Delivery Complete
Bringing down a megacorporation is no easy task.
If you slaughtered everyone belonging to it, it would naturally collapse. But when that corporation is one of the pillars supporting Eden, its fall wouldn't just end with a simple collapse—it would trigger a catastrophe.
Therefore, dismantling a megacorporation must be approached with extreme caution. It means you have to design a flawless plan for the aftermath before you even begin to carefully nudge it.
After all, if you go through all the trouble of destroying a megacorporation only for the world to become even more unlivable, it would all be for nothing.
Victor Kral was the tool for this.
A tool to make them stumble socially, rather than physically.
News of his disappearance had already spread throughout Eden, and public opinion blamed it on internal division within Lui Chen.
Of course, that public opinion was heavily influenced by Neonic and Zyrexx. A normal media outlet wouldn't dare publish articles dragging Lui Chen through the mud.
How could a mere shrimp dare to bite a whale? Even if it did, it wouldn't leave so much as a scar. But a shrimp borrowing the might of another whale could at least annoy the rival whale.
That was exactly the stage they were at now.
No wounds had been opened, and no blood was flowing, but they were poking just enough to be subtly irritating.
Victor Kral had to become the weapon that would carve a massive wound right over the spot those countless shrimps had been poking.
"You can do a good job, right?"
"I-I have to do well..."
"Actually, it doesn't really matter if you don't."
"Huh...?"
"Because Hugo will handle it just fine on his own."
To Hugo Arcardo, the existence of Victor Kral was more precious than any treasure.
The mere fact that a purged Lui Chen director had returned would cause massive waves. But if it was revealed that Hugo was the one who helped Victor return, and that the reason for Victor's purge was his resistance to inhumane human experimentation...
Hugo could present a legitimate justification for his rebellion against Zyrexx. All he had to do was expose the fact that Zyrexx had also participated in the human experiments.
The proof?
There was plenty of proof.
The moment she learned that even Neonic was creating Kimeras to use as vessels for memories, the possibility arose that Zyrexx was also manufacturing Kimeras.
The abandoned laboratory where Swoo had first opened her eyes.
Wasn't that the place where the three mega-corporations had put their heads together to conduct a specific research project?
What kind of research had they actually been conducting there?
There was a good reason they hadn't revealed it to the public. The abrupt closure of the lab was for the exact same reason.
Thus, Zyrexx would have no choice but to be framed for conducting human experiments as well.
With that, Hugo's approval rating—if you could call it that—would soar.
In any case, once the citizens' trust in him rose, Zyrexx's foundations would inevitably shake. No matter how sturdy a megacorporation was, it couldn't help but wobble when shaken by another megacorporation.
And if the three mega-corporations began tearing into each other...
Something incredibly exciting and fun would happen. It wouldn't just end with online communities burning up; the entirety of Eden would literally go up in flames.
"...By Hugo, do you mean Executive Director Hugo Arcardo?"
"Yep. Hugo is preparing a rebellion."
Victor's eyes widened so much they looked ready to pop out of his skull.
"You're going to be the most important key to that rebellion, Victor."
"...T-Then."
"Yep. I'm taking you to Hugo now."
"What if I say I don't want to..."
"Adults have to do things they don't want to do."
"...Won't I die if I go?"
"No way. Hugo isn't stupid."
Hugo pointing his gun at Zyrexx meant he had his own justifications.
Of course, he had failed in the game. Without any special incident or event, Hugo had died very quietly.
His body was never found. His name wasn't in any columbarium. Traces of him could only be found fleetingly in the game's ending.
But that didn't mean Hugo was an idiot. No matter how greedy or foolish he might have seemed, the fact that he had survived this long while holding the position of executive director was proof of his strength.
If he had been weak, he would have been purged just like Victor.
"You're a VIP, Victor. You don't need to worry."
"...What happens to me after that?"
"Curious?"
At those brief words, Victor's mind raced. Does that mean she'll kill me if I know? But she said I'm useful right now, didn't she? Surely she won't kill me... Maybe it's okay to hear it...
"I am curi—"
"Can you keep your head attached to your shoulders?"
"—not curious..."
"Yep."
Swoo patted Victor on the shoulder and started walking. She didn't tell him to follow, but Victor slowly trailed after her anyway.
Matching her pace was incredibly difficult.
Even though Victor had been purged like a pathetic fool, he was still a large man. There was at least a fifty-centimeter height difference between him and Swoo.
Yet, trying to walk behind Swoo kept throwing his stride off. Moreover, this was the first time he had walked out in the open like this in a month.
For Victor, who had been "protected" by Salvador for the past month, simply walking normally outside was no easy feat.
Especially when that outside was a disaster zone wrecked by a missile strike...
"Is... Is Hugo coming here?"
"If he doesn't, I'll call him."
"...How?"
"There are plenty of ways."
"I see... That's amazing."
He didn't really want to know.
To be precise, he didn't have the courage to find out.
Swoo stepped right over the hood of a crackling, burning car. She didn't even think to avoid such obstacles. Like a cat seeing the world for the first time, she playfully nudged the broken and collapsed debris with interest.
Every time she did, Victor ended up with his shoes catching fire, getting pricked by nails, or tearing his clothes. Yet, he couldn't show even a hint of complaint.
"I left without even saying goodbye to the old man..."
"Did you get close to Grandpa?"
"...He looked after me for a month. It was impossible not to grow attached."
"I heard you spat at Grandpa, though."
"I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please spare me."
"I'll pass that along to Grandpa exactly as you said it."
"...Yes, ma'am."
