Episode 2 - Confirming Its Reality
#2 - Confirming Its Reality
After arriving at the office, I tapped my employee ID against the seat reservation kiosk.
[Rituel Commerce]
Name: Jung Se-ryu
Department: Product Team
Role: Backend Engineer
Clock-in time: 9:51
Reserved seat: 3F-B-63
'I reserved a seat on the 3rd floor, huh. I do prefer the 5th floor...'
While heading to my reserved seat, I thought back to what had happened on the commuter bus.
'So sensory connection isn't the limit—I can even move someone directly?'
Right after moving Yu-ra's body, the aftereffects had been pretty intense too. My temples throbbed, and for a moment my vision even shook.
'I shouldn't go around moving people directly.'
For sensory connection, all I had to do was link two body parts.
With muscles, I had to reach deeper than that and even decide the movement myself.
'Is it because I'm giving commands to someone else's body?'
Even so, questions kept coming to mind.
Could I make a body move beyond the strength it could normally produce?
What if I used it on myself?
If I used it on an animal, would it be easier than on a person?
Adding a few more items to my mental list, I unpacked at my seat and turned on my laptop.
After checking a few requests that had come in over messenger since I'd clocked in, plus the early-morning monitoring results, I had a little time left before the morning meeting.
'My head hurts, so I'll work somewhere quiet in a corner.'
There was a spot I went to whenever I wanted to work quietly.
===
It was a corner seat in a quiet part of the office, facing a large window, and maybe because surprisingly few people knew about it, it was often empty even at lunchtime.
The meeting was at 11:30.
If I worked here for about an hour and then headed over, the timing would be just right.
Just as I was about to open my laptop.
"No way, seriously?"
"I'm telling you. I saw the two of them leaning against each other on a park bench at lunch."
"They're even on different teams—how did they end up meeting?"
'Ah.'
Whenever I sat here, office gossip I didn't want to hear sometimes drifted over.
It was about people I only vaguely knew by face, so I was about to pull out my earbuds without much interest.
"Oh, right. Is there anything going on with Yu-ra from the Product Team?"
My hand stopped.
The subject of the gossip had changed to Yu-ra.
"Yu-ra? I mean... she's probably gotten plenty of advances, whether she knows it or not."
"Right? When I first saw her in the lobby, I thought she was a promotional model."
'Yu-ra is pretty, I'll give her that.'
That was hard to deny.
"But I think she has a bit of a sly side too."
'Huh?'
Someone else seemed to get interested, because the voice dropped lower.
"Why? Did something happen?"
"You know that planner on the delivery side with the nice body. U-hyeon."
"Ahh."
"Apparently they got a bit close during that Product and Delivery Team collaboration project. After the project ended, U-hyeon asked her out to dinner a few times, and she turned him down every time."
"Isn't calling her a fox just for that a bit much?"
"The way she handled the work coordination before that was something else, I'm telling you."
It was probably the delivery product inventory management automation project from about three months ago.
"There was some work that fell into a gray area between Product and Delivery, and apparently Yu-ra went all the way to U-hyeon's desk herself. She even lightly put her hand on his arm and said, 'U-hyeon, you're more familiar with the delivery process. I can trust you with this, right?'"
"...Ah."
"So Delivery ended up taking on quite a lot, even stuff Product could have handled. When she asks for work, she's all friendly like that, but when it comes to dinner, she turns him down cold."
"Hmm... isn't that just someone who's good at asking for work?"
"Come on, depends on how you look at it."
'...'
There had been a bit of noise back then over the work split.
I remembered thinking the coordination must have been pretty intense since a fair amount of work got pushed to Delivery, but it wrapped up faster than expected, which I'd found surprising.
'So that's what happened.'
Then, suddenly, some familiar lines flashed through my head.
"Se-ryu, you can get this done in no time."
"You know this best, Se-ryu, so I'll leave it to you."
"It's really simple."
"You can run the test real quick, right..?"
'...'
Wait.
'She does that to me every single day.'
I felt like I'd been smacked in the back of the head.
'...I never even made a move!!!'
At least U-hyeon had asked Yu-ra out to dinner.
Me?
I just got work dumped on me.
I felt like I'd suddenly become aware of a leash I'd never known was there.
'Don't tell me I'm just free labor that doesn't even need to be fed?'
I felt like crying.
Then I checked the time, and the meeting wasn't far off.
Swallowing my tears inwardly, I gathered up my laptop.
On my way to the meeting room, I heard a familiar voice from behind.
"Se-ryu—"
- Flinch.
I turned around to find Yu-ra standing there holding two cups of coffee.
"There you are. You're on your way to the meeting, right?"
"Yes."
Yu-ra naturally held one out to me.
"Here. It's what you always drink. Me* Coffee with two extra shots, right?"
"...How did you know my order?"
"You drink that every single day."
I took the coffee in a daze.
'She even remembered something like this.'
I felt a little embarrassed about having been sulking by myself just moments ago.
