Ciphertext - Chapter 22: Game

Luciel rifled through the kitchen cupboards for something quick to eat and managed to throw together a sandwich using the ingredients he found. It was a rather uncommon combination of peanut butter, some leftover kimchi and a few slices of cucumber, but it would do. He winced as he shoved the thing into his mouth, munching on the starchy texture as quickly as humanly possible. Even if he ended up with indigestion after this, he didn't especially care. He just needed sustenance to get his brain power back up to normal levels. He guzzled an entire can of Dr. Pepper in three seconds to wash it down, belching a little in a display of satisfaction.

The assignment couldn't wait much longer but since he was so busy with it, he just prayed to God that Vanderwood would be able to break through the block on the signal. Revealing Eun-ji's location and tracking her movements was the most crucial thing he could do. The quicker, the better. Luciel took another look at the data he'd finished entering into the spreadsheet earlier. His eyes followed the lines of letters and numbers. Something was strange. Usually, it would just be a question of relaying need-to-know information in no particular order, but this time it was different. Everything seemed too tidy and polished and that was without him having to filter anything.

"This data is actually … ", he re-positioned his glasses and squinted at the screen a little more, "… some kind of message?"

Without even hesitating, Luciel took a notepad and pen from the drawer and started to scribble down countless combinations of words and phrases from the spreadsheet. This would help him to identify the meaning of the information in front of him. He kept scribbling, searching, contemplating for the next hour until he had filled up the entire notebook on the exercise. The muscles in his head felt like they might snap if he had to focus any longer on it. Finally, he noticed a crystal clear correlation and his chest grew heavy as he came to a stark realisation. Tapping the tip of his pen onto a blank sheet of paper momentarily, he wrote out the message in clear roman letters. The message was in English.

COME AND PLAY THE GAME SAEYOUNG CHOI. I'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU.

YOURS FAITHFULLY– MR.P

Except his name, the rest of these foreign words were incomprehensible to someone who only ever spoke Korean, so he used Rika's electronic dictionary to determine the meaning.

"Mr. P … you really are the one who is responsible for this." He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist into the desk. "What kind of grudge do you have against me? What did I ever do to you?" He turned to face the direction where camera was hidden, understanding that Mr. P must have hacked the security system to have known about Eun-ji. "SHE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS! GIVE HER BACK!" he yelled, staring directly into the lens. There would be no audio, but he was sure Mr. P was an expert lip reader, so it didn't matter. The expression on Luciel's face should have been enough of a hint as to the emotion behind it.

Suddenly, the RFA app window popped up on Luciel's monitor. He tried to click on the 'x' in the corner to close it, but it wouldn't disappear. It was stuck open.

"What the-?"

He logged into the chatroom to see who else was online.

[A NEW CHATROOM HAS OPENED]

707 HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM

707: Hey … guys? Anyone here?

Yoosung: OMG SEVEN! You've been so quiet recently. How's everything going with Emily? I hope you're behaving, considering what Zen said ¬_¬

707: Yoosung … No, actually … I'm sorry to break it you, but … things aren't alright this end.

Yoosung: Huh? _ Why?

707: I have a lot of things to explain, but to cut a long story short she's been captured by the hacker.

Yoosung: WHAT? Captured!? But you're living under the same roof right now. How could this happen?

707: We had an argument …

Yoosung: About what?

707: You don't need to know that. We just had an argument.

Yoosung: Oh … okay T_T

707: She left the apartment whilst I was showering, although I told her not to.

Yoosung: And?

707: …

Yoosung: The silence is making me feel uncomfortable …

707: Well, she went over to Zen's place to talk with him about things.

Yoosung: ZEN'S HOUSE!?

707: Yeah, not long after she left there she was kidnapped by the hacker …

Yoosung: Whoa, hang on! Why did she have to go and meet Zen face-to-face?

707: *sigh* It's a long story, like I said. I already spoke to Zen and we're cool about everything now.

Yoosung: 'Cool about' what exactly? Surely … you don't mean … something happened with Emily? And by 'something' I mean SOMETHING! _ WHAT THE HELL DID I MISS? I've been gaming most of the time and I had no idea that this was even going on!

ZEN HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM

Yoosung: ZEN! Dude, what happened with Emily!? Tell me!

Zen: Hey Yoosung. Calm down, Seven's doing his best to search for her.

Yoosung: I know, I know but before that! What did you guys do?

