As soon as he woke up in the morning, he ran into Park Eun-young, who was holding a 20 kilogram dumbbell in the living room.
Lee Young-jin looked at her dumbfoundedly.
Sitting on the sofa, she was casually holding a dumbbell with three heavy wheels on each side in her right hand and lifting it up and down repeatedly. The brachii and deltoid muscles in her biceps visibly bulged and contracted with each move she made. Her collarbones and breastbones were covered with perspiration, wetting her shirt and revealing her chest.
“Good morning?”
She looked at Lee Young-jin and smiled.
“…Good morning.”
When Lee Young-jin greeted her with a slightly dazed look on his face, she pointed her chin to the kitchen.
“Jung-hoon is preparing breakfast. Go and wash your face.”
“Okay.”
Even with the exception of Lee Young-jin, who was only a nominal member of the extraordinary species, there were at least two extraordinary species at this table, so breakfast was abundant. Butter, strawberry jam, and lightly toasted bread were piled up next to it. Soon after, Ji Jung-hoon brought a frying pan full of crispy bacon. The bacon dripping with grease was the size of a finger with a little exaggeration in thickness and they were stacked on top of each other like a giant apple pie.
Ji Jung-hoon put bacon on the plates of the hungry extraordinary species one by one. He first picked up two strips of bacon and put them on Lee Young-jin’s plate, then tilted the frying pan and piled bacon on Park Eun-young’s plate to form a mountain.
“Are you only eating that?”
Seeing Lee Young-jin spreading strawberry jam on bread, Park Eun-young was worried. Lee Young-jin just nodded his head.
After the meal, they continued work.
While Ji Jung-hoon and Park Eun-young went out to scout HSBC and its surroundings, Lee Young-jin checked dozens of routes from their safe house to the Pudong branch of HSBC, as well as the CCTVs installed on each route. The inside of the bank had a separate security system, so he had to break through the bank’s security system to check inside. It was much more difficult than the Shanghai Traffic Information Bureau.
In the meantime, the pair of alpha and omega, pretending to be very close lovers, crossed arms and chatted excitedly as if they were talking to each other, and in between, they were talking to Lee Young-jin. They chatted in Mandarin and then spat out curse words in Cantonese toward the group of pickpockets, so no idiotic pickpockets rushed to approach them, who looked nothing but a strange alpha and omega couple. Lee Young-jin enjoyed a virtual tour of Shanghai while infiltrating the bank server. The sound of tapping occasionally reached Ji Jung-hoon or Park Eun-young,
[Hmm, the police are roaming around here.]
Or something like,
[If you mix with the crowd over there, you won’t be suspicious.]
their voices mixed.
“Don’t worry. You can be caught on CCTV. I will erase you. Instead, just remember not to be exposed for too long.”
[That’s reliable.]
At Park Eun-young’s compliment, Lee Young-jin pondered for a long time whether to say thank you or say nothing, but he missed the timing to reply.
While the two of them wandered around the city pretending to be sightseeing in Shanghai, Lee Young-jin did a few more things. The bank’s security system blocked all overseas access with a very strong firewall, so a Shanghai extension was needed to infiltrate the server. Lee Young-jin guessed that this was the reason why Teacher sent him here, even preparing a fake passport and airline ticket.
He spent all day in front of the computer with a cup of strong, black coffee. It was a familiar day as he usually did this when he was doing the work that Choi Yoon-seok brought.
By afternoon, information such as shift schedules for bank guards and three dimensional floor plans of the building were all in his hands. The safe was located in the basement of the building and was protected by a separate system from the entire bank security system.
Therefore, in order to retrieve the item, at least three barriers had to be overcome.
The first barrier was to enter the basement where the safe was located, the second was to open a solid safe door made of lead and reinforced aluminum with a thickness of 60 cm, and the third was to open the vault door that opens only with the personal body information of each safe customer, that is, fingerprint or iris information.
Ji Jung-hoon and Park Eun-young returned home around 8 pm.
They calmly stopped at the food stalls and bought food. Chinese dishes such as dumplings, fried rice, noodles, and fried tofu.
The details of the operation continued with a Chinese dinner.
As soon as Lee Young-jin explained about the bank safe’s security system, Park Eun-young calmly shrugged.
“Leave the safe door to me.”
She continued, twirling the army knife in her hand like flowing water.
“I also packed some equipment. It just seems a little hard to get them inside.”
“I think you can go in according to the cleaning shift inside the bank. The cleaning company should be Shanghai Guangpu cleaning service. I’ll find out where the cleaning services depart and the route to the bank. Do you have a lot of things?”
“It’s about the size of a golf bag. But, well, I can break it down a bit.”
“I got it. You’ll have to bring the item out anyway so I think it’d be more convenient to pretend to be a cleaner.”
They finished their meal by chatting about things like that.
After taking a shower, Ji Jung-hoon grabbed Lee Young-jin, saying he needed to exercise. The sudden motion made him sprain his ankle and he was forced to scream. Park Eun-young, who discovered that, excitedly jumped on Ji Jung-hoon’s back.
The day went by like that.
The next day was the auction date.
The sky was dark with fine dust and the surface of the river was a yellowish color just like its name. From the morning, Ji Jung-hoon and Park Eun-young moved busily. The hotel where the auction is held was located overlooking the meandering Huangpu River. Lee Young-jin hacked the CCTVs inside the hotel and on the street opposite the hotel entrance, but couldn’t find anything that stood out. Only Ji Jung-hoon, who was looking at the CCTV footage, took pictures of a few people who looked like ordinary tourists.
“They’re not civilians.”
It seemed that the pro’s eyes saw something different.
Lee Young-jin just nodded.
The auction would be held on one of the top three floors. When accessing the hotel reservation system, the top three floors were clearly left vacant, but CCTVs in the corridors and elevators confirmed that employees were constantly coming in and out.
