A man with sunglasses sat inside the ramen restaurant. He sat quietly in front of his laptop. On his table there was a plate of Gyoza.

The man’s name was Leo. He was a freelance security engineer, working for big tech companies. Like many of his peers, Leo was a skilled hacker on the side. He used his hacking skills to help companies find and fix security vulnerabilities in their systems.

Today, Leo decided to have a little fun with the restaurant guests. He took control of the restaurant’s Wi-Fi network and started redirecting all the traffic to his own laptop. This allowed him to intercept and read all the data being sent and received by the devices connected to the Wi-Fi.

Leo was able to see everything from the guests’ social media activity to their private messages. He even had access to their financial information if they were using mobile banking apps.

Two middle-aged bankers were using their phones during lunch. Leo could immediately identify them in the network traffic. He saw that they were checking their investment portfolios and discussing stock picks.

Leo chuckled to himself. He sent both men a malicious script that infected their phones. The script overclocked the phones and made the devices hot to the touch, to the point that the hardware melted.

The two men screamed in agony as their phones caught fire. They quickly ran out of the restaurant, leaving their half-eaten lunch behind.

Leo smirked as he watched the scene unfold. He knew that there was nothing the authorities could do to him. He was anonymous and untraceable.

He enjoyed knowing that he had the power to ruin people’s lives with just a few clicks of a button. It was all just a game to him. And he loved playing this game.

But Leo wasn’t the only hacker in the restaurant right now. Riku, one of the waiters, started to connect the dots about what was happening.

He was one of the most promising engineers at his college, having won every organised hackathon this year. Riku was also an avid gamer and had developed a strong interest in computer security. He approached Leo cautiously.

“Is it true that you’re hacking everyone in this restaurant?” Riku asked.

Leo pretended to be offended. “What? No, I would never do something like that,” he lied.

“I don’t believe you,” Riku said. “I’ve seen the way you look at people’s phones when they’re not looking. And I saw what you did to those two bankers.”

“You have no proof,” Leo said, trying to remain calm.

“I don’t need proof,” Riku said. “I know what I saw.”

Riku pulled out his own laptop and started running a packet sniffer. Within seconds, he had verified that Leo was indeed hacking the restaurant’s Wi-Fi network. He also found the malicious script that Leo had sent to the two bankers’ phones.

“That’s enough evidence for me,” Riku said as he turned off his laptop. “I’m going to report you to the police.”

“The evidence is already gone boy. Check your laptop again.”

Riku turned his laptop back on to see that the contents of the hard drive had been wiped clean.

“You’re good,” Riku said, “But everything on my laptop is live-synched to several servers around the world. You can’t get rid of the stuff I have on you.”

“Don’t underestimate me boy” Leo said as he typed frantically on his laptop.

Riku’s laptop started to emit a loud beeping noise. The screen turned red and displayed the message “HARD DRIVE FAILURE.”

“What did you do?” Riku yelled.

“I just sent a virus to your laptop that corrupted your hard drive,” Leo said calmly. “Everything on there is gone.”

“You bastard!” Riku screamed as he rushed at Leo. He tackled him to the ground and started punching him in the face.

The other guests in the restaurant started to panic and ran for the exits. A few of them pulled out their phones and called the police.

Leo laughed as he watched Riku being dragged away by the police officers. He knew that he would never be caught. He was too good at this game.