex was dressed in a black suit, the gold badge on her suit jacket was the only indication that she was a member of P.G.
No, actually, Seol wondered what a bunch of people in black suits, sunglasses, and ear mics were doing here if they weren't P.G.'s members.
"I heard there was a terrorist threat against R.R."
"Yeah. Do you know the place where the peace treaty is going to be held?"
"It's the Pleiades Cathedral."
"That's right. It was built about 80 years ago, so it lacks advanced security."
"Of course, and it's a cathedral." Jean nodded.
The Pleiades Cathedral was famous for its beautiful stained glass and ceiling paintings. Besides, the sculptures there were relics of sculptors who were called geniuses in the past.
"It would be a real shame if that place collapsed."
"It would be a great loss to Karim's culture, and-" Alex lowered her voice. "I heard something about R.R. being in league with A.A."
"You mean with the Anti Animal?" It was an anti-Southern Sioux terrorist organization in Rotteligo. Jean was stunned.
"They're the two most hated organizations in the world, aren't they?"
"They had the same purpose of getting rid of the Peace Treaty. If we're found to have been terrorized by the A.A., the Peace treaty is out of the window."
"I know." Jean nodded.
"Minho." At the call, Minho slowly lifted his hazel eyes to look at him, then took a step forward.
"I leave the contact with the PG team up to you."
"Understood." Minho nodded. The other team members lightly patted him on the back in a gesture Minho didn't know if it was comforting him or not.
Alex raised an eyebrow at the gesture. But that wasn't her only concern.
"Don't forget that we'll be guarding with the Rotteligos as well."
"You mean with the humans?" Minho asked, and Alex nodded and snorted. "You thought we were the only ones allowed to have bodyguards in the peace treaty?"
Minho briefly frowned but soon returned to a calm expression. "I see."
Alex nodded, pleased with his lack of reaction. It was then that Seol took a step forward.
"Excuse me, can I please access your system?" Alex looked Seol up and down, then nodded.
"Okay, I'll give you the code."
After that, things went more smoothly than Seol thought they would, although they did run into a few bumps in the road with placement and other issues.
Seol, who expected that there would be a long dispute, was relieved. 'Still, I'm glad it ended smoothly.'
The P.G. team escorted the president closely as usual. Instead, Minho joined them. The Alpha team coordinated with the P.G. team from the outside.
Just then, there was a small commotion at the entrance of the office. Seol's ears perked up, The door opened, and the president walked in.
"They say you're all going to guard me, so I came to see you all in person." The president, in her late fifties, was a woman with a benevolent face. She had a sparse white color in her brown ears, as did her brown hair.
"Ms. President, for you to come down here in person-!"
"Don't worry, Alex. I've brought my own bodyguards. Since these people are willing to risk their lives for me, it's only right that I say hello."
"It's an honor to serve you, Your Excellency." Jean bowed stiffly. The President smiled brightly, then turned serious.
"This agreement must succeed no matter what, for the sake of the blood that has been spilled on both sides."
"Of course."
“Please take care of me. I heard that this is a team that makes the impossible possible.”
“That’s too much praise.”
The president laughed and said, "The Vice President is not one to talk empty words." She answered and turned her attention to Seol.
"Is this young lady also part of the Alpha Team?”
"Yes."
"I'm Seol Reit, Ms. President," Seol nervously replied.
The president smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "I hope there will be many more women like you in the future."
Alex glanced at her watch. "I think you've had enough greetings."
"Alex is always a nag, so thank you, and goodbye."
"Salute." At Jean's words, the entire Alpha Team saluted, and the President returned the salute before departing with her bodyguards.
"Somehow, that cheered me up." Kosaka laughed at Seol's comment. His folded ears stood upright in amusement.
'I don’t know about the higher-ups, but anyway, thanks to that, I am fully motivated now.' (T/N: This is Seol)
-----
When Alex wrote down the system code, handed it to Seol, and left her office for the final time, Seol quickly put on VR and tried to connect to the network.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team split into groups.
Team A: Seol, Leon, and Jean.
Team B: Kosaka, Slay, and Kite.
They decided to split into two teams to coordinate, but still carry out separate operations.
Team B decided to go to the cathedral, while Team A decided to find the link between R.R. and A.A.
As Team B left, Leon and Jean spoke to Seol.
"We'll go out there too."
"I, I'll go with you-"
"No, we'll use your network to gather data." Jean firmly said, then added with a frown.
"And if you can, find where the leaks are coming from."
"Understood." Seol nodded. Truth be told, there wasn't much she could do even if she followed them.
"Once we've gathered the materials, we'll meet at my house at 9:00, right?" Jean and Seol nodded at Leon's words.
After seeing them off, Seol put on her VR again.
-Please enter the code.-
Hearing the A.I's cheerful tone, Seol entered the code Alex had given her. Allowing her temporary access to the P.G. network.
-Recognizing the user's iris. SEOL REIT. Security level two.-
"I would like some information materials about A.A. and R.R."
-Search terms: Anti-Animal, Revenge Raven. Recognized-.
