Ch.235Work Record #033 – Fear What Hides in the Darkness (9)

“In just one week, the performance… Twenty-five mutant bounties eliminated. And most of them were high-risk mutants that the Major Mutation Department finds troublesome. I wonder if this even makes sense.”

Twenty-five mutant bounties had been eliminated, and only one mutant was allowed to live and kept quiet. If she took the chance to live like a human, I’d never see her again. If not, we’d meet again.

I decided to consider it fortunate that the woman who escaped yesterday hadn’t been caught this morning. She had gone to work properly this morning. She would continue to do so until the day she legally left Los Angeles.

More precisely, I believed she would. Even if that belief was betrayed, I wouldn’t be heartbroken. Having been denied one extension request, I could treat her like any other bounty for the second time.

Even thinking this way, I definitely wouldn’t be able to kill her comfortably… but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t kill her. Feeling my bulletproof suit collar tightening uncomfortably after so long, I loosened it slightly at the nape and answered.

“Since you saw it with your own eyes, I suppose that makes it even harder to believe. I’m also bewildered that Panacea MediTech seems to be wondering what to do with this accident-prone miracle child.”

I tossed it out naturally as a joke, but they might start to notice now. Every freelancer has their own way of handling jobs. They could probably make some inferences about who took the job based on the workmanship.

Section Chief Gabriel Walker nodded comfortably. Thanks to that, the workload for his Anti-Mutation Section 7 must have decreased considerably. Not necessarily a good thing. I knew exactly what they would do with the burden I’d lightened.

That’s why I came to decide whether to teach Mechanic Jones how to hide from the Anti-Mutation Section, or simply turn a blind eye. Today was decision day, but my actions would be the same.

I would make Belvedere partner with Panacea MediTech one way or another. The only difference would be the weight—just the weight of the burden my conscience and heart would place on my back.

“Of course. If it were just words, I would have thought it was boasting, but seeing it with my own eyes makes me wonder how you even did it. Ah, this way.”

We enter the Anti-Mutation Section office directly under the Security Team, not his office where I had visited last time. Belvedere’s field operations were mostly structured like this—well-organized cell networks supported by large support departments.

Inside, I saw a man who had deliberately bulked up with implants, unlike the skinny Section Chief Gabriel Walker. Though neatly covered and concealed by skin, he must be a full-body cyborg. Shock-absorbing type.

He must be the Support Section Chief. Though he looked like a field operative to anyone, that would be his position for now. He looked down at me and made a sound of clear disapproval. Relatively kind compared to what followed.

“So you’re the freelancer the Anti-Mutation Section 7 Chief mentioned. When a young freelancer suddenly devotes themselves to Anti-Mutation work, it’s one of two things: either a relative was killed by mutants, or they believe they won’t get caught.”

I was actually glad he was openly suspicious. It was much better than someone like Jeff who said nice things to your face while scheming behind your back. And he was a typical Belvedere person.

He was typical in that he called it the Anti-Mutation Section for easier identification, rather than the Major Mutation Department, a nickname created for psychological comfort. Not my favorite type, but more rational than Walter.

As he said, when someone suddenly appears and is too competent, there was certainly a possibility that their appearance was genuine, but the possibility that it was carefully fabricated was equally high.

And the reason for such fabrication was simple: to infiltrate the organization. While the Anti-Mutation Section belonged to the Security Team, it also had characteristics of an information processing team.

How dangerous an inside spy could be… was evident from when K breached the LA branch and I easily bypassed the coffee talk protocol. It was only natural to be extra cautious.

The solution was simple. Apply so much force to your neck that it breaks. For now, it would be better to strike at the core rather than deflecting or avoiding. I spoke confidently.

“Was there even a single mention in my background check that I had contact with pro-mutant activists?”

“Personnel files don’t record your inner thoughts.”

“Yet you used them because reviewing personnel files is an efficient enough method, isn’t that right?”

Saying that inner thoughts weren’t an issue was tantamount to admission. It was the same statement, but better phrased this way.

