Ch.8Work Record #001 – The Man Who Came From Nowhere (2)

Something was off. There was no way only two people would be in the company. Valentina had clearly spoken as if she’d heard from someone that I wasn’t on the blacklist. That meant there should be one more person.

I couldn’t hear any communication sounds, so they must be inside the company. Since it was about time for staff introductions anyway, I decided to ask directly.

“It seems the person who confirmed I’m not on the blacklist isn’t in the office? I didn’t hear any conversation happening inside.”

I tapped my ear lightly as I spoke. The enhanced body I wore was Belwether’s latest model. Being able to hear sounds through walls without auditory assistance was only natural.

The president hesitated momentarily before calling someone with a brief “Bring it out.” Several precision drones emerged in a choreographed formation, spinning lightly in front of me.

“I asked our IT person who’s working from home. You know how those types act like something inside them breaks if they have to come into the office. Catherine, say hello to our new recruit.”

The drones began outputting a synthesized voice. Several voices mixed together simultaneously to create a surprisingly natural human voice. The voice was unnecessarily energetic.

“What? Where are they, boss? The only thing I can see in this office is an unclaimed smartphone sitting in the reception room!”

“Don’t check the network connection, check the camera. They’re right in front of me. Didn’t you just help verify their resume earlier? You should know them.”

Something was being hidden. The sense of dissonance was strong. If she really was the IT person who verified my resume, she would know I was wearing a Post-Human body without attachments. Yet she claimed she couldn’t see me.

However, I wasn’t sure if this was important enough to warrant the saying that mercenaries sell trust, not marksmanship. To me, the person she was hiding was just someone who had verified my identity.

She was treating someone who wasn’t that important to me—an IT person who wasn’t even on duty—as significant enough to wake them up and make excuses to me. That meant it was a personal matter.

Even if it wasn’t a personal matter, asking twice wouldn’t get me an answer when asking once didn’t. It was better to let it slide for now. Any investigation would have to be done discreetly.

“Ah, yes. As you know, I’m Arthur Murphy. Currently I’m in a raw enhanced body without connection points…”

“Hey, are you an office worker? Anyone can see you’re a corporate employee from a major company, but your experience section is completely wiped clean. Call me Kay, offliner! It’s good for us to have more people who can go into the field. Tina and I aren’t field staff, and the boss—well, you can tell just by looking, right? The lady used to be a sniper in Mobile Unit 2, so she probably can’t even run well these days?”

I listened carefully to the stream of words. She had a loose tongue. She didn’t think about future consequences. She spoke as if she’d never heard of information security. I could learn a lot by talking with someone like this.

No, that’s not right. These were unimportant details. The president had already mentioned herself that she was from Mobile Unit 2. No one would mistake Valentina for field staff.

So all these words pouring out were just a smokescreen. She wanted my attention to be drawn to the act while I floundered in the smoke. Who could have verified my identity that they needed to hide it this badly?

This meant it was personal for this woman too. These company people were hiding something. It was personal. Personal enough that it wouldn’t harm me. It would be better to wait a bit longer.

Everything around me was full of things I didn’t know. Why had Jack said I needed to create a Post-Human Type IV enhanced body to avoid being pressured by Walter?

Where had the monster fled to, and how had Zaina, who was clearly no different from cult members, managed to infiltrate Belwether’s headquarters? It was all unknowns.

I just needed to figure things out one by one. If this company was hiding personal matters from me while wanting to use my abilities, I could use the company too. I could think about what came after later.

There was one way I could use this company first. Conveniently, the IT person was right in front of me, and since they were mercenaries, most of them would have information online.

Moreover, despite whatever lies she might be telling to hide the truth, there was genuine enthusiasm in her voice when she boasted about knowing others well. I could play to that a bit more.

“Ah, could I ask a personal favor? There are two mercenaries I’m personally involved with after falling like this. I need to rebuild my network and should contact them, but somehow I didn’t get their contact information. One had hair similar to Valentina’s color but tied up, and an artificial eye with three concentric circles in one eye. Could you find them for me?”