A moment later, a rapid stream of data began to move up to one side of the screen.
Seol sorted through them with her fingertips. After a while, she noticed a strange folder. When she tried to open it, she was rejected with a beeping sound.
-The folder is locked.-
"It isn't possible with my security clearance?"
-No.-
Seol said, "Hmm," and tapped on the folder. A preview of some of the files in the folder appeared.
'The file name is really long.' The name was long, a hodgepodge of letters and numbers. It looked like a broken file.
Though Seol can't confirm the folder's content, since it came up when she was probing about A.A. and R.R., it was suspicious.
"Who created this folder and when?"
-This folder was created by a temporary user a year ago.-
"Who was that temporary user?"
-Personal information was destroyed.-
"What do you mean? Isn't military information supposed to be kept for three years?"
-Destroyed.-
"Hmmm-" Seol pondered, then opened her office desk and pulled out a small chip. She slid the chip into the side of the VR.
"Run the program, Ellis."
-Ellis Program Running.-
Seol lightly licked her dry lips. This was a hacking program created by her. Her intuition tickled her to open that folder and see what it was.
'I wonder if they'll shoot me if they catch me doing this,' Seol thought and ordered Ellis to copy the folder.
-Attempting to copy folder files.-
With her heart pounding, the door swung open without a knock. Seol stared at the door in surprise. It was Lieutenant General Pantin.
"Pa, Lieutenant General Pantin." Seol jumped to her feet. Her heart was racing. Pantin was forty years old, and one of his ears was missing. It had been cut off by a human in the war, that, Seol knew.
"I thought all the Alpha team had left?"
"I'm assisting in the office." A cold sweat ran down her back. Seol tried to look as nonchalant as possible.
"Is that so?" Pantin's slender eyes swept over her.
"Do you need anything, Sir?" asked Seol.
"No, thank you." Pantin shook his head and walked away. Seol stifled a sigh of relief.
'What is Lieutenant General Pantin doing in the Alpha Team office?' Seol felt uncomfortable after hearing that he might be the traitor.
-Ding.-
Just then, she heard the sound of the copy being completed. Seol's heart skipped a beat and she sighed. She opened the unlocked folder and looked at it.
-----
-Ding-Dong-
Leon chuckled as he saw the bell ring at exactly 9 o'clock.
"Were you waiting at the door just to ring the bell at exactly nine o'clock?" As he jokingly said that and opened the door, Jean spoke with cold eyes.
"It's not worth my time."
"Come in. Where's Seol?"
"Isn't she here yet?"
"Hmm, is she late? Should I call her?"
"It's nine o'clock."
"Well, let's wait for her a little bit," Leon said, he glanced outside and closed the door.
When he walked into the living room, Jean was already sitting on the couch like it was his house.
"Did you get anything?"
"You?" Leon asked, tying his hair up in a light bun.
"A.A. and R.R. are linked, yes, but I don't know how the hell they're communicating."
"I agree. I can't even hack into all their existing communications to retrieve the records."
"What if they're doing it analog?"
"At the border?"
"Or maybe they're sneaking in while wearing fake ears?"
"No, no matter how much they held hands, they won't do that......."
Jean felt like he was solving a puzzle that didn't make sense. His ears twitched as he rubbed his aching forehead. Leon's ears flicked back and forth as well.
"Ah, it's Seol." The sound of her footsteps told him who it was. Leon opened the door for her before she could ring the bell.
"Seol-"
"Leon, I think I understand now!" Seol said, clinging to Leon in a panic. Leon was taken aback by the pale expression on her face. He glanced around and pulled her inside, slamming the door behind him.
"What's going on?" Asked Jean as he approached them.
"The information leaks, it's not from our network, but the P.G. network."
Jean and Leon exchanged glances. They sat her down on the living room couch. Leon pulled all the blinds down and peered outside. He didn't see any suspicious cars.
Seol felt that her heart might explode with excitement at the huge fact she had discovered. Jean spoke low.
"Take a deep breath and tell us everything from the beginning."
Seol nodded.
Leon and Jean both made strange faces when they realized that she had attempted to hack the P.G. System but when Seol held up the folder she'd copied, they turned their attention to it.
"At first I thought the file was broken, but then I ran the file name through a decrypter and-" Seol tapped the files in the air and the letters rearranged themselves.
The file could be opened then, and when she did, a photo popped out. Jean and Leon's eyes widened.
"Isn't this-"
"Isn't this the one from a year ago, the one where Slay almost got killed?"
"It looks like it was deleted, and it's all gone from the Bluefang network, but P.G. System is backed up by default. Maybe the one who deleted it didn't know that."
"The one who deleted it isn't familiar with computers, then?" Seol nodded at Jean's comment.
"Maybe someone used a program to steal the files before it was deleted and put it on the P.G. System for backup so that someone can download it from there?"
"Can you find the history?"
"It's all deleted."
"I see."
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T/N: Hahahahaha, I've gone missing for a bit because I was busy for the midterms exam. Here's an update before I'll gone missing again for the finals😅.
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