“Yes, your record was clean. That’s evidence that trusting you is rational. But there’s one more piece of evidence suggesting the opposite. All twenty-five mutant eliminations were high-risk mutants.”

“Is that a problem?”

Of course it’s a problem. If I had spent that time capturing ordinary people—like Bass whom I let go yesterday—I could have achieved more than ten times my current performance.

And mercenaries, especially freelancers, are recognized only by their performance. There was almost no reason to give up easy achievements that didn’t require risking one’s life.

“Of course it’s a problem. Mutants fundamentally tend to flock together. That means there must have been low-risk mutants around the bounty mutants you eliminated. Isn’t that right?”

“As you said, mutants tend to flock together. However, I’ve inferred that low-risk mutants fear being exposed because of high-risk ones. Am I wrong?”

Bass, too, had only chosen to become high-risk when the situation suddenly changed, as a means to protect herself. This could be easily inferred just from the materials Gabriel Walker had provided.

“I can’t say there’s no pattern, but how would you know such internal information?”

“It’s the result of thoroughly studying the reports Section Chief 7 provided when I requested materials for mutant hunting. Look at this. And here’s some more general data.”

I create a virtual screen and push over the surveillance report of the eighth mutant I killed. That woman had cohabitated with several male mutants multiple times but couldn’t stay long.

I also pushed over the case about the Headhunter hunt I had handled. The Headhunter had exposed the locations of undertakers multiple times for his stupid philosophy, forcing them to wander between cities.

“The two cases show significant similarities. A relatively high-risk criminal tries to rely on low-risk individuals, but the low-risk ones avoid the high-risk ones due to exposure risk.”

I pushed more surveillance reports to him. Similar results emerged. I couldn’t understand why Bass had stayed with Rick and the criminals for so long, but other mutants never lasted more than two weeks.

“Similar patterns appear in other cases. I found similarities with my previous work in one report, and by focusing on those similarities and checking other reports, I was able to identify a trend.”

There were no errors. But this alone wasn’t a perfect answer. I deliberately left an opening for the Support Section Chief to probe. He jabbed at the gap in my reasoning, but spoke more respectfully. Typical.

Order maintains efficiency. So actions that maintain efficiency are actions that maintain order. To a Belvedere zealot who lived by such thinking, my conclusion should be impressive.

“Rational, but that could be interpreted the other way. It’s entirely possible that you deliberately ignored easy targets and only went after high-risk ones, who tend to be isolated. Why would a mercenary give up easy achievements?”

I didn’t visibly take a deep breath. This time I needed to push forward head-on. I am a freelancer. One of the best mercenaries in this smog-covered city.

“Have you forgotten that I work in an industry that doesn’t even count such trivial things as achievements? A freelancer chasing pickpockets for performance is evil. Why is that?”

I pushed back using his own Belvedere-style reasoning. He responded almost reflexively. A man whose belief in efficiency was at least genuine. It’s just that blind faith doesn’t always guide us correctly.

Since I had deliberately given him this opening for doubt, I naturally knew how to counter it. Like a boxer who doesn’t close his eyes at an incoming punch, I waited for his words. I was willing to do so.

People show their biggest vulnerabilities when they think they have the upper hand. Though they’re merely swinging their arm toward the spot I told them to stab with the knife I gave them, they ridiculously feel a sense of freedom.

“Efficiency is good, and inefficiency is evil. If a freelancer can’t go where their skills are needed because they’re busy with petty crimes, that’s terrible evil and inefficiency.”

“Then why are you asking me to follow this terrible evil and inefficiency? As you said, if I had been chasing insignificant low-risk mutants, would I have been praised? Or…”

I deliberately trail off. I needed to give him time to think. He needed a chance to step out of the gap I had created and think properly, fundamentally and rationally.

The servile ones cling to their stubbornness at such moments, but this Belvedere efficiency-obsessed man wouldn’t. It felt strange to use a nickname I’d been called myself to describe someone else.

“Would I just be mocked for wasting equipment and consumables as a freelancer? I’d be criticizing myself as an inefficient person too. Is efficiency important, or is killing as many as possible important?”

