1

"There has been a breach."

There's a video surfacing the internet of a man who walks to the window of his office meeting room—and jumps off. Every time Mr Min speaks, I swear I see myself in him. Because what fucking breach were we talking about at eight in the morning on a Monday? This week was supposed to be sunshine and roses. Very clearly, I was acing it as the assistant manager with this digital vomit.

Don't sweat. We're getting through this like a race car, Haerin. Yeah, you better.

"Not me. I'm using all my luck to repel this bitchass thing from me." Hoseok raised his hands to pretend-chant. People laughed, but honestly, that did look too much like black magic for a second.

If he managed to escape this, there was going to be some investigation done.

"Hoseok. Language." I reminded him, keying the first words of the morning into my laptop: Data Breach Issue.

Seriously. What a way to start the minutes of this meeting.

"Is this going to make us do overtime again?" Sohyun blared in the seat beside me, leaning too close for comfort. If I moved my head, we'd probably have to kiss. "Because I swear I barely have the time to even hog lunch. There's a meeting for Mr Beom's portfolio in an hour and—"

Hog? Is that a professionally acceptable word?

My lips twisted for a second before I straightened it again. Expressions were risky in such settings.

"—the Japanese data is assigned to me too. Haerin allotted that task to me on Friday."

Oh god, what have I done? Allotted her a task! I must burn in hell!

"We know, Sohyun." Mr Min folded his arms across his chest, checking the projecting screen behind him. He looked funny with half his face illuminated with my half-typed notes. Mr Min's eyes flicked to me, "Do we have an update on Seulgi yet?"

Oh, shoot. I didn't even notice that that girl was missing from the meeting.

"She's on the way. Traffic." Sohyun cut in. As if she hadn't just done something ridiculous.

I flashed a look at Mr Min and smiled.

If she was going to be late, I was the correct person to drop a message to as the assistant manager or even the manager Mr Min.

It was too late to say this now but this subtle leaning of Seulgi towards Sohyun had always been there. I was just noticing it now that it was blatant. Even so, she just pulled the rug off my feet like it was nothing.

"Alright." Mr Min cleared his throat, fixing his glasses with his middle finger. Totally inappropriate but too vague to point it out.

"The reason I've joined today's meeting instead of letting Haerin carry on like she usually does," He continued and the murmurs in the room died a slow death. "is because we've messed up big time. Is there anyone who has any idea about what I'm saying? We were posted in an email yesterday. Haerin will issue a reply to it."

Yeah. Haerin will jump off this building too.

"One of our major clients, Park's, domicile information was scattered through a link. And guess what? Our team did this."

I heard gasps. Throat-tearing gasps. But all of it was fading out to the sound of curses in my head. Because fucking fuck.

A data breach. The final boss of all breaches. We were going to be screwed like a hooker with this one.

Seokjin's lazy head finally propped up. He blinked. "Nuh-uh. Not me. I'm triple-checking things."

"Yeah because you're doing exactly three tasks." Hoseok smarted and the entire room burst out laughing. Because it was true.

Seokjin probably only needed this job to make sure he could buy drugs. That's what my bet was on. Because he was laxative-lax. That's how least interested he was in the work. And look, I'm all for having a life outside work but don't travel out of the city just to have lunch during working hours, right? I'm beaten to a pulp with Mr Min's questions when that happens but oh, guess what. Seokjinnie here has crossed the borders of Seoul while that happens.

"Yeah right." He rolled his eyes. Again. Not a flying fuck was given.

Sometimes I wished I was more like him. Maybe I would have been happier.

"Alright, Hoseok. Enough with the comedy club act." Mr Min smoothened the excitement out. Just his voice was enough. "The bottom line here is that we are, as a team, under tremendous scrutiny. The cybersecurity team is making sure we're on the right track. A video conference has been scheduled for four in the evening and I want everyone to attend it. Is that clear?"

"Four?" Sohyun froze, her voice ripping my eardrums. "I'm sorry Mr Min–and Haerin," she glanced at me like her soul left her body for a second. Very ghostly. "But I don't get time to sort things out. I already told you that I have a meeting with the Japanese client. By the time I finish that, I have Seokjin's PIs. If he gets it done quickly enough, I need to move to the new girl's training."

I scowled but didn't say anything. My fingers clattered against the keys, typing out the Data Breach Issue with a little more detail.

"Haerin," Namjoon beckoned and my gaze snapped up. "Can you add the meeting link to the email to make it more feasible for everyone?"

I had begun wondering why my heart was so empty. There was no weight of Namjoon's entitled suggestions. Now, I feel complete.

"I'll paste the meeting email here." I sighed and leaned back a little when Mr Min spoke up again.

The chair cracked when I straightened.

