Over the next few days, Ayan and Haider worked tirelessly to unravel the threads of the tracking attempts. They set up decoys, ran deep-system cleanses, and encrypted their data with additional layers of security. But despite their efforts, the intrusions continued, each one more invasive than the last.
One night, a particular IP address caught his eye as Ayan sifted through the logs. It was masked through several layers of encryption, but he could trace its origin to a government building in Seoul. His heart dropped as the implications became clear.
"It's him," he murmured, realization dawning. "The President… he's watching us."
Before he could react, a message flashed on his screen. It was an encrypted email from an anonymous source, the subject line reading"Payment Due."
With a sinking feeling, Ayan opened the email, reading the single sentence written inside:
