Ch.80014 Work Record – Unqualified Slaughter (7)

After briefly setting aside the call with the Shepherd, I connect the communication to the Chairman.

Only now did I notice that the communication channel was labeled as Channel 1. Just “1” without any additional explanation.

Wherever the Chairman connects becomes Channel 1. The security measures were implemented in ways I couldn’t understand, and the Chairman’s voice seemed to come through almost instantly.

“Well, Metzgerhund. Working hard until dawn, I see. Do you have anything to report or need any assistance?”

“The general affairs department of Lone Star Rangers has been dealt with, and the remaining special operations department will hunt down the other mercenary companies to gain Belwether’s trust. Also, I’ve made contact with the Shepherd.”

Once again, I heard laughter. While I was worried about countless things, the Chairman remained relaxed, knowing that even if I failed, he could mobilize headquarters forces and resolve this situation in one swift move.

“Excellent. So, was the Shepherd a traitor? Or a double agent? I suspect it’s one of the two.”

His voice sounded like that of a viewer trying to deduce the culprit in a mystery film. It could be called experience, but regardless of how close we might be, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we stood on entirely different levels.

“Neither, sir. He was for maintaining the status quo. Due to guilt from the Jaina terrorist attack, he was afraid of engaging in combat using suppression forces. However, his status quo meant not handing over the branch to Walter.”

“A coward trying to buy peace in our time. Do you think he’s useful? If so, feel free to use him. The method is up to you.”

How scathing. Truly, efficiency was the only standard. The Shepherd, who couldn’t commit to either side and maintained an awkward neutrality… even I found him somewhat inefficient.

But it was an inefficiency I could understand and fix with simple measures. The inefficiency I could tolerate and what the Chairman could tolerate were quite different.

Or perhaps he simply expected more responsibility from someone in a high position like the Shepherd. Either way… having the Shepherd around was better.

“I was planning to maintain the status quo for now, then reclaim the special operations department that’s already gone to the branch manager, and formulate a plan to suppress from within. And he is, after all, the security team leader appointed by the company. He’ll be the focal point of the suppression forces.”

“The success rate is low. He’s only trying to avoid a firefight situation until it becomes unavoidable, then pull the trigger. What do you need?”

“Something to blame and assurance, sir. Walter is already there to blame, and you can provide the assurance. I’d like to call him to the public parking garage.”

It would be good if we could find out why the protective doors opened during the Jaina terrorist attack, allowing gas to leak in, but for now, doing what we could was the priority.

“Go ahead. People can’t be fixed and reused, but… an employee of Belwether should be different. Looking at his record, there were no particular inefficiencies in his work before this. He deserves a second chance.”

The fact that he could review the work record of a security team leader whose name I didn’t even know felt surreal to me. Suppressing a wry smile, I ended the call and switched back to the Shepherd.

“You wanted to meet face-to-face, right? I’ll send you the coordinates. Come there. You can come armed if you want… but it won’t do you much good.”

“Are you expecting me to believe we should meet in an empty lot?”

“When you get here, you’ll see it’s not an empty lot.”

We live in an age where reality can be censored and truth can be manufactured. That parking garage, where not a single car moved, was a censored location. I ended the call and headed to the parking garage. The Shepherd’s car soon arrived there as well.

The Shepherd wore an expression that suggested he was displeased with the scenery that differed from what he had seen. As the security team leader, this censored location should have been unknown to him, but it wasn’t.

After gesturing for him to follow, I headed toward the trailers where the Chairman was staying. Though called trailers, the interior resembled a floor taken straight from headquarters.

The Shepherd muttered in a somewhat anxious voice. He was looking at the gun in his hand as if he didn’t understand it.

“The lock won’t open. Just who is this sponsor inside…?”

Instead of answering, I opened the door and entered. Mr. Günter spoke in a low, recitative tone as he saw the Shepherd cover his eyes with his hands, making an unpleasant sound.

“I’ll authorize audiovisual detection, Security Team Leader.”

Only then could the Shepherd see Mr. Günter. Since he had pretended to side with Walter, he could see Walter. The only person he couldn’t see now was just one. He quickly realized that fact.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out who my sponsor was. What was difficult was accepting it. Accepting how big this game was and whose hands we were playing in.

