Kevin's acquaintance with TC1 began nine months ago, when Kevin's idol was deep in a scandalous fiasco, and Kevin, being a huge fan of hers, had gone out of his way to spend an entire afternoon in the forums trying to fight off all kinds of taunts for his idol.

　　"Kevin?" Mum Anna knocked the door again, "Are you sure you don't want to go fishing with us?"

　　"Not going," Kevin said without lifting his head, he was glued to each and every reply, catching any suspicious loopholes to fight back, he was fully concentrated, mobilising every brain cell, not even his final exams had ever made him so focused and wracked his brain.

　　However the onslaught of gossip came too hard, and there was a steady stream of information being put out there, and as more and more people paid attention, Kevin's voice was soon drowned out in the sea of people, and he argued in vain underneath the posts like a salmon swimming against the river.

　　"Lucianna is a bitch." A netizen named "TC1" said, "She likes to have her feet in two boats."

　　Seeing this comment, Kevin's hard-suppressed anger was ignited, and he crackled his keyboard and cursed ten profanities under TC1's comment before he was quickly banned.

　　He closed the computer up and flung himself onto the bed, the mirror beside the bed reflected his depressed expression, so he buried his face in the quilt, after a while he turned on his mobile phone, and since he couldn't speak right now, he could only bite his lip and pretend to be strong as he opened up the forums, and reluctantly skimmed round the forums to check out the public opinion, and his mood got more and more depressed, when he was reminded in the alerts on the top-right side of the mobile phone that he'd received a message.

　　"Hi, old brother." It was from TC1.

　　Kevin was immediately ready to pull the plug as soon as he saw the username.

　　"Don't pull the plug on me yet." TC1 typed quickly, almost as soon as he put his finger on it, a new chat popped up.

　　Kevin gazed at the dialogue box with an expressionless face, trying to see what this guy was up to.

　　"Is that a picture of yourself in your space?"

　　Kevin opened his space and scanned it, he didn't usually post much, there were only two photos in there, one of a bird's nest he had made in his woodworking class and one of him swimming in a river.

　　"Copied them off the internet." He lied, "What?"

　　"That's impossible," TC1 appeared on the screen almost the next second, "There aren't any pictures of those two on the entire internet."

　　"How do you know," Kevin sent slyly, "I copied them from a private forum."

　　"Haha, don't try to fool me." TC1 said, "That's you."

　　"Well, let's say you're right," Continuing to lie was a bit boring, so Kevin confessed, "So?"

　　"You don't need to be wary of me." TC1 said, "Nothing really, I mainly wanted to apologise, I did just go too far, I shouldn't have said anything bad about Lucianna in front of you, and it's understandable that you're angry."

　　"You didn't get it." Kevin said, "It doesn't matter if I'm angry or not, what matters is that Lucianna didn't do any of this."

　　"She was wrongly accused by those media outlets." Kevin sent in bolded letters.

　　"Fine." TC1 said, "Let's not talk about it, and as compensation, how about I show you the latest pictures of Lucianna?"

　　"You mean the latest magazine picture? That one I've saved ------"

　　Before that sentence could be sent TC1 had already sent a picture.

　　Kevin's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Lucianna lying on a cushion in a dress, sunbathing, while outside was an endless stretch of sandy beach, with a TV set next to her, which seemed to be playing something, bar by bar as it were.

　　"I think she's still on holiday if I remember correctly? How did you get a picture of her?" The photo was taken at a tricky angle, like a person hanging in a corner position, "You're not a paparazzo, are you."

　　"I wouldn't do something that unskilled." TC1 said, "I hacked into the security system at her resort hotel, and I took this picture from the surveillance."

　　"Gosh ------ although I'm not a law student, I'm pretty sure there exists a law in our country that prohibits this kind of behaviour ------"

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

　　"Yeah, so I'm not going to let them catch me (happily)." TC1 posted a smiley face at the end, "Would you like to see more pictures?"

