Ch.141Giving My All! (5)

#141

The next day.

[Decryption, completed.]

Arriving at work early in the morning, Himena saw the Subtron approaching her with a USB in its hand.

After that day, the Subtron had been thoroughly examined by several engineers from the Department of Science and Technology, who had disassembled it down to the last screw and removed any dangerous materials or devices that could communicate with the outside world.

Having completed its ‘inspection,’ the Subtron now spent most of its time lingering around Himena.

“Thank you, Subtron.”

[It’s, nothing.]

While the Subtron clanked around nearby, Himena plugged in the USB and began checking the data it had decrypted.

True to its name “Suspended Project,” the project document was brief.

‘Project objective… To install a negative collection device in our company’s gaming console, Polytechnic, to collect negatives from Polytechnic users while simultaneously effectively quantifying and managing users’ negatives. What the heck is a negative?’

Turning to the next page, Himena was startled by the name written at the end of the document.

‘Wait, why on earth is this here…?’

[Project Supervisor: Orbis]

[Project Observer: Chris Havisham]

Chris Havisham was a professor from Planet Succubus whom Dexter and Himena had arrested in the past.

Since he was currently deceased, they couldn’t question him anymore.

Blinking to make sure she had read correctly, Himena read the small comment below the final approver’s name.

[Difficulty in retrieving negatives extracted within the gaming console. Technology for retrieval is inadequate or insufficient.]

‘Chris, a medical professor from Planet Succubus, and negatives. What are negatives?’

Himena turned to the next page.

[Professor Chris discovered a method to extract negatives inherent in living organisms and passed this information to the project supervisors. However, the attempt to collect the extracted negatives and supply them to ■■■■ ■■ failed.]

Part of the document was censored with black rectangles.

However, judging by the honorific suffix attached to the censored part, it was likely a person’s name.

Himena placed her mouse pointer over the censored section and dragged across it.

‘Even if I drag it… it’s still the same. What’s going on?’

The black rectangle was just a special character; dragging the mouse over it didn’t reveal the hidden name.

‘Let’s keep reading for now.’

[When living organisms recall or think about negative emotions, negatives are secreted within the body. Until recently, no extraction method could be found, but a method was discovered through Professor Chris’s research.]

[The plan was to consolidate the extracted negatives and send them to ■■ ■■, but operations were suspended due to the project being put on hold.]

[The negatives collected so far have been sent to ■■■■ ■■, and it is expected that they will be processed and used for the intended purpose.]

After this, befitting a suspended project, the content abruptly ended.

Setting aside the sloppy conclusion, Himena fell into anxious thought after reading the entire content.

‘So when you recall or think about negative emotions, something called negatives are secreted?’

Though she hadn’t majored in medicine, the fact that something called “negatives” was secreted from the human body was something she had never heard of before.

Moreover, all the content was disturbing.

‘This… can’t be solved by the Special Investigation Team alone.’

Orbis Corporation, suspected of possessing alien technology.

And Professor Chris, who had been a connection to the person referred to as the “Commander” mentioned in the documents obtained from there.

Even now, elite OSA agents were searching for individuals connected to Professor Chris, with agents from branches other than the Las Vegas headquarters searching everywhere.

Unlike ordinary cases, this one was on a much larger scale, making it obviously difficult to resolve with just the two-person Special Investigation Team.

‘Two people aren’t enough. For this case, whether it’s Section Chief Steve or Director Makoa… I need to talk to higher-ups.’

Having made her decision, Himena began preparing a report based on the decrypted data.

At the same time, Dexter was having a light conversation with Emily while accompanying the inmates through their morning routine.

“I heard from Jesse that you had a hand in my parole.”

“Jesse told you about that too?”

Emily rarely spoke to other inmates.

Taking advantage of this, Dexter sat in the corner of the bed with his legs crossed, thinking that both Jesse and Himena must tell her everything, both appropriate and inappropriate.

Of course, Dexter himself was loose-lipped with certain people.

Not particularly wanting to lie to people closely connected to him, Dexter enjoyed sharing facts about himself or people related to him whenever the opportunity arose.

“Isn’t it the other way around? You’re the one with the loose lips. Usually, you should keep important things like that to yourself.”

“…I don’t want to hear that from someone who got caught telling a street fortune teller, who turned out to be an undercover cop, about her thefts.”

“Fair point.”

After finishing her sentence, Emily lay flat on her bed and stared blankly at the ceiling before saying:

“Ah, I want to steal a car…”

“Is that something you should say next to a correctional officer?”

Dexter frowned in disbelief, and Emily slightly turned her head.

“You’re not just any correctional officer, are you?”

“That may be true, but you should still watch what you say.”

In response to Dexter’s nagging, Emily blinked slowly and said:

“I heard you infiltrated Orbis Corporation yesterday?”

“I did?”

“Was it fun?”

“I could feel the dopamine being secreted. I think I understand how you feel when you steal cars.”

Every time Dexter conversed with Emily, it felt like talking to a child who could barely discern right from wrong.

“That’s right. Stealing is what makes me feel human.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a story from when I was young. They say I was born with a condition where dopamine and serotonin don’t secrete well. I used to think everyone in the world lived without joy like me, forcing themselves to go on.”

Dexter looked at her with surprised eyes at this sudden confession, but Emily continued without concern.

“When I started stealing, I discovered for the first time what it feels like to have such intense pleasure that my body trembles. Oh, but that’s not to say that what I did with you wasn’t valuable.”

“Uh, thanks… I guess?”

Dexter’s face showed an indescribable emotion as he watched her speak so coldly even about things related to him, though he already knew she didn’t care much about others’ feelings.