Before he could answer, Mr. Günter spoke. It was a completely businesslike tone, entirely different from the shallow warmth I felt when he spoke with me.

“Shepherd. Gerard McNamara, Los Angeles Branch Security Team Leader. Isn’t the order wrong? You should have contacted me first, and you should have introduced Arthur Murphy, the general employee, to me. That would have been the proper way.”

Mr. Günter’s eyes swirled with vitality and mania as usual. But if that was the appearance of a madman, it was that of a madman who could summon storms. He stood almost majestically.

“But you were afraid. What were you so afraid of? What stopped you from cutting the throat of the traitor and rebel right in front of you! Answer me.”

Even the Shepherd seemed to feel like he was wearing clothes that were too tight in front of him. Nevertheless, he managed to maintain his voice as he answered.

“The memory of failure, sir. During the Jaina terrorist attack, one hundred and sixty people died. If this coup turned into an all-out war, I could predict casualties beyond what we could handle. If we had to fight…”

“If we had to fight? The duty of the security team is to protect the general employees! You shouldn’t be assuming a fight but should have launched a preemptive strike! Watching the cancer grow… how inefficient!”

Considering when Mr. Günter arrived here, he must have known about Walter’s coup before anyone else in Belwether security, even before me. It was obvious how this situation would look to him.

After the thunderous rebuke faded in the silent zone, Mr. Günter spoke in a slightly softer voice. The content, however, was not softened at all.

“But you’ve certainly proven sufficient efficiency until now. Realistically, it might be difficult to uncover corruption in the upper ranks. It was Walter who wrapped that fear and guilt around your neck.”

Though his voice had quieted, the mania within it—the obsession with efficiency and contradiction—hadn’t diminished at all. Something to blame and assurance. Exactly what I had hoped for was being given to the Shepherd.

“To make a fighter hesitate to fight, what terrible tyranny. Isn’t that so? A horrible, irresistible production of inefficiency. And the only way to deal with it was to watch?”

Everything becomes Walter’s fault. He didn’t say a single word about the deaths of one hundred and sixty general employees during the Jaina terrorist attack being Walter’s fault. He merely made Walter appear larger.

Should I learn from this, or should I be wary and afraid? I couldn’t be certain. I was still standing on an ambiguous line.

“But that’s over now. Raise your head and look at me. There’s another tyrant in this age where reality can be censored and truth can be manufactured. A tyrant no different from Walter. There are only two differences.”

I forgot to swallow as I listened. Mr. Günter’s voice sounded just like the growl of a beast.

“I am stronger than him, and unlike him, I am on your side. What are you still hesitating for? Is it guilt?”

Mr. Günter clicked his tongue. The cityscape appeared on the walls of the connected trailer. Numerous surveillance videos intertwined to perfectly replicate the city’s landscape. Mr. Günter recited in a low voice.

“Sepulveda Boulevard, gang shootout. Three dead, seventeen injured. All survivors handled by the security team. Adding press guidelines. Mandatory use of video footage, images should show hands stretched on the ground. Hands are gloved with the Ashwood Gang logo. Belwether. Take action.”

With slightly trembling hands, I turned on my computational assistant. Connecting to the net, I refreshed the news listings. Breaking news was pouring in. All using similar thumbnails.

Hands stretched out on the asphalt floor, with half-gloves uniformly bearing the Ashwood Gang logo. News began to appear on the city landscape displays filling the trailer interior.

The news unanimously reported that a gang shootout had occurred on Sepulveda Boulevard, and the surviving gang members had been dealt with by Belwether’s mobile unit. There was also video footage.

It showed the mobile unit shooting and killing a gang member at gunpoint. Something that never actually happened had become reality. As I watched in astonishment, Mr. Günter spoke once more.

“Belwether. The news about the legal assassination team handling Venus Meditech shareholders is still in the news. Censor it all. Venus Meditech agreed to the merger, and all shareholders have become Belwether shareholders.”

I refreshed once more. And again, the news changed. With just one word from a single person, everything changed.

The brief report that the last Venus Meditech shareholder had been processed through a hostile takeover had become an article praising the achievements of Venus Meditech, which had willingly agreed to the merger.

I couldn’t help but feel chills down my spine, and the Shepherd wore a similar expression. Mr. Günter began speaking again in a leisurely tone. He made an offer that the Shepherd would never accept.