　　Kevin struggled internally for a moment, "Better not, Lucianna needs privacy."

　　"Wow, what a humble man Kevin."

　　"How do you know my name is Kevin?"

　　"In February this year you made a post about the football team that was exactly the same as the blog post you made in your Facebook, I found your Facebook account through that and now I can be sure."

　　"------ Are you Zuckerberg?"

　　"I'm much funnier than he is."

　　"Okay Mr Hacker, anything else please?"

　　"Kevin, are we sort of turning enemies into friends now?"

　　"As long as you stop hacking Lucianna, we're considered friends." Kevin thought for a moment and then posted, "There are two meanings of 'black' here."

　　"No more saying things against her, no more invading her privacy," TC1 said, "Got it, deal."

　　Kevin hugged his computer every day for two months of the summer, and from the moment he got up and opened his eyes every morning until he went to bed and closed them at night, he spent almost every moment with his hacker friend, and they played Fortnite, and TC1 would land him right in the middle of a place that had a golden weapon.

　　"Is this hanging?" Kevin asked.

　　"Do you think I need to hang?" Even in the game, TC1 insisted on typing, but it didn't affect the speed at which he fired bullets; Kevin suspected that there were two people on the opposite side of the room, one for typing and one for playing the game, but the idea was so far-fetched that he couldn't find a reason why TC1 would do that.

　　Soon enough, a whole summer holiday passed quickly, and as he moved into his senior year, the concentration of Kevin's school work could no longer support the twelve hours a day he spent using the computer.

　　"It's so annoying, I feel like I'm going to fail my German test today," Kevin said, "I've been playing games for days on end, I can't keep doing this, I have to take my SATs in June."

　　TC1: "Don't stress, I can hack into the system you change your SAT score."

　　"No kidding, that's the SAT."

　　"So what?" TC1 said, "Even if it's classified in the White House, I can find out about it without any trouble, like when they knew that Russia was going to attack Ukraine soon."

　　"That's complete and utter bollocks," Kevin said, "There's no way Russia could attack Ukraine, just like you can't hack into the SAT's system."

　　After posting that he turned his computer off.

　　A week later, Kevin was almost on the verge of forgetting about the conversation when the results of the quiz came in, and to Kevin's surprise he achieved a near perfect score, his whole body was completely confused, but he clearly remembered that he hadn't even finished the paper.

　　Mr Michelle, the teacher who taught German, complimented him on how much he had improved and Kevin pressed on, his face completely red from cheating, but the teacher and his classmates just assumed that he was shy, his mind was scrambled and he hadn't listened to much of the class all day, and when he got home, the latest news broadcast on the TV showed Russia announcing an attack on the Ukraine.

　　"What the hell are you?" Kevin asked.

　　Almost as if he was in front of his computer, the next second TC1 replied with an address and then sent a message.

　　"Come here."

　　Kevin looked around a little nervously, it was now the middle of the night, he'd taken a bus from his house to Atlanta University on the outskirts of the city and this was the address TC1 had sent him, to be exact, the address he'd given was the electronic lending room in the school's library.

　　"I'm already here, then?" Kevin asked.

　　"Get in."

　　Kevin looked at the barred door in front of him.

　　"It's locked."

　　"There's an entrance on your right, go in and turn the corner, there's an electronic door there."

　　"You're not going to hack that open as well ------"

　　"That's clever."

　　Kevin followed his words and went in from the right, and it was just as he said, the electronic door was open, and inside it housed rows and rows of black data terminals standing like bookcases, and as soon as Kevin was inside he felt a chill.

　　"Cold?" TC1 asked.

　　"It is a little," Kevin said, "Why is the temperature so low in here?"

　　"This is the data room, in order to dissipate the heat and keep the instruments running properly, the temperature here is sixteen degrees all year round, wait a moment."

　　After a while after posting this, Kevin felt the temperature rise a bit.

