Chapter 144

“&(%^#&…! @#$^……!!”

“Ahaha! You really don’t need to praise me that much~!”

Incoherent roars and cheerful laughter mixed haphazardly.

The place for this nerve-wracking confrontation remained unchanged.

Yet surprisingly, not much time had passed, and just a few words completely reversed their roles.

The one being interrogated leaned forward, asking what that was all about, showing their face with a confused expression. The senior, who had been gently teasing their inexperienced and cute junior, was now too busy watching the bewildered opponent.

The reversal unfolded in the blink of an eye, completely different from the previous scene, causing the duty officer monitoring the late-night hackers to tilt their head and rewind the recorded screen to check.

…At least Marina’s face was consistently wearing a smile.

“It’s not praise…! What’s going on here……. Hah….”

The mouth that was about to ask for an explanation closed with a sigh.

The feeling of being deceived lingered, but it also became clear that they were not in a position to demand that strongly, leading to a barely restrained tantrum that was obvious to a third party.

Ken thought. He must not fall for the seemingly naive behavior and absent-minded expression anymore.

The competitor, capable of lowering their stance and inducing negligence, was a person with unclear intentions, requiring careful approach… Ah.

“Wait, does that mean everything about when my computer almost broke and the fact that you didn’t know how to recover the data was also a lie…!?”

“Are you really going to make a huge fuss? That was naturally a part you promised to take responsibility for, so I just drew the line. You cannot accuse someone of being a liar over something that’s already past~ I’ve never committed such a terrible crime in my life! And….”

That was it. Along with the boy’s astonishment, Marina cut off the unsatisfactory accusation and leaned closer to the table… whispering a threat that made one’s knees tremble at just the thought.

“…If you don’t lower your voice, it wouldn’t take a minute for the guards to drag you away for questioning.”

“Ugh…!?”

Ken quickly covered his mouth as she watched him with amusement, finally straightening her posture.

The games should end here. More than anything, time was limited, and today, with how overly they were bickering, it was possible that a pursuer could return to check on them.

They definitely did not want an external interference to ruin the conversation they had painstakingly set up, introducing more variables… nor did they want to create a chance for the clumsy kid to cause trouble.

“No need to be scared. My original mission actually ends in that underground testing facility!”

“Hackers are gathering from all over~ A nameless group ordered expensive security boxes, and paradox engineering, having sold them well, got anxious and hired someone to check if they were the target for an attack.”

“That’s… that is possible.”

It was not entirely impossible.

A weapon swings without guilt, but if it was aimed to be plunged into their back, even a company obsessed with selling products would want to insure against that.

…Yet even amidst that, they managed to sell the products, collected their payments generously. Only after that did they hire freelance hackers to play detective, which was also quite terrible.

“Marina, you’ve completely double contracted….”

“Oh ho! Instead of using those negative and dangerous words, can’t we call it a side job or additional income? It’s not rare for a mercenary, who’s seen better days, to take on extra pockets~♬”

It seemed that only a very small number of financially ruined souls would genuinely think that there were no problems with that. Regardless,

A casual and unpretentious introduction was enough by this point. What was now important was to check how much their respective goals and specific plans conflicted with reality.

In that sense… Ken’s clumsy maneuvering was far beyond what Marina could accept.

“So, in the end, why did you give me a backdoor program and try to lay the blame on me? I can’t figure out what miraculous variable you were trying to create.”

The end of his crooked leg began to sway rhythmically.

Despite it being a question that would normally lead to bloodshed, depending on the answer, he hesitated but replied. Though he hadn’t gone through a verification process, he conveyed his gratitude for Marina’s willingness to share her position just as honestly.

“…If we’re going to focus on the remaining tasks, I thought we should divide the areas to avoid overlap between you and me. To extract as much information as possible, I merely thought I needed to include the program I’d pass on to you, Marina.”

“Huh…?”

With a calm demeanor, she placed the laptop she was holding onto the table, stroking her chin.

However, her gaze remained fixed straight ahead, inspecting Ken’s mumbling face from various angles.

His breathing was steady. His eyes were slightly shaken, but that was the way they usually were. It was likely due to his unique personality.

Although there was a sense of awkwardness in his attitude, there was hardly any feigned performance… and that very aspect exacerbated her distrust.

It would have been more understandable if he showed signs of trying to deceive her. Maintaining a calm stance when this wasn’t an easy issue seemed suspicious.

“…Is that what you really want to believe? Or did you subconsciously attach reasons for trying to disperse the risk? Or, are you just a self-destructive volunteer suffering through life?”

“Huh…?”

The suddenly executed mockery, totally different in dimension from before, left Ken with a dumbfounded expression.

Ignorance may not be a sin, but if it leads to an incident involving those around him, that becomes an entirely different story.

“You little coward. Even if the program you created works perfectly, and somehow the data is covertly extracted without detection, do you think that will last forever? Huh? Do you know it wouldn’t take even five seconds for them to find out and physically take our heads?”

The certainty of being executed was indisputable, and even though unspeakable torture and a very special guest awaited before that… Was there really any need to explain that? Ultimately, dying was the same outcome.

