Ch.25Work Record 005 – Do Not Let the Witch Live (2)

If I were to call security, a few people from the operations department would come, and only after a report went up would someone at the manager level or higher arrive. But when a report went through Stephanet, it was different.

The report would go straight to the Shepherd, and the personnel management team would be contacted, bringing everyone from the president down to all of Night Watch. I needed as many witnesses as possible. The higher their rank, the better.

Tina finally emerged slowly, gun in hand. I hadn’t woken her because there wouldn’t be enough time to explain, but she must have been awakened by the gunshots. She asked with an uncharacteristically anxious expression.

“What the hell is going on here? Who are those guys in the office?”

“They’re from Bellwether’s Legal Assassination Team. They broke in armed, so I shot them, secured the van, and called security, so you don’t need to worry. Probably.”

I could see her usually composed expression crumpling into irritation. Was it because of the already dead intruders? Maybe. If not that… then it was because of the mutant living in the fire escape stairwell.

Tina was the only one who used that fire escape stairwell. The president also knew about that space. A mutant that occasionally knocked on my wall couldn’t go unnoticed.

Putting it all together… she was likely aware of that mutant. And I had seen someone else at Night Watch whom she knew but I didn’t.

It was like when I first interviewed and someone checked whether I was on Bellwether’s blacklist. Tina had definitely spoken as if relaying information she’d heard from someone else.

Was the mutant hiding in that wall an employee of Night Watch I didn’t know about? The logical answer led me to the most absurd conclusion. For now, it seemed better to keep quiet about the mutant.

“Post-human Type IV is really good, I tell you. I was feeling a bit anxious before bed, so I focused on my hearing, and I heard a van stopping right in front of the office.”

Only when I smoothly deflected with that line did Tina’s expression relax a bit. If that mutant could inflict pain on the Legal Assassination Team members who entered through the window from inside the wall, it could have spoken to Tina as well.

Tina finally uttered a sentence in a voice drained of energy. About five minutes after she spoke, the white light from Bellwether security vehicles began to shimmer in the distance.

“Too kind-hearted to be called a boogeyman…”

The helicopter arrived slightly before the lead vehicle. It was so quiet that the sound was barely audible until it was directly overhead. Assault Division 1 had come personally. It was obvious what had been reported.

Instead of landing, several closed reinforcement suits jumped lightly from the helicopter. Since there wasn’t an active shootout in the street, they didn’t descend while firing.

At the front was… the Shepherd. Only his custom suit had faintly glowing blue lines where fluorescent paint had been splashed like war paint over Bellwether’s black closed reinforcement suit.

In the darkness, only he would be visible. And he was the kind of person who wouldn’t mind if all gunfire was directed at him. In fact, he was the type who would be pleased that the barrage was focused solely on him.

It made sense that a team leader would respond personally to a report that Bellwether’s Legal Assassination Team was under direct attack in downtown Los Angeles. The Shepherd turned on his suit’s speaker when he saw me.

“Disarm yourself, Arthur Murphy, general employee of Night Watch, our official partner company. We’ve received a report that Legal Assassination Team members were attacked while performing their duties, so I ask for your understanding.”

“Their ‘duty’ involved breaking into Night Watch’s office while fully armed. They didn’t knock during business hours but targeted dawn when key personnel would be absent, breaking in through the window.”

The sound of the Shepherd clicking his tongue leaked through the microphone from inside the reinforcement suit. It seemed like he made the sound deliberately for me to hear. He didn’t like this situation either. My not immediately lowering my weapon was tolerated.

“Is this the Legal Assassination Team’s normal operation? This is my rightful exercise of rights as an employee of a partner company. According to company charter and rules, I demand an explanation from Bellwether first, as they broke trust first.”

The rules are absolute. They must be absolute. Reality isn’t so simple, but an idealist at Bellwether would strive to follow the charter and rules. I spoke based on that trust.

The security team leader lowered his gun barrel to the ground first. Only then did I lower the safety lever and point my gun downward. I didn’t have to put it down completely.

“I don’t know either. The Legal Assassination Team refused to provide operational documents. They said since it was done by someone from security, security should handle it… Is it true your records were really erased?”

“Stephanet couldn’t even remember me, so officially I must have been completely erased. Why would the Legal Assassination Team…”

Something was strange. Wasn’t it the personnel management team that was building a private military? The Bellwether branch was officially trying to distrust the security team, and the Legal Assassination Team refused to provide operational documents.

They might be plotting something against the security team internally. The biggest obstacle to corporate civil war would be the security team loyal to the company, the chairman, and the shareholders. The LA branch’s security team was the same.

After waiting a bit longer, the president arrived. Looking at the office shattered by gunfire and the van with its front glass half torn off, it wasn’t difficult to deduce the situation.

“General employee Arthur Murphy, report. What happened?”

I turned around while keeping my gun pointed at the ground. After seeing his expression full of surprise and concern, I answered with relief.