Awkward!

"Sohyun, we will sort it out. Do as much as is possible for you." Mr Min said.

"Haerin," he continued, "make a detailed time analysis of the breach and how it has affected us. Put up a plan to show what we're doing to resolve this. We will need to send an email to the cybersecurity head to show what we plan to do."

We? Who's we, Mr Min? It's all me.

My fingers hit the keyboard as I typed out his instructions on the notepad. It was easier to curate them later in an email when we sent the minutes of the meeting.

"How did this happen?" Namjoon sashayed into the conversation. "Did our team not know about such emails? I'm sure most of us know about data security. That's like the first thing you're trained for."

Okay, Thanos. Snap your fingers and blame half the team.

Mr Min nodded, "Negligence. But this is a learning curve for our team. We need to work on our security knowledge, which is why attending the meeting at four is important."

"That's true." Namjoon tilted his head. Probably making sure all the information slid to one side of his brain.

"That reminds me," Mr Min's head snapped to Jimin who was watching all of this unfold. "Why is Haerin supposed to preside over the client call you were going to manage?"

I looked at the golden-haired man. He brushed his tendrils back and forced a laugh. That successfully garnered everyone's attention to Jimin. He awkwardly smiled at Mr Min, devoid of a response, or too embarrassed to give one.

"You didn't start flirting on the call, did you?" Namjoon bashed and I saw Jimin's ears turn red.

What was wrong with this man? Why did he have to bring everyone under the bus like this all the time? I sighed and placed my hand on the table that Mr Min immediately noticed.

"The client is critical and has requested an escalation. Not Jimin's fault. It's been bugged out by the security system's intervention from last week." I jutted in and Namjoon rolled his eyes, clearly not believing me. But okay. Try to prove me wrong.

Jimin flashed me a relieved smile and I didn't return it because Namjoon was right about him. He did make a remark on the call that had the clients confused. An email was issued to us, requesting an escalation call. But bringing that to Mr Min now would only make things worse so I just had to handle this on my own. That is if Namjoon didn't try to be the god of my world. Besides, I had spoken with Jimin about this already. I didn't want his morale to fall after knowing how excellently hardworking people I've got here with me.

"Alright. Give me a report of that meeting." Mr Min sighed, eyes sweeping across the room. "The bottom line: please make sure we are checking the data security of our clients—"

There was a loud thrash at the door of the meeting room. Mr Min halted, along with all the heads that snapped at the fashionista walking in through the glass door in her perfectly fitting jeans and cream shirt.

"I'm sorry!" Seulgi strutted in, nearly stumbling when her tote bag was caught in the handle of the door. She awkwardly laughed and rushed inside. She pulled her chair and placed it on the empty chair next to hers as she settled down with another apology.

Yes. We're staying in character, Seulgi. We're always fashionably late.

Mr Min's fingers grazed his temple as he sighed, "Haerin, take Seulgi through what happened during the meeting. I think the rest of you can leave. Haerin, please stay back."

There we went again.

I sat there with my lower lip under my teeth as I watched the rest of them leave the room until only Mr Min and I remained. He shut the projector and pulled a chair next to me.

"That was you."

I stopped typing. My eyes looked up at him, his glasses shining too brightly at me.

"What?"

Mr Min placed his elbows on the table, drawing a little closer to create the intensity he was probably looking for.

"You clicked on the wrong link, Haerin and our files were almost compromised."

...what?

That was all it took for my world to saturate into that blindingly white room. My heart dropped like my ex-boyfriend did me.

I blinked.

This day was the best of my life. Clearly.

He noticed my jaw dropping, and his eyes softened, "Look, I'm not going to be one of those managers who beat you down for a single mistake, but I need you to understand your position in the team."

Yeah. Flat on my back. That's the only position I'm getting fucked here.

And now this. A data breach from me? How I managed to make such a horrendous error was beyond me.

"How long have you been working here at NBH, Haerin?"

NBH. That would be Neureva Biotech and HealthCare—my corporate prison. We specialise in healthcare technology for American clients; hence, the data breach is so much of an issue. These files hold information critical to the hospitals that provide these services.

I slowly shut my laptop and sighed, "Two years."

"And in two years you've aced the corporate ladder very well." Mr Min began. "But you have the potential to be more than an assistant manager, Haerin. I see your potential for a manager. And our senior management recognises it too. All I need is for you to make sure that nothing stands as a contest against your eligibility."

My chest heaved. Like I had just climbed a flight of stairs. "Mr Min, I barely remember what I did on Friday. It was all a jumble. Especially with us working overtime—"

"I know. And you don't have to worry, the files were only risked. The cybersecurity managed to retrieve them before they were gone for good." He waited to take his glasses off and a pair of tired eyes looked back at me.

