To surrender or to compromise.

If he had to choose one of them to face Carl Ican, it was obviously the former.

He knew very well how the notorious corporate hunter had abused the companies he had conquered, so compromising was out of the question.

How did Carl Ican wield both power and money at the same time?

He thought he had to find out his true identity to come up with a solution, so he investigated from various angles.

He mobilized his network around the world and searched his future knowledge.

But it was not easy to find out.

Didn’t Paul Graham know the answer?

He asked his secretary Serena Lian with a hopeful mind, but the answer he got was not very satisfying.

-I don’t know anything special about Carl Ican from Paul. He often called him a trashy bastard… He hated being called a rival.

The only thing he learned more was that Paul Graham didn’t just dislike Carl Ican, but really hated him.

This was also an easy fact to infer if he knew the story behind why they were called rivals.

‘They must have clashed a lot.’

Paul Graham, who invested in the vision of the companies for the long term, and Carl Ican, who regarded the companies as a simple way of making money, had fought over corporate acquisitions and investments for years, making Wall Street noisy.

Behind this, Carl Ican’s evil deeds were hidden.

Just like he had mercilessly exploited the Korean companies that were shaken by the IMF crisis in the past.

Yoo-hyun then met with Albert Whale, the deputy director of the CIA.

He didn’t know exactly either, who was investigating the collusion between Carl Ican and the Republican Party.

Rather, he agreed with Yoo-hyun’s words and looked very serious.

-It’s definitely a strange part. We are also suspicious and digging into it.

It was a clear violation of the law to move the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Prosecutors for a specific purpose.

No matter how Carl Ican was the leader of the super PAC (unlimited political fund donation group) that supported the Republican Party with a huge amount of money, the Republican Party had no reason to bear such a risk.

The CIA was also suspicious of this part and had not yet found a proper answer.

Wouldn’t it take quite a long time?

Looking at Carl Ican, who was still healthy after committing countless crimes, he might never be exposed.

In the end, Yoo-hyun couldn’t find the answer.

But he couldn’t stop here.

He studied the countermeasures for the lawsuit with Natalie Miller and Willy Thompson.

Serena Lian mobilized the Silicon Valley companies to help, and the CIA Science and Technology Bureau agents who had worked together on the Huawei case also supported him.

The goal was a perfect victory.

He knew it wouldn’t end there, but he could at least clear the misunderstanding that had piled up on River if he took the initiative on the issue.

He could also use this to raise his awareness as a turning point.

He was spending his time preparing step by step.

Then he got a call from the CIA.

The next day.

Yoo-hyun was sitting by a quiet lake on the outskirts of San Francisco.

The transparent water with a hint of green and the sparse trees surrounding the edge felt very peaceful.

The gentle breeze was also very warm.

The scenery was so nice, but there was no one.

He looked around the empty surroundings and muttered.

“Why did they call me here? We could have just met nearby.”

It was the first time he met with a CIA agent officially.

He had received a lot of support, but he only contacted by email, and because he avoided leaving secret contents in text, there was a limit to communication.

In the meantime, Albert Whale requested a meeting, and Yoo-hyun gladly accepted.

By the way, who was coming?

He said he would deliver the progress and the top secret information, so it was likely that a practitioner would come.

He was going over the email contents he had exchanged so far.

Thud thud.

He turned around at the sound of footsteps and saw a man walking.

He narrowed his eyes at the checkered shirt, jeans, and comfortable outfit.

Asian?

His small stature and round face looked familiar.

He was surprised to see his sunken cheeks and got up from his seat.

“Sunho!”

“Hello, Mr. President.”

He was Shin Sunho, the employee of A1 that Nadoha cherished very much.

Yoo-hyun was so flustered that he couldn’t speak well.

“How did you get here…”

“I came to report the results of the investigation.”

“What? Since when? Did you come from the beginning?”

“It… happened that way.”

Yoo-hyun looked at his cracked voice and his face softened.

His eyes were dark and his lips were dry from the hard work.

Yoo-hyun asked with a worried expression.

“Are you healthy? Do you have any pain?”

“Don’t you ask me what happened?”

“Your condition is terrible, what else can I ask first?”

“Still…”

“Kid. Eat well. Doha will be very worried if he sees you.”

Shin Sunho’s pupils shook violently when Nadoha’s name came up.

He asked with a trembling voice.

“Is Mr. Nadoha doing well?”

“Doha must have had a hard time too.”

“Mr. Nadoha… He’s the kind of person who buries himself in work all night when he’s stressed. He must have been too busy with work lately to get enough sleep.”

“Not just that…”

This guy, doesn’t he watch Korean entertainment news?

Yoo-hyun couldn’t say the next words.

Sniffle.

Shin Sunho, who had moist eyes, shook his head quickly and gestured to the bench.

“Please sit down. I’ll explain first.”

“Never mind. You don’t have to explain, just rest.”

“You have to listen. Please.”

“Okay. Fine.”

Yoo-hyun sat down first at Shin Sunho’s determined gaze.

Swoosh.

Shin Sunho, who sat next to him, handed him the report he had prepared.

Then he started to explain the contents that he couldn’t send by email.