"Thank you."
"Oh, and I have a quick favor to ask after the meeting. It’s really simple."
"..."
I looked down at the coffee in my hand.
'Ah.'
I hadn't even taken a sip yet, and I already had work to do.
Still, I put the straw in my mouth.
'It does taste good.'
---
The meeting wasn't much different from usual.
Everyone shared their work progress and adjusted next week's tasks and priorities.
As the meeting was nearly wrapping up, Yu-ra looked at me and Seong-hyeon.
"Se-ryu, Seong-hyeon. Should the two of you run the test together right after the meeting? I've already reserved the meeting room."
"Ah... I have another meeting, so I won't be able to join. Please just share the test results and feedback."
Seong-hyeon was a colleague who'd worked with me on this task on the front-end side, but they said they had another commitment.
"I'm free."
In the end, the test ended up being run by just Yu-ra and me.
---
The test location was a small meeting room.
It was small, meant for four people, but it had everything—a monitor and even a whiteboard.
"Shall we get started?"
"Yep, yep."
The test went smoothly.
There were a few minor issues and some numbers that needed slight adjustment, but at this level, it was practically nothing.
"This looks great! We could deploy this as early as next week, couldn't we?"
"Yep. Good work. I've already gotten the PR approved, so I'll just apply what came out of this and get the deployment ready."
Just as I was about to wrap up, Yu-ra lightly clapped her hands as if she'd remembered something.
"Oh! Se-ryu. There's one addition to the work I requested yesterday. I'll explain it real quick."
'Hm!'
'Of course there's more extra work!'
Yu-ra went up to the whiteboard and picked up a marker, just like yesterday.
"So, for the benefits promotion, our side's data..."
Watching her explain earnestly from behind, I remembered the story I'd overheard a little while ago.
U-hyeon, you're more familiar with the delivery process.
Se-ryu, you can get this done in no time.
You know this best, Se-ryu.
'.....'
Suddenly she seemed a little annoying.
Just a little.
'...Should I mess with her just a tiny bit?'
Even after thinking it, I hesitated for a moment.
Yesterday, I'd decided I shouldn't go around testing it on people I didn't know.
But I'd already confirmed the ability was real, and I had no intention of using much force.
'Just a tiny bit.'
Yu-ra's butt.
My left arm.
Connect.
- Smack.
"Eek—!"
Yu-ra flinched in surprise, her body jerking.
I calmly brushed my left arm once.
"Ugh, where did that mosquito come from...?"
Then, pretending to be startled only after the fact, I walked over to Yu-ra.
"Are you okay, Yu-ra?"
"...."
There was no answer.
'What's this?'
'Did I use too much force?'
"Yu-ra...?"
Yu-ra was staring fixedly at my left arm.
Then she glanced behind herself once.
And looked back at my arm.
"...Se-ryu."
'What.'
'What, what, what.'
- Click.
Yu-ra got up from her seat and locked the meeting room door.
My heart dropped.
"What did you just do to me?"
"...Huh? I didn't do anyth—"
"Then what's this solid line?"
Cutting me off, Yu-ra pointed back and forth between my left arm and her lower body.
"...A solid line?"
"During yesterday's meeting, I only caught the faintest glimpse, so I thought I was just tired. But today, when the commuter bus stopped short, I clearly saw several lines connecting from you to my legs all at once."
"..."
Yu-ra closed her lips for a moment.
"And just now, your left arm and my, uh..."
Her words trailed off.
"...my lower body were connected by one line."
'Wait.'
'Wasn't this supposed to be visible only to me?'
When I'd connected to the pigeon yesterday, I'd seen the translucent white line too.
People had walked right through it without any reaction, so I'd naturally assumed only I could see it.
There had just been one thing I hadn't checked.
'It's visible to the connected person too?'
I quickly severed the connection.
Click.
The white line vanished.
Then I made my face look as clueless as possible.
"...I don't know what you mean. What line are you talking about?"
"Hmm..."
Yu-ra's eyes narrowed.
"You're really going to play dumb, huh."
"Play du—"
- Squeak.
My last syllable split in spectacular fashion.
'Ah, shit.'
My voice betrayed me first.
Yu-ra looked at me for a moment, then smiled strangely.
"Okay, I get it. Heh heh."
'Get what?'
"I really don't know what you're talking abou..."
She didn't press further.
Somehow, that was even scarier.
Yu-ra stood up and lightly placed her hand on my shoulder.
It was a slender, small hand, but the weight I felt was heavier than a 120kg squat.
Maybe because she was so close, the scent of peach and rose that usually lingered around Yu-ra felt especially strong.
"The meeting room reservation is over, Se-ryu."
"Ah, oh. Yes!"
"Let's go."
I hurriedly gathered my laptop.
Just as I held the door open to leave the meeting room, Yu-ra passed beside me and whispered quietly.
"Make some time this evening."
"..."
Then she added one more thing.
"Refusal will be rejected."
Something.
Something had happened again.