Chapter 15
-Well then, and now for today's top stories!
-A massive earthquake shook all of Magitera last night! Citizens, did you feel it? Yes, I'm talking about that exact moment when the desk shook, cups shattered, and your boss said, "Work still has to continue"!
-Magitera's City Stabilization Bureau announced that the earthquake was a "controllable temporary reaction"!
-They still haven't explained why everyone had to crawl under their desks if it was controllable, but that's what the City Stabilization Bureau says, so I suppose it must be true!
A beeping sound followed, along with what sounded like a video being played.
-According to the official announcement, the earthquake was caused by an imbalance in pressure within mana pipes in some underground-level districts!
-Nothing out of the ordinary! Only seventeen buildings belonging to fairly well-known corporations went into emergency defensive mode!
-Perfectly ordinary! Completely ordinary! Just as ordinary as your paycheck not going up for six years!
The host paused for a beat, then lowered his voice.
-But, citizens.
-Magitera's proud conspiracy-theory enthusiasts are already telling a different story....
Clack.
Kael switched off the old radio.
Once the host's static-filled voice cut off, the room fell silent again.
Underground Level 20, Unit 1409.
Kael sat back in his chair and looked down at his hands as he checked his condition, but his fingertips were still trembling.
The inside of his circuits was not normal, either. This was the price of consecutively breaking four fourth-tier ACUs last night. He had forcibly set fire to his withered mana circuits, so it would have been stranger if they were fine.
‘I thought I was controlling my output, at least.’
Kael let out a short sigh.
It seemed that using magic for the first time in a long while had gotten him a little excited.
Since defeating the Demon King, it was the first time his circuits had responded to his will. True, he had relied on the fleeting spark created by breaking someone else's ACU, and the mana flow had not lasted more than a few seconds.
But the sensation itself still lingered vividly in his hands.
So perhaps he had overdone it a little.
Kael looked at the sixth-tier ACU lying on the desk.
It was the device he had removed from Pale. Some of its circuits had been scorched by the overload, but the core was still alive.
It might be the key he needed to awaken his own mana circuits.
Kael tapped the ACU's outer casing lightly with his fingertip as he thought.
‘It seems to have become quite the topic on the surface.’
The fact that even a trashy broadcaster had picked up on it meant the corporations in the upper levels were already aware of it.
What he had done would not end as a simple disturbance.
At that thought, Kael closed his eyes, then opened them.
“…Phew.”
What was done was done. He just had to be more careful from now on.
More important was the information he had gained from this battle.
Kael carefully wrapped the sixth-tier ACU in cloth and turned his head.
“Hey, Lin.”
A small sound came from inside the bathroom.
“Are you all ready?”
A moment later, Lin emerged from behind the old cloth hanging like a curtain.
“…Y-yeah.”
Lin was still wearing the old coat Kael had given her.
“But why are you here?”
Harun leaned against the wall, inspecting an old shotgun as he shot Kael a sidelong glance.
“Where did you go yesterday?”
When Kael did not answer, Harun narrowed his eyes.
“You definitely only asked me to look after Lin for a little while. You never said you were going anywhere or doing anything.”
“Something urgent came up.”
“And after that urgent something came up, the underground levels got turned upside down three times?”
Harun spoke cautiously.
“I'm talking about the thing those upper-level big shots have been ranting about on the broadcasts since morning.”
Even though he spoke with a serious expression, Kael continued to take the situation calmly.
Seeing his attitude, Harun clicked his tongue and asked him directly.
“Was that you?”
Kael was silent for a moment before opening his mouth.
“Who knows.”
Harun laughed as though dumbfounded.
“You've really got a talent for driving people crazy.”
He did not press for more. He had a feeling it was something he was better off not knowing.
Anyone who had survived in the underground levels for a long time knew how to distinguish between what they needed to know and what they were better off not knowing. Harun merely guessed that Kael had done something.
He deliberately did not voice that suspicion.
He simply checked the shotgun's chamber in silence.
Clack.
“So what is it this time?”
Kael pointed at Lin as he answered.
“A guest is coming.”
Lin's shoulders flinched.
“Seraph...?”
At her words, Kael nodded and gave her a rough explanation of the situation.
After Pale's death, the tracking chip remaining inside Lin's body had begun operating again.
