Chapter 5: The Boardroom Standoff
1518 Words
"Let's start the show, Geonino," Arsenio muttered softly from behind his uniform collar.
The giant projector screen in front of the main meeting room on the fiftieth floor lit up brightly. Figures of business transactions worth trillions of credits were clearly displayed before the high-ranking officials. The mood in the room was dead silent, with only the hum of the air conditioner and the confident click of Geonino's shoes sounding on the stage.
Geonino held the remote control while smiling broadly at the board members. He puffed his chest out arrogantly, ready to deliver a presentation on the latest security system that he claimed was unhackable by anyone in the world.
"Honored guests," Geonino opened, his steady voice echoing through the speakers. "The new digital defense system I designed guarantees the security of all corporate assets and executive personal accounts from any hacker threat."
In the very back row, Arsenio sat with folded arms, observing Geonino's face. His dirty grey technician uniform ensured they ignored him completely. Arsenio reached into his pants pocket, pressing a single trigger button on his custom micro-keyboard.
Instantly, Arsenio's hacker code already embedded within the central network began its work. Without a single alarm sounding, the system breached Geonino's offshore account defenses one by one at extraordinary speed.
"Today, I assure you that not a single cent of our funds can be touched by outsiders," Geonino continued on stage with utter arrogance.
However, just as Geonino finished his sentence, the giant projector screen behind him suddenly flashed bright red. The normal business transaction graphs were replaced by a window displaying Geonino's own personal account balance.
The board members furrowed their brows in confusion. Several senior directors began whispering while pointing at the massive projection screen.
"Geonino! What is the meaning of that display? Why are your personal accounts shown here?" a senior director reprimanded in a sharp, bewildered tone.
Geonino froze and immediately turned around to look at the giant screen. His confident smile turned pale as he saw his balance drop drastically within seconds.
Fifty million credits vanished from the screen. One hundred million credits followed, evaporating without a trace. The numbers continued to plummet rapidly like water bursting through a dam.
"What is happening?! Turn off the screen right now!" Geonino yelled in pure panic, pressing the remote button in his hand repeatedly.
Yet the remote didn't respond to his commands at all. Arsenio in the back row kept moving his fingers inside his pants pocket, transferring half of Geonino's entire wealth into dozens of anonymous accounts in the lower district.
"Someone is hacking my account! Secure the network right now!" Geonino shrieked hysterically to the technicians beside the stage.
The computer technicians near the stage typed on their keyboards frantically, but their monitors locked down completely. The account-draining transactions continued seamlessly in front of the entire board of directors.
"You said your system was unhackable, Geonino!" the senior director barked, rising from his chair in burning anger. "You can't even protect your own money right in front of our eyes!"
Geonino clutched his head as dizziness set in. Cold sweat poured down his expensive shirt. In under three minutes, half the wealth he had amassed through betrayal and bribes was gone.
"This is impossible... This can't be happening!" Geonino muttered, breathing heavily, his eyes bulging at his halved account balance.
In the farthest corner of the room, Arsenio intentionally halted the draining process. He didn't drain everything because he wanted to leave the remaining half as bait, making Geonino feel even more pressured and terrified.
Arsenio leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms over his chest with a look of fake confusion and fear, playing the part of an ignorant layman.
"Who is doing this?! Who is the hacker in this room?!" Geonino screamed hysterically, glaring wildly across the entire meeting room.
His mind flashed to Arsenio's name, but he instantly brushed the thought aside. Arsenio was dead; there was no way that weakling tortured by Vance could be inside this grand building. The hacker had to be a top-tier professional sent by a rival corporation.
Suddenly, red emergency warning lights in the corners of the meeting room ceiling began blinking loudly. The building security sirens echoed loudly, shattering the panicked atmosphere among the directors.
"The system has detected a local trigger signal! The hacker is transmitting data from inside this room!" shouted one of the technicians who managed to read the signal's location.
