RAINBOW OF TEARS
SEOUL – LUXE PLAZA FLAGSHIP MALL, GRAND ATRIUM
The gala was a cathedral of light and hubris. A billion crystals worth of chandeliers hung from the vaulted glass ceiling, scattering light over the assembled elite of Seoul. Women in gowns that cost more than a city block floated by on the arms of men whose smiles were as sharp as stock options. A string quartet played something tastefully modern, the notes barely audible over the murmur of money and influence.
Park Min-Ji stood at the top of the central marble staircase, a vision in a sheath dress of liquid silver. She was the poised, untouchable director, the face of the "Luxe Horizon." But beneath the cool exterior, her heart was a drumbeat of pure, focused adrenaline. Every detail of the plan was etched in her mind, a map leading to her uncle's ruin.
Across the room, Park Yong-sik held court, his laughter too loud, his gestures too broad. He was a man tasting victory he thought was already his.
Min-Hyuk watched it all from the shadows of a service corridor, his eyes hidden behind the serviceable glasses and anxious expression of Kwon Ji-hoon. The Proteus mask was a second skin, a prison of another man's fear. Beside him, Kim Do-gi stood in the uniform of Luxe Plaza's elite security, his own face subtly altered. Their earpieces were alive with quiet, professional chatter.
"Go-eun, status on the internal lockdown?" Min-Hyuk whispered, his voice filtered through a vocal modulator to match Kwon's reedy tenor.
"The backdoor I planted in the Heritage Club's server is live," Ahn Go-eun's voice came back, crisp from the B2 command center. "The moment you plug in the physical key, I'll start the download. I've already written the worm that will copy, encrypt, and erase my tracks in 4 minutes and 37 seconds. The air-gap is a myth."
"Sung-chul-ssi, press and regulator packages?" Min-Hyuk asked.
"Ready for simultaneous drop at 21:30," Jang Sung-chul confirmed. "The Financial Times, the NTS, the board members not in Yong-sik's pocket… they will receive their gifts the moment Min-Ji gives the signal."
"Delta, overwatch status."
From a rented office across the street, Marco's voice was a low rumble in his ear. "Nikolai has the high ground. Three exits are covered. Luca and Mateo are in a van in the service bay, engines hot. We are the silent hand. Proceed, Principal."
All pieces were in place. The guillotine was built; they just needed to place the neck on the block.
Min-Hyuk's enhanced senses parsed the room: the rhythm of circulating waiters, the patrol pattern of real security, the exact distance to the private elevator that led to the secured executive offices upstairs—and the isolated server bank.
"Phase one," Min-Hyuk murmured. "Now."
He saw Min-Ji catch his eye from across the room. A micro-nod, invisible to anyone else. She turned and began to glide through the crowd toward her uncle.
---
THE TRAP
"Uncle," Min-Ji said, her smile brilliant and false. "A word? About the Q4 projections for the Jeju expansion. I have some… concerns the accountants raised."
Yong-sik's eyes narrowed, but the lure of business, of correcting his 'naive' niece in front of peers, was irresistible. "Of course. The numbers are solid. Your people are worrying over shadows." He excused himself from his group and followed her toward a quieter alcove, not noticing the Kwon Ji-hoon lookalike and a security guard subtly drifting in the same direction.
As they reached the alcove, Min-Ji's personal phone buzzed. She feigned shock. "Oh, no. It's Grandfather's nurse. From the Heritage Club. She says there's been an alert from his private study—a security breach? They're saying it's on the internal feed."
Yong-sik's face went pale. The study. The ledger. The server. His secret heart. "What? That's impossible!"
"The head of security is waiting for you upstairs," Min-Ji said, layering just the right amount of panic into her voice. "He said to bring Kwon-ssi. They need his access codes to verify nothing was taken."
Paranoia, the very weapon Yong-sik had used, now turned against him. He didn't think. He snapped his fingers, and the real Kwon Ji-hoon, who had been hovering nervously near the champagne, scurried over. "You! With me. Now!"
As Yong-sik stormed toward the private elevator, trailed by the real, confused Kwon, Min-Hyuk and Do-gi fell into step behind them, just two more cogs in the machine. The elevator doors closed on the four men.
Inside, the air was thick with tension. Yong-sik glared ahead. The real Kwon sweated. Min-Hyuk, as the fake Kwon, stared at his shoes, the picture of subservient anxiety. Do-gi stood impassively, a guard doing his job.
The elevator opened directly into a plush, silent corridor leading to the secure server room and the executive office suite. Yong-sik barked at a waiting security chief. "Well? What's the breach?"
The security chief, a man secretly on Rainbow Taxi's payroll for the night, looked confused. "Sir? There's no breach. All systems are green."
