*
After killing the man called Maril and spending a considerable amount of time dealing with the Liberation Alliance members who kept swarming us, we finally reached a place called the "Viewing Room."
There were a few moments in between where the Sinners would glance at me for no reason, and I'd soothe them by saying I'd explain once this was over, but I'll leave that aside.
If you asked what the Viewing Room looked like... "It was too dark to see clearly" would be the usual answer. From an ordinary perspective, the place looked at first glance like a massive cavity. In the center, a vaguely muscle-like object, hard to make out in the darkness, hung from something descending from the ceiling, and around it, glass-like panels encircled the enormous thing at a fixed distance.
If you followed your gaze down from that massive object, it eventually reached a greenish liquid that looked like the raw contents of K Corp's ampoules.
Our position wasn't down at the same level as that ampoule, but a little higher. On a metal platform at about the same height as that muscle-like mass... what did they call it again? Anyway, there.
That was only from an ordinary line of sight, though... no, come to think of it, maybe the other Sinners couldn't even see this much at that distance and brightness.
In any case, I, with my unusual "eye" unlike everyone else's, could see it all clearly.
A spherical object hanging from a cord that extended from the ceiling. It had eyes that could be seen clearly even in the dark, yet it was a grotesque sight that ordinary people would never be able to identify... but I knew exactly what it was.
There were certainly differences, both external and internal, large and small, but it was unmistakably an eye. It seemed to still be closed, wrapped in something like muscle tissue, but even so, I had no choice but to recognize it.
After all, I had been an ophthalmologist. For the first time in months of this absurd journey, it felt like my medical knowledge was actually helping with something. ...Up until now, it had only been useful for killing people.
Ah, since we're in K Corp's Nest anyway, should I buy a few medical supplies on the way back? And check how much money I have in my account. If I ask Mr. Vergilius after the mission ends... ah, I've wandered off topic.
Ahem. Looking further, the glass-like panels floating around it were, at a glance, mirrors. Something with a similar feel to that technology.
The raw liquid below didn't seem all that different from K Corp's ampoules themselves.
...Tch. There's nothing to say when it's this blatantly tied to a Singularity. That Dongrang bastard is definitely a complete lunatic. Otherwise there's no way he'd leak a subsidiary's Singularity to another company.
I could infer that, inevitably, we'd be subjected to a memory erasure procedure after this mission ended. No matter how things went, once we'd reached this place, having our memories erased on the way out was going to be a mandatory process.
Ah... my head hurts. It already hurt, but now it feels even worse. They'll definitely notice the various technologies applied to my brain...
How long had it been since I'd been clutching my head like it might split open when Sinclair, staring intently at something, spoke.
"It's too dark to see clearly... what is that?"
"Looks like they stopped it for a while because of the commotion, right?"
"Yes, just in case there might be intruders... Director Alfonso's order was to temporarily pause it..."
"No, no. That won't do. Even during that short pause, the losses are enormous, Mr. Samjo."
From the conversation between Mr. Dongrang and Mr. Samjo, I could be certain of it. ...So that was the secret of the Singularity? Damn. Now it was one hundred percent certain. Until a moment ago there had at least been a one-in-ten-thousand chance.
Ms. Rodion, who had been startled by the size of that bizarre object, looked flustered as she questioned Dongrang.
"So... what the hell is that?!"
"Ah, this? Well... it's something that cries in our place. So we always look at it with gratitude and pity."
Dongrang answered Ms. Rodion's question in a roundabout way, but still with a fairly direct explanation. Normally, even hearing it wouldn't make sense, but...
For me, it translated to something like, "Oh, I see. So the identity of K Corp's ampoules was the tears of something." I really hadn't wanted to know that, damn it. So the fairy tale that had been down below was actually based on something real.
"I see... so that's what Ran told me about."
Then, from somewhere, I heard the voice of the one we had searched for so long without finding.
Turning toward the source of the sound, I saw a transparent veil slipping down as she rose.
What appeared there was Dongbaek. It was her.
Seeing the scene directly, Mr. Dongrang wore an expression of realization and began to speak.
"Ah~ I'd been curious about this for a while, and now I finally get it. I kept wondering why the security was so easily breached, why things kept slipping out of sight, why they kept disappearing... so you had a [veil]. Ah~ it was something this simple, and I never thought of it?"
So there really was something like that after all, a veil... It wasn't rare for a possibility or two to be floating around in the air, so I hadn't noticed. We hadn't had the time or leisure to pry something like that open anyway.