No further explanation was needed. Showing the completely censored city with his single word was enough. More than enough.

“The deaths of one hundred and sixty general employees could be erased like this too. Would you like that to happen?”

“No, no sir! That failure… is something to be endured, not hidden or covered up. That…”

“Then endure it! Prove you can endure it by acting efficiently enough! Efficiency is good. Inefficiency is evil! Salvation from evil comes last. Understand?”

If Mr. Günter wanted, making someone cease to exist wouldn’t be difficult. But he normally doesn’t do that. Because it would be inefficient.

That also means he would gladly do it if it were efficient. His judgment, which didn’t acknowledge gray areas, made everything polarized. Either kindly gentle or terribly cruel.

The Shepherd answered just like I did as a new employee. Perhaps it was natural, given that the rank difference between my manager and me as a new employee was smaller than the rank difference between the Shepherd and the Chairman.

“Yes, sir!”

“Then report on the coup suppression preparations. Don’t ask for time to think. You should already know.”

Mr. Günter’s voice, which should have been frail at his age but wasn’t, clinging tenaciously to power and vitality, sounded like that of a beast again. More monster than beast. No predator lives over a hundred years.

“The assault department follows my opinion, so they can immediately defect from the coup forces. The special operations department’s goal is to purge the security team, so they won’t defect, and the other departments are unaware of the situation.”

Everyone knew more than expected, yet everyone was so ignorant of many things. That ambiguous balance between knowing and not knowing was making the situation terrible.

Paradoxically to Belwether’s ideology of considering humanity, instead of people sharing what they know and uniting, a mechanical device’s line was being used by someone who knows everything to come down and solve the problem.

Because that’s… faster and more efficient. For Belwether, even humanity was gasoline. If the gasoline doesn’t burn properly, they just discard it. I fully realized that fact.

“I will mobilize all departments except special operations for a preemptive strike! I can mobilize them as early as this morning!”

Only then did Mr. Günter smile at the Shepherd too. It seemed he was fine as long as things got back on track.

“Seeing that resolute expression, Walter might execute his plan first thing tomorrow morning.”

“The security team’s purpose is to protect general employees. Given that possibility, we will evacuate the general employees first thing tomorrow morning, then secure strongholds within the building, including the supply department, and annihilate the coup forces.”

Mr. Günter had now said enough. I couldn’t read the Shepherd’s mind, but this time he seemed likely to give a different answer.

“What if the protective doors open again?”

The Shepherd’s hands trembled. Just for a moment. Then he clenched his fists in his reinforced suit to stop the trembling and said:

“Walter has control over the protective doors. They won’t close. Nevertheless, I’ll set the evacuation floor two levels higher than the original to ensure the general employees inside aren’t exposed to combat. But before worrying about that… the coup forces won’t even reach the protective doors.”

“Excellent. Metzgerhund, what will you do? There are only a few hours until morning. The Lone Star Rangers building will be restored, and when reports go up, Walter will go berserk.”

The security team was also responsible for guarding the building inside and out. And that security team had now returned to where it should be. After taking a deep breath, I said:

“I’ll infiltrate the building with Market Keeper, who will be dressed in Belwether employee uniforms, and while the security team and legal assassination team are engaged in combat, I’ll target Walter. I’ll kill him on the spot and…”

The Chairman’s test wasn’t just for the Shepherd. He spoke to me with a kind smile:

“No, don’t kill him on the spot. Neutralize him and bring him to my store. I want to see if you can set aside your desire for revenge.”

Without Mr. Günter, I would have been killed in front of Farmers’ building, or perhaps hidden in a private hospital as part of the Shepherd’s plan to maintain the status quo, only to be killed later.

Whether I crushed a pest with my fist or with a book, it didn’t matter as long as I could kill it. I nodded briefly, jerking my chin. Mr. Günter let out a short laugh.

“Good. Good… Revenge is a dish best served cold. Metzgerhund, if you fail, we can deploy additional Market Keepers and call in the Hammers, so don’t worry. It’s just a trivial matter.”

The fact of failure would be censored, and then the matter would be cleanly handled. A safety net? It didn’t feel like that at all. All I felt was distance.

As Mr. Günter said, there wasn’t much time until morning. The clock showed 1:12. The reporting time for both Belwether’s security team and legal assassination team was 7:30.