“…They really aren’t picking up.”
I murmured quietly while checking the disconnected call signal.
A red X-shaped hologram image floated in one corner of my vision.
Recalling that I usually heard Gable’s voice immediately through that screen, it felt extremely unnatural.
Seven…, um. Just like that agent said, I couldn’t get in touch with Gable.
Of course, I had heard beforehand from the agent that Gable was on a long business trip and wouldn’t be reachable, but I just thought I’d give him a call anyway.
Now that there was no response, my mind felt uneasy.
I couldn’t figure out whether Gable had truly gone on a ‘long business trip’ or how the tangled situation we were in connected to anything.
I lightly shook my head to clear my confused mind.
First, I needed to assess the situation.
—
The chairman quietly murmured after hearing my explanation.
“…So that’s how it is.”
He even made a cute hmm sound.
He looked lost in thought.
I didn’t come rushing to the chairman just because I felt like I was calling for bad luck right after the incident occurred.
I hadn’t even only told the chairman about it.
I nodded while looking at the five women focused on my story.
Fortunately, it seemed my gaze communicated something; a few of the women who were too nervous to eat (usually Julia and Maya) grabbed their utensils.
It was a peaceful dinner time.
Except for people with important matters, usually, everyone gathered here; for reference, today, Andrea and Natasha were absent.
Andrea had a performance schedule and Natasha mentioned urgent intermediary work she had to handle.
Anyway,
I wasn’t particularly keen on explaining the situation.
However, the news that the ‘city agents’ had come searching the building was already common knowledge to everyone except for a few women (usually Julia) who weren’t interested in worldly affairs.
Moreover, the person in charge of managing this building was an employee of Monolith, so the chairman couldn’t possibly have missed that news.
I looked again at the chairman, who was peering down at his dish with a sunk gaze, and continued explaining.
“Honestly, there was nothing serious.”
“…Hmm.”
It felt different from the hmm he had said earlier.
The octave seemed a little lower.
What’s up with that?
“There wasn’t really any part where it was disrespectful.”
“…Hmm.”
“I mean, they just came to tell me they wanted to cancel the mission I had assigned.”
“…Hmm.”
“Of course, it does trouble me a bit that I can’t reach Gable, but surely, he wouldn’t go and get himself killed working in the city, right? It’ll be fine.”
“…Hmm.”
“So please stop with the hmm remarks…”
Tsk.
When he clicked his tongue, it felt even scarier.
As I swallowed my voice, the chairman drew a playful smile at the corner of his lips and chuckled lightly.
“Hehe, I’m just joking. Just joking. …Half of it.”
“…Then what about the remaining half?”
“It’s probably some consideration concerning the reactions we might get if we withdraw all our branches from the city.”
“……”
Please hold back.
There’s a saying that a shrimp gets crushed in a whale fight.
If that terrifying plan came to reality, countless people living in Neon City would suffer, along with their bank accounts going boom too.
That was the presence of the Megacorp chairman.
I didn’t want everyone in the city to suffer just because of a single mistake by a security department employee.
If there was to be retaliation, it would make sense to focus on that person… or on the higher-ups who gave him orders.
I thought about changing the topic. Just then, I noticed Eve, who was staring intensely at the ‘agent’s business card’ I had laid down.
“Did you find out anything?”
A white ring floated around Eve’s white pupils.
She didn’t seem to be moving; perhaps she was wandering around Net Space.
After a moment, Eve answered my question.
“Unfortunately, no.”
“…Huh?”
A response uncharacteristic of Eve, who was known as an artificial intelligence on the level of national power, or a futuristic ‘Doraemon’ in a cyberpunk world.
Eve made a slightly surprised expression.
“Surprisingly, the city Security Department is processing all its internal data on ‘paper.’”
What?
“Because of that, the records stored in the database are very few. Recovering deleted contents is easy, but there was nothing important there either.”
I could vaguely sense a thought from Eve’s voice that seemed to say ‘how primitive this is….’
Honestly, I agreed with that sentiment.
“…What kind of madness is this?”
Are they trying to follow Japan’s paper administration in a cyberpunk world?
…
Still, objectively, the effectiveness wasn’t bad.
Leaving aside work efficiency, there was no better way to avoid hacker attacks than that. It was precisely due to those results that Eve couldn’t find any information.
…Still,
It seems like Eve’s standing has dramatically decreased. Was this how it felt to graduate from Doraemon to an old man?
I couldn’t hide my disappointment, but I figured the one most shocked at this point was none other than ‘Eve’ herself.
