Ch.111017 Work Record – New Recruitment Period (10)

Whatever the reason, Mr. Frank seemed to be doing quite well. His face still showed traces of not sleeping properly, and one could tell from the bottles of alcohol piled in the corner of his house.

He now knew the corporate war was over. It seemed like he had realized he was missing out on the life he had gained afterward while dwelling on the corporate war, and was now working hard to reclaim it.

But did that make the corporate war disappear? Would it erase the fact that T Entertainment had sent Beopam to a city under Belvedere’s jurisdiction, one on the opposite side of the country from New York? No, it wouldn’t.

Was he blinded by hope? Or was I unable to escape the cycle of suspicion? The only clear thing in this house was the taste of orange juice made without any artificial substitutes.

It was an unfamiliar taste. The pulp was chewy, and the sourness was stronger than expected. I was definitely more accustomed to synthetic orange flavor than real oranges. Still, it tasted decent enough.

Though I thought his condition was fine, I didn’t leave my post since I was there for security. Ms. Lucille took out a fist-sized silence zone generator with Belvedere’s logo prominently displayed on it from her pocket.

Only team leaders and above could have the relevant components implanted in their bodies to activate silence zones anywhere at will. Though they could use it for confidentiality, they had to use such outdated models. The soundproofing performance was certainly reliable.

Since Ms. Lucille had her back turned to me, I couldn’t even read her lips, but the conversation seemed to be going well. Soon the silence zone generator was turned off, and Ms. Lucille stood up.

She also looked much more relieved. Thanks to Foresight’s unknown counselor. I wasn’t sure whether to feel uneasy or be glad that the job was easier.

For now, I decided not to deny it. Foresight’s counselor had, in some way, given this person something better than madness, even if it was just a temporary fix. Perhaps that was enough.

I exit Room 2706 of the Retired Employee Building with Ms. Lucille. After pausing briefly, she placed both hands on her chest and let out a deep sigh. She smiled, not because of work. It was quite a happy expression.

“I’ve been in charge of Mr. Frank for nearly half a year, and this is the first time I’ve seen him look so bright. I think we should investigate Foresight more, but personally, I should at least express my gratitude.”

President Yoon seemed to have the same somewhat dubious expression as I did. After contemplating whether to speak up, she finally opened her mouth.

“If something that hasn’t improved for six months suddenly gets better overnight, it’s likely because they used something that no one was willing to use during those six months. Everyone knows the methods. You’d better be cautious.”

Since I didn’t know what he had done in the corporate war with T Entertainment, I couldn’t comment carelessly. I headed to the parking lot with Ms. Lucille, and we were able to leave the Retired Employee Building without being stopped.

There were no problems on the way back either. There was a corporate war veteran standing in the middle of the road, but when he saw the van’s lights, he ran to the sidewalk as if suddenly coming to his senses. I couldn’t understand why.

The long-awaited assignment ended that simply. It felt quite good to be rendered useless. Whether it’s the security team or a mercenary company, the goal is to become unnecessary.

It’s about eliminating security threats that could cause security failures and ensuring such incidents never happen again, making it unnecessary to pick up a gun.

Of course, that’s impossible. That’s why we do this job. In that sense, today’s work, where I didn’t have to fire a single shot, was as good as it gets. I didn’t think I’d need to review anything tomorrow.

It was early today. Around twelve-thirty was still a time when the city was brightly lit. Today I went home without even having a drink.

Since our destination was the same apartment complex, I walked with Kay, and a photo was transmitted into my field of vision. When I accepted the transmission and checked, it was a map of the wasteland I had received while working with the Sin City Bitches.

“I should thank the Sin City Bitches! I know you use drones, but not something that impressive, right? Our pancakes are everything. Yes, our flying robot vacuum cleaners are cute, but still!”

She grabbed one of the drones flying around her, looked at it, and then let it go. The nickname was excessively mischievous, which somehow suited Kay.

“I can’t fly around the wasteland sky taking reconnaissance photos. So that long-range reconnaissance drone…”

“Did you steal it?”

“I didn’t steal it! I just added a line about wasteland wide-area reconnaissance to their task list! And in a few days, I’ll contact them saying, ‘This is Yagyeong who worked with you last time! By any chance….’ and ask.”

