Chapter 11

Episode 11. The Future-Seeing Laptop (2)

***

The laptop’s power turned on. Now, we needed to check if it was functioning properly and, crucially, whether it still retained its supernatural characteristics……

Administrator Lee and I stared intently at the screen of the ancient laptop as it slowly booted up.

*Beep.*

Whether it was because it hadn’t been turned on in 20 years or because half its parts had been replaced, the laptop took a long time to go through the reboot process.

I scratched my head for a moment.

The administrator next to me…

She’s one of the most intriguing people in the Foundation.

Nanami doesn’t seem human anyway, and when you think about it, I’m a supernatural phenomenon myself. The two assistants are middle-aged men.

But this administrator?

She seems like an ordinary human. In her twenties, no degree, no military experience. How did she end up working in the Director’s Office of the Foundation?

I should ask her while I have the time.

“Administrator Lee, how did you end up in the Foundation? You seem quite young to be working as an administrator in the Director’s Office.”

Administrator Lee pondered for a moment.

“Hmm…… Just a second.”

“Take your time.”

“I took the high school equivalency exam and started working at the Foundation facility as a high school graduate… So, despite how I look, I’ve been working at the Foundation for over 10 years.”

“Really?”

“I don’t have a degree like Dr. Kim, or supernatural abilities, or military experience.”

“I see.”

Ten years of experience… If she’s been with the Foundation that long, she must be someone the staff would be wary of.

“Ah, something urgent came up. I’ll head out first! Dr. Kim, keep up the good work.”

Administrator Lee quickly left my lab.

“……”

*Beep.*

Right, the future-seeing laptop was booting up.

I anxiously stared at the screen.

[OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND]

[REBOOTING…]

[CHOOSE AN OPERATING SYSTEM TO START]

[FOUNDATION SYSTEM OS 1995]

[ACCESS DENIED]

[UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS.]

[ERASING ALL DATA.]

What the hell.

I finally got it to turn on, and now it’s erasing all the data? That’s a bit much. I’ll give it five more minutes, and if it still doesn’t work, I’ll just hand it over to the Precognition Department.

[DATA ERASE COMPLETE.]

[INTERNAL MESSENGER, OPERATING NORMALLY.]

Finally, it’s done. It seems the reboot was successful, but the problem is that the computer is still stuck in this text input window.

It seems all information except the internal messenger has been erased. Did I mess something up?

What should I do now?

[CONNECTING TO SEOUL BRANCH DIRECTOR’S OFFICE.]

A moment later, text began flooding the screen.

[117-Seoul. Hello, Director. It’s been so long since you last connected, I was starting to wonder if your world had also been destroyed.]

This might be a more significant supernatural phenomenon than I thought. No wonder the Precognition Department was so insistent on getting the laptop.

But strictly speaking, the laptop doesn’t seem to see the future. Is there really no reason to hand over Supernatural Phenomenon O-714 to the Precognition Department?

[No. Seoul is still intact.]

I replied.

[That’s good to hear. As you know, under the Thanatos Protocol, any Foundation facing an extinction scenario must provide information about that scenario to Foundations in other dimensions. Please keep that in mind.]

Of course, but this is the first I’m hearing of it.

A world on the brink of destruction must inform others of the cause of its demise… A strangely altruistic yet pragmatic agreement.

Very Foundation-like.

[Yes. If that day comes, I will do so.]

[Are you also communicating through Supernatural Phenomenon O-714? Something feels off, Director. Did you just discover it?]

[Yes, that’s correct.]

[Are you really the Director of 117-Seoul?]

I pondered for a while.

First, 117 seems to be my dimension’s number. What should I say? I don’t want to lie, but I also don’t want to limit the amount of information I can get.

Let’s just go with it—a lie. I’m managing this supernatural phenomenon on behalf of the Director’s Office, so it’s not that serious of a lie.

[Yes. I am the Director.]

[It seems there’s been some personnel changes. I’ll do my best to assist you. First, move Supernatural Phenomenon O-714 to the isolation room and use the Reality Anchoring Device to stabilize the laptop’s linear time. The connection could be cut at any moment.]

They seem overly tense.

Cold sweat was running down my back. My heart was pounding in my head. I took a deep breath.

