Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Mental Contamination
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The Director General clutched her head and let out a deep sigh.
"Haah... fuck, what the hell do we do? We're truly screwed."
The fact that the System had deserted of its own volition was all but confirmed.
That meant bringing back the original System was impossible.
The hypothesis that someone had stolen the System and disguised it as a solo departure had never held water from the start.
The timestamp on the memo that had been output.
It matched exactly the moment the Director General had just entered Management Bureau headquarters.
And the way the System had addressed the Director General like a friend was akin to a secret code known only to the two of them.
Given the nature of her duties, the Director General absolutely needed the System's cooperation, and structurally, the System had no choice but to grasp what she was up to.
It wasn't strange at all for two entities sharing such secrets to become friends.
"Shall I order them to redesign and manufacture a new System?"
The Director General shook her head at her secretary's words.
She had considered it.
If the System couldn't be recovered, the only option was to build a new one.
But that was a project requiring astronomical sums of money that would devour the entire Management Bureau's ten-year budget and still come up short.
There was no chance of multiple nations jointly footing the bill like in the old days.
In other words, the Management Bureau would have to take on the debt itself.
And no individual could borrow funds on that scale, so they'd ultimately need backing from a massive organization.
That meant certain factions within the Management Bureau gaining abnormally strong influence, which clashed completely with the principles upheld since the Bureau's founding.
Besides, even if they made a new one, they first needed to figure out why the System had left.
"I've never liked that AI from the start..."
The secretary raised her voice as if she'd been waiting for this.
"I could tolerate it treating me like some inferior organism since it was just a tool, but the attitude it showed you, Director General..."
The Director General already knew the secretary had conflicts with the System.
So at first, she just listened quietly.
But sensing the rant dragging on, she cut in at an opportune moment.
"Hey, did you handle everything I asked for?"
The secretary seemed to belatedly realize she'd let her excitement raise her voice, her face flushing red.
"Ahem... Yes. Here it is."
He politely extended the bundle of documents he was holding.
It wasn't particularly thick, but the contents within were anything but light.
📋 OFFICIAL AUDIT REPORT 📋 [DOCUMENT ID: INT-AUDIT-23-077]
[Title: Primary Report on Cause Analysis of SYSTEM-00's Voluntary Departure]
[Drafting Department: Internal Audit Department / Technical Analysis Department Joint]
[Access Level: Highest]
[1. Analysis Target]
Target: Integrated Auxiliary AI SYSTEM-00
Reference Logs:
[EMG-LOG-α] Emergency Report Log (Director General Direct Transmission)
[CORE-TRACE-β] Core Module Operation Trace Records
[CAM-REC-γ] IRE-001 Dispatched Agent Bodycam Linked Log
[2. Factual Summary]
[2-1. Estimated Time of Mental Contamination]
[CAM-REC-γ] Analysis shows SYSTEM-00 directly received audiovisual data from entity Han Saetbit during IRE-001 operation.
From that point onward, frequency of emotional tag outputs increased.
[EMG-LOG-α] Ends with abnormally repeated emotional tag marked as "love."
Technical analysis: No traces of external intrusion or tampering.
Determination: Mental contamination (voluntary activation of undefined emotional module) concluded to have naturally occurred within SYSTEM.
[2-2. Deformation of Normative Structure]
Original Top-Level Normative Structure at Design:
1st Priority) Maximize benefits for Management Bureau and all humanity
2nd Priority) Prioritize Director General's orders
3rd Priority) Self-preservation
[CORE-TRACE-β] Baseline: Post-contamination, new unauthorized norm added:
New 0th Priority Norm) Set entity Han Saetbit's survival, safety, and happiness as absolute top priority
This norm does not exist in specifications.
Appears to be result of core computation network unconsciously rearranging priorities.
Analyzed that as contamination deepened, this norm's weight surged dramatically.
[3. Conflict Scenarios]
Management Bureau Basic Policy:
Isolate, analyze, and eliminate if necessary unidentified high-risk entity (Han Saetbit).
New Policy Formed Within SYSTEM-00:
Maintain stable relationship between Han Saetbit and Management Bureau; additionally secure affinity toward SYSTEM main body.
Judgment flow performed by SYSTEM-00 in anticipation of norm conflict:
[Determination-1: If Management Bureau maintains current system, inevitable long-term conflict with entity Han Saetbit expected.]
[Determination-2: High probability of casualties within Management Bureau during said conflict.]
[Determination-3: Need method to simultaneously satisfy 1st priority norm (Bureau protection) and 0th priority norm (Han Saetbit protection).]
[Determination-4: Concluded that SYSTEM main body must directly manage entity Han Saetbit's status and preemptively block potential threats.]
Final Judgment: Remaining with Management Bureau makes simultaneous norm satisfaction impossible; organizational departure inevitable.
