Ch.248Work Record #035 – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (3)

Polaris didn’t know the word “indecisive,” and she only used the word “merciful” for people who didn’t try to kill her. She is objectively a strong person.

As soon as she learned there were assassins targeting her, and that her bodyguard’s call sign was Gardner, she came to me and requested I deal with the assassins.

What kind of “soft and weak” person would sweet-talk a freelancer certified by three companies into organizing a hunting festival for her own assassins? The judgment itself was wrong.

And the result of that misjudgment was cruel. The chairman, whom I had thought was just participating in the typical power struggles at T Entertainment, was now weeding out the weak. According to their logic.

Moreover, since Bellwether had approved it, they would die silently. The two I killed would at least be recorded as business-related disposals, but the rest would all become unfortunate accidental deaths.

It’s not my concern. They were the ones who turned stupid thoughts into stupid actions, and ended up having to choose between being picked off one by one by me or being cleanly disposed of by assassins.

But then, several assassination attempts fail. Skilled assassins make quite unfortunate mistakes. No one is surprised. Why? I need to keep up with this pace.

The reason is… because I demanded the head of the Copyright Department as my share. No matter how powerful the Copyright Department might be, if they had no forces left, they would clearly flee or postpone their plans.

To ensure the Copyright Department continues to show hostility toward Polaris, it’s necessary to leave some cards in their hands. This is like consolation money given to a broke gambler at a casino.

It’s telling them to spin the roulette wheel again with that consolation money. Thinking about it that way, they were skilled even in failure. The assassins would believe they survived by their own abilities at a critical moment, and the Copyright Department would think the same.

They would appear as if they had proven their strength in this industry of survival of the fittest. But no. It’s all staged. A typical deception of the entertainment industry. It might be reality for them, but for us, it’s a script.

There was no need to guess who directed this natural script revision. It would be the most competent editor-in-chief of Talent & Tradition. Someone I was about to meet.

“The script is clean. You’re letting the remnants survive enough to try one last job. This script was written by someone who wasn’t officially appointed, right?”

“You’re familiar with the ecosystem of the entertainment industry. That’s correct. And when you deal with the Copyright Department… cameras will be following. You know what I mean.”

Someone who had spoken of doing things for pleasure couldn’t possibly misunderstand that. I smiled and nodded. Putting on my display helmet, I said:

“Just make sure my face and name are properly concealed. You know I’m not in the business of selling my face and name.”

After slowly leaving the apartment, I got into a car that was naturally waiting in front. Opportunities to meet the chairman of a mega-corporation in jeans and a t-shirt aren’t that common in this world.

It might even be the opposite. Last time, I went to meet Mr. Günter in casual clothes rather than a suit. The vehicle quietly departed, and the assassination team leader who had boarded with me quietly spoke.

“But what kind of mercenary… has connections with both Bellwether and Panacea Meditech, and also knows the ecosystem of the entertainment industry so well? I mean…”

“Yes, yes. You should be more respectful. I’m actually seventy-three, but I got a new body after handling a job that would be red-level information even for the LA branch’s security chief. Just kidding. It’s coincidence.”

I told the lie that now came naturally to me, almost ritualistically. I added that it was a joke, but judging by the assassination team leader’s expression, he still seemed half-convinced.

“The former is more convincing than the latter… Anyway, if you’re a mercenary who collaborates with Panacea Meditech, you must worry less about getting injured or killed.”

“Ah, my connection with Panacea Meditech is almost… personal. I don’t receive products used by frontline personnel. But if it’s enough to worry less about getting injured or killed…”

He pulled out something like an epinephrine injector for allergies from inside his jacket. It had Panacea Meditech’s logo on the cap. It seemed he was receiving frontline equipment support.

That meant Panacea Meditech was truly desperate for buyers. In a situation where both military supply companies were hunting mutants, Panacea Meditech couldn’t sell their pharmaceuticals to them.

They had found a good substitute, but not good enough to stop eyeing Bellwether. The entertainment industry is always an unstable place. Even Talent & Tradition could collapse overnight.

It was clear that if they could just change Bellwether, they could propose Panacea Meditech as an alternative to Hollow Creek. It would be the best filial duty I could perform for my mother-like Panacea Meditech.

