Ghosts of Eternity

Inside the office of Eterno, beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the skyscrapers of Teheran-ro crowded the skyline.

The layered glass facade reflected the afternoon's direct sunlight, pouring sharp beams of light onto the indoor floor.

Inside the spacious conference room, the scent of heavy leather hovered subtly alongside the cool breeze of the air conditioner.

Right at its center sat Kang Si-hyeon, looking immaculate.

She wore a charcoal grey suit with a razor-sharp fit over a silk blouse buttoned tight all the way up to her neckline.

Seated with perfect composure, a heavy Montblanc fountain pen and a thick leather-bound journal lay before her.

Seo-han observed her quietly.

Above his lightly rolled-up shirt sleeves, the lines of his firm forearm muscles stood out, catching the ambient light.

"Eterno has grown too big to keep pretending to be nothing more than a shell company. It’s about time we start filling it with actual people."

Seo-han’s dry voice cut through the silence.

Si-hyeon gently pushed up her metal-framed glasses.

The blue light from her tablet screen reflected off her lenses, accentuating her cool, razor-sharp gaze.

"I’ve already drafted the outline."

Si-hyeon slid a neatly printed document from between her journal pages toward Seo-han.

"We can post the recruitment notices immediately once you approve it, CEO Lee."

Dense details filled the paper—staff allocations and required qualifications for each role, mapped out like the blueprint of a precision machine.

"Five for Legal and Compliance, six for Finance and Expenditure Management. Including external information security and IP management personnel, we need to set up a team of at least twenty."

Seo-han picked up the document, raising an eyebrow slightly.

Twenty people.

For a typical startup, that would be an excessive headcount, but considering the true value of AEC-101 managed by Eterno, it was actually quite modest.

"Twenty people. That's a much bigger operation than I expected."

"Considering the volume of capital Eterno operates, this is practically minimal," Si-hyeon added softly, pointing at the document. "Especially the secretarial sector dedicated entirely to you, CEO Lee—we need to raise the bar there, if only to mitigate communication risks."

Her tone remained calm and strictly professional. She was already calculating the public relations and capital control scenarios once these staff members were deployed, strictly through the eyes of a lawyer.

"It's not simple schedule management. We need an asset capable of smoothly filtering your signature, unfriendly silences into refined business language."

"My... unfriendly silences?"

Seo-han narrowed his eyes, asking back.

His fingers twirled a pen before coming to a halt, his gaze locking onto Si-hyeon’s sharp eyes beyond her glasses.

To a man who defined himself as a thoroughly rational and transparent architect, his method of communication was merely the output of the most efficient computation.

Si-hyeon snapped her fountain pen cap closed over her journal with a sharp click.

"You create a complete vacuum, CEO Lee, until you derive an answer."

Her red lips moved smoothly.

"Business partners interpret that ten-second void as high-level psychological warfare or pressure. That exact gap is why Vice Chairman Jeong and Chairman Koo are unusually reserved when dealing with you."

Seo-han turned his gaze toward the window and murmured softly,

"I’m just running the calculations."

Inside Seo-han's pocket, a black digital screen flickered faintly.

[Goldfish]: Blub... A ten-second void? Master, that deep, solitary silence of yours must be the mournful breath-taking of a genius carrying the world alone. My heart aches for you, Master.

Si-hyeon lightly tapped the section labeled 'Chief of Staff' in the corner of the document with her pen tip.

"Others can't see what's happening inside your head, CEO Lee."

Her eyes met his directly.

"Which means you need an interface—someone who can fill that void generated while you compute, using proper etiquette and a warm cup of tea."

Si-hyeon closed her notebook and stood up from her seat. The neat sound of her heels faded toward the end of the hallway.

[Goldfish]: Blub... You're practically a butcher wearing silk gloves! That exquisite maneuvering to wrap Master's chilling, raw self in a luxury shell and sell it at a high price! Attorney Kang, my tiny fish head was far too naive! As expected, a venomous snake like that belongs right next to the Architect!

