The "Aether" server room was the beating heart of Lian's secret world. Located in a sub-basement of the Lian Logistics building, it was protected by three-foot-thick reinforced concrete and an encrypted biometric scanner that only recognized Lian's unique retinal pattern and pulse.
Or so he thought.
When Lian stepped out of the elevator, he didn't hear the usual rhythmic hum of the cooling fans. Instead, he heard voices—familiar, warm voices that had no business being in his sanctuary.
He rounded the corner, his hand instinctively going to the ceramic blade hidden in his sleeve. The door to the server hub was wide open. Inside, surrounded by glowing blue towers of data, stood Hao-Ran and Ji-Min.
Hao-Ran was holding a tablet, his face pale as he scrolled through the global transaction logs of Aether International. Ji-Min was staring at a secondary monitor that displayed a live feed of the "Jade Clinic" in the slums.
"Lian," Ji-Min whispered, his voice cracking as he turned to look at his brother. "How... how long?"
Lian stood in the doorway, his silhouette framed by the harsh fluorescent lights of the corridor. The Haphephobia flared, the feeling of being "discovered" manifesting as a suffocating tightness in his chest. His secret identity—the only thing that made him feel safe—had been breached by the very people he had spent two lifetimes pushing away.
"Get out," Lian said. The words weren't a request; they were a death sentence.
"We found the bypass in the family's main server," Hao-Ran said, his voice trembling with a mix of awe and terror. "I followed the 'Ghost' trail for weeks, thinking it was a corporate spy. I never imagined... Lian, you're the CEO of Aether? You're the one who bankrupted the Han Group in a single afternoon?"
Lian walked into the room, his footsteps silent. The air felt heavy, charged with a volatile energy. "You have thirty seconds to leave before I activate the emergency purge and lock this floor. You were never meant to see this."
"Why did you hide it?" Ji-Min stepped forward, his eyes full of the same "loving" concern that had triggered Lian's panic attack at the hospital. "We thought you were struggling to survive your trauma. We thought you were weak. But you've been building a kingdom while we were busy worrying about what suit you'd wear to a gala."
"You worried about the 'Jewel' of the Lian family," Lian countered, his voice dripping with venom. "You worried about the asset. You never worried about me. If I hadn't built this, I would still be a shadow in your house, waiting for the next person to touch me without permission."
The Confrontation of BloodHao-Ran stepped toward him, the tablet still in his hand. "Lian, this is incredible. With Aether's tech and the Lian family's infrastructure, we could dominate the entire continent. We can help you—"
"Help me?" Lian laughed, a cold, hollow sound that made Ji-Min flinch. "I don't need your help. I spent eighteen years being 'helped' into a corner. I spent a lifetime dying while you watched. This isn't a family business, Hao-Ran. This is my fortress. And you are trespassers."
He reached for the console, his fingers hovering over the System Purge button. One press, and months of work would vanish to protect his anonymity.
"Wait!" Ji-Min cried out. "Lian, look at the screen! Look at what I found before you came in."
Ji-Min pointed to a blinking red alert on the corner of the monitor. It was a trace—someone was currently trying to hack into the Aether servers from an external location. The source code was familiar. It wasn't the "Fox" signature of Jin-Ho. It was a series of ancient, rhythmic pings that mimicked a heartbeat.
The Viper.
"He followed your trail," Lian whispered, his blood turning to liquid nitrogen. "By breaking in here, you opened a door for him."
Hao-Ran's face went white. "We... we didn't know. We used the family's high-speed bypass, we thought it was secure."
"Nothing is secure from him," Lian snapped. He shoved Hao-Ran aside, his gloved fingers flying across the keyboard. He had to build a digital firewall before the Viper could extract the location of the Jade Clinic or the names of his associates.
The DecisionFor the next ten minutes, the three brothers stood in the heart of the server room. Lian was a whirlwind of genius, his mind working at a pace that left his brothers breathless. He was the "God level" CEO they had heard rumors about—a man who saw data as a weapon.
Finally, the pings stopped. The screen turned green. Access Denied.
Lian slumped back into his chair, his chest heaving. He looked at his brothers. They weren't looking at him with pity anymore. They were looking at him with respect, fear, and a desperate desire to be part of his world.
The "Extreme Loneliness" flared. He could exile them now. He could wipe their memories or use his influence to send them to a distant branch office. He could go back to being the "Ghost."
But he thought of Jin-Ho's hand on the rooftop. He thought of his father's tears.
"If you ever touch a terminal in this room again," Lian said, his voice low and terrifyingly calm, "I will not hesitate to treat you as enemies. But..."
He paused, the silence stretching until it felt like it would break.
"If you want to stay... you will work for me. Not as my brothers. As my subordinates. You will take orders from the Ghost. You will keep the secret of Aether, even from Father. If you fail, you lose everything."
Hao-Ran and Ji-Min exchanged a look. They didn't even hesitate.
"Whatever you need, Lian," Hao-Ran said, bowing his head.
Lian didn't respond with kindness. He didn't offer a hug. He simply turned back to his monitors, his face an unreadable mask of ice. But deep down, the "Old Lian" felt a tiny, flickering spark. He wasn't just building a kingdom anymore.
He was building an army.