I shouldn’t get carried away with that sense of achievement. I’m someone who gets more pleasure from the work of a harpoonist than that of a diplomat. The ultimate goal is always to tear off the flesh of the whale called god.

“It’s a treatment using body cultivation technology, and honestly, its performance is ridiculously good. Of course, it requires surgery afterward since it regenerates haphazardly, but you know how it is.”

A virtual screen appears before my eyes. A T Entertainment assassin who had been shot seven times injects the injector into his torso. The liquid is injected over several seconds.

What followed wasn’t very pleasant to watch, like most of Panacea Meditech’s technologies. The injected culture was causing flesh to grow.

Cultivation technology is generally not good for emergency treatment. It takes a lot of time, and without a proper blueprint of the body, cells just grow wildly.

They had somehow refined it to the point where it could be practically used. Not perfect, but terribly close. Something Hollow Creek could never create. Only Panacea Meditech could do this.

Of course, for now, its only real value was stopping internal bleeding. The skin of the regenerated wound area had a texture similar to internal organs. They hadn’t completely fixed the drawback that the cultivation accelerator lacked judgment.

But although the interior would be a patchwork mess, at least the bleeding had stopped, and if they could get to a treatment facility, they could remove the haphazardly regenerated torso and cultivate a new one.

It’s much closer to perfection compared to Hollow Creek’s pharmaceuticals. That’s why sinister rumors follow Panacea Meditech. It’s probably closer to the leaking of facts than just rumors.

“It really has ridiculously good effects. But my skin can’t even be pierced by a needle…”

I drew a tactical dagger from my waist, but there was no restraint. If they had targeted me, they would have responded, but this was just drawing a blade in the entertainment industry. I turn off the vibration and push it against my hand.

Even a tactical dagger can’t even scratch the skin when not vibrating. Returning a friendly smile, I continued:

“Because I have a body that can’t be pierced. Since I have a durable body, I have to accept not being able to receive injections, right?”

After some more trivial conversation, the vehicle arrived at our destination. I got out of the car with the small evil deed tucked at my waist. The destination was a hotel.

The location choice made me wonder if they really cared about safety. It wasn’t a safe house they could completely control, and they hadn’t even blocked regular guests from checking in.

Seeing T Entertainment’s security team, or as they call it, the security department, in various places indicated they provided some level of security… but only some. For him, this was probably an act of acknowledgment.

As a strong person, he willingly wields power while never refusing challenges. By accepting challenges, he might break and crumble, and if he does, he will ultimately be defeated and eliminated.

He was perfectly aware of this. His strength is not eternal. Nor is it absolute. That’s why he could live so surprisingly freely for the chairman of a mega-corporation.

While Bellwether had a unified structure, the chairman’s security team here was called the chairman’s security office, not the chairman’s security department. I was more familiar with Bellwether’s unified structure. Either way, I’m essentially a Bellwether person.

I take the elevator, and with a key turn, the penthouse lock is released. It was my first time meeting the head of the entertainment industry. The executive producer of H Entertainment… would not be a common type.

I wanted to see what kind of person would be more suited to entertainment than a human created for the entertainment industry. The penthouse door opened, and I had to face not a crowd, but something like a crowd.

The penthouse was full of people. Not people. It would be more appropriate to say it was full of “bodies.” There were various bodies of all ages and genders, with the brain storage part covered.

The youngest body looked to be in their mid to late teens, and the oldest looked as old as Mr. Günter. Over a hundred and twenty bodies, differing in race and build, filled the penthouse.

An actor, perhaps? Even for an actor, I had never seen someone handle so many bodies without mental issues. The only body with a brain storage container inside gestured lightly.

Since the head parts of the other bodies contained mechanical devices that substituted for brain storage containers, the other bodies stood up. They divided into rooms that would originally have been the penthouse’s bedrooms.

The not-quite-crowd disappeared in an instant. While the voice I had spoken with on the phone was clearly that of a young man, sitting before me now was an elderly woman.

She asked me. The voice was different, but the manner of speaking was the same. After all, it was the same person just wearing a different body.

“Which body do you think is the real one?”

It was a probing question, but I wasn’t as tense as when I first met Mr. Günter. We were now looking into each other’s eyes, and I didn’t dislike that feeling of kinship. I borrowed Serena’s words for a moment.

