Chapter 40

In front of the hundred engineer applicants who seemed light and breezy, the first thought that crossed my mind was whether I could return home today, feeling exhausted.

Then, after being informed that I would have to talk to two interviewers from Mega Cop, my thoughts shifted to concerns about how far I could make it with just my game knowledge and flimsy experience.

Finally, after hearing that the one waiting inside was Aron Drayfuscus, I was seized by intense suspicion.

To borrow a phrase typically used by employees affiliated with Halo… a true master of the game in a city full of underlings.

In this city, only a select few are genuinely in positions of power.

Other branches of Mega Cop might try to interfere, but fundamentally, what kind of power player would engage in an interview game if they could move trillions of credits and an appropriate military force with just a slight twitch of a finger?

…Unless he were really a member of the ranks of the top brass, it would take an incident like before to drag him out.

“……Mr. Drayfuscus is in there?”

“…Yes, that’s correct. He’s been urging us through the security channel to finish quickly and get some rest, so please….”

It didn’t seem like there was any information left to extract from the police officer, who seemed confused with his palm pressed to his forehead.

Moreover, he was tugging and flapping the ends of his suppression suit nervously… I felt a bit embarrassed to keep staring at him.

“……sigh.”

In the end, I left him as he was and moved heavily toward the interview room deep within the annex.

It seemed that the police didn’t have anyone appropriate to name for a sale, so they resorted to using a person I might plausibly have met… But having such information makes him a mercenary, right?

A police officer and a mercenary working two jobs… perhaps someone I should consider as a role model for the future…?

Click…!

The soles of my shoes squeaked against the smooth floor.

With the sun bending low since lunchtime, I arrived at the door of judgment, giving birth to countless angry, wicked, and strange beings.

Whoever was waiting inside, I resolved not to easily concede the upper hand and turned the doorknob to open the path.

“……Ah! Ivory Hacker! I was worried you might have just left after waiting too long… or should I call you Miss Valentine?”

“Damn…!”

I reflexively pulled my hand back at the sight of the grinning man’s face before the door was fully opened… Damn this door! It only looked like an old-fashioned style on the outside; it turned out to be an electronic opening device controlled by the central system.

Watching Drayfuscus enjoy my struggle brought a fleeting thought of hacking this to slam the door shut, but realizing this was all a butterfly effect caused by a singular feature, I gave up.

“Whew….”

“This isn’t an interview, so there’s no need to be so tense. Miss Valentine.”

…What on earth does he mean it’s not an interview? Pretending not to distinguish between a deep breath and a sigh, I shot a glare at the smug man as I took a seat on the chair prepared across from him.

Then… I began to observe the monster I had to face.

In the chaos following the terrorist incident, I mistakenly thought his suit was yellow; now it appeared to be a special order that subtly recreated the texture of gold.

His completely slicked-back hair, without a single stray hair, suggested meticulous work, while his squinting eyes, though seeing little, represented firmly closed windows to his mind.

In the meantime, the numbers etched beneath his eyes and on his neck caught my attention.

Could this be an important clue…? I tried to recall where I had seen them.

“…So, may I ask why you personally came out…?”

…Hold on, isn’t that an android manufacturing number? …Shit, is this guy?

“Hahaha! Personally come out? I’m currently lying comfortably on my office bed and resting, so you don’t need to worry unnecessarily!”

“……”

My nape felt warm.

It wasn’t that I felt betrayed considering the absence of trust in our relationship; I was simply ashamed of my intuition for not noticing this in a semi-enclosed space without any guards.

Moreover… the exaggerated gestures of spreading his arms wide and his frivolous tone made it even harder to read his intentions as I realized that it was all mere puppetry.

“Wow~ Miss Valentine may not know, but today was quite a mess, right? I merely controlled a proxy while volunteering for interview duties… and Elysium Corporation’s branch manager herself showed up, saying they wanted to match my level! I was in a panic from the nerves!”

Drayfuscus chattered about how the strict branch manager’s standards led to a drought in the recruitment of cyber engineers this time.

…Elysium Corporation, the Mega Cop of virtual space technologies, including cyberware, electronic facilities, and communications.

Whoever the branch manager of this town is, it must have been an annoying day for them to get entangled with a snake-like character like this.

…Wait, then why is he not here in this situation?

“Uh… where is the interviewer from Elysium?”

“He happily went back after hearing I had a capable candidate in mind.”

“……I see.”

My subdued answer caused the previously lively atmosphere to settle down.

Though his smile remained, the depth and stickiness of his thoughts deepened.

With trivial exchanges aside, and the position prepared for me, it remained a fact that Aron Drayfuscus, head of the strategic planning division for paradise, took time for a mere hacker. The moment to hear his intentions had finally arrived.

After hesitations and wild gestures, both arms finally gathered neatly on the desk.

“…The Elysium branch manager said this: Not every net hacker is a cyber engineer, but every cyber engineer is a net hacker. And if the quality of civilian resources remains poor, we may have to consider using Enema’s test-tube baby system more actively in the future.”

“Ugh…!”

I was left speechless by the stark expression of “civilian resources.”

