Ch.75Work Record #014 – Unauthorized Slaughter (2)

After putting the helmet back on to hide my face, I mounted the bike and left the scene where the Belwether Mobile Division was controlling the gathered crowd.

It took less than thirty minutes to reach the trailer on the outskirts where Mr. Günter and the Belwether headquarters staff were staying. Including departure time and my visit to Yakyung, it had been about an hour and a half.

Riding through the empty roads at four in the morning, I arrived among the trailers and knocked on the door wearing the exact same outfit as when I left. The door opened automatically. Mr. Günter was still inside.

It might be a silly thought, but I felt like Mr. Günter probably never slept. Simply because it would be inefficient. Herman looked at me quizzically as I entered.

“Do you need something else? If you’re planning to request additional personnel, since operations are currently underway…”

I watched as Mr. Günter chuckled behind him as if finding something amusing, and I took out the preservation container with the head from my bag. Since he couldn’t move his head, I positioned it so only he could see me.

“I think we’ll need identity verification. Other than that… well, I don’t need anything else.”

Herman examined his face once and activated his computational assist device. The review ended quickly.

“This is Herbert Laurel, Chief of Assassination Division 4 of the Los Angeles branch’s Legal Assassination Team. If you wish to interrogate him, please wait a moment. There’s a voice module that can connect to the computational assist device…”

One of the spare units they were going to equip me with approached and connected to the preservation container. After pairing with his computational assist device, a voice began to be heard. I started recording.

“Damn it, what happened to my legs? There’s no way those wounds could heal in just a day…”

I shrugged my shoulders as if his words were nonsense and answered. Since there wasn’t much damage to the head itself, he probably wasn’t in a situation like me when my head was cut off, where I couldn’t even properly secure my field of vision.

“I’ve been pretty sturdy since I was young. Things like sprained ankles, catching colds, having my neck slightly cut, or getting a hole in my thigh tend to heal easily.”

That wasn’t entirely a lie. How many times had I died and come back to life? Before he could respond, I started speaking first.

“I did bring you here for interrogation, but honestly, you have no reason to cooperate, right? Who am I to offer you a deal? I can’t make you a new body, and I have nothing to give you.”

He was already experiencing the worst situation of his life. Further threats would only increase his resistance and aversion. Fear might make him talk, but pain would only make him output the answers I wanted.

I crouched in front of the table where his head was placed and met his gaze. Deliberately staying crouched so he could see me, I briefly looked up at the Chairman.

Even though the Chairman showed little reaction, I nodded and looked back at him.

“So I’m going to try to persuade you on a human level. You need to know what the branch director did for you to even consider backing off, right?”

I deliberately smiled. The expression that wouldn’t form properly in the hospital bed now felt distinct. I began speaking leisurely.

“My records have already been erased, but I was also a Belwether employee. I graduated from the Security Team Training College at twenty-two and worked for about six months. Whenever I recall it, it feels like just yesterday, but it’s also like an eternity ago.”

I can never go back. Even if I saw the same world I saw then, it would never be the same world I saw then, and I couldn’t even reminisce about that time in my dreams. Everything ended when my head was cut off.

“What’s the worst thing you can imagine while working for Belwether? Honestly, I thought it was getting fired and blacklisted… but that wasn’t it. You know what I mean when you look at what you called ‘below my neck.'”

I took off my jacket and placed four fingers on my t-shirt. These were the places where the Abomination had pierced through. After pretending to stab, I slightly spread my fingers and mimicked grabbing and tearing off my neck.

“To be honest, I didn’t want revenge or anything like that. I just wanted to salvage my body and start a new life. Sounds good, right? A fresh start! Just live diligently from now on. Right?”

I let out a leisurely laugh. I had briefly dreamed. I believed there would be villains in this story. I thought everything would end if I eliminated the evil Jaina and killed the monster, the Abomination.

“It wasn’t like that at all. There were no monsters or villains. Jaina threw even innocent members into Belwether’s slaughterhouse, and you know what? What I called the biotechnology abomination was the branch director’s brother.”

I took out a Belwether company’s ceremonial dagger from my waist and lightly stabbed it into the metal table with force. It was the same one I used to stab Walter.

“At that point, what else did I have left? I still dream of the moment when I’ll have the branch director’s neck in my hands and strangle him. It’s an embarrassingly strong desire for revenge, but so what? That’s what I want.”

