Ch.154021 Work Record – Industry’s Sacred Figure (4)

I return home after getting off in front of the office, using the excuse that I need to prepare for work. Finally, I can have a proper vocal conversation with Chance instead of just in my head.

It may seem obvious, but I couldn’t simply search for how that war ended. I could find information, but the most crucial part was missing.

People were overwhelmed by such helplessness and despair that they couldn’t press the buttons to launch weapons that would kill each other, and in the end, without anyone taking the first step, they collectively gave up on killing one another. It sounds almost like a fairy tale.

They couldn’t have simply buried all the strategic weapons from that war era, shaken hands, and agreed to forget about it. If they were capable of such actions, they wouldn’t have started that war in the first place.

Some measure must have been taken. Perhaps Prometheus’s purpose was to reverse that measure. If it was a story about the fire that people had lost, that would make sense. I asked Chance.

“Hey, Chance. I’ve always wondered… why do you still have authorization? You’re not even in that artificial brain anymore, and you’re not affiliated with the nationalists now.”

To put it bluntly, Chance was nothing more or less than my personal AI assistant now. It was strange that Chance-0139, a homeland defense drone, still retained its authorization.

“Unable to determine. It could be due to procedural inefficiency that it wasn’t revoked, or someone may have intentionally maintained the authorization.”

“Who had the final authority?”

“The Department of Homeland Security official you met when you recovered me. Reviewing database. Determined to be the latter. The authorization wasn’t neglected but deliberately preserved.”

Not being revoked means it was a mistake, but being preserved means she intentionally kept Chance’s authorization active. She clearly intended to use it for something.

Was she trying to extract information from Belwether after they took Chance for reverse engineering? Belwether wasn’t the kind of company to fall for such trivial tricks. Probably.

No, the purpose doesn’t matter. Whoever left a trail, I just needed to follow it. I finish preparing for work after taking off my suit.

“Can we contact that person? In the worst case, your authorization might be revoked… but if you’re okay with that, I’d like to try. This is about that war, which concerns you too, Chance.”

That nationalist wasn’t a bad person. Rather, she was someone who suffered from having to pass on matters related to that war to a younger person. She was worth trusting to some extent.

In the absolute worst case, the nationalists might take action if they discovered someone was meddling, but if that were the case, there would have been a reaction when Chance was recovered by Belwether during the coup.

“Wouldn’t losing this AI’s Department of Homeland Security drone authorization reduce the efficiency I can provide to you?”

I smiled slightly at the suggestion that I might be inconvenienced. I attached a holster to my jeans, picked up the box containing my carbine, and willingly shook my head.

“Not at all. Just having someone I can talk to in my head whenever I need is enough. Besides, you’re at least twice as smart as me even when thinking on your own. You’re worth keeping around, authorization or not.”

“You draw the big picture. You decide how each part should be colored. All this AI does is add details and adjust the colors to that picture.”

“At least thanks to you, the finished picture becomes much more appealing. Even in the worst-case scenario where you become an old AI that only remembers the past, you’re still plenty efficient.”

I wasn’t sure how much such encouragement would help Chance, who had shown loyalty beyond death. Even without these words, Chance would remain completely loyal.

But I was someone who had not just a handful or a boxful of praise for Chance, but a whole warehouse full. I was happy to give it.

Chance’s drive made a brief sound. Then in an emotionless voice, it said what people who had experienced that war typically said to me.

“I thought humans like you had been completely depleted during the war era. Affirmative. I will attempt contact. You probably understand the importance of maintaining your daily routine.”

“Of course. When have I ever failed at mimicry? I’m getting ready since it’s almost time for work. Oh, will this help with the chair-grabbing too?”

“Affirmative. Our situation isn’t relaxed enough to be choosy about methods. If we can negotiate with the nationalists regarding Operation Prometheus, we might be able to get their assistance once.”

Of course, negotiation would only be possible after dealing with the agents they’d send to take it without negotiating. Everything was a matter of cost and price. My value had to exceed the cost of lead.