“So is that why?”

“Why what?”

“Prison… doesn’t stimulate me.”

“Hmm, isn’t it good not to be stimulated?”

There are many people in the world who desire a smooth, uneventful life while living through hardships.

“It’s kind of like this.”

“Hm?”

“Imagine eating bland oatmeal porridge for three meals a day, six days a week.”

“That sounds terrible.”

“But then imagine being provided with a buffet that fills an entire table for dinner on the remaining day.”

“Hmm.”

“Imagine a ’68 Dodge Charger, a ’70 Plymouth Road Runner, and a ’70 Chevrolet Chevelle SS sitting on that table. How thrilling would that be?”

Dexter had understood the buffet metaphor, but when she switched to vintage cars, he was bewildered to see Emily, who rarely smiled, trembling with excitement and raising the corners of her mouth.

“Um… yeah, you really like cars, huh?”

“It’s not just about liking them, Dexter. It’s a desire, but it’s also my reason for living.”

Seeing Emily speak so seriously, Dexter scratched his chin and thought:

‘I mean, it’s still a crime, but is stealing cars somehow better?’

The longing in Emily’s eyes was hard to forget.

“That’s why I absolutely have to get out.”

“So you’re saying you’ll just steal cars again. No matter how much of a fake correctional officer I am, could you not say such things right in front of me?”

Dexter frowned and pinched Emily’s cheek as he spoke.

“That hurts. Besides, maybe there’s something that could suppress my desires.”

Emily stared intently at Dexter with her usual expressionless face, and in response to her steady gaze, Dexter poked her soft cheek repeatedly while saying:

“What, are you asking me to fulfill your desires?”

“That’s not exactly what I meant, but it would be nice.”

“Look at you.”

While Emily’s voice and actions seemed detached, her underlying intentions contained persistent desire.

Dexter continued poking her cheek as he spoke:

“You never said things like this just a few weeks ago.”

“Things aren’t the same now as they were then.”

Dexter gave her cheek one final pinch before standing up and saying:

“A little later… probably after lunch.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Emily sat up on her bed and waved to Dexter as he left the common room.

* * *

[…The FBI and San Francisco Police have launched an on-site investigation into Orbis Corporation, which is under suspicion. Orbis Corporation has acknowledged the issues raised by the FBI and San Francisco Police but stated they are still looking into the allegations. All related individuals have been arrested…]

Watching the TV screen with an anxious face alongside Director Makoa in his office, Himena cautiously spoke up.

“To think they’d make arrests in just one day, no, not even half a day…”

“Agent Libero seems to underestimate the power of OSA! Hahaha!”

Director Makoa said in a cheerful voice.

“Didn’t I tell you to wait a week?”

“So, you were telling me to wait because you were planning to arrest everyone involved as soon as we got the data?”

“That’s part of it, but Orbis had an insider. How else could we have created the Suriya Protocol so quickly?”

“Ah, an insider…”

“To protect the insider’s identity, we didn’t tell you about it. I apologize for that, but please understand it was a measure taken for more effective operations.”

Himena hastily waved her hands at Director Makoa’s serious tone.

“No, no! I completely understand that such things can happen. Um, about the report I submitted earlier…?”

As Himena looked at him with worried eyes, Director Makoa nodded gravely and said:

“I’m sorry to say this, but no one except you and Honorary Agent Hughes should know about the negatives.”

“What?”

“Even within the OSA Bureau, only a limited number of people know about it.”

The OSA Bureau is a department that consists only of top executives like the Director and Deputy Director.

“So only you and the Deputy Director know about it?”

Director Makoa nodded in response to Himena’s question.

“Negatives are extremely dangerous energy. It’s fortunate that at this point on Earth, no one can detect or extract them.”

“But if it’s such a dangerous energy, why hasn’t it been disclosed?”

Director Makoa glanced at Himena, who was asking such a bold question, and then pulled out a bottle of water from his drawer.

“Is that… a negative?”

Himena pointed at the water bottle she was examining closely, and Director Makoa chuckled.

“This is just a water bottle.”

After taking a sip of water, Director Makoa continued in a serious voice:

“Things that everyone knows about now, like dangerous weapons such as nuclear bombs or computers that Agent Libero uses daily, were once classified as top-secret.”

“That means…”

“It means the existence itself should not be known. Once it becomes known, no one can predict what threats it might pose. Even I don’t know exactly how it’s extracted or what its applications are.”

“Then, who knows about negatives?”

“I only know that the Galactic Union manages it.”

“The Galactic Union…”

The Galactic Union is an organization that cannot be compared to the United States or even to empires that have planets as large as Earth as colonies. It is a transcendent organization at the apex of our galaxy.

As this ultra-galactic entity was mentioned, Himena felt a fear of the unknown.

“Now that the term ‘Galactic Union’ has come up, I can feel that digging deeper would make things difficult, right?”

“I’m glad you understand!”

Director Makoa approached Himena and gave her a hearty pat on the back as encouragement.

“Hiccup!”

“All related personnel will be ‘processed.’ So both Agent Libero and Honorary Agent Hughes should keep this information confidential.”

After asking a few more questions and leaving the director’s office, Himena had a bitter taste in her mouth.

‘This feels unsettling.’

The censored parts in the decrypted document bothered her.

‘Given that it mentions sending negatives to someone, that person must certainly be within the United States.’

As Himena returned to her desk, one word came to mind.

‘In the end, is this related to that person called the Commander?’

Himena’s shoulders slumped as she returned to her seat.

The Orbis Corporation case concluded with this unsettling feeling.