A Soldier's Choice
A young girl stood in the plaza where the statue of Maetan's founder loomed.
She had short blonde hair with blunt-cut bangs.
It was a custom avatar purchased from the avatar shop for twelve million Maetan points.
“How is it? Do I look cute?”
CC spun around in front of me, showing off.
Her short white dress fluttered upward, revealing a pair of baggy shorts underneath.
“Surveillance? I didn't notice anything.”
Thanks to my years of experience, I was highly sensitive to people's gazes.
If someone were tailing me, there was no way I wouldn't have noticed.
“A camera was tracking you.”
“CCTV?”
Maetan was equipped with CCTV cameras.
The corporate sectors were crawling with them, and while there were fewer in the civilian sectors, they were still installed in key locations.
This meant Maetan hadn't cleared me of suspicion yet.
Then again, it was only natural. A team had gone out to retrieve an artificial intelligence, and only one man had returned.
“I'll have to keep a low profile for a while. By the way, what happened to my prosthetic arm? Didn't Maetan inspect it?”
CC placed her hands on her hips, looking utterly triumphant.
“A primitive scan like that is child's play to fool! Who do you think I am? In terms of raw processing power, I'm the third processor of the AC Series, which ranks in humanity's top seven! Oh, and your prosthetic arm is perfectly fine. I just thought pretending it was broken would look more natural.”
That was a relief.
I didn't have the technical skills to repair it, and finding a new prosthetic arm was next to impossible.
“But how did I even get back?”
“You don't remember?”
“I remember hiding in the underground parking lot on the second day...”
I had hidden in an underground parking lot within a high-radiation zone to shake off a machine species multi-legged tank. I remembered holding out for nearly two days, confirming their withdrawal, and finally stepping back outside.
“So you'd already lost your memory by then. You were holding a conversation, so I thought you were completely lucid... No wonder you went exactly where I told you to go without talking back. You walked all the way back to Maetan, Mister. In the end, you collapsed from sheer exhaustion.”
Kim Pil-ju, the Director of the Internal Affairs Department, had mentioned that I was found half-dead at a farm near Maetan.
CC mimed wiping away tears with overly dramatic gestures.
“From that point on, it was all thanks to my tear-jerking, heroic efforts. I took control of your prosthetic arm and dragged you along as we crawled toward Maetan. We were barely moving at a hundred meters an hour, but I didn't give up! Your heart even stopped at one point, so I had to perform CPR. Mister, you would've died at least twice if it weren't for me.”
I had absolutely no memory of this.
CC looked up at me with a pout.
Just then, a notification window popped up before my eyes.
> ADMINISTRATOR CALL: Transferring to Office Server, Conference Room 2 in 10 seconds.
An abrupt summons.
I exchanged a look with CC, and she promptly vanished as if logging out.
A moment later, the transfer began.
My vision flickered for a brief second, and the bustling plaza was instantly replaced by a bleak, sterile conference room.
“Welcome back, Employee Yoon. It's been a while.”
My boss, Department Head Han, who oversaw the NPCs on the tutorial server, was sitting across the table.
“I'm sorry for summoning you so suddenly before your shift even started.”
“Not at all, sir.”
“Ho, so this is the Goblin?”
Seated diagonally from Department Head Han and me, at the head of the table, was another man.
He was clearly a high-ranking executive, utilizing a highly detailed, muscular avatar with an impressive level of realism.
Was he similar to Kang Yeolchan?
Department Head Han introduced him.
“This is Managing Director Kwon Biho, the head of Maetan's security.”
“Security Commander Kwon Biho. Good to meet you.”
“Have a seat first.”
Department Head Han gestured to a chair. I hopped up onto it.
My Goblin avatar's short legs dangled and swung in the air.
Belatedly realizing this, Department Head Han spoke up.
“You can log out of the Goblin avatar. It's not work hours yet.”
“No, thank you. This is more comfortable than my personal avatar.”
A personal avatar, which replicated one's real-world appearance, required the user to process their own image. While it used very little processing power since it was just recalling one's own face, even that was a burden for someone with an E-Grade computation capacity like me.
An NPC avatar like the Goblin was actually easier because Maetan's servers handled the computation.
“Now that I think about it, what was your Computation Grade again?”
“...It's E-Grade.”
