27 – World 11. Smooth Negotiation (1)
“A bounty?”
At the word bounty, Karina and I looked at Hayden as if to say something.
Hayden opened his mouth with a serious face and explained.
“You bet 10 million credits. Maybe that’s why there are savvy guys in my building.”
10 million credits.
10 billion in Hanwha.
Price for 50 connectors.
Of course, depending on the person, it was an amount that could reverse life.
“Apart from the bounty, why are you interested in Mr. Hayden’s building?”
“Didn’t that little boy bring you? Not one or two people saw it, so rumors spread.”
Rumors…
I thought and glanced at Ren.
Ren was rummaging through the leftover potato dishes without even making eye contact, as if he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Looking at it again, it seemed to be excellent as far as one eye could see.
“If it’s a rumor anyway, won’t it be quiet?”
“It would have been if it hadn’t been for the bounty. But isn’t that 10 million credits? Those who are blinded by money will report it first and see.”
“That means it will come in someday.”
“They will attack with combat androids and even drones.”
Hayden predicted what would happen next and looked at me with eyes asking what I was going to do.
It certainly wasn’t something that would be solved by running away.
“If there is no other way, we have to bump into it.”
“Are you going to fight District 1?”
“If we fight, we might fight.”
I don’t know if it will be a real fight.
However, as Karina said before, I could have used an unexpected move, so I thought it might be best to be careful.
At that time, Karina, who was deeply troubled, spoke.
“Mr. Lee Seong-min. I have a good idea.”
“Is that a good idea?”
“Yes. Could you do something like this before that?”
Afterwards, Karina only asked two things.
I heard it wasn’t too difficult.
So I nodded, and Karina told me her thoughts as if that was enough.
* * *
Area 1, Mallburton Tower 92nd floor.
A physical training room dedicated to the Special Investigation Team.
The special investigation team was a place to investigate and clear up cases that could not be solved with ordinary surveillance drones.
However, in the present era, even androids or drones were able to collect evidence, interrogate, and arrest, so special investigations were rarely involved.
Nevertheless, if there is a reason why the Special Investigation Unit exists.
This is because there are cases that cannot be solved even with androids or drones.
Perhaps by exploiting the loophole of the machine, whenever an unresolved case appeared on rare occasions, the special investigation team stepped in and solved the problem.
Of course, the conditions for entering this place were very difficult, as the special investigation team only came forward for problems that the machines could not solve.
To put it simply, the special investigation team was where only the elite of the elite could barely enter.
“Hoo-wook. Hoo-wook.”
Anyway, in the gym, a woman in her mid-twenties with her dark wine-colored bobbed hair tied back was exhaling and exercising.
Sweat all over the body and a 300kg barbell on the shoulder.
The woman who squatted as if squeezing the muscles of the whole body with the barbell filled the set number of times and returned the barbell to its original position.
It was also the result of the combination of the usual training and the player’s strength.
After finishing the exercise once, the woman looked at the dawn light that slowly brightened through the open window.
“…”
It was a light that could no longer be seen through the fog of death.
No, it was a light that I thought I would never see again.
So no matter how many times I watched it, I never got tired of it.
at that time.
“Ah, boss. I was working out here again.”
A young man from a magpie house entered the fitness room, frowning.
Either way, the woman answered indifferently.
“Kalan, what’s going on?”
The young man called Carlen was still busy grumbling without answering the question.
“Ayla-sama told me to reduce water use, but anyways, she doesn’t listen to me.”
“… I would have asked why you came here.”
As the woman’s voice became more and more irritated, Callen let out a small sigh and launched a holographic intelligent terminal in his left hand.
Then, he controlled the terminal and delivered the data to the woman.
“Is there an order from yesterday? Instructions to find the person who lifted the fog of death. This is a summary of the people I interrogated with surveillance drones and the information people reported through the bounty board.”
The woman also launched an intelligent terminal and scanned the data.
At first glance, there were thousands of people.
“Survey all these people?”
“Since Ayla-sama has arrived, she has been urging us to investigate as soon as the morning dawns. Still, this is the extent to which I mainly selected people with even the slightest change in heart rate as surveillance drones.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
The woman said firmly.
There are many people whose heart rate rises just because a surveillance drone is approaching.
This is because the drones here are capable of various investigations, interrogations, and arrests.