Suddenly, I didn't want to be a team manager any more. I couldn't look like him at the ripe age of twenty-four.

"Do you know how to identify fraudulent links from the normal emails we get?"

Now, that was a millionaire's question. Because I didn't have a fucking penny.

Mr Min exhaled sharply, "Fraudulent links look real, that's the point. You don't click anything without hovering over it first. If the URL looks off—random numbers, sketchy domain—don't touch it."

He grabbed his glasses, clearly done, "Read the data security manual. It's in the shared folder. Top of the list. Learn it. I won't explain this again. And you won't explain this again to the team either."

"Thank you, Mr Min." I softly added, trying not to punch the air.

"I have a meeting to attend." He stood up before me and I flew to my stands too. "Make sure everyone attends the meeting at four."

"Okay!" I said and pretended to straighten my skirt as he left and shut the glass door.

Then I sank to the seat with my head in my hands. God, if Namjoon found out, I was going to jump off this building. Truly.

"Excuse me." I heard a voice and my head snapped up.

A girl stood at the door, "We've booked this room."

Of course. My eyes stung, but I grinned as I carried my things out of the room and towards the bay, where the team sat giggling and laughing. Nobody was in the mood to work. Of course.

"Where did you get these heels?" Seulgi grabbed my wrist right when I was about to make it past her.

I turned and smiled as she spun me around to take a look at my outfit with hawking eyes. "Ooh, look at that skirt. So nice."

I blushed. "Not to mention that ass in your jeans. Chef's kiss."

We giggled and I pretended that Jimin hadn't just heard this conversation as I parted ways and returned to my designated seat. Or the seat that I had designated for myself. It was a silent achievement to be able to do that.

Besides, after Sohyun and Seulgi bonded strongly above me, I realised that I had much more to occupy my brain with than unfulfilled friendships. They were nice to me but not as nice as they were to each other—if that made any sense. And I had very little in me to go around crawling for their time when they refused to give me any.

Besides, I liked my designated seat. It was right next to the tall glass wall that peered at the city. Just close enough that my laptop screen didn't reflect any light off it into my eyes. It was in the corner, shaped like a cubicle. I even had a few cute accessories decorating the space around me. It felt personal amidst all the ruckus that Neureva brought.

Needless to say, I pushed through the day, heavy on tasks that needed sooner accomplishing than what I was capable of. At lunch, I couldn't concentrate. And the coffee from the cafe outside tasted extra bad.

Yet, I managed to get a report out of the data incident and sent it to Mr Min. I also cleared two client calls which was a yay. And presided over Jimin's mess-up smoothly, of course.

By the time it was four, I knew that I didn't want to go to that awful security session. And even though they asked me if I'd like to join, I was out of it, swiftly, precisely and beautifully. Just like I had hoped to. I dedicated more of that time to answering the emails lying unattended in my inbox.

I had only sorted the first ten emails on my system when my phone declared war.

Dad.

Pushing the earplugs in, I answered the green bubble flinching at me.

"Yes?" I gave my best business tone but my father didn't give a dying fuck.

"Did you eat?"

"Yeah." I did eat. Shit.

There was no way I could say that to him. I was supposed to be unproblematic.

"Okay. What time are you getting off work?"

I think this question was there in my nightmares last night. My dad couldn't get enough of asking me this.

"Five thirty." I calmly addressed, glowering at the parade of emails in my inbox.

Did these people work on the weekends or something? How the fuck was I flooded three hours into the working day—based on the timings of when the emails were sent? Someone had to call out a law or the like to save us from the emails.

I tore my fingers through my hair and clicked on the packet of data security manuals that Mr Min had forwarded to me. A frown rose to the occasion on my face.

It was sick.

"Aunt Momo is here. She's brought some fruits for you." Dad said and I was tempted to tell him that I didn't care for Aunt Momo's fake courtesies. She was secretly telling me to stall on the weight. I knew it.

"That's nice. Are the kids there too?"

I scrolled through the ants on the document I had opened. It looked as good as an engineering textbook.

"Yeah. How could they not be?" Dad laughed, and I smiled with my lips falling into a line.

"So, why did you call? Need something??"

My mouse clicked the glowing link in the document that carried me to the list of reasons why data was often compromised.

How interesting could this get? Obviously, the best day of my life featuring Tom Odell.

"Alright. Call me when you get in the cab."

"Yes." I sighed and hung up almost immediately.

Maybe Dad was finally seeing and making sense of the fact that I would have to leave someday. Maybe he misses me. That's all good but he executed it very poorly.

And to me, execution was the key.

At around quarter to five, they paraded back in, half their faces as if struck by lightning—as if they had seen fantasy-level magic in that meeting room. Jimin, Sohyun and Seulgi crowded helplessly by me, knocking my cup of cake almost twice.

