Chapter 76 - When In Rome

Orea was concentrating hard on the screen. Her eyes followed the sharp nosed guy she had been stalking for hours by hacking into the CCTV cameras but there had been no breakthrough. She watched as Sam Cheng casually walked on the street, alert and cautious. The man had not done anything suspicious but Orea was still keeping an eye on him seven as he did the most mundane tasks.

She could not put any tracker around the PM's mansion but she was able to hack into the cameras around Sam Cheng's apartment in S-Street. The man goes there on the weekends but it was of no use. He was not meeting anyone suspicious nor working for PM during his off day. In fact, he was simply doing mundane things like shopping for groceries, trimming his garden and for some reason, feeding birds.

"UGH!" she scowled. "I can't even tap his apartment!"

It was too risky. The guy was a tech genius and if she planted anything there, he would become suspicious. Sam Cheng probably knew that someone was keeping an eye on him but she was not so sure about that. It was simply a possibility she could not rule out.

His profile lay in front of her. Sam Cheng was thirty seven years old and an ex-military martial. He had been discharged after he allegedly killed one of his juniors during a training session. It was ruled as an accidental death but the military knew that he had an altercation with that junior cadet before. But he was one of the best fighters in the military and also, he was extremely adept with technology. The systems he had designed for his regiment were impeccable and fortified. It was nearly impossible for anyone to hack it unless they knew the codes.

Orea had never faced such an adversary. The man had not only blocked her hacking attempts but nearly caught her. This was now a personal agenda for her.

"I'm gonna get you Sam Cheng!" she growled and switched between cameras to keep an eye on him. She had resorted to the traditional method of keeping an eye on him through the CCTV cameras so that even the slightest clue could not go amiss.

"I just need the darn code," she muttered. If she had the code to unlock the system, then she would be able to access it. She had a hunch that the code was hiding in plain view. Most system analysts would create a software which had a code related to them. Sam Cheng would not use a code related to the PM or his family but he needed a trigger to remember the code. It's in his head but inspired from something in his life. 

She wrote down the coordinates of his house as a possible password of the system. 

"BIrthday, social security number, housing coordinates," she muttered. "What else is there?"

She glanced at the list SD had secured from the mafia and then reverted to the document he stole from President Rihan's office. Rihan's letter clearly stated the date of the coup along with Hyun's deeds while the mafia had the list of the gold suppliers.

"24.09.19XX," Orea wrote. "Could this be the code?"

It was too risky to try. She was sure that the palace firewalls had been fortified by then. Moreover, if she tried to hack it right after her visit to the PM mansion, Sam might suspect her again. She would have to try and diffuse it from within the mansion the next time she went there.

But next time was such a long way to go!

"Why am I wasting my weekend stalking an old man?" she groaned. "I wanna stalk my oppas…"

Just then, her phone rang up but she ignored it. Her mind was completely on Sam Cheng's activities. 

He had emerged out of his building wearing his uniform! "Is he going to meet the PM?" she wondered. She typed on her keyboard and opened a digital map of the area he lived in. She tracked his GPS which was moving towards U-Street now. 

Orea opened another folder where she stored the PM's upcoming public schedules. These were not hard to find since most of it was on the news anyway. Apparently, the PM had an appointment at U-Street's Cyber Tech Fair Ted Talk.

"Heh?" she frowned. "The oldie is gonna teach people about tech? Puhleaze!"

Her phone rang up again and this time, she was irritated. "Who the hell is disturbing my work?" she growled.

To her surprise, it was Myung. She debated whether to pick up or not but then an idea struck her. She cleared her throat and answered the phone.

"Hello," she greeted. "Do you need something?"

"We still haven't finished the blueprint of the system," his dull voice came from the other end. "We should start working on it today."

"You're right," Orea agreed. "Why don't we do one thing? Let's meet up at U-Street. There's going to be a Cyber Tech Fair there. We can take a look at the systems there and take inspiration. It'll be of great help!"

Please be one of those ignorant brats who have no idea about their parents' whereabouts, she prayed. Please…

"Alright," Myung replied. "We can go there. At what time should I pick you up?"

He waited for her answer. The girl had lied to him about her address which was making him suspicious. But she had mentioned that she used to live in the streets. 

Was it possible that Orea was still homeless? He wondered. Why would she lie about where she lived? Was her brother abusing her?

"I'll head there myself," Orea told him. "My brother can drop me off. I'll meet you there in an hour. Bye!"

Before Myung could insist more, she hung up the phone. He stared at the phone with a complicated look on his face. The girl was clearly hiding a lot of things.

Time to find out your secrets, Orea, swore.

Back at the hideout, Orea was still obsessed with finding out more about Sam Cheng. She was so lost in her work, that she did not even hear the front door open and shut.

SD entered the room, whistling to himself. The day had been highly productive for him. Not only did he get information for a client but received Sunye's sweet punishment. And even got to see a strip tease!

Could the day get any better for him?

But the house was too quiet. Usually, one of Orea's annoying band songs would be playing on full volume but now it was silent. She was definitely home since he had texted her an hour ago. The girl wrote back to him, saying that she was doing some important work. Feeling a little worried, he entered her room.

Unlike other teenagers who were into things like music or pop culture, Orea was the total opposite. If there was something called a tech NEET, then that would be Orea. The walls were hidden behind monitors of all sizes, showing different parts of the country. Stacked against the walls were also prototype gadgets which Orea had designed herself. There were also several motherboards from computers and cellphones which she took out to modify. The whole room was a junkyard of machines which SD had probably never even seen in the market and if he tried to throw any of them in trash, Orea would gouge his brains out.

His eyes fell on Orea who was staring at the monitor screen like a ghost. Her hair was unkempt and it was obvious that she did not sleep all night since there were dark circles under her eyes. He frowned and walked towards her.

Stopping down, he put a finger under her chin and shifted her gaze to him. But like a robot, she turned her gaze back to the screen.

"You're still obsessed with Sam Cheng?" he scowled.

"I've never been obsessed with my oppas as much as I'm obsessed with him," Orea parroted. "I want to find out his secrets. All his dirty secrets."

SD sighed. There was no point in telling her off for this. She had lost against Sam Cheng and it hit her ego. Or rather, it piqued her interest more. There was a system in the world which she could not hack. It was now a personal vendetta for her.

"He'll not be an easy target to take down," he murmured, watching the man on screen. "You didn't get any information from Myung?"

"That guy is useless!" Orea scoffed, still not moving her eyes off of the screen. "I'm supposed to be meeting him in an hour at a tech convention which the PM will also attend. If only I can get a clue on this guy…"

"You know, my dear student," SD said. "You've heard of the saying, when in Rome do as the Romans do?"

"If you pay me enough, I'd be glad to ditch you and go to Rome," Orea muttered.

"What I'm saying is," SD began. "If you want to defeat Sam Cheng, then why not join him?"

Orea's eyes snapped away from the monitor and she turned to face him. "You're saying that I should join his team?" she hissed. "Are you mad? He's gonna find out that I tried to hack him!"

"On the contrary, that's precisely why he'll take you in," SD said, picking up Rihan's letter and the suppliers' list from the table. "He'll keep an eye on you, inadvertently revealing his secrets. He'll open his vulnerable spot for you. Question is, will you take the bait, or learn the art of war from your enemy? Think about it."

He winked and left the room, leaving Orea to her thoughts. His words echoed in her mind.

"Do as Romans do, huh?" she smirked. "Looks like I'm about to take down the Emperor himself."

She slowly turned around to face Sam, who was now entering the Convention. It was time for a second meeting.