Evening Shadows & Secret Missions
The sun had just dipped below the skyline, leaving a warm orange hue bleeding through the blinds. Dust danced in the golden shafts of light filtering into the office.
The room smelled of burnt coffee and tension.
Senior Han walked in, his silhouette outlined by the hallway light. He didn't sit. He stood at the edge of my desk, gaze heavy.
> "We're going on an undercover mission," he said flatly.
I blinked. "Am I… also included?"
He smirked, as if amused I'd even ask.
> "Why else would I be here?"
A chill ran down my spine—not from fear, but from anticipation. I stood up instinctively.
> "Come. I'll introduce you to the team. You'll need them… more than you know."
---
Three Days Later — Operation Briefing Room
The conference room was dimly lit. Only one table lamp glowed in the corner, casting long shadows on the walls. Maps, red strings, surveillance photos, and student ID scans cluttered the walls.
There were eight of us, split into two teams—Team A and Team B—each with four members.
Senior Han stood in front of the projector, sleeves rolled up, voice low and commanding.
> "We're about to uncover something big. So big I won't even tell you the full picture yet—because if this leaks, it might cost your life."
A silence fell over the room. Only the soft hum of the projector filled the void.
> "All you need to know is this—our target is hiding in one of these two universities."
A map blinked on the screen—two universities circled in red.
> "Team A, you'll infiltrate Daeyang Institute ."
I looked up, startled. That was my old college. Just fifteen minutes from my house. The place where I used to eat dumplings with my friends after class. Where I laughed, cried, lived.
Senior Han's voice cut back in.
> "Ji-ah, that's why you're in Team A. You know the campus, the rhythm of the place. Use that. Blend in. Observe."
He turned to all of us.
> "Remember, you're not cops in there. You're students. And one mistake could blow this whole thing wide open."
I nodded slowly, meeting the eyes of my new teammates—strangers, but now bound by a secret war no one else even knew existed.
The mission had begun.
---
New Identity, New Campus – The Classroom
The morning air tasted like rain—wet asphalt, new leaves, and something unspoken.
I wore a fresh uniform, the ID badge hanging around my neck:
> "KIM JI-AH – Diploma Student, Department of Cybersecurity"
Everything was fake, yet everything felt too real.
As the youngest on the team, I was chosen to go deep—right into the heart of student life. A fresher. A nobody. A blank face in a crowd full of digital dreams.
My original degree? Criminal Justice and Law.
But here I was… learning code, firewalls, cyber ethics, pretending to understand things that had nothing to do with courtrooms and case files.
Why me?
Because I looked the part. And because Senior Han trusted my instinct.
---
Team A — Introduced
We had entered through different doors, but we belonged to the same mission.
Me, the planted diploma student in Cybersecurity—assigned to Computer Science.
Choi Min-jae, tall, quiet, sharp eyes—working undercover in the campus kitchen. He listened more than he spoke.
Im Hyeon-woo, carefree smile, rough hands—he posed as a ward boy at the university's infirmary, someone who'd be invisible but saw everything.
Yoo Seul-gi, sharp tongue, dyed red streak in her ponytail—she enrolled as a transfer student in the Music Department, blending among artists and whispers.
We were the quiet ones, the unnoticed. That's why they chose us.
Senior Han had given us real student identities—students on break, abroad, or on medical leave. My ID belonged to a girl currently doing a coding internship in Japan. I hoped she wasn't planning a surprise return.
---
First Class – Cybersecurity 101
The classroom was cold—unnecessarily so.
Fluorescent lights flickered faintly overhead, casting a pale, sickly hue over the room.
Twenty-five seats arranged in five neat rows.
Black chairs with silver legs.
Each desk had a fingerprint scanner for attendance. High-tech campus, low-warmth vibe.
On the far end was a smartboard already displaying:
> "Welcome to Cybersecurity – Digital Fortress Begins Here."
Students were scattered, heads bent into laptops, wireless earbuds in, typing like ghosts.
No one looked at each other.
They were all logged in but emotionally logged out.
I took the back seat, by the window—out of habit. Old instincts die hard. I could see the gates from here. I could escape fast if things got ugly.
The Mentor Who Wasn't Supposed to Be Here
As the lecture bell rang, a tall, gruff professor entered the classroom with a worn-out satchel and a stack of papers. He had that classic tired-but-passionate air about him. He began droning about binary systems, data structures, and "object-oriented programming."
I stared at the whiteboard as if it were carved in ancient Roman script.
What am I even doing here? Is this a secret language?
I scribbled half-hearted notes, pretending to understand, nodding when others nodded.
Then came the break.
The moment the professor left, a wave of excitement washed over the classroom. Girls rushed out of their seats, whispering and giggling like a K-drama scene unfolding.
"What's going on?" I asked a girl sitting next to me, her glossy hair tied into a high ponytail.
She turned to me, eyes sparkling. "You don't know? The legendary student assistant—he topped in AI last year, created an actual artificial intelligence project in his first year! He's going to take the next coding session."
I blinked. "Wait, a student is teaching?"
"Yep. He's mentoring under the main professor now. Total genius. And…" she leaned in, "he's also hot."
I chuckled awkwardly and turned toward the door, just as the next person entered.
I froze.
It was Joon Seo-hyun.
I panicked.
Lowering my head quickly, I pulled up the laptop screen as a shield. What the hell is he doing here?! My heart raced.
He walked in with quiet confidence, wearing a white button-down shirt tucked casually into black jeans, a pen clipped to his collar. His dark hair was messily styled, like he had just rolled out of bed, but it suited him.
He wasn't supposed to be here. He said he was a regular college student. He said he just moved into the neighborhood.
He greeted the class with a faint, polite smile. "Let's begin with neural networks. But first, I'd like to know your names and what you're hoping to build."
I sank lower in my chair, praying he wouldn't recognize me. I was supposed to be undercover, and now the guy I was already suspicious of might turn out to be deeper in this case than I thought.