He burst out shouting. He deliberately raised his volume and tried to overwhelm me with words. I listened as if I couldn’t understand the language of the unqualified.

“You fucking idiot who thinks the world will get better just by shooting out of revenge! What happens after the branch director dies? What about the Los Angeles branch? What about Los Angeles, which will be filled with chaos starting tomorrow! If you leave the LA branch in this state, productivity will decrease as they obsess over that damn humanity, and efficiency will drop day by day. Then someday…”

“That’s not my problem. After that, tomorrow, someday… you made me unable to believe in those words. All I have left is today. The present, where I’ll achieve what I want by any means necessary.”

It was a bluff. I was still dreaming a little about tomorrow. I was looking forward to finishing this job and seeing Ms. Eve again. I had promised Kay we would shatter the transparent eyes. But only a little.

However, the assassination chief couldn’t know that fact. His expression became increasingly distorted. It was a familiar expression. He was grinding his teeth in fear, just like when he saw me above the entrance ceiling.

Is my expression a bit strange? Perhaps, just a little, it might seem like I’m sincerely impressed by and following the words I bluffed. I couldn’t tell myself.

“So, if you’re not going to provide information, don’t waste any more time. It won’t take that long to pour the contents of the container down the drain and catch a new Legal Assassination Team chief.”

And, from that statement and what Walter said before I died the second time, I could learn quite a lot. Walter was anti-humanity. He belonged to the faction that believed stopping humane treatment and achieving perfect control was efficient.

It’s quite a fascinating ideology. How right it is. The image of a company where everyone does their job, everyone perfectly performs only their assigned tasks, and appropriate resources are provided to achieve maximum efficiency.

But, unfortunately, people possessed humanity. To achieve the perfect efficiency Walter dreamed of, that nature would have to be changed, and putting effort into that would be inefficient.

I clearly started by saying I would persuade him humanely, but the result was just a Legal Assassination chief trembling in fear. He spoke in a voice as weak as a whisper.

“There’s still no, no reason to switch sides… I don’t know who’s sponsoring you, but…”

I looked up at the Chairman. After seeing him nod, I picked up the handle of the container and stood up, turning the container upside down. His artificial eye went out. Mr. Günter spoke gently.

“Belwether, temporarily authorize audiovisual detection. A brain steeped in heretical methods that couldn’t even produce efficiency is finally coming to its senses.”

Light slowly returned to his artificial eye. He raised his eyes and saw the person standing before him. The only person in this city who isn’t monitored. The only person in this city who wasn’t appointed stood before him.

Just seeing him would make artificial eyes go out, and his voice wouldn’t even be heard until Mr. Günter permitted it. Whether something exists or doesn’t exist before one’s eyes depends on Mr. Günter’s whim.

His eyes widened, and he began to speak with trembling lips. Forgetting that he wasn’t connected to lungs, he tried to speak with his mouth rather than his mind. He was relying on instinct.

Now he knew why I had been healed. He could understand why a nobody who had just been an employee of a mercenary company had easily collected his head.

Belatedly coming to his senses, he began to speak through the voice module connected to his computational assist device. His expression seemed to say he couldn’t believe it.

“Chai-Chairman…?”

Mr. Günter said nothing. The assassination chief’s voice coming through the computational assist device crackled.

“LA branch Legal Assassination Team Assassination Division 4 Chief, Herbert Laurel! Reporting! Currently, the Legal Assassination Team and the Security Team’s Special Operations and Assault Divisions have decided to follow the branch director! The, the Security Team leader is also on our side. We have all the elite forces, so we could proceed with the coup at any time, but we’re first proceeding with the recovery of the only variable, general employee Arthur Murphy!”

He wracked his brain to say anything else he needed to say. The head, which had absorbed the preservative fluid, used all its energy for confession.

“All divisions of Lone Star Rangers Inc. except the Heavy Duty Division, as well as other mercenary cooperation companies, have decided to cooperate on the condition of public re-contracting! Adrian’s absence is not a problem! The list is…”

He was naming all the mercenary companies he knew. Fortunately, very fortunately, Yakyung wasn’t among them, and neither was Ms. Tara’s company. I held back a sigh of relief.

Walter, of course, knew the Abomination’s name. My teeth gritted. Not only did he know, but he had spread it to his employees as if it were necessary information.