“Two agents from the Legal Assassination Team broke into the office. If they had come during Night Watch’s business hours, I would have offered them tea, but they came fully armed after all key personnel had left and fired first, so I had no choice but to shoot them. I found the van they came in, landed on top of it, and called security… and the security team leader came.”

I reported without lying outright, though I omitted details unfavorable to me, like how the mutant behind the wall had poured noise into their heads, causing them to fire the first shot.

This was an opportunity. The safest chance to deliver that cut document with the Bellwether seal to the security team. President Yoon gave me a look, and I responded with a slight nod.

“For now, if you haven’t conducted an internal investigation yet, it would be better to go in and check first. You’ll need to verify if Arthur’s statement is true. I’d like to ask if we could go in and check first before calling an additional investigation team…”

“Out of respect for our partner company, we will do so. Everyone, wait here.”

After they went up to the office, there was a brief silence, perhaps because the team leader had created a sound-proof space with his authority. It took less than five minutes for them to come back down.

The Shepherd in his closed reinforcement suit walked out and, with a sigh, lightly punched the Legal Assassination Team’s van. A clear fist mark remained on the hood that had stayed intact when I jumped on it.

“The testimony appears to be true. These Legal Assassination Team bastards tried to break in here and were killed in counterattack. Does anyone disagree that this is not how Bellwether should treat a partner company?”

The Shepherd was somewhat emotional. Probably because it was apparent that after the personnel management team, now the Legal Assassination Team was trying to antagonize the security team. Something was strange. Thinking about it, the security team was also hostile toward the Legal Assassination Team.

They don’t trust each other. The reason the security team is the biggest enemy of corporate civil war is that the entire branch rallies around them to resist the civil war plans, due to their dedication to the company, the chairman, and the shareholders.

There wasn’t much time left before evidence would be collected and the cleanup team would disappear with the bullets, bodies, and traces. As an ominous feeling crept up my spine, I approached the Shepherd. I cleared my throat.

“I have something to tell you, Security Team Leader. It’s just a personal speculation, but…”

I felt the air flow change around us. A space where sound couldn’t escape was created, and he removed his closed reinforcement suit helmet to look at me.

“I don’t know much about Bellwether’s internal politics, but it doesn’t seem like there’s good cooperation. I mean, mutually. Just as Legal Assassination doesn’t cooperate with security…”

“You mean security doesn’t cooperate with Legal Assassination either? Those bastards who refuse to provide documents while accessing information that should have been deleted?”

Mutual distrust. I didn’t know who was preparing what, but it was the worst situation. I could see the soundproof space starting to waver. I needed time for one more sentence.

“Since when?”

That single question created the need to maintain the soundproof space a little longer. The Shepherd answered with an expression tinged with guilt. It was the expression a shepherd might wear when unable to save his sheep.

“Since Jaina’s terror attack. We did clean it up, but too quietly. I… couldn’t show a massacre across the entire city. I couldn’t show hundreds, thousands of executions. That’s all. Understand?”

“That’s not the issue! Security should be Bellwether’s protector, not just the protector of security. Mutual distrust is inefficient and betrays your duty! You need to remember that!”

Even the Shepherd doesn’t know what to do in this situation. They can’t trust each other, distrust is frightening, but betrayal is terrifyingly horrific. No one knows which path is right.

It felt like a bloodbath was coming to Bellwether. The Shepherd refused to answer and dispelled the soundproof space. He put his helmet back on. He had too many people to be responsible for. He couldn’t trust blindly.

The Shepherd and the assault division left, and the operations division briefly completed their investigation, confirming the Shepherd’s words. This would probably be wrapped up with compensation money coming in a few days.

When the Legal Assassination Team doesn’t cooperate with the security team, that’s all the Shepherd can do. Distrust binds hands and feet. Betrayal cuts them off. The cleanup team arrived, and after about two hours, the office was quiet again.

I didn’t say anything about the mutant. Mutants leave only circumstantial evidence. The reason why the Legal Assassination Team fired their first shot at the ceiling would remain a mystery, but I couldn’t just suddenly shout “It’s a mutant!”

The bullet holes weren’t filled, and the couch in the reception room where I could lie down comfortably was blown apart, but the situation was resolved for now. I sat on the couch with its backrest blown off, facing the president and Tina.

We couldn’t find words to say. It wasn’t because what we feared had become reality. Judging by their dawn arrival, they were targeting someone in this company, not the company itself.

Probably me. Their attitude suggested they were trying to “dispose of” rather than punish me for violating the gag order, but I shouldn’t be certain yet. There was another reason for the president’s and Tina’s silence.

Breaking silence requires courage. Words need to be carefully chosen. However, to eliminate at least one anxiety, I asked directly.

“That woman told me. The woman living in the wall. Who is she? Why didn’t you tell me, making me suspicious?”

When facing anxiety, one must do so head-on. Shadows appear larger when glimpsed from the corner of the eye. Only when standing before them do they appear their true size. The president sighed.

“It would have been a big gamble to easily introduce a mutant to someone whose waking time is the same as Bellwether security’s reporting time, showing you still retain Bellwether’s mindset. We were planning to tell you when you became more accustomed.”

