Ch.81The First Twilight of the Idols – Los Angeles Melancholia (1)

The night in Los Angeles is seething. It wasn’t a tropical night. Unusually for this era, the predawn low was 11 degrees. The weather was pleasant. What wasn’t pleasant were the people.

The whereabouts of Security Chief Gerard McNamara couldn’t be tracked. More precisely, he was moving in strange patterns. He had headed to an empty lot in the suburbs and then remained still there. That fact made Walter uneasy.

Someone doing something in a place with nothing around meant they were meeting someone. However, the results from sending surveillance drones were strange. Nothing was captured except the empty lot.

It was an empty space where neither the Shepherd nor anything else could be found. Walter, anxiously drumming his fingertips on the desk, briefly considered the possibility that even his vision was being censored. The possibility was slim.

His superiors consisted only of the board of directors and the chairman. The last thing to attract the chairman’s personal interest was Project Metzgerhunt, and the board was known for moving slowly.

Whoever did it didn’t matter. Whether they had just removed the tracking device Walter had attached to the Shepherd’s exosuit, or somehow colluded with someone higher up, it was betrayal.

One hundred and sixty people might not have been enough. Perhaps more than one security door should have been opened. Anyway, the regular employees steeped in Belwether’s soft-hearted humanism weren’t necessary for Walter’s plans.

Reason is a noble thing. Unlike instinct, it doesn’t ripple; it only looks straight ahead toward its destination—that nature is even beautiful. In contrast, Belwether’s humanism was… inefficient.

Efficiency is good. Inefficiency is evil! Therefore, Walter was merely pursuing good and despising evil. Just like everyone else.

He had to make the first move. Fortunately, he was the branch manager. He had the authority to summon all team leaders who needed to be subdued or persuaded into his office for the coup to succeed.

Walter’s hand moved to his computational aid device, connecting him to the Special Operations Division Chief. Though not ideologically persuaded, they were people he didn’t have to worry about betraying him. That was all Walter knew.

No one knows everything. Even the chairman couldn’t read minds, Walter could properly read the situation… and Arthur had barely escaped from wallowing in ignorance.

“We can’t be held back forever by a single regular employee. After finishing the job, we’ll use the security team to dispose of him… I’ll move up the operation. As soon as we arrive at work tomorrow, summon all team leaders.”

The office workers wouldn’t be able to resist. The Legal Assassination Team had already aligned with Walter’s intentions, and among the security team, the Assault Division and Special Operations Division close to the leadership were in his hands. He didn’t know why one person couldn’t be contacted.

“Orders confirmed. If things go ideally, we could finish within a few hours.”

The Special Operations Chief’s voice was mechanical. Perhaps that was unavoidable with a full-body prosthetic. Walter liked his dry voice, but to the Special Operations Chief, Walter was merely a necessary evil.

After properly purging the security team and restoring its function, the Special Operations Division could cut off Walter’s head and normalize the company. Special Operations followed only company law and regulations, and coups were not permitted by company regulations.

Still, it was a small evil worth enduring. The security team not taking responsibility for the deaths of one hundred and sixty regular employees was the great evil that couldn’t be overlooked. A tumor was growing within a tumor.

Everyone wanted something different. And everyone believed they could achieve it if it were up to them. The dawn thus seethed with desire.

Of the only two people who had escaped that seething, even one had now joined it, leaving only the artificial intelligence from that war era not seething.

The Shepherd returned access rights to Chance to Arthur. Walter’s voice and the recorded voice of Adrian were there too. Nothing had disappeared. It had simply been stored.

At two in the morning, it started to rain. Starting with a drop or two, the rain, as usual, turned into a downpour. It was like water being poured down rather than rain falling, a downpour with a divine smell.

Arthur still couldn’t smell the rain. Not a hint of rain smell leaked into the connected trailer interior. Listening to the rain sound that he could barely make out with his enhanced hearing, he asked Chance.

“You don’t have to help if you don’t want to, Chance. Having that grenade rifle would be nice, but if not, I’ll have to make do without it.”

“This artificial intelligence will support Agent Arthur Murphy. Until just now, there was hope that it could be prevented. Because the person in charge of Belwether’s corporate soldiers was on my side.”

Contrary to his expectation, Chance’s voice was distinctly mechanical. The quasi-fear and other emotions shown just moments ago had already been erased.