I trailed off without realizing it.
An E-Grade put me in the bottom 5% of Maetan's population.
“It doesn't matter! No, in fact, it's even better!”
Bwahahaha!
Security Commander Kwon Biho laughed boisterously.
Department Head Han spoke up cautiously.
“Employee Yoon Juhyuk, the reason we called you here today is...”
“Manager Han Seokho, let me handle this.”
Commander Kwon cut Department Head Han off.
He sat up straight, crossed his arms, and spoke with an air of supreme confidence.
“Yoon Juhyuk, come work under me.”
“Excuse me?”
“You won't regret it. I'll groom you myself.”
“Managing Director, that's far too little explanation.”
“Between soldiers, this is more than enough.”
“Still... Sigh. Employee Yoon Juhyuk, the Security Department's Security Team wants to recruit you.”
“Recruit me?”
“Yes, I want you.”
Commander Kwon grinned.
A part of his front tooth gleamed gold.
Rendering cosmetic details like that meant he had plenty of spare processing power.
Department Head Han added to the explanation.
“You know Security Team B was wiped out, right?”
I thought of Ham Tae-ung, the leader of the Pyeongtaek Expedition.
“They did their best to protect our citizens, but they were simply outnumbered. It's hard to make it back through the wasteland without proper vehicles.”
Kwon Biho spoke of his subordinates' struggle with a calm, steady voice.
Department Head Han continued.
“At any rate, because Team B was wiped out, we have to rebuild it from scratch. And the Commander here says he needs you, Employee Yoon, for the new Team B.”
“Team B specializes in external security outside Maetan. You'll be heading out into the field almost every single day,” Kwon Biho chimed in again.
“Not just against filthy mutants, but also raiders targeting our employees! Sometimes, you'll even have to fight the machine species! To be frank, it's the most dangerous job in Maetan. But!”
Kwon Biho stood up and gripped my shoulder.
Reaching all the way across the table to touch my shoulder—his avatar was easily half again as large as a normal one.
“It's also just as rewarding! Protecting our employees from real, physical threats! Well? Isn't that the perfect job for a former soldier like us?”
“But Managing Director, Employee Yoon barely survived his last field mission. His body hasn't even fully...”
“I heard you survived and made it through the wasteland all by yourself?! When I heard about your grit and survival skills, I knew! You are exactly the kind of talent we need for Security Team B!”
“Furthermore, even in our NPC department, he...”
“And it's not like Team B is just dangerous for nothing! The company pays hazard pay for risky work! Do you know what that means?!”
Kwon Biho made a circle with his thumb and forefinger.
“It means money. We boast the highest salaries for equivalent ranks. Plus, promotions are fast.”
“Even now, users who want the Dagger Goblin to return are...”
“To get promoted in Maetan, you usually have to raise your Computation Grade. What did you say yours was again?”
Kwon Biho asked again, even though I had just told him.
“E-Grade.”
“E-Grade! Pathetic! With that, you'll spend your entire life struggling just to reach Manager! But we are different. Computation Grades don't matter for promotions in Security Team B. We only care about physical capability.”
Computation Grades didn't rise easily.
If you worked yourself to the bone for ten years, you might raise it by a single grade.
Even then, people who managed to raise it by two grades or more through sheer effort were extremely rare.
“I'll be completely honest with you! I'm only a D-Grade myself. This avatar? Bwahaha! The server handles the rendering for me! That's the perk of being a Managing Director!”
“Sigh.”
Department Head Han let out a long sigh.
He seemed exhausted by Kwon Biho, who hadn't listened to a single word he'd been trying to say.
Turning away from Kwon Biho, he spoke directly to me.
“You barely made it back alive. There's no need to throw yourself back into the jaws of death.”
“Sir?”
“You were lucky this time. No, I'm sure your skills played a part, but if the Internal Affairs team hadn't made the call to retrieve and save you, you would have died outside Maetan. You've barely clawed your way back to life. As you've experienced firsthand, half of those who go outside Maetan never return. So, what do you think the survival rate of the Security Team is?”
Department Head Han spoke in a rapid-fire torrent, his eyes cast downward.
Now that I thought about it, something was off.
If it was a simple reassignment, they could have just issued an official order through the HR department. Why go through the trouble of making it a recruitment offer?
