Hero's Path, Villain's Path -1-
"Huff... huff..."
I glanced over my shoulder, the ballpoint pen still tucked safely against my chest. Han Yujin had finally given up the chase. Heh, no stamina at all. What's the point of becoming an Enhanced Human if you lose to a regular person in a footrace?
Through the window I could still see the swarm of reporters, cameras raised, all hoping to catch another glimpse of Last. Good. I wasn't too late after all. Maybe I really did have a knack for cutting things close.
I slipped on the visual tracker I'd prepared in advance, altering both my face and voice, then melted into the crowd. My targets weren't the usual public broadcasters like KB* or MB*. Those outlets were basically puppets of the Big Three; anything I sent them would be buried before it ever aired.
No, I was aiming for the wrecker channels—the Ark, Minos's answer to YouTube. I needed an Aker with millions of subscribers. For today's plan I'd memorized every major Ark creator's face.
[One individual matches the data.]
Thanks again, status window. I couldn't survive without you, you useless piece of junk.
'Only one showed up?'
Maybe the place was too dangerous for ordinary wreckers. Tsk. Fortune favors the bold, after all. With no other choice, I waded through the crowd in search of the lone wrecker.
'There.'
She was easier to spot than I'd expected.
"Come on, this way~"
"U-ueh...? Wait a second... Aack...!!"
I grabbed the wrecker by the scruff of her neck and hauled her out of the throng. She tried to resist, but the crowd was too dense for anyone to notice or intervene. We didn't stop until we reached the dim rear parking lot behind the courthouse.
"You're A.G.O, right?"
Only then did I release her collar.
"Cough, cough...!! A.G.O? The three-million-sub Aker A.G.O? Th-that's not me! Why would you think it's me?"
A.G.O rubbed her sore neck, still coughing.
"Oh please. You really thought hiding your face with a visual tracker would keep you safe? A little digging and everything shows up."
"U-ueh..."
She fell silent, apparently at a loss. Up close, her face looked oddly familiar.
'Wait... this person... she's the part-timer from the convenience store last time?'
Thank goodness I'd changed my appearance and voice before approaching. The status window really should have warned me about something this obvious. What was it doing?
'But why would a three-million-sub Aker be working a convenience-store job?'
Did Ark creators not make money the way regular YouTubers did?
"Ahem!" I cleared my throat to hide my embarrassment and continued. "Anyway, is this what you're looking for?"
I pulled out the tiny camera disguised as a ballpoint pen that I'd been clutching.
"Wh-what is that?"
"Ah, maybe this will help."
> Memory chip extracted.
> Handing over to A.G.O...
A.G.O accepted the chip with a suspicious look and plugged it into the connector beneath her ear.
".......!!"
Her eyes changed completely. She suddenly grabbed my hand.
"H-how much...!! How much do you want...!!?"
"Huh?"
"How much to buy it...!!"
What? She wanted to pay for it? I hadn't even considered that.
"A million won...? Ten million...? A hundred million...? Please, sell it to me...!!"
"W-wait... wait! Calm down for a second."
I pushed A.G.O back and retrieved the chip. Every time I did, she clung to me like her soul was attached to it, stretching like taffy. I hadn't planned on taking money, but with her acting this desperate, it felt wrong not to charge something.
"Stop... clinging. I'll sell it for fifty... no, a hundred thousand won."
"Th-that cheap...?"
"Don't want it?"
"N-no...!! No!! I'll transfer it right now! Clean money, no need to launder it!"
A.G.O immediately summoned a terminal in midair, tapped a few times, and sent one million won to my account.
[Misdeed committed!]
[Blackmail, extortion... (more)]
[Villainy Points +5]
[Shop function reactivated]
Hey, come on. You're making me look like some kind of villain here.
I stared at the newly deposited million won with satisfaction and handed the chip over to A.G.O.
"Y... yahoo...!!"
She bounced with joy, clutching the memory chip. If she was that happy, then I was happy too. Wasn't this what a win-win world looked like?
"B-but..." A.G.O suddenly looked puzzled as she tucked the chip away. "Why... are you giving something this valuable to me?"
"Why?"
"Yes... If you sold it to a proper private broadcaster instead of a wrecker like me, you could get a lot more..."
"Oh, that was an option? Want to give it back? I'll refund you."
"...!?"
When I held out my hand, A.G.O clutched the bag containing the chip to her chest and shook her head furiously.
"Just kidding."
"...Why would you joke like that?"
She looked utterly deflated. Teasing her was fun. How did someone like this run a three-million-sub wrecker channel? Oh, right—she wasn't human. She was a Vitaloid.
—(Wrecker video targeting Cheongang's deliberate information blackout, based on the memory chip received from Chae Yuha)
"Wh-what the hell is this..."
Cheon Taewoo, CEO of the Cheongang Group, muttered in a daze as he stared at the targeted video floating before him. He'd calculated that obtaining a first-generation sample would more than offset any damage to his image. Ignoring public opinion to push the trial through had already taken a heavy toll on the company's reputation. And now Eniac hadn't just essentially acquitted the first-generation subject—he'd allowed someone to secretly record the entire proceeding and leak it online?
"Cheon Yusil!!"
Cheon Taewoo bellowed his daughter's name, voice thick with rage and malice.
"What the hell happened? Did the courthouse guards skip checking the spectators' belongings? Did some court official get bribed by the reporters outside while recording the trial? Explain!"
"...Father."
"What the hell happened!!"
-BANG!!!
The desk Cheon Taewoo slammed shattered in a cloud of dust. Cheon Yusil flinched, glancing nervously at her father before speaking carefully.
"Word came down from above. For the time being, do nothing and stay quiet."
"Is that what you're saying right now? At least until we find the rat who secretly filmed this—"
"Directly from the head of the Noah Group."
"......."
At Cheon Yusil's words, the furious Cheon Taewoo went rigid. He staggered over to the sofa and collapsed onto it.
"Ha... hahaha..."
A self-deprecating laugh escaped him.
"It's been a while... since I got properly bitten..."
*
"...For those reasons, the president says to stay quiet and focus only on your assigned tasks from now on."
Cheongang Tower, 25th floor, Technology Research Wing, private room. Cheon Yusil's voice echoed from the glowing screen in the otherwise dark room.
"Nadja, Research Director?"
"Yeah, yeah, got it. I'll handle it myself."
The one who answered was Nadja, a Cheongang Group technician and the mother of nanomachines.
"You're sure you understood?"
"Are you my mom? We're not even that far apart in age. I said I'd handle it."
Nadja half-listened to Cheon Yusil while intently studying a blueprint.
"Haah... I'll assume you understood and hang up now."
"Yeah, yeah, sure."
-Beep.
Once the call ended, Nadja immediately folded the blueprint she'd been examining and tucked it into her desk drawer. She crossed her arms, frowning irritably.
"Haah, I'd been preparing that for so long. Someone beat me to it."
In her hands was a notebook filled with every article related to the unidentified Enhanced Human rampage incident, carefully clipped and organized.