Hearing that report, Geonino's face turned dark and furious. He pointed toward the exit and the back rows with a terrifying expression.
"Lock all the doors right now! Don't let a single person leave this room!" Geonino ordered in a high-pitched, vengeful voice.
Clang!
The meeting room doors slammed shut and locked automatically via the emergency security system. Dozens of personal bodyguards burst in through the side doors.
They carried military-grade automatic assault rifles complete with red laser sights on their muzzles. The sound of weapons c*****g echoed menacingly in the sealed room.
The directors shrieked in terror and hid under the conference tables. The meeting room descended into total chaos within seconds.
"Search everyone in the back row! Anyone holding an electronic device must be apprehended!" Geonino barked while stepping down swiftly from the stage.
The fully armed guards began sweeping the back of the room aggressively. They shoved small tables aside and searched every person present.
Finally, the guard commander's gaze and red laser sight locked onto the sole figure sitting quietly in the very last row. That figure was a technician in a dirty grey uniform with a faded tool bag under his feet.
Arsenio intentionally slouched his body lower. He made his frame tremble violently, appearing like a terrified man shocked by the sight of firearms before him.
Five armed guards surrounded Arsenio from various angles, pinning his position so he couldn't flee.
The gun muzzles were aimed directly at Arsenio's chest and head as he cowered helplessly. Red laser dots rested tightly against his grey uniform.
Geonino approached with wide strides, breathing heavily with rage. He stood directly in front of Arsenio, glaring at the thin technician bowing beneath his subordinates' weapons.
"You... raise your head right now!" Geonino barked in a piercing tone.
Arsenio raised his head slowly, his face filled with fake terror. His lips quivered slightly and his eyes blinked rapidly as though he were about to faint from fright.
Geonino studied the technician's dirty face up close. Because of the facial scars and filthy uniform, Geonino failed to recognize his former friend whom he had once betrayed. In Geonino's eyes, the man before him was just a foolish, unlucky low-level contractor.
"Who sent you into this room, huh?!" Geonino screamed right in Arsenio's face, grabbing the collar of the man's grey uniform roughly.
"I-I'm just an AC technician, sir... I don't know anything!" Arsenio whispered in a convincingly shaky voice.
"Dump out that faded bag under his feet right now!" Geonino ordered his guards, ignoring Arsenio's words.
Two guards immediately kicked Arsenio's tool bag, scattering its contents across the floor. Wrenches, screwdrivers, and several old radio components spilled onto the ground.
Among the pile of old tools lay a small red-lit signal trigger that was still emitting an active frequency.
Geonino's eyes widened upon seeing the trigger. His rage boiled over. He grabbed a pistol from a guard's waist and pressed the muzzle directly against Arsenio's forehead.
"You stole my money! You're the hacker!" Geonino shrieked, his eyes bloodshot with madness.
All the guards in the room c****d their weapons tighter, prepared to blow Arsenio's body to pieces if he made the slightest move.
The directors hiding under the tables held their breath. The atmosphere inside the locked meeting room felt suffocatingly tense. Arsenio was completely surrounded, with no way out.
Yet behind his trembling body and terrified expression under the threat of Geonino's gun, Arsenio felt his heartbeat begin to rise steadily.
Every beat of his heart connected directly to a micro-frequency detector safely implanted beneath his chest skin. The most dangerous secret weapon he carried today wasn't a computer or data code, but a hidden wave trigger ready to detonate from within him.
Geonino pressed the gun muzzle harder into Arsenio's forehead until the skin reddened.
"Tell me who sent you, or I'll blow your brains out right here, right now!" Geonino threatened in a thundering voice.
Arsenio stared straight into Geonino's pupils. The fake fear in his eyes abruptly faded, replaced by an icy, emotionless gaze.
Arsenio offered a faint smile, a smile that made the hairs on the back of Geonino's neck stand up for no clear reason.
"You still can't recognize who your true enemy is, Geonino," Arsenio stated in a quiet yet firm voice.
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