Zen: Us? Well … I mean Seven got in there first, not me!

Yoosung: Got … in there … first?

707: ZEN! What are you blurting out here? It's not like that's all I was after!

Zen: Hey man. Sorry, I thought you'd told him already ¬_¬

Yoosung: Told me what? T_T Oh, why do I feel so left out?

707: I was getting around to it!

Yoosung: Well, I have to know now! Spill, spill!

707: Emily … no, Eun-ji and I kind of … well, how do I put this? We … had sex last night.

Yoosung: …

Zen: … Yoosung?

Yoosung: …

707: Yoosung, say something!

Yoosung: You had SEX!? And ... her name's Eun-ji!?

Zen: It sounds like he's more shocked about the fact that you fucked someone, rather than who it was with …

707: You're saying that Yoosung? ¬_¬ But then I knew I couldn't be with her because of my job, so I treated her feelings like trash the next morning. That's why she got so pissed at me and left to talk with Zen.

Yoosung: And she thought Zen would just talk with her nicely … but that didn't happen, did it?

Zen: Hey! You don't just think of me as a wolf too, do you Yoosung?

707: … that's not exactly what happened, but she … did go a bit bondage crazy, right Zen?

Yoosung: BONDAGE? Oh … what's that? _

707: Come on! Don't play the innocent card now! You know what bondage means. Jesus …

Yoosung: Ya. I was really just trying hard not to imagine it. But seriously … I can't believe she's into that … ZEN! Don't tell me you suggested the idea to her?

Zen: No! Of course not! Ughh … Listen guys, does any of that stuff even matter right now? The only thing we need to focus on is how to get Eun-ji back! Seven, did you manage to find anything?

707: Actually, I did.

Yoosung: What is it?

707: The hacker and kidnapper is … my boss, Mr. P

Zen: Your boss? What does he want with Eun-ji?

707: Nothing. It's me he wants. She's just a pawn to lead me to him.

EMILY HAS ENTERED THE CHATROOM

Emily: Speak of the devil, huh?

Yoosung: Someone's hacked into her account again! Let Eun-ji go!

707: Yoosung, let me handle this.

707: Mr. P! I know this is you. Just tell me that wherever she is she's safe. I swear if anything happens to her I'll kill you with my own two hands. And I'm not even joking.

Zen: Seven …

Emily: You're really serious about the girl, aren't you? Well, this just makes our little game all the more interesting.

707: How so?

Emily: You know full well that while you're under my control there's no room for relationships, right? Hackers can't ever dream to be happy. We're the cockroaches of society, crawling around in the dirt for our next big reveal. Who told you to go and break the rules?

707: I can't control how I feel about her.

Emily: You can shut down your emotions anytime, but you've chosen a different path. It will only lead to suffering.

707: Then let me suffer if it means I can be with her.

Yoosung: T_T Seven … please don't sacrifice yourself for her sake. We will all miss you too much!

707: Don't worry Yoosung. I have no plans to sacrifice myself in any way.

Emily: But you want to save her, don't you? Doesn't that automatically mean you'll have to risk your own life to do that.

Zen: Don't ask questions that have obvious answers, you damn hacker! Of course he wants to save her! Are you a fucking idiot or something?

Emily: Oh? You're a little feisty dog …

Zen: Grrr …

Emily: Now, now. Calm down boy! You're going to have to confront me if you want to see her again. Follow my directions to Paradise and we'll continue our little game there. But hurry, time is running out.

EMILY HAS LEFT THE CHATROOM

707 HAS LEFT THE CHATROOM

Yoosung: Huh? What's going on? They both just suddenly left!

Zen: No, I think Mr. P logged them off at the same time. He wouldn't want to let us have the address.

Yoosung: He wants Seven to go there alone …

Zen: Yeah … I'm just guessing he's probably sent the information via some encrypted message.

Yoosung: I'm so worried about Seven T_T Is he gonna be alright? Isn't there any way we can help him?

Zen: I know you want to help, but I think the best thing we can do is tell the others what's going on and wait to hear from Seven.

Yoosung: Yeah, you're right. I'm signing off now as I'm already super late for class. Let's check back for updates later. Hmm... I don't think I can focus right now.

Zen: We will have to trust Seven. I'll come back later too. Bye for now.

Yoosung: Bye ...

YOOSUNG HAS LEFT THE CHATROOM

ZEN HAS LEFT THE CHATROOM