“……With my skills, I would be able to extract the data safely, so I told you I’d thoroughly erase traces as soon as a package is received from outside.”

“Ha! Come on, even from a half-baked hacker’s perspective like mine, it doesn’t seem possible to hide all traces of your crime inside. Just how much can you campaign against Enema’s security systems from outside? Do you really believe that sweet talk?”

As he tried to fire back, he was struck by the rational truths and became utterly subdued.

The strength in his words dissipated, and the faltering momentum led to his own stagnation.

“And if you thought that was possible, why not implant the program into the server that cute kid was fiddling with or the droid they were carrying? You must have known deep down, right? Excluding the generally friendly impression, someone of that expert level would pinpoint the flaws in an instant.”

“…….”

Whether he intended to take advantage of Marina or deliberately excluded Anastasia, whom he held personal affection for, or perhaps his previous visit from the mysterious Enema executive, who seemed to know her, had rushed him.

No matter which it was, it was hard to grant leniency.

After all, if Ken were to carry out such an act, the other two would inevitably share some responsibility or suffer consequences.

Yet even that felt more hopeful than the crux of the mission Ken desperately wanted to avoid.

“…I still have plenty of unpaid debts, so there’s no way I’d let you just die like that.”

“Are you going to keep spouting foolishness? You might not know where the backers live, but surely, those crazy people willing to launch a military oversight operation in a place like this in Enema aren’t all that many. When you add up the credits invested in you and your pathetic life, they must’ve calculated that it’s cheaper than the data we could obtain here.”

“!!”

A stream of crimson blood trickled from the corner of the boy’s tightly shut mouth.

Taking the shape of blood, it was, in reality, more akin to a solidified mass of pent-up emotions.

Even if the plan succeeded, the remaining insiders would be killed without exception. Yet… they had to show their usefulness.

Being a life practically mortgaged from birth provided enough twisted psyche, and being pointed out as a mere discarded chip by a third party, deep-rooted resentment and hatred briefly revealed their contours.

“Damn it… then what do you want me to do?! Even knowing how reckless and unlikely this is, the orders have already been given…!!”

“…Hmm.”

The growling form reminded one of a wounded beast with festering wounds.

Having come this far, Marina, with a generous mindset to at least offer advice that could aid in survival, opened her mouth.

“What relation do I have with you that there’s anything for me to say? If you don’t know how to be clever… just calmly die alone. Don’t think of dragging me or that cute kid into this.”

Clatter!!

Upon hearing her scoff, Ken forcefully pushed himself up from his seat.

The chair that got shoved back carelessly thudded against the storage area wall.

And then, boldly. He grasped the tugging connection line from his computer and stomped toward the nearest server, plugging it in without hesitation.

Seeing this, Marina seemed surprised and scratched her cheek.

He was pretty clever, and she thought he’d pick up on things if she gave some hints, but perhaps having been raised like a passive orphan all his life, he didn’t consider there might be another way right beside him.

“Hah…”

Did he potentially take that as a provocation? That would be a bit troublesome.

It was hard to say there weren’t mistakes in her actions that led to this. Perhaps being too roundabout was the fault?

There was a confidentiality clause related to the contract, so it wasn’t going to be entirely void but she would receive a reduced due…

Yet now it would be fair to pass most of the funds over to the sleeping cute kid… But then, how would she survive?

While she was contemplating this, Ken clutched the trigger with his life on the line, attempting to deceive Enema’s security system single-handedly.

[ You do not have permission to access the current device. Please ensure the correct user account is linked while applying security information. ]

“Ah…?”

Just during the day, this suspicious firewall had blocked Ken’s access.

He checked the account as noted in the error message, but it definitely was the temporary account issued by Enema. Plus, this wasn’t his first time engaging in spying; the computer skills that had allowed him to exist should not have dulled to the point of slipping up in such a moment.

Marina was not the one wrapping her head around the unfolding situation.

After all, she hadn’t even had the chance to touch the server today. …If that were the case, that left exactly one person capable of such a thing through the process of elimination.

Thump… thump….

Heavy footsteps resonated from the corridor connecting the lodging and the makeshift server room.

It was a familiar sound. The metallic noise heard daily recently felt almost like a harbinger announcing the arrival of a hacker girl, relative to the nearly non-existent presence of a figure compared to it.

Anastasia’s entrance was something neither of them could have anticipated in terms of how much it would complicate matters.

Someone who outwardly seemed to despise the corporation yet was the most enthusiastic team member once the contract was established.

A suspect with a secretive demeanor possessing a lot of unknowns who seemed to harbor foreknowledge of such possible emergencies by preparing deliberate delays.

In any case, rather than crash towards the foretold destruction, it would be better to add unpredictable variables.

First, a droid appeared at the end of the corridor, followed soon after by… after a while… huh? Why was only the droid coming out?

“”…….””

Zero, who had taken in the bewildered expressions of the two as if they had received a set menu without the burger, calmly proceeded to explain the absence of the owner in a clear tone.

– …I’m sorry, but Anastasia is currently asleep. I was just asked to not disturb her designated sleep, so if you have any concerns about the work, I will personally handle them on her behalf. –