1, Memories of the Grove

Procrastination is the habit of delaying something, usually because of laziness or being occupied with something else. For Ryu Yongsun, the former was the reason (which is surprisingly relatable) most of the time, especially on days like this that welcome humanity with torrential rain. It is also one of the many reasons he always slept through the 13 alarms he set for himself every morning, causing him to never have enough time. At this point, he just accepts it and moves on with living out his morning as if it was rush hour. Quickly slipping into his slippers that were positioned by his bed, Ryu Yongsun rushed downstairs to make himself some breakfast that majority of the time was just severely unhealthy cereal or toast with butter, sometimes jam.

"Toast or cereal?" spoke Ryu Yongsun to himself. Speaking to himself became a habit after living alone for the past few years. In the end, he chose the cereal which the ingredients for were mostly different types of sugars and food colouring. He quickly poured it into a black bowl and grabbed the milk from the fridge, pouring it in as well.

He got dressed quickly into a white shirt with the word "Idol" on it which was written in English, he then threw on some black sweatpants. Since it was also raining, he made the logical decision to take an umbrella, it so happened that the umbrella had black and white stripes on it, matching his outfit. He also put on a black duffle jacket which he didn't bother to close as he hated how it looked when it was closed.

If you haven't realised yet, he mostly wears shaded (black and white) clothes as if he is allergic to colour. Ryu Yongsun bolted out of the door, making sure to lock it quickly on his way out and rushed down the stairs out to the street. His journey to his workplace was simple, but he enjoyed it nevertheless.

First, he'd quickly jog to the bus stop and the bus usually came right as he arrived or a bit after which was out of character for him considering his lack of athleticism. He only missed the bus once before, it wasn't a good day for him at all though. Second, after being on the bus for a while he gets off and gets on a different bus which comes every 5 to 10 minutes so it usually comes right as he gets off. Finally, once he gets off the second bus he walks quickly through the park and then reaches his office building. He is employed by a company called YeoSafety, which provides cyber security technology to the South Korean public as well as international customers. Ryu Yongsun works there as a project lead, currently working on a project called Barri3r which is planned to be a huge upgrade for current South Korean government data protection.

Since the son of the minister (Yeo Hak-Kun) was the chief executive officer and also the founder of the company, it had quite the security measures. At the entrance, all visitors were required to show their government ID and give a DNA sample which was usually a strand of hair or a saliva swab. On the other hand, employees had to show their employee ID card, government ID card, and have to use their thumb fingerprint to get onto the elevator or open the door to the stairwell. Even though this was quite extreme, it at least made the employees feel safer in the workplace as unauthorised people had no easy way of getting in. Also forgot to mention that 5 guards are patrolling the surrounding area, 2 of them are right by the building, while the other 3 are spread around; while on the other floors, there are swarms of guards occupying the workspace.

"Morning, project leader Ryu Yongsun," said someone behind him, it was his current project assistant Hwa Hyun-Jae. She was working on Barri3r with him and their team, without her contributions the progress they have made wouldn't be achievable. There's a rumour she is only trying this hard to get the CEO's attention, although most of them don't know a crucial part of that theory which is that she isn't into men and is already into someone else.

"Good morning!" replied Ryu Yongsun with a beaming smile that lit up the area within a 5 meter radius. It was the core of his deadly charm that surprisingly affected nobody in the office, partly because they all cared about their computers more than their coworkers. His head turned towards the elevator doors which opened after creating a "ding" sound that grasped their attention.

Hwa Hyun-Jae got on first and Ryu Yongsun followed closely behind. When the doors closed and the elevator started to ascend up the floors, the two discussed Barri3r, trying to find ways to correct certain issues and ways to make it more secure. Hwa Hyun-Jae showed him the results of different tests carried out by hired hackers, 5% of them got through Barri3r and their plan was to decrease that number to 0.

As the two reached the 11th floor and the elevator doors opened, they were both greeted by Ae Jin-Sang, "Morning you two~!", who was an apprentice under Ryu Yongsun. He was already holding his ocean-themed planner and a company tablet that allowed him to take notes and keep track of relevant dates and appointments for the team. In other terms, he was basically a secretary. The team working on Barri3r consisted of 5 people in total, without counting external helpers like the hired hackers. As you know, 3 of them are Ryu Yongsun, Hwa Hyun-Jae and Ae Jin-Sang. The other two will remained unnamed till later as they still haven't arrived to work.

They were late almost every day with the same excuse of being stuck in traffic, they only managed to escape severe consequences as they were some of the best programmers in the province and YeoSafety didn't want them gone. The three that got here on time, one of them being early, went into their workroom to start correcting the problems in Barri3r. They started by identifying how the hired hackers were able to get past and brainstormed ideas on how to fix it, which turned out to be successful. They also added extra levels of security and stricter access restrictions to different types of data.

As time passed, they continue to discuss various topics about Barri3r. They've made great progress, and they were sure the CEO would be proud of everything they have achieved so far even if he didn't directly congratulate them. The main reason they decided to work on this project after all was because they knew that there was a guaranteed bonus, possibly a promotion, if Barri3r was a huge success. Not soon after they began working alone, the two who were late finally arrived. Priska, a 21 year old junior employee and Kinta, a 20 year old employee who's also a junior.

Hwa Hyun-Jae locked eyes with one of them for a moment and blood flooded her cheeks. To save herself from embarrassment, she instantly shifted her gaze back to her laptop and let her hair fall onto her round face. Together, they arrived in the room where the 3 were working. The rain, continuing to pour from the sky, increased in pace and intensity; they both sat down at the big table while taking their laptops out. Nobody said anything, nobody looked, and they all continued their work.

The day went by fairly quickly and it was quite productive considering how many "mental health breaks" they took which basically meant taking advantage of the free food and fast WiFi. Ryu Yongsun's team managed to correct certain bugs and also fixed ways that let some of the 5% past Barri3r. Ryu Yongsun left the office and took the elevator back down, by this time it was already 7:49 at night.

Although the hours were long, about 11 hours, the pay was good and he got a lot of breaks with free food that was better than most restaurants. He repeated the journey to the office but in reverse, got on the first bus, got off at the bus stop he switches on but unfortunately the second bus was out of service. The quickest way to his house without taking the bus was through the park which was basically a forest.

Ryu Yongsun took out his phone and plugged in his headphones, playing his favourite K-pop playlist on shuffle. The park gates were tall and wide with a hologram of the minister of the environment standing in the middle, welcoming everybody who passed through the gates. The darkness of the night made the park seem like something that belongs in a horror movie, especially since the path lights weren't on. In the distance though, he saw a bright flashing light and thought it was some sort of party so he quickly changed directions and started to walk towards it.