Phoenix

21. The Special Force

​The air in the security chief’s office felt thick, as if the oxygen itself was being squeezed out by the gravity of Dr. Donnen’s revelation.
Pin-drop silence reigned as Jin and Arya, both seasoned NIS agents, sat stunned. They were trying to digest the sheer impossibility of what the old scientist had just claimed.
The existence of an external entity capable of wielding the Uno-code was not just a security breach; it was a fundamental shift in the reality of their mission.

​Jin was the first to find his voice, his eyes locked onto the professor with a gaze that sought to peel back layers of truth. "How sure are you about what you are claiming, doctor?"

​"Cent percent, Mr. Kim," Donnen replied, his voice carrying a weary finality. He looked like a man who had carried a heavy burden for years and was finally setting it down. "Whether someone believes it or not, there is an Uno outside of our circle. It is the bitter truth, there is nothing to deny it. But no one can say who that person is, how or why that person came to be."

​Arya leaned forward, her brow furrowed in a mixture of confusion and professional skepticism. She knew the history of the code as well as anyone, and this went against every record she had ever studied.

"I don't want to believe it, sir," she said frankly. "You sure you are not somehow, wrong? Have you seen the sign of this Uno anywhere apart from that one time?"

​Donnen shook his head from side to side, a slow, rhythmic movement of defeat. "No. But that is not abnormal. That person is stronger than us in this field, he or she may have become more cautious since that incident. There is nothing to be surprised about if his mark is not seen anywhere. Maybe he is just laying low to evade our eyes. I've been thinking about this for some time but eventually gave up getting no clue to proceed on and the whole thing slowly got old and I forgot about it until you guys brought it up."

His logic was chilling. In the digital world, the most dangerous enemy is the one you never see. But the technical impossibility still bothered Arya.

"...But if there is no one who can know the Uno-code, how can he be more skillful than you?"

​"If I knew that answer, then the mystery wouldn't have been any mystery," Donnen countered. "But the virus you are talking about is none other than his work. He has that kind of skill."

​Jin’s mind was already racing, attempting to categorize this new threat. He needed a profile, a name—anything to ground this ghost. "Doctor, who could be this mysterious Uno—can you guess it? Any name, any face, Any clue, anything at all?"

​Donnen simply shrugged, his spectacles reflecting the sterile fluorescent lights. "Sorry, I have no idea. If there was any clue, then I could have found him four years ago."

​"The situation is different from back then," Jin said, his tone turning grimly serious. "He didn't kill your friends back then or didn't put the world in a tough position. Now he is. I hope you understand how important it is to find that person?"

​"Yes I understand, Mr. Kim. I too want to catch that bastard. But like I said, I have no clue."

​Jin looked away, staring at the blank security monitors. "There have to be—maybe you know it—whether you know it in the conscious or subconscious mind," he said absentmindedly, his tactical brain connecting dots across decades. "You are the creator of the code, so whether it is number eleven or a thousand, he has to learn it from any of you guys. I'm sure there is some link of that person with any of the ten of you."

​The scientist bristled at the implication, his face flushing with a mix of academic pride and loyalty to his fallen friends. "Impossible! We made a promise not to let the code fall in anyone's hands, and no one broke it—this I can guarantee."