I wanted to extend a simple condolence to Eve.
“But.”
Eve, wearing her usual confident expression, slightly lifted her chin.
“I believe we will be able to obtain information soon.”
“…How?”
Sometimes, you can’t reason with crazy people.
Shouldn’t I just give up if it’s on paper?
I couldn’t make sense of Eve’s words.
Slowly, Eve responded to my question.
“I mentioned last time. I had prepared another method to detect the entity ‘Dal.’”
“Oh yeah, you did.”
I had heard something like that in the underground.
I had asked back then, but it was when Eve was sulking, so she probably just replied it was a secret.
Eve silently nodded her head.
Everyone’s gaze was focused on Eve. It seemed like it was an exciting story.
The straw doll, Jupiter, which had taken up the vacant seat of Andrea, was also looking at Eve, so that should say enough.
“The unit named ‘Lone Spider,’ model ‘K2N-7757.’”
“…Huh?”
Then, out of nowhere, a machine drone resembling a spider appeared on the dining table. Colorful patterns painted themselves in the empty air.
What is this…?
Um…
“The product I brought when I went to ‘Underdog’s’ hideout.”
“Oh.”
Right.
It was something I had snatched from InfoSeller7 previously.
Looting items from defeated enemies in the game was a legal action. Everything was legal as long as you don’t get caught.
I looked down at the machine drone avoiding the dish filled with food on the dining table.
‘How dare you bring an outsider object onto a dining table! This clearly contradicts the etiquette of leaving the ladies’ seat….’
Please be quiet.
After silently defeating the long-lost Confucian moralist inside me, I threw a questioning look at Eve.
“Already, the AI identified similar drones and are tracking the ‘agent.’”
It implied using them in real life to supplement their lesser influence.
Though, as long as you don’t get caught, it shouldn’t matter…
No way, it’s still the ‘city Security Department.’ There’s no way they can’t detect one of those machine drones, right?
“Additionally, all drone units have been modified by me. The chances of detection are low, and even if detected, there’s no way information would leak out.”
“Ooh…”
A wow escaped my lips.
I could naturally picture an artificial intelligence guiding several machines in my mind.
…
Let’s hope it doesn’t end up like another artificial intelligence named after the sky. Anyway, I intended to compliment Eve, brushing aside my ominous future.
But, wait a second.
“…Did you say, ‘all drones’?”
Didn’t that drone originally end at just one?
Then what’s the drone on the table, and what about the one attached to the agent?
“…How many drones are we talking about?”
In response to my question, Eve quietly held up three fingers.
Ah, three.
Less than I’d expected—
“300 units have been prepared.”
“……”
What, is this going to turn into an information war or something?
I have no idea how they could have prepared 300 units in such a short time since meeting Dal in the underground! Not to mention modifying them.
It was hard to believe realistically.
If that’s the case, why call it Lone Spider? That’s definitely not a lonely number!
As Eve naturally let out some kind of content, I listened in disbelief.
“Usually, they are used to capture, store, and preserve ‘Siwoon’s’ daily activities.”
“?”
What does that even mean, Eve?
I feel like I’ve heard something similar before, but have they really been doing that this entire time?
I wanted to ask Eve what she was planning, but her voice was drowned out by the sudden chatter from others.
“…Hmm, we need a data storage server.”
That’s the chairman.
“…So that’s why I kept hearing drone sounds; it wasn’t just my imagination… But you’re not planning to put drones on the 14th floor, right?”
Catherine.
“Uh, um… would you like to exchange the photos and data I’ve taken?”
Maya?
“…Does it store video data too?”
The last was Julia.
As for Andrea and Natasha, they weren’t here as mentioned before, but I bet their reactions wouldn’t differ much.
The once quiet dining table erupted into a lively commotion.
I silently closed my mouth and looked up at the ceiling with sad eyes.
Where on earth did my private life go…?
If drone prevention magic actually existed, I’d want to research it right now.
—
And after a while, I asked Eve who had come to find me again.
“…Where did you say the tracking results were?”
“At the City Security Department’s Upper-Class Area, the 1st City Hall.”
Um…
Surely not, right?
However, Eve’s next words quickly betrayed my expectations.
“And we’ve confirmed that she met with the current mayor, ‘Alexander Harding.’ What will you do now?”
“……”
What am I supposed to do?
I scratched my head and opened my mouth.
—
“…Why are we looking for high-ranking officials in the city?”
“Exactly.”
“…??”
I didn’t expect to be caught up in this too.
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