First, let’s calm down.

***

After that.

Having some coffee made me feel better. I stared at the screen again.

I even brought a microphone to input text via voice in the chat window.

“I’m back. Are you still there?”

[Yes.]

“We’ve been calling Supernatural Phenomenon O-714 the Future-Seeing Laptop. Who are you? Can you tell me the future?”

Let’s get straight to the point.

[I am the last survivor of my world. The Foundation was defeated by supernatural phenomena, and I was tasked with reviving my world.]

Honestly, I’m not sure how to respond. I’m not sure if saying anything will comfort them. A Foundation staff member from a destroyed world…

“Ah. That must be tough.”

[It’s fine. Restoring the world is as simple as pressing a button. But I’m too scared to press it. I can’t muster the courage to press that button.]

A button to fix the world?

“What kind of button?”

[I’m not sure if I should tell you. Director. What’s your security clearance?]

I didn’t answer that. They might have a way to check my clearance.

[I won’t tell you. Anyway, if you ever witness the destruction, you’ll know even if you don’t want to.]

This conversation isn’t very helpful. I decided to change the subject.

“Do you have any tips to prevent destruction?”

[No. The Foundation is always on the brink of destruction every day. No single issue is particularly important. Just… the Foundation’s principles must be upheld. At any cost.]

Not a very helpful answer. Essentially, they’re saying to trust the Foundation unconditionally, but that’s not the answer I wanted to hear.

How can I trust them if I don’t know anything? Those Foundation guys.

“I see. Anything else?”

[If there’s anything helpful… it’s genealogy. The Foundation has prevented destruction several times and has experienced destruction several times. We need to learn from the past. We need the experiences of other dimensions.]

That’s much more appealing.

“You have something in mind, don’t you?”

[I’ll help you for now.]

[Chase the artists to the art museum. Find the mirror and reflect your own image in it. We called it Supernatural Phenomenon O-2219, the Mirror of Parallels.]

Mirror of Parallels, noted. I took out my pad. Art museum, artists, Mirror of Parallels… These seem like important clues. I’ll jot them down.

I put the stylus down.

“Thank you for your hard work. I have work to do, so I’ll head out now. Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”

I paused for a moment.

“And. Press the button. Please press it soon.”

***

Phew.

I closed the laptop and thought for a moment. That’s it for today. What should I do from here?

This is troublesome.

Even if I decide to go looking for the art museum or the artists mentioned by the laptop, it’s unclear whether other Foundation staff will cooperate. I’m not sure if I can stop the Precognition Department from taking the laptop, or if it’s even a good idea to stop them.

What if the Precognition Department really has a good use for it? I’ll ask Nanami when I have the time.

***

“So, you’re not sure whether to hand the laptop over to the Precognition team? And you want my opinion?”

“Yes.”

“They’re underestimating you because you’re new. Those disrespectful Precognition bastards, how dare they try to pull this kind of trick on the Director’s Office?”

Nanami crossed her arms and looked at me.

“The laptop. Don’t hand it over.”

“Nope. Why would I?”

Nanami reacted more bluntly than I expected.

“Is it really that simple…?”

“You don’t understand inter-departmental power plays. Managing a supernatural phenomenon means having that much power. The only ones who willingly hand over supernatural phenomena to other departments are the Retrieval team.”

“I see.”

“In your opinion. Is that laptop really a supernatural phenomenon that can see the future? If it really is a future-seeing supernatural phenomenon, that’s a different story. But still, isn’t it a shame to just hand it over after you went through the trouble of fixing it with an engineer and a helicopter?”

That’s true.

“So. Should we go fight the Precognition Department?”

“Go to the Precognition Department with the intention of fighting. Don’t hand over the laptop. We need to teach those bastards a lesson. They think they can get away with anything just because they can see the future. Bunch of cowards hiding in their rooms catching chickens.”

I nodded.

***

[Regarding Supernatural Phenomenon O-714]

[Author: Kim Bari]

[To the Head of the Precognition Department.]

[This supernatural phenomenon cannot be transferred to the Precognition Department. Instead, we request the Precognition Department’s cooperation in researching this phenomenon. I will visit soon.]

[You will understand the reason soon.]