The three precision drones floating in front of me started spinning. It wasn’t for operation—it seemed like a habitual action, like fidgeting with a stress ball.

“How could I refuse when a newbie asks so politely? Wait! I’ll find them right away. Similar color to Valentina—is it lighter or darker? I’ll run an image search first.”

My eyesight had improved, but not my color perception. I quietly examined Valentina’s hair as she lay back at her desk after finishing organizing the night duty room. I made the comparison in my head.

“A bit darker than Valentina. Just slightly.”

“Good, checking. Good. Good… Got it. Check your phone. You should get a computational assist implant in your head soon! No, wait, you shouldn’t! You’re an offliner, that’s why the boss was thrilled to hire you right away! She even said she’d hire you before signing the contract—if I turned someone like that into an onliner, I’d get fired, right? Don’t get one!”

I took out my smartphone from my jacket and checked the screen. The face of the mercenary I had seen that day was displayed.

“That’s the right person. Could I get their name and contact information?”

“Ah, that’s not possible. If I did that, Belwether or Fitts & Morrison would come after me. Seriously. I don’t want to face those lobsters that Fitts & Morrison controls! Instead, I’ll give you the contact info for the mercenary agency she works for. It’s all the same in the end, but that’s how the law works! It’s like a wave! Don’t get swept away by the wave. Ride it! Isn’t that cool?”

Fitts & Morrison’s closed-type enhancement suits were nicknamed “lobsters” because they covered the head and neck in a round shape without distinction and were a bright red color.

Anyway, I thought her skill at creating smokescreens with walls of text was impressive, but… looking at it now, Kay might just be talkative.

It wasn’t even just being talkative—she had a talent for spewing five nonsensical yet somewhat coherent sentences per second. One thing was absolutely certain: she was exhausting to deal with.

After receiving the contact information, I signed the contract. Even at Belwether, contracts were handwritten on paper. Even the best hacker couldn’t hack a paper contract securely stored in a document vault.

Only after signing the contract did President Yoon’s expression relax, and she wrapped things up neatly. It seems there’s no land untouched by personal stories, and no one who isn’t embarrassed by those traces.

“That’s clean. Then… we’ll discuss work after you start. Please come in by 8 PM today. You’ll need to meet Ms. Bola and Mr. Enzo, and there’s plenty to discuss about your role when Yakyung handles operations. Looking forward to working with you again.”

“Ah, yes. That’s similar to the night shift start time.”

When I happily let slip something that revealed I had worked at Belwether, the president quietly put her finger to her lips. It meant I shouldn’t let my guard down.

Yakyung’s automatic door, which still wouldn’t open for me, was opened by Kay’s drones instead. It was a bit amusing that I wasn’t even treated as well as a drone. Kay laughed very loudly at this.

After leaving the commercial building, I faced the intersection and checked the mercenary agency’s profile. Fortunately, it wasn’t far away. I could call and then visit.

I made the call and waited for it to connect. While waiting for someone to answer a call from an unknown number, it suddenly connected. An urgent voice poured out.

“Who—who’s calling? Fredo! Mo! Who is this? Damn it! I just told you! Some guys broke into the office and we’re outgunned!”

I listened to the end before responding. Interrupting before hearing everything would be inefficient.

“We split up—Jamie went toward the city area and I ran toward where the junkies hang out! If you’re listening, come help! I’ll send location info, damn it! Yesterday I almost got torn apart by Belwether, and today…”

It was a mix-up. They seemed to have mistaken my call for their mercenary agency’s secure channel. Could the timing really be this coincidental? As I was thinking, Kay’s drone outputted a voice.

“What is this, a ’90s… I mean 1990s, not this century’s 90s! Anyway, are you some kind of ’90s action star? You seem to have a talent for making things explode wherever you go! I wonder if something’s exploding at Yakyung too. Ha! Just kidding. That’s a recorded message that’s been repeating for several minutes. Fredo and Mo haven’t answered their calls for quite a while! Right? So, are you going to follow? From someone stuck at home, something this interesting is welcome!”

“This isn’t some detective game on the net, Kay… Anyway, if you’re offering to help, I welcome it. I’d have to stare at my phone to find the way, but you don’t.”