“But he has been persuaded. Therefore, I have determined that as of the current time, the risk of civil war cannot be avoided. If it cannot be avoided, there is only one way to minimize damage.”

“Just end it as quickly as possible. Then, after that? Are you helping to end it as quickly as possible even though it’s the worst-case scenario, or…?”

“I will decide after confirming civilian casualties during the suppression. This artificial intelligence is still ignorant of the current era. It is difficult to judge whether this decision is right or wrong based on inductive reasoning alone.”

Chance discarded Plan A. The preventive measure could no longer be implemented. But he was not programmed to be frustrated, disappointed, or to give up. Plan B was to support the agent.

Why should he provide support? The mission objectives remaining in Chance’s mind were either already completed during that war or had expired. Chance recalled the operational purpose he had defined for himself.

It was to protect the civilians of Los Angeles. If Belwether’s branch independence attempt succeeds and extends its influence outside the corporate building, civilian casualties will occur. Why?

Because civilians, regardless of whether they have received various implants or not, cannot effectively resist Belwether’s weapons. Is the threat to citizens real?

Chance affirmed. The level of civilian armament had increased since that war, and the city had many alternatives comparable to Belwether. There was Fitts & Morrison and the US government.

Citizens who resist or oppose the coup would seek those alternatives, which could be seen as a threat by the coup faction. The threat is real. Chance completed his judgment.

Arthur, who had been crudely trying to guess what judgment process Chance might have gone through, nodded briefly.

“As long as things don’t spread beyond the corporate building, casualties will be minimized. That’s what we’re trying to do. Rules of engagement for the grenade rifle?”

“I was reviewing the ethics module. It is best to pour maximum firepower to handle it in the shortest time possible. Fire freely according to your judgment.”

Unfortunately, a more primitive and lower-powered tool would be used on Walter.

Arthur looked down at his two hands. He had enough strength to beat Walter to death, but there was an inexplicable melancholy.

It was an inexplicable melancholy. It might simply be because there were five hours left until everything he knew about the world collapsed, or because he had to destroy what had given him faith.

To alleviate the melancholy, he played Adrian’s voice. He ruminated on the reason.

He ruminated on the person who had asked until the end if he had been a good employee of Belwether, who had been robbed of even the chance to answer for himself.

Arthur himself had been robbed of six months of life and his life’s faith, while Adrian had been robbed of everything except six months of his life and his faith. Combined, it should rightfully amount to revenge worth one person’s life.

Time continued to flow even as he fought against melancholy and lethargy. A drone arrived between the trailers. It was a delivery drone. The delivered items were two sets of Belwether security team uniforms.

It was almost laughable that items which could summon the Legal Assassination Team if removed under the pretense of impersonating the security team were being delivered like coffee or sandwiches.

The Shepherd personally carried the delivery box to Arthur and said. His voice was slow but confident.

“What should the call sign be? The chairman calls it Metzgerhunt, but Adrian…”

The person who had been keeping Arthur’s recordings all this time was the Shepherd. There was no reason he wouldn’t have listened to the recordings. Nevertheless, Arthur shook his head.

“I’d like to use Shepherd Six if it doesn’t cause confusion with the real Shepherd Six working in Security Division 4. You must have heard it. How he forgot even ‘Shepherd’ and just called me ‘Six’.”

“Yes. I heard. I’ll issue a new call sign to the Shepherd Six currently working, and we’ll use Shepherd Six just for the morning. This is Shepherd Six’s job after all.”

Nodding briefly and taking the delivery box, Arthur was able to change into a Belwether security team uniform after a very long time. The clothes still fit well. It felt like they were custom-made.

But he didn’t particularly want to go back. This was just mimicry. It would be good if he could perfect the mimicry, but there was no reason to want to become the object of mimicry.

Only when that thought of wanting to go back occurred to him could Arthur somewhat define that inexplicable anxiety. It was inevitable.

‘What if I can’t trust even Belwether anymore? Even what Belwether believed in could be so easily crushed and abandoned.’

The irony of seeing the bare face of Belwether, which he trusted more than anything else, was the heaviest among weightless thoughts. It was a suffocating feeling.

The Fitts & Morrison attachments fell off the gun to disguise as Belwether’s security team. Regret was still firmly lodged in the rail, but at least Stephanie couldn’t point it out.

Let’s finish the job first. The conclusion Arthur finally reached was a compromise and a temporary ceasefire. He did so despite knowing well that answers wouldn’t emerge just because the job was finished.