If I were weak enough to be easily killed and robbed, the nationalists would do exactly that. I could be certain of it. Even Belwether, who despised nationalists, had done the same.

I finish preparing for work and leave home carrying only my carbine bag. Boss Yoon and the people who live at the office have already arrived. A drowsy Mila waves her hand enthusiastically.

She looks quite young like this, but her shooting skills are extraordinary. I’ve glimpsed her taking down targets one shot per person, barely turning her head, as if she had targeting assistance built in.

I thought it might have been because she was in training at the time, but according to Eve, she can do that in actual combat too… Right, I should also ask her about the drones that acted as her parents.

“Welcome… Oh, right! Arthur, do you have any spare rooms at home? Boss Yoon says the audit schedule for partner companies is out… It looks like they’re trying to completely root out the companies that cooperated with the coup!”

Conducting an audit after the public work priority reassignment has already been completed… are they trying to lull them into a false sense of security before striking? It would seem more efficient to reassign priorities after completing the regular partner audit.

Or perhaps they’ve been focusing all their energy on internal audits and can only now look at partner companies. Either way, leaving the office for a day should be enough. The only problem is…

I casually asked Boss Yoon, who was sitting at her desk. Usually, others kept secrets from me, but now I was the one keeping secrets from other new employees.

“I suppose we can’t stay in the on-duty room during the audit, but is it okay not to clear out the fire emergency exit? The audit department might find fault with anything.”

Boss Yoon shook her head at the words “fire emergency exit.” Still, she offered some reassurance.

“The two new recruits might not know, but Mila, who lives with you, is aware. I was hoping you could store the items from the fire emergency exit at your place for just one day, but if that’s burdensome…”

“It’s a smoggy day anyway. And shorter travel distance is better. The only visitors I get as a freelancer recognized by two companies are postal service people.”

Three people can sleep in the bedroom while I take the living room, right? Most neighbors weren’t particularly interested in others anyway, so as long as there wasn’t too much noise, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Tina was skilled at hiding Nadia, and while Mila had some childish aspects, she wasn’t a bad person or a nuisance. Such people don’t survive in this city.

“I’ll do my best to keep them from poking around, but even the audit department wouldn’t have any reason to say ‘let’s take a look’ at a freelancer’s home without cause. I’m fortunate to have such a capable employee.”

“I’m actually glad to be able to help someone! So, should I pick up the cargo after work today?”

“That would be fine. Tina will come by car, so it won’t be conspicuous. You can say you brought them because of appearances, even though they know some employees stay and eat in the on-duty room.”

“Those people probably don’t want to conduct an audit in front of someone waiting with blankets and pillows either. I’ll do that. Anything else I should be concerned about?”

Nadia’s idealized part was her heart. As long as we hide the sound of her heartbeat, there shouldn’t be any problems. Only Type 4s could hear through walls. Taking her home shouldn’t pose any danger.

“How could there be anything else to worry about? It’s my company, and taking responsibility for my employees is my job, so that’s all I need you to handle. Asking an employee to do more would make me unqualified as a CEO. Inefficient.”

There was no way Boss Yoon was unqualified as a CEO. During the Belwether coup and otherwise, her ability to protect Night Watch was exceptional. The only thing I wondered about was why she protected it so fiercely.

If a Belwether retiree were asked if they could protect a mutant just to recruit an excellent driver… I wasn’t confident enough to give a definitive answer. Most would report it. I did too.

But according to Tina, Boss Yoon knew her sister was a mutant even before recruiting her, yet didn’t report it. I couldn’t understand why.

What do I know about Boss Yoon? Not much. She was previously married to a department head at Cheoncheon Robotics before divorcing… she was a Harrier, and she’s the CEO of Night Watch. That’s all.

Before I could ask, other employees started arriving. Vola’s exposed right eye was smiling. She tossed me a heavy box. A belated Christmas present.

“Ah, originally I was planning to make you a cybernetic arm with various additional functions… but then I realized you probably wouldn’t replace yours or lose it. So I changed direction.”