“Don’t we have to go over there?”
At Park Eun-young’s question, Lee Young-jin shook his head.
“It’ll be a hassle if you wander around and get your tail stepped on. It’s better not to go over there. The auction situation will be roughly checked here, so the two of you can wait in advance and leave at the cleaning company’s time.”
Ji Jung-hoon and Park Eun-young nodded their heads almost simultaneously.
The work proceeded monotonously and calmly.
7:30pm.
CCTV screens of elevators that operate separately on the top few floors had been replaced with recorded still images. It seemed that surveillance cameras were blocked prematurely to protect the identities of the auction participants. If he intervened from this side, he couldn’t turn the camera back to check the live video…Lee Young-jin decided not to intervene and left no trace. Anyway, what matters now was the item. Not the identities of the auction participants.
If they could steal the item before the auction ended without anyone knowing, that would be best.
The number in the corner of the monitor changed. 9pm sharp. Ji Jung-hoon and Park Eun-young, who were waiting in Minhang District in advance, started moving.
Employees of Shanghai Guangpu cleaning company walked out of a building in a dark and narrow alley. They joked and chatted with each other as they approached the van parked in front of the building. And just as they were about to board a white van with a clear green logo, two strange men and women attacked them. Movement at an unreasonable speed was projected through the monitor, shaking mercilessly. The two cleaning workers collapsed in an instant. There were no wounds, no pain, and perhaps they wouldn’t even be aware they’d been attacked. Ji Jung-hoon tied their hands and mouths and put them in the trunk of the van, while Park Eun-young got into the driver’s seat. Ji Jung-hoon, who finished his work, climbed into the passenger seat and the van started.
It’s about 25.8 kilometers from the Minhang District to the destination, and it takes about 40 minutes if they were to follow the safe speed. Meanwhile, Lee Young-jin checked the CCTV inside and outside the bank, and filled the monitor screen with 16 CCTVs showing the intrusion route that had been discussed and decided in advance. Inside the different monitors, the two men and women’s visions moved and trembled like a 3D game screen. The Humin Elevated Road, sparkling with the light of the street lights, continued endlessly beyond the monitor.
Everything was as easy as flowing water.
Ji Jung-hoon and Park Eun-young, who changed into cleaning service clothes, got off the van and entered the back door of the bank. Armed guards glanced at them for a moment, but after confirming that their electronic pass worked fine, they didn’t pay much attention. (Not even checking the photo on the electronic pass!) The inside of the bank was silent and dark.
Lee Young-jin reminded them of the route by floating a 3D map of the entire building once outside the guards’ field of view. Either way, both of them would have perfectly memorized the entry route.
“The auction must have already started. A total of nine participants. From what I’ve found, there are about three strong contenders. Hmm. It would be nice if they competed with each other and dragged the time…we can’t be sure, so we’d better hurry.”
No one really knew when the auction would end.
One hour…or maybe it would end sooner than that.
“I will keep checking the CCTV. If the path seems to be off in the middle, I’ll mark the route on the lens only then. You don’t have to answer.”
As if in response, Park Eun-young hummed a tune. She even lightly shook the mop sack in her hand. On her other hand, she was carrying a heavy polyester bag, emblazoned with the logo of Shanghai Guangfu cleaning company. Of course, the contents had nothing to do with cleaning.
At some point, their footsteps completely disappeared.
Silence.
They made a slight turn down the hallway and entered an elongated, rectangular office. A few of the remaining workers glanced at them, but turned their heads back when they saw the cleaner’s uniform.
Park Eun-young took the lead and opened the door leading to the emergency exit. Ji Jung-hoon followed.
Lee Young-jin, who was confirming that they were moving along the correct route, slowly prepared to connect to the bank’s security server. Since the latest security system automatically changed all security codes after a set period of time, it had to be newly infiltrated. However, it’s still the same system that was pierced once.
He entered the new access codes into the system.
“It’s ready. When you arrive, take out your entry pass. The door will open.”
There was no answer, but it was clear they understood.
They went downstairs at once with steady steps. A huge vault installed 25.02 meters below the ground. A massive wall floated up on the monitor. A shiny aluminum security belt came out. A guard with a pistol and baton strapped to his waist frowned when he saw them. He sternly warned them. Lee Young-jin couldn’t hear it, but it was clear even if he couldn’t hear what he was saying.
The next moment, Ji Jung-hoon’s body bounced off like a bullet.
The guard went down.
Lee Young-jin began deleting the CCTV records from the moment the two entered the safe.
“I’m deleting the CCTV records. Proceed quickly.”
Park Eun-young quickly brought the pass to the lock, and the aluminum door was unlocked. They pushed the door and went inside. Lee Young-jin activated the surveillance camera in the area again and moved on to the next area. All video records were quickly erased and still images replaced the cameras.
“The next door has to be opened from this side. Please wait.”
He tapped the keyboard with his fingers. A familiar computer vibration enveloped him like a heartbeat.
Then he felt a sense of alienation.
The familiar and natural beating of a mechanical heart that has been with him all his life. …an akward, foreign breath mingled with that precise beat.
His hand stopped moving.
Cold sweat ran down his smooth temples.
His gaze quickly moved to the lower right monitor. He found black shadows on the wall just outside the room where Ji Jung-hoon and Park Eun-young were waiting, outside the door to the first safe that the two had just passed through. They were armed with assault rifles and bulletproof vests, numbering eight at first glance.
Lee Young-jin moved his right hand on the keyboard and tried to press the hotkey that signaled an emergency. However, his opponent’s movements were faster. Something cold and hard came and touched the back of his head. The chill of the metal killing machine penetrated from the back of his head to his forehead.
“Open it.”
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