CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 50 - GHOST-6: ASSEMBLY

Choi asked, "Where are we going?"

The driver answered: "Restricted Ops Facility. Operation: Ghost-6."

Choi glanced at the man’s chest — the spot where emotions showed up for him.

A solid blue sat there. Clear. Unchanged.

That was truth.

He nodded. "And who gave the order?"

"From above. That is all I can disclose."

The blue faded into a washed-out grey — the color people had when they weren’t lying but not telling everything either. A half-truth, trimmed down to something safe.

Choi paused before the door closed and asked one more question.

"Who are you with? Which department?"

The driver didn’t blink.

Didn’t frown.

Didn’t move a muscle.

But right in the center of his chest — the place Choi always watched — the color shifted.

Red. A heavy, dark shade.

The red slowly turned darker. Controlled anger, with a little malice under it.

"That information is classified," he said in the same flat voice.

His expression stayed empty, like someone who trained himself not to react at all.

Choi didn’t push it. He already had the answer he needed.

The driver added, "You’ll meet the rest of the team there. I was told to pick you up last."

The driver’s chest turned blue — the color Choi always saw when someone spoke plainly without twisting anything.

So that part was true.

He stepped into the car and pulled the door shut.

[Seoul – Jongno District – Hidden Facility Behind Noodle House]

The driver stopped the car in front of a small restaurant.

Nothing fancy — chipped signboard, dim lights, the kind of place only drunks used.

Inside, two customers slurped ramen by the window.

An old man behind the counter stirred soup with his eyes half-closed.

Kim Tae-sung stared through the glass.

"...This is it?"

The driver didn’t blink.

"Back door."

Kim sighed and walked around the building.

The alley behind it felt completely different.

No streetlights. No noise. Just shadows. And a metal door that looked way too expensive for a noodle shop.

No handle.

Just a small black camera mounted above it.

As soon as Kim stepped closer, the camera spun toward him and whirred.

A soft beep came from the door.

[ Identity Verified. Access Granted. ]

Kim raised a brow.

"I didn’t even knock..."

The door unlocked with a heavy click and slid open.

Inside was a small elevator — plain metal walls, no buttons at all.

Just a single slot glowing faint blue.

Kim stepped in.

The doors shut immediately behind him.

There was no announcement.

No vibration.

The elevator didn’t even feel like it was moving... but Kim felt the pressure in his ears change slightly.

"...Huh," he murmured. "Fancy."

The elevator doors opened, and He walked into a long hallway underground.

Bright white lights hit everything, bouncing off the plain concrete floor.

On both sides of the hallway, guards in black suits stood completely still.

Helmets down. Rifles resting against their chests.

They didn’t look at him or say anything.

Just... stood there, like part of the walls.

Kim walked past them quietly, his footsteps echoing a little in the open space.

Panels on the wall blinked green as he passed — the system recognizing him before the guards did.

Kim barely reacted.

At the end of the hallway was a thick reinforced door with a glowing sensor.

Kim scratched his cheek. "This better not be some weird cult."

The sensor flashed.

[ Ghost-6 Member: Kim Tae-sung — Cleared ]

The door slid open.

"...Okay. Not a cult," Kim muttered. "Probably."

He walked in.

The room was huge — workstations, screens, tactical boards, server cabinets humming quietly.

He scanned everything in one sweep.

Found the quietest corner.

Sat down.

"Alright," he whispered to himself. "Decent enough."

He pulled out his old laptop, flipped it open, and plugged the cable into the port on the desk.

Beep.

Every monitor nearby flashed: [ ACCESS DENIED ]

Kim stared at it for a second.

"...Come on."

He sighed and cracked his fingers, ready to brute-force the firewall just to make the laptop behave.

Before he typed more than three keys, a guard walked over — stiff posture, stiff voice.

"Sir, you can’t connect that device."

Kim blinked. "Why?"

"Unauthorized hardware triggers level-three alerts."

Kim frowned.

"...For this thing?"

He tapped his laptop. It rattled a little.

"It can barely open two tabs."

The guard didn’t smile.

Didn’t blink.

Just pointed to a workstation in the corner — a full rig already connected to the underground system.

"Use that one. It’s cleared."

Kim closed his laptop slowly. "Fine..."

He dragged himself to the assigned desk, sat down, and touched the keyboard.

A scanner beside the monitor blinked blue, read his fingerprint, and everything lit up instantly — network tools, tracking programs, encrypted portals already open.

Kim raised an eyebrow. "...At least they set it up properly."

He leaned back and started typing.

’Whatever this Ghost-6 thing was, at least the machines weren’t annoying.’

He muttered, ’I just hope the next person doesn’t talk to me.’

Then he kept typing, waiting for the others to show up — without looking up even once.

The elevator doors slid open again with a soft beep.

Yoon Ha-rin stepped out, gum in her mouth, hands buried in her hoodie pockets.

Two guards came out behind her, looking strangely tense — like they weren’t sure how she’d managed to annoy them in less than a minute of elevator time, but somehow she had.

Ha-rin scanned the place once.

Quick eyes.

Sharp.

She scanned the place once. Quick eyes. Sharp. Like she caught everything at a glance.

"...Nice basement," she muttered. "Bit dramatic."

Her gaze landed on Kim Tae-sung.

He glanced at her. She tilted her chin up a millimeter — a tiny nod.

Not friendly, not hostile.

Just acknowledging another misfit in the room.

She walked toward the long table in the middle and leaned her hip against the edge, crossing her arms.

’Task force, huh,’ she murmured.

"Looks more like some weird club meeting."

She didn’t talk after that.

Didn’t fidget.

Just tapped one finger on her arm in a slow rhythm — waiting, like she already knew more people were coming.