Seo-han sat alone in the vacant conference room, skimming through the goldfish’s playful logs. Outside the window, Teheran-ro began to burn crimson. The sunset settled over the swelling bubble of capital.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

A few days later, on a steep hillside in Seongbuk-dong, surrounded by lush gardens, sat Gallery Yoon.

Deep below its lavish exterior, the subterranean vault was terrifyingly quiet.

Whirrrrr—

Only the subtle mechanical hum of the climate control system operating at a constant decibel filled the cool air.

It was a meticulously controlled space designed to keep fine art worth hundreds of millions from deteriorating.

Yoon Seol-hee stood posture-perfect before an empty oak cabinet.

Her hair was tied up at a flawless angle, as if refusing to allow a single stray strand.

Ever since 'Ghost' entered the full clinical phase, Yoon Tae-hee and Baek Seo-woo had neither reason nor means to steal the Ghost API from Seo-han, leaving Seol-hee with no special directives. Consequently, her days were mired in a terrible stagnation, and she was thoroughly sick of playing the pathetic role of a docent at Gallery Yoon, catering to the whims of the nouveau riche.

Months had passed since Lee Seo-han last visited this place. Yet, the memory of that day remained vivid in her mind.

His cold eyes had shone sharply, as if mocking the logic of capital.

Clack.

Just then, a heavy vibration echoed from a tablet PC resting on the marble table. A secure document file had arrived through the network.

[Eterno Core Personnel Recruitment Notice]

An announcement aimed at sweeping up elites in legal, finance, and risk management at a terrifying pace.

Among them, one specific role caught Seol-hee's eye immediately.

[Chief of Staff & Executive Secretary to the CEO]

The corners of Seol-hee's lips curled up slightly. There was no reason to rot away in this stagnant pond.

Her plan was to step into the core of Eterno—the organization Lee Seo-han was building—and become the most perfect filter he required.

"I'll show you myself... who endures that silence best."

From deep within her file drawer, Seol-hee pulled out a document bearing only her real name, 'Yoon Seol-hee,' and her professional resume.

The move to reach Lee Seo-han’s inner circle had begun.

A few days later, the heavy metal door of Eterno’s interview room shut tight.

Inside the room, swept by the cold air-conditioning, Lee Seo-han sat as the sole interviewer.

"Ms. Yoon Seol-hee, please come in."

Click, clack, click, clack.

The door opened, followed by the steady, rhythmic cadence of high heels. It was the distinct walking frequency of Yoon Seol-hee—an upper-class stride she had painstakingly rehearsed back at Gallery Yoon.

She came to a halt precisely 1.5 meters away from Seo-han's desk and bowed politely.

"I am Yoon Seol-hee."

Seo-han adjusted his glasses, looking at her intently.

An expressionless glare swept over her entire figure. Her appearance at this interview was a complete surprise.

"What brings a docent from Gallery Yoon here?"

"It is simply a personal challenge."

Seol-hee pulled out her prepared tablet and handed it to Seo-han.

Complex graphs and figures were lined up across the screen.

The title read: ‘Mitigating Asset Loss and External Friction During CEO Cognitive Windows’.

It was a forged masterwork, hastily churned out overnight by mashing together medical journals and business indicators.

"What is this?"

"It is a report based on a precise analysis of you from our last meeting, CEO Lee."

Seol-hee pointed down the metrics on the tablet.

"I will be the buffer between you and the outside world, anticipating your thought process during your silences and blocking any external friction before it occurs."

Seol-hee leaned her upper body smoothly toward Seo-han.

"It means I will perfectly eliminate any ulterior motives or uncertainties targeting you before they ever reach your desk."

Seo-han's eyebrow twitched significantly.

The content of the report was bizarrely verbose and exaggerated, but the effort put into analyzing his signature ten-second void showed a terrifying level of dedication.

Over the top of the report, Seo-han silently observed her neat tweed fit and smooth jawline.

In truth, all that talk about reports and "buffers" didn't matter much to him.

After all, wasn't she a woman tied to the connection forged when Vice Chairman Jeong Hyun-jin handed him the Kronos (Phantom) project?