Does that make it not stealing? It was certainly easier to trick them into taking photos and then asking to see them, rather than directly requesting wasteland reconnaissance from a competitor’s partner company.

That doesn’t make it right, though. Although the contact points were minimal, recklessly infiltrating others’ systems wasn’t a good thing. When I sighed, she made more excuses.

“You’re a freelancer now too, so all kinds of big corporations will be calling you, and you’ll probably have a lot of field work, so isn’t it better to finish quickly? And besides, they’re also a partner of a hostile company…”

“Maintaining the attitude of ‘I only deceived until I got caught, so don’t worry!’ even after that disaster happened is really not good, Kay. You should have properly requested cooperation, and if that didn’t work, you could have asked Enzo.”

Kay grimaced and shook her head. She and I had very different methodologies. Even with trust between us, that point never changed.

“That’s not possible. Enzo would get involved too. You came to me after figuring everything out on your own, so I helped you, and if that wasn’t the case, I would have just let you smash a few androids and be done with it. Really!”

“By deceiving with convenient words, as you’ve always done?”

Kay momentarily couldn’t find her words. She answered like a child who knows she’ll be scolded but finds excuses easier than confession.

“Still, you benefited from that deception too. When nothing happened, I mean.”

It was when she extracted information about the transparent eyes and Belvedere’s discarded projects. It was true that I was able to gain Mr. Günter’s trust because there was information about Project Metzgerhund among those files.

“Back then, there was no other way. It was just me against a whale that was about to grab my neck. But now, it’s just us two against a beast in a cage. We have alternatives, don’t we?”

“What alternatives? I don’t see any. I just don’t want to drag anyone else into this, and I feel like we need to make sure the transparent eyes can’t rise again, so for that…”

The simplest method would be to smash the server computer entirely. Without bothering with transferring to external storage devices, just cut the power and smash it to pieces.

But Kay had opposed even that, making excuses. I hadn’t pressed further then, but this time I needed to ask more. I wanted to know what Kay was afraid of.

We walked past my place to her apartment. Again, we took the elevator up, entered her apartment, and looking at the server computer embedded like a tumor in the middle of it, I said:

“What’s the reason we can’t just turn off the circuit breaker and smash that thing? Don’t make excuses like when you suggested using grenades last time. I can handle it however you want.”

Kay’s prosthetic eye pupil trembled again. She rubbed the floor with her toe and then answered. The lively chatterbox and liar quickly disappeared.

“I won’t have a way to tell the truth to Deputy Manager Dewey Novak without being discovered by Belvedere. He’ll forever be chasing the non-existent transparent eyes.”

“What were you planning to do if you transferred it to an external storage device? It’s similar, isn’t it? Whether it’s a server computer disconnected from external connections or an external storage device.”

“I was going to smash the connection ports, draw a picture of transparent eyes on it, make a non-human liberation front android pick it up, and then report it to Belvedere. Then that person would finally solve the case.”

Her goal wasn’t simply to deal with the transparent eyes and then suddenly appear before Deputy Manager Dewey Novak with an apologetic confession, but to make him officially stamp the case file as closed.

I should have realized this when she said she knew about Deputy Manager Dewey Novak and wanted to apologize. I sighed and continued.

“How long are you going to keep making the false promise that you won’t lie anymore?”

“You know it’s habitual… And this is my own kind of white…”

“It’s inefficient.”

“Fine. A white inefficiency with only good intentions… But the android coming from a place I don’t know is true! And you helping me deal with it is also true… And the prototype factory in the wasteland!”

She displayed an image in my field of vision. It was a report on the transparent eyes that she had decoded. The proposal to build a prototype production factory in the wasteland was clearly written on it.

“Do you think I won’t help you if you don’t lie?”

Kay shook her head. Though she bowed her head as if she had done something wrong, I didn’t feel much sympathy.

“No. You, you’re really reliable. Why do you think I bothered telling you the story about why Icarus died? I did it because I trust you. I just feel like I’ll mess everything up again! As long as the goal is achieved, there’s no problem, right?”

There are many things you can’t do even if you know them. Unexplainable anxiety, the desire to maintain the status quo… There are countless explanations.

Should I draw on what I received from Mr. Günter again? Not this time. She was trying to do something she enjoyed. The problem wasn’t the goal, but the method.