"Why didn't you join? Oh lord, it was eye-serving in there..." Seulgi stiffened her voice as she bent lower next to my seat. "We were all so scared because the department head joined the meeting."

Sohyun cut in, "We're on his murder list. He barely blinked."

I picked up my cup and put a spoonful of the sweet in my mouth.

The department head huh? What the fuck would the department head of cybersecurity do in his job role—update software? That didn't sound like a very promising career choice to me. But, well, he did get a designation. So yeah, maybe. Congratulations, if you will.

"I think that murder list thing happened because you didn't join the meeting." Jimin shrugged, pulling himself a chair to sit around me.

My spoon halted mid-air.

"What about that?" I side-eyed him.

"He asked us about you and we told him you were not in. That sent him to a dark place, I guess."

Newsflash. I am desired by the senior management. What a lovely day to be alive.

"Was it informative enough? Did the session have any setbacks?" I whooshed in with a strategy to stop this. "I'll have to report it to Mr Min."

I felt Seulgi's fingers on my shoulders, "Nope. It was all well done. They taught a lot and even took us through some exercises to make sure we knew enough. Not a good experience but not bad either."

Damn it. A little mess would have helped me.

A ping! on my screen arrived with Mr Min's codex and I saw everyone's face fall a little. Yeah. This happened often. Min was born to be a mood killer like that. A message from him meant piling work on us.

I twirled the pen balancing on my fingers and nodded, "Okay. Let's get back to our work and close on time today. I'm still reeling from the overtime on Friday."

They almost ran like it was an escape shoot on the Discovery channel. I huffed and opened his message.

Ten minutes. I was ten minutes away from shutting the system but he wasn't.

[Private Chat – Min Yoongi]5:17 PM – Min Yoongi: Have you sent an email reply to Jimin's escalation call today? Close it and upload the files to the drive.

Okay. We're fine, Haerin. We've seen worse. Let's just not act like our life is going to end.

I could do it. Ten minutes. Rolling the sleeves of my shirt up, I opened the inbox. The final task for the day and I would be done.

But the motherfucking inbox was piled like shit with so many unread emails that my mind zapped into space. What the hell was I staring at all the blue marks for? I hunched closer to the screen, eyes boring as I risked my vision to get ahold of something that ensured a drive. A link. A shared folder.

I opened the most suitable one and clicked on the link.

My mistake. I shouldn't have been born for this day to come.

The screen flickered—then died. I was blacked out. My heart dropped, and I moved the cursor, clicking randomly and hitting the keys to invoke something, and it did. An error.

A pop-up jumped on my screen.

Task failure: Failed Phishing Test.

...what?

I blinked and then leaned back. What the hell was this? What did I click? I gulped and clicked OK to shove it away. But the next few minutes went into a haze.

I stared at it, my hands flying to my mouth. Did I fall for a fraudulent link? After everything that happened this morning?

And I almost fell for that thought when an email appeared at the top of my inbox. Fresh. New. Sharp.

______________________________________

From: Jeon JungkookTo: Kang HaerinCC: Min Yoongi, Park Sungho, Han Seong GukSent: April 24, 2025, 5:25 PMSubject: Simulation Failure – Security Protocol & Immediate Remedial Measures

Dear Haerin,

I hope this message finds you well.

It has come to my attention that you did not attend the scheduled cybersecurity session earlier today, despite prior notification and calendar reminders. While your absence was, of course, your prerogative, the timing is unfortunate—particularly given that you proceeded to fail the phishing simulation launched this afternoon.

For reference, the link you engaged with—“Shared_WeeklyDrive-LinkUpload-Secure”—was intentionally designed to be flagged by even the most rudimentary cybersecurity training. Your prompt interaction with it, however, suggests otherwise.

This marks your second recorded failure for data security, a first in terms of the new security drill. As you might imagine, this raises concerns regarding both protocol adherence and basic digital discernment.

To address this, a mandatory remedial programme has been arranged. Beginning tomorrow, I will be arranging daily 9:00 AM cybersecurity refreshers, scheduled over the course of the next four weeks. Attendance is non-negotiable. Each session will run for thirty minutes and cover key areas of email verification, phishing identification, and responsible system interaction.

You are also required to complete the attached Level 1 training module by close of business today. Kindly confirm once done.

Your cooperation is appreciated, though belated. Please note that both your team lead and department manager have been copied into this correspondence for transparency.

Regards,Jeon JungkookHead of CybersecurityInformation Technology Division

______________________________________

I gaped at the email. The cc list. The sender's name. It burned into my flesh.

Yeah...flat on my back. That's how I always ended up.