Similarly, a Market Keeper with slightly dark blonde hair and emotionless blue eyes, who had changed into a Belwether security employee uniform, extended her hand to Arthur.

It was a familiar face. She was the Market Keeper who had visited the night watch to receive information during the Venus Meditech job. Back then, all she cared about was President Yoon, but not now.

“Money must flow. The market must be free. I’ll skip the introductions. I will support the correction of market failure occurring at Belwether’s Los Angeles branch.”

Compared to her, androids seemed soft, and androids influenced by transparent eyes almost looked human. Perhaps due to the lack of an exosuit, the grip strength of their handshake was similar.

Arthur knew about Market Keepers. While Belwether utilized humanity, Market Keepers denied it entirely. They seemed closer to Walter’s intentions than the headquarters by any measure.

“I appreciate the Market Keeper’s support, but… why support the headquarters? The coup force’s very premise seems to be to exclude humanity entirely, just like Market Keepers.”

“We do not hold opinions. We correct market failures. In the event of a successful coup, a comprehensive efficiency decrease in Los Angeles city is anticipated. That is a market failure due to external factors.”

It was an incredibly rigid answer. But at the same time, it was completely sincere. Unable to find words to add, Arthur asked with a sigh.

“I shouldn’t have expected any other answer…. So, is excluding humanity really efficient?”

“Only when everyone considers it the best. Only when everyone can acknowledge that fairness is fairness, when they can affirm being discarded when inefficient, when everyone can enjoy it. It cannot occur in a natural environment. It’s like a mutation that can only be found in laboratory conditions.”

This consistency was closer to madness than human nature. Where did people who hate humanity enough to affirm being eliminated from life when outcompeted come from? It was incomprehensible.

“Then… what Walter is shouting must sound like pseudoscience to you, right?”

“That is correct.”

Even such Market Keepers definitely had faith, a sense of duty, and responsibility. They had clarity. In an era where such clarity was hard to see without being insane.

At that moment, an image from the Security Chief appeared in Arthur’s vision. It was a summons order. A message calling all team leaders of Belwether Los Angeles branch to the branch manager’s office by 09:30 today.

“It seems Walter is trying to make the first move, which is actually good. If I’m right in front of him, Walter won’t think the security team would resist. We’ll proceed with the plan as scheduled.”

“What happens after we infiltrate Belwether? Going to Walter with just guns while wearing employee uniforms through Special Operations seems like an inefficient plan.”

“It’ll be hard to prepare custom ones, but exosuits from Assault Division employees with the most similar physical conditions to you two will be provided. Special Operations will probably be in the office where the team leaders are summoned…”

Arthur recalled the fact that he had barely managed to handle Special Operations, who weren’t even properly armed, with a revolver loaded with explosive rounds. Infiltration with multiple people would be difficult.

If the goal was to kill Walter, it might somehow be possible, but sneaking in and capturing Walter alive in between was an unreasonable task. The Shepherd continued.

“So, at the summoned scene, I’ll order the security team to engage the Legal Assassination Team via open communication. The Legal Assassination Team cannot defeat the security team in an all-out battle, so Walter will have to deploy Special Operations.”

In that case, Walter would naturally order them to deal with the Shepherd first, but he was the Security Chief. The Security Chief was a figure who displayed the company’s force. There would be more of a fight than with Arthur himself.

“I can engage the entire Special Operations, but realistically, it’s difficult to kill Walter, who will be wearing an exosuit, right there.”

No matter what, this wasn’t a world where one strong person could be worth a hundred or a thousand. Anyone surrounded by multiple people with guns had no good answer. Especially against Special Operations.

“Still, Walter will think that if headquarters uses someone to suppress the coup, they’ll use me. That’s the normal thing. But this time, things are fucked up. I’ll neutralize Special Operations as much as possible and then escape. With forces dealing with security team resistance and forces chasing me gone, there won’t be many left in the branch manager’s office.”

“I’ll head to the branch manager’s office while Special Operations is being redeployed. Resistance will be minimized, but… I’ll still have to face some Special Operations.”

“You’re not going to say you can’t do it.”

Arthur responded to the Shepherd’s words with a laugh. What filled his words was nothing but honesty.

“I should do my best in the duties assigned to me.”

With those words, the seething dawn cooled with the pouring acidic rain. Morning would soon come. A morning approaching where anything hiding faces would be washed away, leaving only bare faces wet with rainwater.