Ms. Eve couldn’t find a method because her goal wasn’t clear enough, while Kay was so blindly focused on the goal that she thought any method would do. Complete opposites.

I reached out both hands and patted her shoulders. She didn’t lack ability. She knew how to get what she wanted without staging elaborate hacking scenes with multiple virtual screens.

“There were three goals, right? One was to free Deputy Manager Dewey Novak from his burden of responsibility. Another was to neutralize the transparent eyes. And the third was for Kay to break free from this tiresome status quo.”

The first two can be achieved through lies. But the last one? Is it good for Kay to become someone accustomed to lies and betrayal? I believed it wasn’t. It was dogmatic and subjective.

But she had asked me for help. If she wanted my help, she wanted my perspective. Then I couldn’t leave it like that. She needed to break free, even if just one step. Just one step.

Perhaps the status quo that Kay so desperately hated wasn’t the status quo of the transparent eyes, but the status quo of herself as a person.

“It’s strange that someone who found the courage to apologize to Deputy Manager Dewey doesn’t have the courage to look in the mirror. You’ll keep making the same mistakes. That would actually be repeating the mistake.”

This wasn’t some heroic tale about preventing an AI and machine rebellion. It was a rehabilitation exercise for someone intoxicated with lies, betrayal, status quo, and self-abandonment. That’s all.

Kay flinched at the hand on her shoulder but slowly relaxed. She knew I wasn’t applying too much pressure. She closed her eyes tightly and said:

“I’ll keep lying… It’s a habit.”

“Then I’ll have to be relentlessly persistent every time it seems like a lie. To make lying more troublesome. You know someone who calls me Metzgerhund. I’m a Rottweiler that doesn’t let go once I bite.”

Kay smiled a little at the joke. It wasn’t a mischievous smile, but a normal chuckle. I seem to be a comfortable person for her too.

“No, not at all. Neither of us knows such a person. What are you talking about? Well… that’s fine. I’d like that.”

“So, what’s next?”

“Well… breaking in again to erase traces of intrusion is dangerous. And it’s not like one more reconnaissance makes it more dangerous. Let’s get the information from the Sin City Bitches. Okay?”

“Honestly. Yes. I do tell those kinds of lies quite often. That’s true. And Kay also flips the game with bluffing every time. Honestly, I also think it’s just methodology. Using whichever works better between lies and truth.”

“Right. It’s ambiguous! It’s not like the lies you tell and the lies I tell are different…”

Kay was about to nod, thinking my words meant acceptance, so I continued. This might be the image Belvedere created of me, but it was also who I was.

“Of course, I don’t care much about alcohol or cigarettes. They’re personal preferences. But I don’t want to give alcohol to an alcoholic. I don’t want to offer cigarettes to someone trying to quit. And the same goes for a habitual liar.”

Even though her words about being trustworthy weren’t lies, she hid the truth from me. So, I needed to help her move away from lying, at least once. That seemed like the best option for now.

“So, let’s just borrow a long-range reconnaissance drone from Enzo, saying you need it for personal reasons. Since it hasn’t been long since we worked in the wasteland, he won’t think it’s strange.”

“It’s not exactly deception, but fundamentally, is it really that different a method? It’s similar!”

“The problem is that you thought about deceiving the Sin City Bitches, whom you just met, before considering this similar and convenient method.”

Kay immediately surrendered, raising both palms of her prosthetic hands and nodding. I saw the sincerity, and the sincerity beneath that layer too. Now we were finally having an honest conversation.

“Then, we should make a new promise. Instead of destroying the dangerous transparent eyes and incidentally apologizing to Deputy Manager Dewey Novak…”

I left the rest for Kay to complete. She let out a deep sigh and nodded.

“We’ll solve the transparent eyes problem to officially lighten the burden of responsibility that Deputy Manager Dewey Novak carries. That will also fulfill my responsibility. Additionally, I’ll try to become a better person.”

It wasn’t much different. Rather than being not much different, it was exactly the same. The implicit “by any means necessary” had been implicitly removed.

Is it some petty moral sense preventing her from finding joy? No. Kay hated the status quo. Even her own status quo. It was just about eliminating something she found detestable.

Seeing Kay’s relieved expression, it was a joyful thing. When something joyful is also right, everything becomes quite simple. That Monday, filled with numerous new hires, ended that way.