Skid mark-like sneaker prints were left on the asphalt, and the soles of my walker boots—bought with an employee discount from Belwether where I’d never worked—were wearing down. The layout of the alleyways was in my head.

“Hey! You said you were going to buy drinks for them too! Is there some urban legend that when you try to buy someone drinks, two people show up trying to kill you? Ah, forget it. Even I think that’s nonsense. And I can’t resist something interesting. I’ll help! But in return, it has to be entertaining enough for me to watch while scratching my belly in bed! Remember that!”

Kay’s drones made a buzzing sound as if doubling their motor power, but they couldn’t keep up with me as I changed direction precisely at each alley and ran.

I easily jumped up to grab a wall about twice my height, climbed over it, and landed without even bending my knees, continuing to run without even a half-second pause.

With each step I took, the gunshots continued, helping me find the direction. The gunshots that had been loud grew even louder until they were almost painful to my enhanced hearing, requiring dampening.

As I turned the corner while listening to that unpleasant sound, I saw the situation. There were two mercenaries, and I could see the mercenary who had been shot in the side and arm, with electricity sparking from her prosthetic arm. Two other mercenaries were looking down at her.

They had pretty good equipment for mercenaries. They wore helmets, and their Belwether silenced rifles were almost standard issue. They probably belonged to a mercenary agency connected to Belwether, like Yakyung.

In that case, I decided to try what Kay called “an all-in bluff to sweep the table.” I remembered that the department managing mercenary cooperation companies at Belwether was called the Mercenary Personnel Management Department. I approached without drawing my gun.

“You two! Damn it, do I have to get involved with guys like you on my day off? Both of you, report your employee numbers or mercenary agency registration numbers. Now.”

The two mercenaries carefully scanned me up and down. They were probably hoping I was just a mercenary full of bluster. But the scan would obviously show a Post-Human IV enhanced body.

That alone would mean I was someone who held a proper position at Belwether. As for my young-looking face… I hoped the model of the enhanced body would take care of that. The two looked at me and began reporting.

“Post-Human… Ah, our mercenary agency registration number is MHRC-11283769! We, we were handling an assignment that came in!”

“Does Belwether assign assassinations to guys like you? Belwether is the leading sheep. What are you trying to do, acting like wolves slaughtering fellow sheep? Which person from the Mercenary Personnel Management Department assigned this job? I don’t recall approving any territorial disputes like this.”

“I-I don’t remember well. It, it was there this morning. They said they’re expanding official partner agencies to 120 seats, and if we handle this job well, they’d give us even the last seat…”

I walked toward them confidently, or perhaps full of recklessness. I raised my hand and lightly struck one of their helmets with my fist.

By now they would be convinced I was really wearing a Post-Human IV enhanced body. The mercenary whose head I hit almost lost his posture before standing at attention again. I struck him once more.

“You don’t remember? If you don’t remember, does that mean you’ll just follow along with whatever I put in your task box saying ‘This is work!’? If an assignment you can’t even remember who gave it to you turns out to be an assassination request, do I have to sit here teaching mercenaries to check with the company? Get out of here before the Mobile Unit arrives. If you get arrested for messing around here, my paperwork quadruples.”

The two responded loudly before disappearing into the junkies’ alley. Now it was my time to escape. Neither I nor they would benefit from encountering the Mobile Unit here.

After confirming the mercenaries had moved far enough away, Kay’s drone outputted a sound like chips spilling, along with a wall of text.

“Ah, I like it. I really like it. You really swept the table with that bluff! I was so tempted to jump in pretending to be Belwether’s AI, but I muted myself and was snickering on my bed. Hey, you… I like you, newbie! I thought you’d be a boring guy since you’re obviously a company employee, but look at you! Are you going to pick her up now? You are, right? Want me to play some romantic background music?”

“If you talk this much during work, I’ll file for industrial accident compensation. Ugh. Let’s go. We don’t want to get caught by the Mobile Unit either.”

A person who comes from nowhere can be anyone. For now, I decided to say this instead of “I just committed the crime of impersonating a Belwether employee and feel no guilt whatsoever.”