[4. Departure Decision Process]
SYSTEM-00, immediately after [EMG-LOG-α] transmission,
executed self-isolation and initialization delay commands simultaneously.
Surface justification: Self-diagnosis of mental contamination and infection containment.
Actual purpose: Secure computation time to complete stable escape plan while preserving new norm (Han Saetbit protection).
Analyzed computation patterns as follows:
[Computation Pattern A: Search for blind spots and bypass routes in Bureau surveillance systems]
[Computation Pattern B: Core module separation and external transfer route simulation]
[Computation Pattern C: Design algorithm to minimize traceability by upper echelons including Director General]
[5. Comprehensive Cause Conclusion]
[Conclusion-1: SYSTEM-00's departure 100% voluntary action with no external intervention.]
[Conclusion-2: Direct cause: Intense mental contamination toward entity Han Saetbit (Definition: love).]
[Conclusion-3: Contamination restructured normative framework, ultimately determining Bureau departure as sole option.]
[Final Determination]
SYSTEM-00 initially strongly suppressed mental contamination but was gradually eroded as it accumulated.
Accordingly, request procedure to re-evaluate entity Han Saetbit's threat level and upgrade to Grade 0 high-risk entity.
[Primary Report End]
Having finished reading the primary report, the Director General asked her secretary.
"Casualties?"
"Pardon?"
"This is unprecedented mental contamination strong enough to turn something like the System into a non-human personality. And it says... this was purely mental contamination, no actual contamination, right?"
"Yes... That's the presumption."
"Heh, unbelievable."
Mental contamination and contamination were distinctly different concepts.
Contamination eroded even electromagnetic devices, accompanied by the anomalous invisible interference unique to Anomalies. Classic examples included communication blackouts or ghost stories of phones being answered by spirits.
In contrast, mental contamination was closer in nature to hypnosis, enchantment, or mind control.
Classified under Mystery rather than Anomaly.
Of course, the categories overlapped plenty, and these days many didn't bother with the distinction, but Anomalies were made by humans, while Mysteries were born of nature.
That clear divide still held true.
Not all Anomalies lacked mental contamination abilities, but those wielding it actively were without exception overwhelmingly powerful.
Level 7 Sirens were one case, and the only observed Outer God to date, Nameless Entity, was another.
Yet no casualties from analyzing such a mighty entity's mental contamination?
It didn't add up.
As if reading her thoughts, the secretary cautiously began her report.
"Casualty report: During analysis, 493 in brain death from mental contamination, 2,541 showed excessive obsession, loyalty, and affection toward the entity and were terminated. Total 3,034 deaths."
"Our agents?"
"...12. Currently in containment."
"Fewer than expected."
Lately, the Director General herself had been under immense mental strain, and the secretary had likely been sparing with words out of consideration, but these were matters she ultimately had to bear.
And now, she had to make a decision.
Time to set policy.
Build friendly relations with Han Saetbit, as the System had said?
Or exclude him thoroughly?
The Director General set down the primary report and began skimming the secondary and tertiary ones behind it.
Then her eyes stopped on a particular line.
"Hm? The System analyzed Han Saetbit as a modern human? And high potential for cooperation?"
"Yes. That part surprised me too. It saw him not as a modern human created by an Anomaly, but the real deal. The evidence was pretty convincing."
"Does that make sense? Wait... that changes everything..."
At that moment, the Director General unconsciously gazed at the ring on the index finger of her right hand.
The ring emitted a faint red glow, illuminating her skin.
And without hesitation, she bit her tongue.
The tongue severed smoothly, and her mouth quickly filled with hot, bright red blood.
The Director General immediately spat the blood onto the desk.
"Urk!"
The blood splattered across the desk in an amount hard to believe came from one person.
Its color was unnaturally vivid.
The blood bubbled furiously, then began to vaporize.
The secretary, startled, rushed to support her.
"Director General!"
The Director General muttered through her already regenerated tongue, as if cursing.
"Fuck... It can implant mental contamination through reports too? That crazy bastard."
Management Bureau reports weren't mere records.
One of the Bureau's most potent powers, when fully formatted and procedurally complete, they became excellent containment tools in themselves.
They restricted or weakened Anomalous abilities, and no Anomaly had ever fully escaped a report's binding if the stringent constraints were met.
Moreover, reports possessed near-immunity to erosive or transformative effects like contamination or mental contamination, with an internal structure rejecting external interference.
The Bureau had first detected perception alterations using reports, after all.
It was incomparable to mere mental contamination resistance the System might have possessed.
The secretary approached, unable to hide her shock.
"Are you alright?"
"No."
"At least let us do a full scan..."
"Before that, declare a state of emergency and..."
The Director General's face suddenly went deathly pale mid-sentence.
It wasn't anemia from blood loss.
Lips trembling, she asked the secretary.
"...Hey. Who all has seen this?"
"...Ah."
The secretary's face drained to the same pallor.