The only reason I managed to hold back the grimace on my face was that I was already somewhat aware of Enema’s test-tube system… An overwhelming loyalty and trust secured by companies fostering humans from the start to become employees, a training process for tracers.

“In that sense, someone like you… with talents of unknown origins and a corporate-friendly civic spirit, I wanted to make sure you had a position…”

“…Thank you for the high evaluation.”

I swallowed a quip of who was corporate-friendly and the nausea creeping up on me.

An excessively powerful necessary evil. That’s the definition I’d given to Mega Cop, so I hoped they wouldn’t distort someone’s beliefs with just a few pieces of information.

Tap… tap….

The android’s fingers rhythmically drummed on the desk.

“But… you’re quite clever, aren’t you? I handed you a lottery ticket with the winning numbers clearly visible, yet instead of diving right in, you’re stepping in ever so lightly…?”

“That’s….”

Before I could choose my words carefully, a slim line divided, revealing the serpent’s four hundred eyes.

His shadow, which wasn’t particularly massive, began to swell in size, filling the room with ominous hallucinations.

“You seem to have quite a lot of charm… If I were you, I’d recommend formally joining the company. That way, both the mercenaries and another Miss Valentine’s future will remain safe, won’t they?”

“!!”

Smash—!!

At the sensation of sharp teeth nearly piercing the inside of my throat, I involuntarily slammed my hands down on the desk and stood up. …It was too hard to grasp where the joke ended and the seriousness began, given the disparity in our positions and life experiences.

Even though what was inside was a real human rather than artificial intelligence, I felt none of that warmth.

Could it be…? Was this the reef I inadvertently created? …If one was going to make a mess, wouldn’t it be best to do it when there was nothing to protect, you foolish Anastasia?

With mounting feelings of injustice, I grasped my trembling arms and squeezed out my voice.

“…May I ask why you’re coming at me like this?”

“…? Ahaha! That’s quite simple, isn’t it? If you find gold on the road, you should pick it up before the owner shows up, right?”

As I adopted an attitude of surrendering to the persistent invitation from my future subordinate, that snake resumed its frivolous speech.

“……Ha.”

And… I felt relieved by that very answer.

The emotion humans feel most strongly and find hardest to shake is fear. Among them, it’s said to be the fear of the unknown.

If I genuinely wanted to submit… Drayfuscus should not have revealed such base desires so early.

But I am grateful. Thanks to you, I could cloak the bitter self-reproach and sadness lingering in my mouth with hot anger.

For a mere extra, whose name is only just popping up in the register of Neo Heaven Prime, to dare treat someone as a mere possession…?! You’re on par with Horatio, buddy…!

Crack…!

Even the sensation of grinding teeth became a good seasoning.

Did he say he valued my talents? If so, then I’ll raise that golden chunk up to the very ceiling of the headquarters building where you’re comfortably lying, so stop the nonsense immediately.

“…Mr. Drayfuscus? I’d like to repay the business card you gave me for a moment… could you extend your hand…?”

“Hand… you say?”

Like it was the first time in such a situation, I politely grasped the extended hand with an intriguing expression.

It wasn’t just one-sided signals sent to control the android body. If he was acting in accordance with my gaze instead of following an automated task, then there must also be signals or data being transmitted from him.

So the only gift I could give was this instead of an oath of loyalty.

“……”

I closed my eyes, letting my mind drift into the comfortable darkness of the cyberware halo.

I swam through the vast ocean of countless signals and waves within the android. If I couldn’t find it floating on the surface, I dove deeper.

…

…

The shared visual data transmitted to Aron Drayfuscus. I finally found it.

★ ☆ ★ ☆ ★

After confirming the acceptance notification sent via cyberware, he, wanting to quietly exit the room… cheerfully bid farewell to the best net hacker he had seen.

“If you ever change your mind, I believe you know where to contact me?”

“…Thank you for your generosity.”

He bowed his head slightly, looking at the tiny titan through machine eyes.

What I thought was a simple rough stone turned out to be a completed gem….

Of course, depending on how one handles it, that could become a disaster that disrupts all order or, conversely, a weapon that could put an end to the annoying power struggles among Mega Cops.

…In the end, Aron reached the conclusion that if he wasn’t going to kill me immediately, he needed to ensure there were no reckless moves made.

“Well then, lastly… let me give you one warning. …As long as you don’t harm Paradise’s business, I’ll be waiting quietly, in accordance with the gift I received.”

“……”

With that clear declaration of each other’s bottom line, she left the room without a response.

…Click.

He issued a return command to his proxy android and then placed the control goggles he had been wearing down.

It seemed that the usually chaotic upper levels of Paradise’s corporate headquarters, due to the eccentric character of their chairman, were even more agitated today.

…No, it was clear that this was intensified by the employees running through the corridors.

With the goggles alongside Aron’s retina, office computers, and electronic frames all broadcasting the same phrase due to received viruses and bizarre waves.

– If you want to obtain pure gold, show at least a fitting grace. –

“……This is quite troublesome!”

Wishing for the chairman’s office to remain untouched by this ominous influence, Aron initiated a new task to package this impressive reprimand as a surprise training session organized by the planning department.