For Vola, a machine made of flesh was as respectful as Panacea Meditech’s miracle child. It was made from what she hated most but became something she liked.

The box she threw wasn’t very large but was quite heavy. When I opened it, I saw… something that looked like a watch. Unlike the ordinary watch Eve gave me, this was made entirely of solid metal.

It seems it can be connected to the wire-cum-nervous system to inject power. Since it probably wasn’t some kind of neutralizer, I quietly examined just the exterior. It looked like a sports watch but was damn heavy.

It wasn’t too heavy for my wrist… Vola gestured lightly as if to say it was okay to inject power. From my wrist, a space barely large enough for two people became somewhat muffled.

It felt like turning on a silence zone generator, but it wasn’t a perfect silence zone. I could still hear a very faint voice from outside saying, “How is it? Not bad, right?”

That meant sound from inside could also escape. After stopping the power injection, I asked. I didn’t say it was crude. That would be rude to say about a gift.

“It seems quite different from a silence zone generator in purpose. What is this?”

Silence zone generators were items only employees of mega-corporations could use, and even then, only those working with Belwether or Fitts & Morrison.

They were developed accidentally while developing other technology, and since they were so helpful for information security, there was no way they would share them with others.

“Civilian noise canceller. It’s definitely inferior to a silence zone generator… but, well, that level of quiet is what a freelancer needs, right? Originally I was going to attach it to your palm.”

How heavy would the prosthetic hand have been? It seemed she was making a full-body prosthetic. With full-body prosthetics, there’s no middle ground. If you modify the left side, you need to modify the right side too to prevent the body from twisting due to weight imbalance.

And if you only replace the arms, the body might not withstand the weight, so you need to replace the body too, then the legs… falling into a chain of modifications isn’t that difficult.

Overcoming the limitations of flesh and acquiring a metal body was enticing. And true to the word “enticing,” the fantasy showed more than what you actually get.

I wore the noise canceller on the inside of my wrist. I wasn’t sure if I’d need to turn on a noise canceller during combat, but the phrase “silent assassination” was always fascinating.

And thinking about it, if I had turned this on during the conversation at Cheoncheon today, I wouldn’t have needed so many excuses or risked revealing information about Operation Prometheus. It was definitely a useful item.

“Is it okay for me to receive something like this after just sending a box of cybernetic parts? It feels a bit excessive…”

“Excessive? Man, the basic parts you sent are the most expensive ones. The bulletproof plates, which are basically just sandwiches of bulletproof fiber, metal, and polymer, aren’t used that much anyway.”

Soon the two new employees and other staff arrive. Kay looks confident as always, and Eve maintains her usual cold expression until I wave, at which point she briefly smiles.

Mr. Enzo won’t be accompanying us on today’s job, we’re told. When an audit approaches, the finance manager’s job isn’t to accompany operations but to minimize potential damage to the company. A clean division of labor.

Still, as always, there were things we needed to do together. Yesterday, there weren’t that many jobs, and our connection was delayed due to exchanging pointless greetings with the new recruits, so we couldn’t find proper work.

After the review ends and the time approaches, a large hologram projector rises above the office table. A window with the Belwether Human Resources Department logo appears in the air. It was still empty.

Kay times it, pulls down the request list and releases it, and requests start pouring in. We start searching. Gang suppression—too small a job for Night Watch. VIP escort—the VIP’s rank is too low.

We discard items one by one, looking for the next. There were many jobs that should go to lower-priority teams. Purging an information processing partner company that collaborated with undertakers. It was NFD Corp. We push it through.

It was a company Kay had once been indebted to, but somehow they had survived until now. But it seems they couldn’t break their habit and distributed licenses to undertakers for information again.

Belwether doesn’t give second chances. It was only natural. The Night Watch logo stamps over that job page. The time has come to erase the last remaining trace of the small evil deed I had committed.

It won’t be an easy job. According to the notice, although they haven’t escaped Los Angeles yet, an employee near the Las Vegas Strip might be preparing an escape plan. Another corporate dispute.