“The need for that biotechnology abomination was to subdue the Shepherd! So, as expected, the takeover of the branch was supposed to be simple! No exact date has been set yet!”

They firmly believed the Shepherd was on their side. I couldn’t understand what the situation was. I couldn’t tell if the Shepherd had already switched to their side and shown me mercy, or if it was a disguise.

Either way, the Shepherd needed to be dealt with. If the Shepherd turned to our side, the branch would gain a rallying point for resistance. If not, he had to be killed. Either way, he was strong and dangerous.

Mr. Günter, who had been quietly listening, looked down at the assassination chief and asked. His voice was very plain.

“Is that all?”

“Yes! That’s all I know! The office workers were not actively recruited as they were not expected to resist! The Personnel Management Team was only used as a channel!”

He seemed on the verge of losing consciousness from fear. He was wearing the expression I had felt—that feeling of “How big of a situation have I gotten myself into?”

Mr. Günter was an outlier even by his standards. Mr. Günter continued speaking leisurely. I finished recording. Would Mr. Günter’s voice have been recorded too? I couldn’t tell.

“There doesn’t seem to be any lies. Dispose of it.”

He handed the preservation container to an approaching drone. The drone flew toward the organic waste bin. This time, Mr. Günter, standing in front of me, asked in a slightly warmer voice.

“What’s the next plan?”

“Two things. One is to confirm if the Security Team leader is really on the branch director’s side and then take action, and the other is to subdue the mercenary companies. If Lone Star is subdued, the companies under it will scatter.”

“If they betray the branch director and scatter, will you forgive them?”

“I only meant it would be easier to defeat them one by one.”

“Clean. Method?”

The assassination chief clearly said all divisions except the Heavy Duty Division. Michael Glenn, who drove for me when I was looking for a chance, was definitely… from the Heavy Duty Division.

The Heavy Duty Division is as deeply cooperative with Belwether as its name suggests. It was almost like a part of the Security Team, yet it didn’t side with the branch director, which must have a reason. That’s the way.

“I should be able to contact Michael Glenn, the chief of Lone Star Rangers’ Heavy Duty Division, through Yoon, the president of our Yakyung. I’ll approach Lone Star using that channel.”

Mr. Günter clicked his tongue again. After clicking his tongue two more times, a person wearing a modest reinforced suit with a black background and gold trim walked out from the darkness in one corner of the trailer.

I can’t forget that reinforced suit. It’s a Market Keeper. The Market Keeper substituted a salute by briefly stomping his foot. Mr. Günter smiled kindly again.

“That won’t be necessary. Don’t you think? This old man could go back to headquarters, and it wouldn’t be a problem. You’re doing well on your own.”

It was a probing question. The correct answer would be to say it’s fine for him to leave, but I decided to say something else. I smiled back kindly and said:

“The view from headquarters must be different from the field experience. Seeing it directly with your own eyes, right beside it, would be more enjoyable, wouldn’t it?”

“It’s the first time I’ve felt time to be so cruel. If you had been born eighty years earlier, I would have made you my business partner, and if you had been born fifty or sixty years earlier, I would have made you my son-in-law. Yes. That would have been more fun.”

Machines produce. Slaves obey. People enjoy all of it. Enjoyment is everything. Today is the only day. Everything else doesn’t exist. I repeat this to myself.

Mr. Günter’s prosthetic hand briefly makes an operational sound. Lights turn on in the connected trailers, revealing the sleeping quarters and shower rooms used by headquarters staff staying here. This is all I need.

How long has it been since I was happy about buying a house, and now I’m back to sleeping in quarters? Apart from sighing about that point, this place was as perfect a hideout as any.

“Rest as you see fit and then continue your work. Report if you think a report is necessary. Only report properly after you’ve finished dealing with Lone Star and the mercenary companies, and after taking care of the Security Team leader.”

I can’t express how liberating this permissiveness feels. The fact that I’m working alone and that’s enough—the fact that it’s enough even for the Chairman—brought a joy that’s hard to compare to anything else.

Achievement motivates people. How many more times will I need to feel this achievement before this job ends? I looked forward to it like a child counting the nights until their father returns. I was happy.

Still, I need to rest for a while now. Having been in a comatose state for too long, and having woken up from anesthesia in the cultivation tank just an hour and a half ago, my mind was tired despite the joy.