“The federal prosecutors have secured the contact records they exchanged with the Republican lawmakers when they filed a class action lawsuit. We can use this to…”

He had a way to invalidate the second lawsuit in his words.

It was as if he had revealed the top-secret data that the CIA had investigated for Yoo-hyun.

Albert Whale’s words flashed through Yoo-hyun’s mind as he listened.

-This is also a matter of our national security in the US. It’s only natural that we help you to solve it quickly.

The CIA had been secretly investigating the collusion between Carl Eiken and the Republican Party.

In the process, they helped Yoo-hyun because they had the same goal.

The CIA had no reason to support a foreign company that was suing a government agency just because they owed him for the Huawei case.

The CIA had done him a lot of favors to catch the public enemy.

They caught the email manipulator, they quickly made the rebuttal evidence for the lawsuit, they subdued the opponent’s attack.

All of these were possible because of the CIA.

He wondered how they could support him so much, but it seemed that Shin Sun-ho’s efforts were behind it.

He was not just helping Yoo-hyun.

He had also contributed a lot to the CIA investigation in various ways, such as investigating the background of the Republican congressmen.

That was why Albert Whale agreed to his wish to meet Yoo-hyun.

Swish.

Yoo-hyun raised his head and asked Shin Sun-ho, who had finished speaking.

“Did you want to help me that much?”

“I got involved in this big trouble because of me.”

“You’ve been through a lot. You can put down the burden on your shoulders now.”

“Really… I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what? You’re too…”

Thump thump.

Yoo-hyun patted his shoulder and looked at him sympathetically. He shook his head.

A weak-hearted guy.

How did he survive under the Chinese Communist Party?

What was he doing at the CIA?

Yoo-hyun was thinking about this and that when he clapped his hands.

“Ah! Right. How did you get the backdoor password?”

“That’s…”

“Why? Can’t you tell me? Then never mind.”

“No. It’s a past thing. Actually…”

Shin Sun-ho calmly told his past story in a hoarse voice.

Shin Sun-ho, who graduated from middle school and crossed over to China, was noticed for his hacking skills since high school and was selected as a Huawei scholar.

It was good to go to a good university and get paid for living, but they gradually gave him more difficult tasks and eventually he was assigned to major tasks related to the Chinese Communist Party.

It was because of his outstanding skills.

‘Well. He must be good enough for Do-ha to praise him.’

It was no wonder that he could secure his position in the CIA in a short time.

Yoo-hyun nodded his head.

“So you figured it out.”

“I didn’t know at the time. I had experienced the Huawei central network, but I had no way of knowing the password. I realized it when I came to Korea later.”

“In Korea?”

“Director Na is so smart, you know. Although the fields were different, I learned server communication from the bottom up and got to know the backdoor deeply. That’s how I was able to infer the method.”

He also added that Do-ha would have solved it right away if he had more time.

Anyway, he was a very smart guy.

But why did he come to Korea when he was doing so well?

He knew that it was to analyze the new data structure of River, but he didn’t understand why they had to send a talented person all the way to Korea.

There was no guarantee that Yoo-hyun and Do-ha would go to the Huawei headquarters.

Yoo-hyun asked out of curiosity.

“By the way, what was the major task related to the Chinese Communist Party?”

“Of course, it wasn’t a good thing.”

“I guess so. They must have made you hack.”

“Yes. I was involved in the Chinese Communist Party election at that time.”

“Election? Does the Communist Party have elections?”

“They don’t vote, but they have party congresses. Information is a weapon when they reach an agreement.”

Yoo-hyun paused at the answer.

“Using information to manipulate the election…”

“Making fake news or manipulating public opinion was also part of it. It was a dirty job.”

“So you could decide who would win with your own hands?”

“Yes. I wasn’t alone, but a group.”

“…”

A news article flashed through Yoo-hyun’s blinking mind.

As far as he remembered, it was a fact that was revealed a few years after the 45th presidential election.

The Russian KGB (National Security Committee) hackers had cyber-attacked Trump’s rival camp and at the same time manipulated public opinion through SNS and various communities to raise Trump’s approval rating.

This incident, known as the Russia Gate, had pushed Trump to the brink of impeachment.

‘But it ended up in a mess.’

Trump partly admitted it, and there was plenty of evidence.

In other words, Russia’s hidden operation had defied the predictions of all experts and made Trump the president.

It was a reversal that saved the Republican Party, which was on the verge of extinction due to the power struggle.

What if someone planned this Russian intervention?

“He’s someone who can make the US president.”

Yoo-hyun muttered to himself with a serious expression, and Shin Sun-ho asked cautiously.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, just. I thought it would be powerful if you could make the election results as you want.”

“It is powerful. The Chinese Communist Party regime doesn’t collapse because of that.”

“I guess so… Thank you for telling me your story.”

“No. I’m sorry for hiding and deceiving you.”

Did Shin Sun-ho know?

That his word gave him an important clue to a problem that he couldn’t even find a direction for?

“Don’t say that again. You helped me a lot. Really.”

Yoo-hyun smiled brightly at Shin Sun-ho, who was once his subordinate and now supported him from under the water while hiding his troubles.