“I don’t care. Isn’t it ridiculous to be fixated on either the body you were born with, or the first body you switched into? What matters is not the body you wear, but the person inside it.”

“Even people who say such things start to care when they have over a hundred and twenty-nine bodies, but it seems I wasn’t wrong in thinking we would understand each other well. Please, sit down.”

As I sat down, one of the chairman’s bodies came out and served tea. Fortunately, it wasn’t “Gardner’s Choice,” but it was a tea I could enjoy well enough.

He… now she, as the pronoun follows the body. Arthur-2 is also her. She looked at me with somewhat curious eyes and asked:

“So, why did you request the hunt for the Copyright Department as your payment? That’s definitely not payment, and you seem well aware that you might fail.”

She had clearly heard most of my conversation with the assassination team leader. It would be more ridiculous to think that the chairman of a mega-corporation who deploys assassins like that wouldn’t be skilled in deception and eavesdropping.

“I can’t explain the details, but I have a record of killing unarmed Bellwether Special Operations agents. That experience has always been a major guide for me in close combat situations.”

The way Special Ops skillfully climbed walls, jumped heights humans couldn’t jump, changed their center of gravity in place to avoid attacks—all of it was like a guide for me.

“So, honestly, it’s hard to imagine how much I could learn from fighting the Copyright Department of the entertainment industry, especially a fully armed Copyright Department. Does that explain it?”

“Except for my concern about what the industry’s top assassin wants to learn, yes, it explains it. And in our entertainment industry… we don’t restrict trophy acquisition. According to principles.”

It’s truly terribly survival of the fittest. They seem to think that if you can’t destroy your brain and equipment that shouldn’t be leaked until the moment of your death, you deserve to be eliminated.

Now I understand why others call Bellwether people efficiency freaks. Still, I could happily hear that as long as I kill them, I’m free to loot as I please.

And since she asked why, I decided to explain a bit more in detail than just a general lack of ability. I enjoy conversations with people who understand.

“As you know, while I have expertise in killing, it’s not my hobby. Usually, I kill people for work. Honestly, I don’t mind killing people who deserve to be eliminated.”

I drew the small evil deed from my waist, but she didn’t show even a hint of concern. Placing the small evil deed on the coffee table, I said:

“For such jobs, I use guns. I throw flash grenades and break down doors. But sometimes, I have to kill things that aren’t human. Whales that try to prevent me from enjoying my life.”

If there had been a harpoon here, I would have brought it and placed it before her eyes, but this was a clean penthouse suite in a hotel. My life doesn’t run that conveniently.

“For those times, I use a harpoon, but to kill a whale, the abilities of an ordinary freelancer are insufficient. Totally insufficient. So, I’m building up my abilities. Is that explanation enough?”

She burst into laughter without any hesitation. Perhaps I am somewhat similar to them even as I call their thinking primitive and cruel.

After muttering “muy bien,” which means “very good,” several times, she gestured as if asking for a moment’s pardon and went into a room.

Soon she came out in the body of a middle-aged man with high-end combat prosthetic arms. It was a body that gave off a strong security team vibe. Her voice had more strength than in the elderly body.

“Why was a talent who should have been born during the Studio Independence War born now, of all times, in Los Angeles owned by Bellwether? Do you know how thirsty I am for such talent? Really…”

“A freelancer who can’t even cut off the wrists of those reaching for my enjoyable, enjoyable, and will-be-enjoyable life, but is just babbling with their mouth… such praise could wait until later, Chairman.”

“Not at all. I’ve already sided with such a person before. A man who brought a comedy film script to Hollywood when the world was nothing but ash pits and radioactive wasteland after that war ended.”

I remembered the story of the man who raised the whale before it became the entertainment industry. He was someone who appeared in an era of plague-like despair, as Chance had said, an era full of resignation and self-harm.

Wasn’t Talent & Tradition the very culprit who eventually betrayed that person and started a corporate war, driving the entertainment industry to this state? Yet he had eyes full of dreams.

“When I think about what beauty resulted from helping that man of mere words, even though we seem to be well past the lowest point… it’s never bad to recognize such a person in advance.”

He seemed to harbor no ill feelings even toward that whale of the entertainment industry. This person is well worth having more conversation with.