I couldn’t deny that. When the mutant first spoke to me directly, my first action was to draw my gun. That was only because I didn’t think of her as a company person.

But the president still hadn’t told me who she was. Tina, sitting beside him, spoke up. Perhaps she hadn’t matured because of the shark’s breathing method.

“She’s my sister. What the president said when he flipped my car while I was driving wasn’t ‘sharks can breathe without swimming’ but…”

“I need a driver. Someone slightly more normal than a street racer. A street racer’s unstable income would barely be enough to hide your sister.”

That was the message hidden behind the shark story. It was closer to blackmail. The president seemed like someone desperate for capable people when he saw me. Apparently, he was even more so before.

The reason could be put aside for now. It was enough to know that there was mutual trust at Night Watch and a fairly positive connection with the security team, which I didn’t want to antagonize.

The world is too complex to think about without a computational assist device. Not that everything becomes simple with one implanted.

Bellwether’s affairs are Bellwether’s affairs. It would be nice if the attacks ended here, but even if they didn’t, there was nothing I could do besides prepare… and I had no means to get involved in internal politics.

It’s not even the company I used to work for. They made it that way. My heart still hadn’t calmed down, and my brain had too much to process to provide proper answers. I needed to cool my head.

This company had secrets too, but this time they weren’t as dangerous or unpleasant. Hoping this would help ease my mind, I said:

“Well… I should at least say hello. I was able to wake up because she warned me someone was coming just as I was about to fall asleep. It’ll help clear my head too.”

It was Valentina’s personal story, which I had thought was relatively normal. She nodded readily and took me to her night duty room. She opened a door painted the same color as the wall and went outside.

As the president had said, there was a fire escape exit, but contrary to what Tina had said, there was no luggage at all—it was clean. Of course. A Bellwether person wouldn’t use such a place as storage.

I compared the building’s floor plan in my head with the space I was using. There was a small gap. It was a very narrow space, but enough for one person to fit in.

Estimating by eye, I followed Tina as she lightly knocked on the wall. It was a somewhat dead-end wall with only stairs leading down and no connected areas.

The wall opened slightly. Inside was a woman with light brown hair like Valentina’s. Her features were similar to Valentina’s, but her expression showed more fear than composure.

I had never empathized with mutants before. They were tumors. They were witches. People who needed to be cut out and quickly burned away. I had never imagined objects of fear feeling fear themselves.

But not now. Before being a mutant, she was someone who had given me the right help at the right time. Setting aside the rising disgust toward mutants that I had learned at Bellwether, I extended my hand.

“I didn’t know we had one more senior colleague at the company. Please feel free to call me Arthur.”

Though she looked hesitant to extend her hand to someone who appeared to be a typical Bellwether security officer, she eventually reached out. Compared to the firmness of a Post-human Type IV, her hand was extremely fragile.

Aberrantly formed mutants could emit unusual signals but were often deficient in something. That made them easy to identify and distinguish.

She quickly withdrew her hand at my touch, cradling it with her other hand, and spoke in a shrinking voice, though it was still audible.

“I’m Nadia. You’re… electric. You look like a person, talk and smile like a good person… but you’re not human. Worse than Volla.”

“The Post-human series is more of a military enhancement body than a multipurpose artificial body. A machine made of flesh. All I was born with is…”

I tapped my head lightly, as if pointing to what was inside rather than the head itself, then smiled.

“Just the core, so I am worse than Volla. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for helping today. I’m sorry for the seizure-like reaction to your aberrant formation. It’s because of my background.”

It’s better to be generous with thanks and apologies. People can generally only convey about a third of what they say to others. They can only accept about a third of what they hear from others.

If I speak nine times as much, I should be able to convey what I want. This special time when I could distance myself from my complicated thoughts and be the good person I wanted to be was precious.

To make a small excuse, I continued speaking. It was just an excuse, but sometimes making the effort to excuse oneself looks good.

“You know what kind of things they teach at Bellwether, right? But don’t worry. Since you tried to help despite being scared, I can gladly set aside inefficient hatred.”

Efficiency is everything. Efficiency is what drives this high-speed era. The efficient is good, and the inefficient is evil. In that sense, Nadia’s help was tremendously, incomparably efficient.

At my calm gratitude and apology, Nadia relaxed her hunched body a bit. How had she seen me from beyond the wall? I couldn’t know, but she probably hadn’t seen me as a mutant-hater.

That illusion would have shattered the moment I pointed my gun, and this moment was about piecing together the broken fragments. Nadia whispered again in a voice tinged with fear.

“Thank… thank you for not reporting me to the security team. I’m sorry for deceiving you. I owe you my… my life…”

“Thanks to you, I didn’t get a bullet in my head while sleeping, so it’s nothing. We each have one thing to be grateful for and one thing to be sorry about, so we’re even.”

The start of the dawn when I met the Legal Assassination Team was terrible, but the start of the morning when I met Nadia wasn’t so terrible. For me, and probably for Nadia as well.