Launch

They booked the venue with leftover funds and a lot of hope:A cozy gallery downtown, walls lined with photos of people who had tested their app.

A grandmother smiling at her first voice message.A teen teaching his grandpa how to emoji.A lonely man reunited with his sister after 20 years.

This wasn't Silicon Valley.

But it was real.

🎤 The Pitch

Kira stood onstage under warm lights, Rina beside her.

Jin manned the demo, Ha handled press, and their volunteers buzzed at the booths.

Kira cleared her throat.

"We built this not for disruption… but for connection.For every person who's ever felt left behind by tech.For those who don't want to be users—they want to be seen."

Applause.

Rina whispered, "You crushed it."

Kira smiled. "We crushed it."

⚠️ The Final Strike

Just before the demo finished, Ha pulled Kira aside.

"There's been a data breach claim."

Kira's stomach dropped.

Rina rushed over. "What kind of breach?"

Ha showed her an email:

Anonymous tip

Claimed K+R collected user voice data without consent

Attached: doctored screenshots

Kira looked at it once. Then twice.

Then laughed.

"She's desperate."

📺 The Rebuttal

Jin went live instantly—on a backup stream.

"Here's what they didn't know.We built in public logs. Every user's interaction is traceable—by them.Transparency isn't our policy. It's our architecture."

They posted the audit logs. The footage. The real data.

Public trust surged.

Syntek's stock? Didn't.

🌠 A Quiet Victory

By midnight, the app had:

40K+ downloads

5K real-time users

A community forming from scratch

Rina and Kira watched it all from the rooftop, sharing cheap champagne in mismatched mugs.

"You did it," Rina said softly.

"No," Kira replied, pulling her close.

"We did it. And this time, no one can vote us out."