The young lawyer groaned. She awakened a couple of times and this wasn’t helping her sleep-deprived self at all. Last night was a nightmare. She and Dr. Hwang had to meet Jessica’s younger sister, Krystal Jung. Despite the age difference, Krystal was intimidating.

How?

The youngest Jung was the only shareholder in the Jung Empire who got an increase in percentage of shares. To everyone’s eyes, it seemed like a giveaway since the youngest was highly favored by the heiress of the conglomerate. Only the major shareholders have known the truth behind Krystal’s gains.

Krystal was working for the company despite having to study overseas. She actually accompanied her sister in business meetings held in the United Kingdom and the younger sister had organized everything. Her connections with the potential European businessmen started from school. Krystal’s schoolmates happen to be sons and daughters of England’s business tycoons and Baby Jung had played her role well in establishing connections for her sister’s benefit.

Such was the youngest Jung sibling’s contribution to the company although most of the employees were barely informed of the girl’s patriotism not that Krystal would mind since it took her mind off certain trivial things.

Seohyun was intrigued at the same time annoyed by the fact that Krystal’s personality had some similarities to hers. The young lawyer’s thoughts drifted back to the past. She sighed as she shifted to her side.

‘I’m taking a day off today.’ She thought as she closed her eyes to sleep.

She shifted to her side only to find her own arm touching a smooth, warm body. Her eyes shot open once again, only to register a familiar face sleeping beside her.

It was Krystal Jung.
 

***

HQ

“Soonkyu…”

The blonde snarled at the mention of her Korean name. She glared at the offender who didn’t seem fazed by her aggression.

“I really don’t get the reason why you’re trying to hack into your own family’s security system. HQ is under your disposal yet here you are-”

“Shut up, Choi Siwon. I’m trying to crack the codes here. I wonder how someone was able to get past all this.” Sunny said through gritted teeth. The man she had addressed shrugged his shoulders as he leaned against the door to the office, watching the young woman murder the keyboard with her swift hands.

“I’ll go get you some coffee. I sense that you’re sleepy already after staying up all night. And let me remind you that I’m quite tired today… I had just arrived from an overseas assignment after all,” Siwon said as he left, leaving the young lady to ponder on the schematics of her family’s tight security that guarded HQ’s computer database. There were many encryptions and locks that she needed to pass in order to break through the computer vault.

Minutes later, she gave up trying to decipher the codes. They were endless and annoying. Sunny ended up using her password to gain access to the information she needed.

The blonde agent searched through the database, running a name to check whether HQ had confidential data on a certain person.

JESSICA JUNG

HQ’s database displayed one result for the search and the Lee tried opening the file. To her dismay, it was classified. This perked Sunny’s interest. A prominent member of the society with a classified file in HQ is a rarity. Valuable information on prominent people were usually kept confidential from the public by the organization, but it is widely accessible to HQ’s upper class men. Sunny’s position in HQ enabled her to gain access to many files in the organization, but this case was different. Even the higher ups like her couldn’t open the data on Jessica Jung.

‘Will it be possible that the Jung heiress could be the rumored heir of HQ? ’ Sunny postulated. 

A cup of coffee was unceremoniously placed in front of her. She looked up to see Siwon’s charming smile.

“Thanks, oppa.” Sunny said before turning back to the computer. Siwon took a peek at what she was doing.

“Why are you running a search on Korea’s youngest and most successful businesswoman?” Siwon asked, arching a brow at the Lee.

“Her cousin, Dr. Hwang, was a roommate of mine back in the States. We used to be partners in HQ missions. I ran into another agent when I arrived here on an assignment and she looked like Dr. Hwang’s cousin, Jessica Jung.” Sunny replied as she continued her attempts at accessing the Jung heiress’ file.

“Sunny, I think you should give it a rest and come back when you’ve had some sleep. I know for a fact that I, myself, cannot access the file you’re trying to open.” Siwon stated matter-of-factly as he glanced at the wall clock which registered at three in the morning.

“I’m not leaving until I know something about her.” Sunny insisted as she took a sip of her coffee.

“Lee Soonkyu, I’m serious. As Head of the Database Department, I request that you come back and try your luck tomorrow. I can’t help you much in this since most of the servers are currently either on standby or on hibernation. It’ll take me hours to get everything to operate so that we can crack that one file that you’re trying to access. I’m not in the mood to spend my precious sleeping time, breaking my back over starting those servers. It’s against the department’s protocol, after all. Your uncle will kill me if he even finds out about this.” Siwon casted a stern gaze at the blonde Lee.

Sunny groaned before she turned to him and gave him a defeated sigh, “Fine. I’ll come back tomorrow. You should close up and go home as well.”

She stood up and downed her cup of coffee before walking off. Siwon gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder as she stalked out of the office and headed for the elevator, dropping the cup in the pantry before she made her way into the lift.

Siwon closed the programs that Sunny had opened. He gave a disapproving look and a sigh after seeing that the Lee had opened an online game, Skyrim, among the many programs she had used.

“Geez, such a gamer!” He chuckled as he closed the program before turning off the lights to the office and stalking off to the elevator with his cup of coffee on hand.

Thoughts on why his fellow HQ higher up had been interested in getting to know the Jung heiress plagued his mind. The Chois and the Lees were the only families involved in the backdoor organization that protected society’s defenses from the shadows. Siwon and his siblings knew the higher ups of the organization, but they never got to know the real identities of the agents and codes in HQ.

When a trainee was picked as an agent or a code, their files were immediately submitted and encrypted into HQ’s server, which the Database Department held. They were classified according to their ranks and are only identifiable through the colors and numbers with which the trainees had chosen. The system was automatic and it ensured anonymity in the agent’s and the code’s part. The Database Team’s job was to secure and store the data on their employees.

To prevent anyone from accessing classified information, each member of the Database Team was given a limited access to a certain server. In the end, a member could only unveil limited amount of information on a certain agent or code, but the person’s name and face will still remain unknown. The names and addresses were entirely classified even to the heads of HQ.

The higher ups like members of the Choi and the Lee family could gain some privileges of running through the database, but they can only gain access to certain information and backgrounds on the anonymous employees to a certain extent.

There were exceptions, however. Highly classified information on certain individuals was stored in different servers and the files that would most likely give away their identities were inaccessible even to higher ups. There was only one person who could crack those codes on the files – Mr. Lee, Sunny’s uncle and head of HQ.

Realizati