"A [veil]? What the hell is that... Hah, these bastards are starting one of those conversations only they understand again?"
"Mr. Heathcliff, you might be able to live in the City, but you'd never make it as a Fixer."
"Most people, once they start trying to trace where each and every technology came from, find there's no end to it and give up with a nod. Acting like you know things is necessary if you want to survive in the City."
Acting like you know things... There was a time when I made my living doing exactly that. Though at some point, even that became impossible. Or maybe now my circumstances were just similar.
"....."
"Unless you're a famous Fixer, a Wing executive, or one of the richest of the rich, you'd never get your hands on expensive Singularity technology like this... I wonder how you got it, but you're not going to answer if I ask, are you?"
Dongrang, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, asked Dongbaek about the veil she was holding. He seemed curious why she possessed Singularity technology that only the richest of the rich would normally have... but...
Well, if you considered the value of the Golden Bough, maybe it wasn't impossible to obtain. It was the crystallization of L Corp's Singularity, which had that insane energy output... purely in terms of value, maybe even most other Singularity technologies couldn't compare. I didn't think he didn't know that, though.
Dongbaek, listening to Dongrang's smiling words, spoke indifferently as if she had no interest in them, yet still looking straight at him.
"Is what's in front of us the truth behind the regeneration ampoules?"
"Mm~ That's right, that's right. It's the source of the regeneration ampoules you're so determined to destroy."
"What... destroy? That's a question. Do you not understand how many people can be saved with these ampoules?"
Mr. Samjo shot back at her with an incredulous expression, but she lightly ignored him and continued.
"These regeneration ampoules don't just regenerate the body. Just as they save people, it's also this tear's role to kill them."
"Ha... so you're saying this tear kills people?"
"I have nothing more to say to people like you who still refuse to believe it after seeing it several times already."
With that, Dongbaek turned her attention away from Mr. Samjo. Did she mean there was nothing more to say to the loyal, foolish dog of the Wing?
Ah... hmm, I think I vaguely understood the context behind that. Eye, tears, glass panels, slaughter, death. "Something that cries in our place." If those glass panels were serving some kind of regenerative function... then probably.
"Then if I go in here and come back out, that proves it?"
...Huh?
"What?"
Even Dongbaek, who had a withered, emotionally drained look about her, seemed not to have expected that line from him and couldn't hide her shock, eyes widening.
Of course I was shocked too. Was he completely insane?
"Don't slander Mr. Dongrang with baseless nitpicking. Countless people have already received perfect treatment for bodies that were dying from this technology.
I've been administered it myself. I once broke my neck while diving, and this regeneration ampoule healed me cleanly right before I died. That's also why I started supporting K Corp as soon as I became an adult, though that's not important."
"W-what are you doing, Mr. Samjo?"
As he kept rambling and threw off his coat, Ms. Rodion voiced her confusion. Ah, damn... I don't want to watch him die like that. Let's see...
"When I was young, my dream was to be a swimmer in the Nest. A height like this is no problem."
"Last time you said you wanted to be a City baseball player..."
Ms. Rodion tried to stop him, but Mr. Samjo didn't even pretend to listen. Perhaps his behavior didn't seem like a joke to him, because even Dongrang finally tried to stop him in an awkward tone.
"Haha, Mr. Samjo, you're overdoing it again. What kind of needless suffering is that? It's fine, so just stay still."
"Needless suffering? This is the regeneration ampoule improved by Mr. Dongrang. It's the K Corp regeneration ampoule researched for years by Mr. Dongrang, Director Alfonso, and countless researchers. My faith in this technology, my pride in it, is why I'm here."
Just as Mr. Samjo finally loosened his tie and was about to leap... now!
"I'll be right back—kheh..."
Clang—a clear, ringing sound spread through the entire Viewing Room. Well, as expected, that was the sound of my staff smashing into the back of Mr. Samjo's head.
His body immediately lost all strength and pitched forward limply, and I caught him before he could fall.
For a moment, everyone's attention shifted to me. Well, of course it would after such a conspicuous act. I ignored it, tied him up with his own suit, and then took the regeneration ampoule from his chest to administer emergency treatment.
It was a swift, clean handling, done before anyone had time to stop me.
...Honestly, I feel a little guilty about it... but he'll probably figure out how to deal with it somehow.
Why. What. Better alive than dead, right?
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