Yong-sik froze. The first trickle of cold suspicion dripped down his spine. He turned slowly, his gaze sweeping over the two Kwon Ji-hoons—one real, one perfect replica standing beside Do-gi.
For a terrifying second, time seemed to stop. Min-Hyuk saw the realization dawn in Yong-sik's eyes, saw his mouth begin to open to shout.
Do-gi moved. It wasn't a combat strike, but a precise, fluid motion. His hand came down on the real Kwon's neck, the same silent strike as before. The accountant crumpled. Simultaneously, Min-Hyuk's hand shot out, a small, high-pressure injector disguised as a pen pressing against Yong-sik's thigh through his suit pants. A fast-acting neuro-inhibitor, designed by the Rainbow medical bay. Yong-sik's eyes widened, then glazed over. His body went rigid, conscious but utterly paralyzed.
"Security breach contained in the west corridor," Do-gi said calmly into his wrist mic, for the benefit of any other ears. "Escorting the involved parties to holding for debrief." He and Min-Hyuk grabbed the two limp men, propping them up as if they were merely being assisted.
The turncoat security chief nodded, opening the door to a nearby janitorial closet. Inside, Luca Romano and Mateo Alvarez of Operation Delta were waiting. They took custody of the paralyzed Yong-sik and the unconscious Kwon with silent efficiency.
"You have fifteen minutes until the next patrol," the chief said.
"We need five," Min-Hyuk said, already stripping off the Kwon mask. Beneath it, his own face was set in lines of grim determination. He pulled a thin cable and a decryption key from his security uniform.
He and Do-gi moved to the server room door. Min-Hyuk placed his palm on a scanner. Go-eun's hack from the day before had already inserted his biometrics. The door hissed open.
The room was a silent cube of blinking blue lights and chilling air. In the center was the isolated server—the black box of Yong-sik's empire. Min-Hyuk plugged in the physical key and initiated Go-eun's worm.
On the screens, data began to flow in a torrent. Financial records. Wire transfers to Kang Deok-su. Emails detailing the car sabotage. The digital mirror of the handwritten ledger.
"Download at 47%," Min-Hyuk whispered.
Downstairs, in the gala, Min-Ji checked her delicate diamond watch. 21:28. Two minutes. Her eyes scanned the crowd, finding the faces of the reporters they had tipped off, the board members who were honest, or at least opportunistic enough to turn on a sinking ship.
On the command center screen, Sung-chul watched the download bar fill. "Press packages… uploading now."
In Osaka, Marco monitored the police bands. "Seoul Metro Police are quiet. No alarms. The package is still secure."
21:29:30.
The download hit 100%. Min-Hyuk yanked the key. The server logs would show a meaningless, milliseconds-long power fluctuation.
"Clear," he said.
He and Do-gi exited, sealing the room behind them. They moved back down the corridor, past the janitorial closet now holding two very silent prisoners, and into the service elevator.
21:30:00.
Min-Ji, standing at the center of the grand atrium, raised her champagne glass as if to give a toast. She caught the eye of the lead reporter. A single, deliberate blink.
In newsrooms and regulatory offices across the city, encrypted files exploded into existence. The ledger pages. The server data. The whole sordid, criminal tapestry of Park Yong-sik.
For a moment, nothing happened. The gala continued, a bubble of oblivious opulence.
Then, a phone buzzed. Then another. A board member stared at his screen, his face draining of blood. A reporter's head snapped up, her eyes locking onto Yong-sik's empty space, then flying to Min-Ji. A whisper started, then became a wave.
"Fraud…"
"The NTS is involved…"
"Attempted murder? The car?"
"Where is Park Yong-sik?"
The guillotine blade, forged in the shadows, had dropped silently. Now, the crowd was finally noticing the head in the basket.
Min-Ji lowered her glass, the ghost of a real smile touching her lips. She looked toward the service entrance.
There, having shed his disguises, stood Kim Min-Hyuk. Back in his simple dark clothes, just a driver in the shadows. Their eyes met across the erupting chaos.
He gave her a single, slow nod.
Case closed.
Then he turned and vanished into the service corridor, leaving her to claim the victory and rebuild her kingdom from the ashes of her uncle's greed.
The Rainbow Taxi had delivered its most precise revenge yet. And in a closet upstairs, a paralyzed tyrant could only stare at the wall, listening to the sound of his empire crumbling, delivered by the most reliable night driver in Seoul.
[End of Episode 8]
[Status: Primary Target Neutralized]
[Evidence: Delivered to Public & Authorities]
[Park Yong-sik: In Delta Custody (for handoff to 'official' arrest)]
[Kang Deok-su: Exposed & Isolated]
[Min-Ji's Position: Secured]
[Next Episode: The Aftermath & The Unseen Enemy.]