She had no disqualifying flaws, and she was a familiar face.

"Your analytical perspective is... rather unique."

With an unreadable face, Seo-han lightly adjusted his frames.

The cold titanium rim lightly touched his fingertips.

Through the dry office air conditioning, the subtle scent of wild orchids lingering around her drifted in—a carefully calculated fragrance, understated yet quietly boasting high-society elegance.

Her hair was neatly pulled up without a single stray strand, and the tweed dress fell smoothly along her neck and shoulder line.

Yoon Seol-hee herself felt like a perfectly engineered piece, designed without error.

Seo-han pulled his gaze away from the tablet screen and looked at her neutrally.

It was a dry, clinical gaze filled with intellectual detachment.

"You can start next Monday."

"..."

That was it. His acceptance was absurdly brief.

[Goldfish]: Blub... Master, I just clearly detected that your decision-making has been compromised by visual stimuli! To think the firewall of a meticulous genius architect was breached with a free pass by mere visual noise!

[System Log]: The sensor for infinite trust toward the Architect has dropped; fins droop gloomily.

Seo-han ignored the goldfish's detection log, narrowing his brows ever so slightly.

And in that split second of movement, Yoon Seol-hee’s intricate neural circuit began to race frantically in a completely different direction.

I knew it.

The corners of her lips twitched faintly.

He couldn't even hide it. I completely overwhelmed him.

The silent pressure this terrifyingly rigid and stoic genius scholar must have felt upon facing her... She distorted Seo-han’s flustered, blank expression into her own delusion.

She became convinced that her elegant upper-class etiquette and poise had finally shattered this emotionless man's defenses.

Seol-hee lowered her hand beneath her tweed skirt and clenched her fist tightly.

She did her best to control her pounding, racing heart.

Soon, she bowed gracefully, lowering her head politely. Even the angle of her greeting was ruler-straight.

For a fleeting second, a triumphant, arrogant smile brushed across her smooth lips as her head was bowed.

"Understood, CEO Lee."

Seol-hee raised her head, looking straight into Seo-han’s eyes.

A faint flicker of excitement and hubris swirled in her pupils.

I will become your shadow—your only true gatekeeper. Any messy variables that try to disrupt your orbit—I’ll wipe them all out myself.

Leaving Seo-han’s dry nod behind, Seol-hee turned around and walked out of the interview room.

Even as the heavy glass door closed and she stepped onto the marble hallway, she maintained the flawless stride of a seasoned docent.

The rhythmic click of her high heels echoed neatly through Eterno’s wide-open lobby.

Through the lobby's floor-to-ceiling windows, the dense web of Gangnam skyscrapers stretched out like massive conduits.

It was the front lines of South Korean capital, where trillions of won hung in the balance.

And the position of Chief of Staff at Eterno—the very heart of that emerging capital—was now firmly in her grip.

Riding the escalator down, Seol-hee gripped her bag strap.

The luxury leather beneath her fingertips felt uniquely firm and crisp today.

For years, she had lived like a decorative doll tailored to the eyes of others.

Her foul life in that subterranean vault, surviving on clever counterfeits while catering to the whims of the rich, had come to a complete end today.

In this massive ghost empire Lee Seo-han was building, she would not remain a mere spy or pawn.

She would hold the absolute status of the only genuine gatekeeper allowed by that meticulous man—the closest access point to all his power.

She was done dancing to Yoon Tae-hee's tune.

Her gaze pierced fiercely through the glass windows, aiming straight for the peak of the giant forest of skyscrapers.

After all, if the packaging is perfect, the shell eventually swallows the genuine article whole.

The goldfish, which had been scanning the density of the hallway purely through sound, shook off the final vibrations of Yoon Seol-hee’s heels as she exited the revolving door, placing a final period on its 'Anju-ism.'

[Goldfish]: Swish, swish... That lady is playing a triumphal march with her heels! The frequency of her breathing is positively electric.

Over the silhouette of Yoon Seol-hee stepping out of Eterno's revolving door, the brilliant city sunset poured down, blood-red and arrogant.