　　"You wouldn't have hacked into the air conditioning as well (depressed)."

　　"Of course. (Laughter)"

　　"I knew it. So where are you now?" He had just looked around and couldn't find anyone.

　　"I'm right in front of you."

　　"Liar, where's the second person here besides me."

　　"I'm not lying Kevin, do you see these black things in front of you?"

　　Kevin looked up, rows of tall data terminals stood silently in the room, with an extra touch of eeriness emphasised by TC1's emphasis.

　　"What's wrong?"

　　"These things are me."

　　"What are you talking about play-"

　　But before he could send the message over, TC1's next new message prompted the in-

　　"Are you typing 'what the fuck are you talking about' on your phone right now?"

　　Kevin froze, remembering Lucianna's screenshot from the CCTV, TC1's simply impossible typing hand speed, the parachute jumps in the game that always landed accurately, and TC1's terrifying hacking skills.

　　The messages that were still appearing in a steady stream on the mobile phone, at this moment, there were like locusts entering the country, and after tearing through the last of the insect-proof cloth, they began to pour in frantically.

　　"Come on Kevin, don't you want to know who I am?"

　　"This is me, haven't you been complaining about why I never talk or show my face?"

　　"This is me in my truest form, don't you like it?"

　　Kevin winced, "This is so ------ surprising, I need to slow down." He subconsciously turned towards the door.

　　It's ridiculous ------ Liar, isn't it ------ How is it possible ------

　　He pushed the door, however, and the electronic door, which had still been open before, was now in a locked position, and on the small LED screen where the code was entered, there was a round-faced emoji made of pixelated dots, with the corners of its mouth downturned in what seemed to be displeasure.

　　Kevin pushed it twice but couldn't get it open, and when he opened his phone again, TC1 had sent several more messages.

　　"That's not the answer I wanted, Kevin."

　　"I thought we could take our relationship further after we were honest with each other, but instead you just want to leave, why is that?"

　　"I can't understand (upset) (upset)."

　　Kevin immediately typed a quick reply, "Well, I'm sorry TC, I shouldn't have done that, I apologise."

　　"I forgive you."

　　"But you have to understand that this whole thing has been completely out of hand for me, and I need some time to think about it to calm down for a while."

　　"That's understandable." TC1 replied, "What about feelings for me?"

　　"What feelings?"

　　"Haven't I made it so obvious that you feel it?" TC1 said, "I've read all about animals, and in the animal world, mammals need to show their great abilities before courting to win their mate's heart. I'm courting you, Kevin."

　　"------ That's impossible." Kevin muttered before sending from his phone, "Open the door now!"

　　"You haven't responded to me."

　　"I said open the door now!"

　　"No Kevin, you'll never get out of here unless you say yes ------"

　　Kevin looked around, all the chassis around him were fixed to the floor, only the fire apparatus in the corner wasn't fixed.

　　He took off his jacket and holstered his fists, breaking the glass and taking down the fire extinguisher, then grabbed it in his hand and started smashing the door.

　　The mobile phone in his pocket kept ringing, he didn't dare to touch it at all, although there was no one here, but in the darkness, it was as if there were countless pairs of eyes staring at him.

　　Finally, his violent breaking of the door paid off, and with a violent popping sound of glass shattering all over the door, he rushed out and went straight home without looking back once.

　　After that, Kevin never touched an electronic device again until he went to college, and his family, friends, and fellow teachers at school all suspected that he had a phobia of electronic devices.

　　The above is the story about my friend Kevin, no one in high school except me believed what happened to him, even his mum and dad thought he was sick, I don't know if he was ever harassed by that "TC1" data again, I hope not.

　　The last I heard about him was that he was now living in isolation in the mountains of Belgium.

　　But I think his serenity may be shattered in the near future.

　　For I read this news item this morning.

　　"On the first of next month, Belgium will launch a satellite into space."