"Don't spit at Hugo. He acts like an idiot when he gets angry, so you'll be in big trouble."
"...I'll keep that in mind."
"Aren't you curious about how your friend is doing?"
"I don't have any friends, though?"
"Serena."
Victor's eyes widened to their absolute limits.
Serena Moretti. How could he ever forget that name? She was the very person who had reduced him to this pathetic state.
Gritting his teeth, Victor glared at Swoo.
"...Do you know where that... that absolute bitch is and what she's doing?"
"Are you two not close?"
"How could I ever be close to that fucking bitch?!"
"But she's my friend."
"I'm sorry. I was wrong. It was a slip of the tongue. Please spare my life."
"Yep."
Victor instantly quieted down.
Up until now, he had been constantly grumbling, but now he followed Swoo without a single complaint.
I really am good at persuading and comforting people, Swoo thought.
With that thought, Swoo ripped apart a steel rebar blocking their path. Now, even the sound of Victor's breathing seemed to vanish in terror.
After walking for a long while,
they arrived at the ruins of the Lui Chen Second Branch.
As expected of missiles from the megacorporation responsible for Eden's military supplies. Nothing in these ruins remained intact. Even the research data that Lui Chen must have treasured so dearly had vanished, leaving not even ash behind.
Jeff Baal, the Lui Chen executive director who was to be dispatched here, was going to have a miserable time. Without even a spare moment to offer Hugo a helping hand, he would have to pour all his energy into recovering this data under Lui Chen's orders.
Therefore, Hugo was bound to grow desperate.
Since a crucial key to his rebellion had been rendered useless, he might be losing his hair from stress right about now.
Still, maybe he was under less stress since he didn't need to search for the truth behind the incident.
Zyrexx, along with Neonic and Lui Chen, must have realized by now. They knew this missile terror incident was the direct work of Noise.
They might think Noise was trying to muscle into their game. Going a step further, they might even suspect that Noise was taking the side of one of the corporations.
But it didn't matter.
Even the three mega-corporations couldn't track Noise. To be precise, they didn't have the luxury to do so.
They would soon be too busy tearing each other apart to waste time hunting down and killing Noise, whose allegiance remained entirely unknown. It simply didn't fit the "efficiency" the megacorporations so love to preach.
Unless they prepared gifts to win Noise over as an ally, they would give up on tracking her.
But Hugo was different.
He had to grab onto even a rotten rope if it was his only lifeline.
And so, he had no choice but to show up.
"...Noise."
"Hey, Hugo."
He had to appear at the site of the terror attack.
Even if the chances of meeting her were infinitesimally low, he had to cling to that sliver of hope.
"What on earth did you do? You lived quietly until now, so why start running wild like this?"
"I destroyed the Lui Chen Second Branch."
Hugo Arcardo.
Just hearing his name made him sound like he would be incredibly rugged and ruthless, but his actual appearance was nothing of the sort.
He had the hairstyle of the villain from the first The Outlaws movie, but a clean, well-groomed version instead of the messy look.
Combined with his slender build and round glasses, he exuded the aura of a researcher.
In fact, Hugo was a researcher.
It was no exaggeration to say that sixty percent of Zyrexx's weaponry had originated from his brain. He was that competent.
That was why Zyrexx had been so late to notice Hugo's rebellion. If it hadn't been for the IEP, they probably would have found out even later.
And yet, Hugo still failed his rebellion.
In the game, Hugo had failed his rebellion and died.
Without even making a splash in the world, he had been quietly executed and turned into a cyberbrain.
What was the reason for that?
Keeping that small but nagging question in mind, Swoo scanned the people following behind Hugo.
A total of twelve soldiers.
It seemed he had brought the maximum amount of force possible while keeping a low profile. A squad of that caliber could easily rival a Talos team.
Since Zyrexx had been developing weapons similar to the Repulser to match the Talos units—who were perfected by the forcefield's existence—that was almost certainly the case.
"I asked you why you did such a thing."
"To help you?"
"...I thought you were highly intelligent, but did you fail to grasp even this much?"
"I knew you were going to get help from Jeff Baal."
Hugo's face contorted.
He couldn't understand Noise's words.
If she wanted to help him, why had she dragged Jeff's power down to the dirt? And how was she talking so calmly, as if she had known all along that he would show up?
"I don't understand."
"You don't need to understand."
Noise shifted.
A faint chuckle escaped her.
"Just like you've always done, just play the best hand you can from where you stand."
From within the shifting static of Noise, a slender man stumbled out.
Falling flat on his backside with a thud, he adjusted his crooked glasses and let out a servile laugh.
"Ha, haha... Hello, Executive Director Hugo."
There was no way Hugo wouldn't recognize his face.
He was a man who had once thrown Eden into an uproar, and someone Hugo himself had once personally set out to find.
"...Victor Kral?"
"Ah, to think you'd remember my name... I-I'm honored..."
"Why are you with Noise..."
"Ah, well, actually, I was kidnap—"
"I was protecting him."
Whether it was kidnapping or protection didn't register in Hugo's mind.
His brain was entirely occupied by the sheer profit and the shifting tides that Victor Kral's existence would bring.
Perhaps Victor Kral's presence would be even more significant than Jeff Baal's.
No, he was certain of it.
With Victor, he could reconnect the completely severed tracks. And far more perfectly than before.
But that was only if Victor ended up in his hands.
"...What do you,"
Hugo's gaze shifted to Noise.
"want?"
"Peace in Eden."
"Ha. Cut the hypocrisy and tell me what you truly desire."
Though she only crackled like static on a broken display, to Hugo's eyes, it looked like a chilling smile.
"Magic."