If you think that surveillance drones have come to you for a minor sin you have committed, your heart rate has no choice but to go up.
Therefore, the woman turned her eyes to the texts people reported, passing all the data that the monitoring drones had been working hard to collect.
The number was also much less than before, about 50 people.
Even with a bounty of 10 million credits, an absurd number of reports did not come in.
A groundless report could have been arrested for false information.
In that sense, these 50 reports were weak but grounded.
The woman read the grounds for the report one by one.
“…”
There were many different types of reports.
There were also people who reported that the young man next door hadn’t come out for several months, or that they heard strange noises periodically.
However, if you doubt this, there is no limit.
The woman erased one by one the reports that were judged not to be.
About 10 reports remain.
The woman who sent those 10 or so back to Carlen said.
“I just investigate this and finish it.”
“Well. This could be done in one day. But how are you going to report it to Ayla-sama?”
Confidently, the rest of the staff did not investigate because it was a waste of time. could not report it.
Because it will be cut proudly.
So, when Callen asked, wondering, the woman answered indifferently.
“You know what to do.”
“…”
Callan shouted inwardly, “I’m an asshole,” and looked over the returned data.
Among the materials was this.
[There’s a guy named Hayden (reference) in District 4. The person I’ve never seen before in his building comes one after another and doesn’t go back.]
It was unusual, but not enough to interest me.
[And even though the death fog was gone, I never went outside to check. By the way, the building has all the windows blocked, so you can’t see it from the inside.]
Of course, in Carlen’s eyes, it was a report that was not very strange.
If all the windows were blocked, it could be that they didn’t come out because they couldn’t see outside.
However, the woman who chose this report did not say anything because she was an investigator with the modifier of first class.
For in this world, the word first-class meant someone who was superior to machines in some way.
* * *
“Hmm. Are you asking me to tune this android?”
“Yes. It’s because the AI, body, and combat technology programs are products of different companies.”
“You are wasting money needlessly. If you need an android for security, you can buy a finished product from Aust.”
The next morning, after everyone gathered together and had breakfast, Karina cautiously asked Hayden for a favor.
It was a request to adjust the android he brought with him.
I was also more interested than I thought because it was my first time seeing an Android like this.
‘In the second world, there were only killing machines.’
The second world was a world where machines dominated humans.
Therefore, it was a world where machines took on the role of surveillance and humans were put into various types of labor…
The truth was a bit different.
Anyway, I was lost in thought as I looked at the android limp like a corpse, excluding the power source.
‘Did you say that was 4 million credits?’
4 billion in Hanwha.
It was definitely expensive at this point.
“I’ll try to see it first.”
And at Karina’s request, Hayden looked at the android as if he couldn’t help it.
At the same time, I thought for a moment.
“I don’t know the details, but isn’t it accurate that other machines adjust it themselves?”
This is a place where science and technology have developed remarkably.
It’s just speculation, but could machines replace everything humans can do?
So, I wondered if it would be more accurate to do things like adjustments with a machine, but Karina shook her head.
“As Seongmin Lee said, it is better to do most of the work with a machine. But Mr. Hayden is a first-rate engineer.”
“A first-class engineer?”
“Yes. To put it simply, the title of first-class engineer is given to a person who can find flaws that cannot be found even by machine analysis through human-specific senses or intuition.”
Of course, that was the first I’d heard of it.
“In a word, it is better than machines.”
“that’s right. In addition to this android control, if you have skills that are superior to machines in other fields, you can hear that you are first-class.”
Having heard that far, I looked at Hayden with new eyes.
If you have skills that are superior to machines, why are you here?
Karina said what she thought, as if she had read the question on my face.
“Perhaps Mr. Hayden will get a decent spot in District 1 if he puts his mind to it.”
I heard Hayden’s gruff voice as he was silently examining the android.
“I am not interested.”
When I stopped talking, it seemed like there was something else.
‘Have I been bullied at work?’
I thought of such a bland thought and slowly remembered the connection.
“Miss Karina. Have you memorized all the exercises?”
“I memorized it. Are you trying to log in now?”
“Yes. You can’t be idle all the time.”
Karina nodded in agreement and rose from her seat.
at that time.
beep-
The sound of someone pressing the doorbell filled the first floor.