“Hmph. To be honest, I requested a transfer through HR, but Department Head Han here opposed it tooth and nail.”
“What?”
I looked at Department Head Han.
He avoided my gaze, looking deeply uncomfortable.
“Foolish fellow. He still feels responsible for failing to protect you and sending you out into the field in the first place. Even though he knew perfectly well there was nothing he could do against orders from above.”
“It's not like that.”
“I could have easily overridden him with my rank, but out of respect for Department Head Han, I changed it to a recruitment offer. So that you could choose for yourself!”
I stared at Department Head Han.
He really had been trying to protect me.
Department Head Han pulled out a cigarette and placed it between his lips.
However, since sensory rendering for smoking wasn't supported in this conference room, he merely kept it unlit in his mouth.
“Now, decide. Will you stay in the tutorial server's NPC department? Or will you become my subordinate?”
“May I ask one question?”
“Go ahead.”
“What is the monthly salary?”
Kwon Biho grinned.
“Upon transfer, you will be immediately promoted to Manager. Your base salary will be three million Maetan points, with hazard pay calculated separately.”
“What?!”
Department Head Han gasped in shock.
“You're promoting an employee who just went from intern to full-time straight to Manager?”
“Why not? We have to rebuild Team B from the ground up anyway. It's not like there are any senior members who'll feel slighted by him being a Manager.”
It usually took a regular employee ten years to reach the rank of Manager.
With a base salary of three million plus hazard pay, he could easily pull in four to five million points a month.
“On top of that, I'll write off your sign-on debt. Well? Surely you can't refuse an offer like this?”
The debt for my Neck-Hub, which was currently being withheld from my pay, amounted to nearly ten million points.
“Just one last question.”
“Speak.”
“Is Security Team B's duty strictly limited to operations outside the city?”
“Ninety percent of our missions are outside the city.”
“Is there no network connection involved?”
“We handle paperwork on Intra-Maetan, given how severe our resource shortages are. But don't worry. I won't be making an E-Grade like you do paperwork.”
“I see.”
In Maetan, the rank of Manager was synonymous with stability.
It was proof that you had become an indispensable asset to the organization, guaranteeing a steady, comfortable income.
“I've made my decision.”
“Oh!”
“I decline.”
“What?!”
Kwon Biho roared in disbelief.
Department Head Han was equally shocked, but a sigh of relief quickly escaped his lips.
Commander Kwon demanded.
“What are you unhappy with?”
“The terms were more than generous. However, I will remain with the Customer Satisfaction Team.”
“Hmm.”
Commander Kwon fell into deep thought.
Department Head Han nodded silently but vigorously.
After a tense silence, Commander Kwon spoke.
“I wasn't planning on revealing this just yet... Employee Yoon Juhyuk, because of your short tenure, a promotion to Manager was the absolute limit of what I could push through right now. I originally requested to have you appointed as a Department Head, but HR rejected it.”
A promotion to Manager was shocking enough, but Department Head?
A Department Head enjoyed a lifestyle in the top 10% of Maetan.
It meant that as long as Maetan didn't fall, you would never have to worry about putting food on the table for the rest of your life.
“And did you know that, by tradition, the Security Commander is always chosen from the ranks of Security Team B?”
“Managing Director...!”
Department Head Han started to shout but quickly clamped his mouth shut.
Kwon Biho spoke, his voice laced with a solemn gravity, as if delivering a final ultimatum.
“I'll need to observe you a bit more, but I am seriously considering grooming you as my successor. Do you still refuse?”
Kwon Biho was the pinnacle of the Security Department.
In other words, he was one of the rulers who held absolute sway over Maetan.
And a man like that was genuinely, earnestly offering me a path to power.
But.
“I'm sorry. I will stay.”
“I see...”
Kwon Biho leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
Instead, it was Department Head Han who made a fuss.
“Employee Yoon Juhyuk... sir! Are you serious?! The Managing Director went as far as to guarantee that...!”
“Yes. I will remain with the Customer Satisfaction Team.”
“Why? Sure, it's high risk, but the return is high-high-high-high...!”
“I have a goal.”
“A goal...?”
“Ho, and what might that be?”
Both men leaned forward, eager to hear my answer.
I spoke calmly.
“I joined Maetan to become a Player.”