This would never be interpreted as questioning the meaning of killing mutants. And he, arrogantly dealing with a freelancer who confronted him head-on, would remember what he had forgotten.

He cleared his throat. A good sign. There was enough reason to question my actions, but not enough to justify an interrogation. He could make an excuse of verification once, but not twice.

“Damn, what started as verification… ended up emotional instead of verification. I apologize. Will you accept it?”

“I didn’t consider it might be verification and responded aggressively before making a rational rebuttal. I should apologize too.”

It was good that I had prepared adequately after Gabriel Walker warned me yesterday that the Support Section Chief was quite rigid.

After exchanging apologies as if competing to bow first, people tend to take interest in each other’s good qualities out of remorse. No matter how machine-like they act, people are people everywhere.

“I never thought ‘young’ and ‘polite’ could go together without grammatical error. Still, I liked that proactive attitude of self-justification. Your mindset is rational, and your final words were spot on.”

He looks around as if reminiscing a bit. Then, taking up the closing remark I had made, he said:

“Is efficiency important, or is killing one more important? Is killing mutants important, or fulfilling the Security Team’s duty to maintain urban order and efficiency important? That’s what I used to ask.”

I follow him into his personal office. He didn’t offer tea, but being invited into his office was significant enough that I decided not to mind.

“When I was first appointed Support Section Chief, the Anti-Mutation Section was full of damn mutant-haters. They said the higher-ups preferred hiring people who had lost family to mutants. What a spectacle.”

So the current rational Anti-Mutation Section isn’t normal? That hiring criterion seems somewhat inefficient. He naturally continued, still reminiscing.

“I started changing that and said something similar. While deliberately bringing in personnel from other departments, I said something… honestly, quite harsh to those who complained about diluting the sense of camaraderie in hunting mutants.”

He must have thought it harsh but necessary, and the results were successful. Even Gabriel Walker was saying it was fortunate that he wasn’t a mutant-hater.

“I asked whether it was more important to be a pack of animals licking each other’s wounds, or to be a Security Team dedicated to efficiency and the order that maintains it. Quite a few quit after that.”

So it was normalized because of one obsessive efficiency fanatic’s policy, and when the Anti-Mutation Section first started handling mutant hunting, there was an abnormal atmosphere. This was helpful information for me.

But testimony alone wasn’t enough. I needed evidence—evidence I could present to Mr. Günter. To get that evidence, I needed to do one thing: not be hasty.

“That was really harsh, but imagining what the Anti-Mutation Section would have been like without those words… it would have been terrible. Terribly inefficient.”

“As you said, they would have been obsessed with killing even one more mutant rather than focusing on efficiency. Making the Anti-Mutation Section different is my pride. Now hunting is done efficiently.”

And because of that one Support Section Chief, mutants truly came to fear the Anti-Mutation Section. The result of bringing efficiency where it shouldn’t be. It might seem terrible.

Now I needed to naturally move toward my goal. Since we were already talking plenty about efficiency, I decided to draw one more unnecessary extension to this conversation.

“Ah, speaking of efficiency, is it also an efficient measure to only reveal the reasons for mutant hunting to the Anti-Mutation Section? I don’t think I’ve ever heard the reason.”

“It would be more efficient to inform everyone and make them vigilant, but as I said, remember what state the Anti-Mutation Section was in when I joined a few years after they took on mutant hunting duties.”

Before the Support Section Chief diluted the staff by bringing in new people and even driving some away with his words, the Anti-Mutation Section was… full of people with grudges against mutants. They wouldn’t have needed reasons in the first place.

I seemed to have found the answer to “Why did it start that way?” Perhaps it was to eliminate the need for reasons. Inertia always exists. Things in motion tend to stay in motion.

“So, there were no materials initially, and they were later created by the Support Section Chief…”

“No, no. Belvedere wouldn’t handle things so inefficiently. There were documents and research results, but they were just rotting in the document database.”

I only reminded myself that it was too early to be certain. It wouldn’t be too late to draw conclusions after confirming that information.