Until then, Pale had been blocking its signal using his security division privileges.
What did Pale's death mean?
It meant that the tracking chip implanted in Lin's body had begun automatically transmitting her location to headquarters.
A signal that Lin was alive.
A signal that the granddaughter of a high-ranking Seraph Industries executive was in the underground levels.
In other words, people from Seraph would be coming here.
“Let's hope they're people we can actually reason with this time.”
***
Seraph Industries.
A megacorp counted among the most prominent in Magitera's upper levels.
From ACUs to magitech medical equipment and technology for improving biological circuit compatibility rates, Seraph Industries stood at the center of every one of those fields in the city.
And at the pinnacle of that corporation stood one man.
Adrian Arclight.
CEO of Seraph Industries and current head of the Arclight family.
A man who had led Seraph for decades.
Countless executives, politicians, and researchers in the city's upper levels bowed to his every word. He was endlessly generous to his allies and endlessly ruthless in crushing his enemies.
And that Adrian had been unable to sleep for days.
There was only one reason.
His granddaughter, Lin Arclight, had disappeared.
When the first report came in, Adrian did not think it was a kidnapping.
Because Pale was the person who had disappeared alongside Lin.
Seraph's chief of security, and a sixth-tier ACU user.
Adrian had personally selected him and kept him at his side.
Pale had worked for Seraph for a long time. Adrian had entrusted him with dangerous missions, had him handle dirty work, and had even placed his own life in Pale's hands several times.
He trusted him completely, which was why he had assigned him to Lin.
She carried the blood of the Arclight family and might one day inherit Seraph's name. Because of that, his granddaughter would always have to live exposed to danger.
He had assigned Pale to keep that danger at bay.
Adrian stood in the center of the CEO's office, staring at the large screen covering the wall.
[Lin Arclight tracking signal: Lost]
[Chief of Security Pale authentication signal: Inactive]
[Last confirmed location: Near Upper-Level Transport Conduit 7]
For a long while, he said nothing and only stared at the screen. The secretarial staff, clearly aware that he was furious, were careful not even to breathe too loudly.
Adrian finally opened his mouth.
“Pale.”
His voice was hoarse and cracked.
“Is there still no response?”
The secretary immediately answered his question.
“No, sir. There has been no response from his personal terminal, the security division's dedicated network, or the emergency authentication channel.”
“What about Lin's signal?”
“The tracking chip's response has also been completely cut off. After the last transmission, it appears an external block was activated.”
Adrian began slowly tapping the armrest of his chair with one finger.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
“External block.”
He muttered to himself.
“How many people can block the authorization on Lin's tracking chip?”
The secretary hesitated briefly before answering. He thought a wrong answer might provoke Adrian's anger.
“You, the board's security authorization, and....”
“Pale.”
“…Yes, sir.”
Adrian covered his face with both hands.
Anger.
Everyone present could tell that something was slowly boiling inside him.
“Put the entire security division on standby.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Cut off every chain of command directly under Pale. Account privileges, armory access, operation-log access. Leave nothing intact.”
“Understood.”
“Assign the audit team as well. Every external account Pale contacted over the past year, every unauthorized communications record, every movement of funds.”
The secretary bowed his head.
“I'll take care of it immediately.”
Adrian looked once more at the screen displaying Lin's photograph.
White hair and blue eyes. A truly beautiful child. She looked so much like his daughter reborn.
His granddaughter had been stubborn from a young age.
Once something piqued her curiosity, she clung to it until she got an answer. Adrian liked that about her. He thought it suited a child who carried Arclight blood.
So he tried to teach her more, and Lin absorbed an enormous amount of knowledge like a sponge.
How corporations operated and how people lied. Or what each tiny sentence in a contract meant.
He had taught her things like that.
But he had not taught Lin about the underground levels. No, he would never teach her. Absolutely not.
..
..
And several days passed after the tracking signal was cut off.
During those days, Adrian ate almost nothing.
He reduced his meetings to a minimum and canceled all external engagements.
Rumors even spread within Seraph Industries that the CEO was in poor health.
Strictly speaking, that was not untrue.
He was sometimes consumed by anger and at other times tormented by anxiety.
And finally.
A report came in that Lin Arclight might be dead. It was not confirmed, but the report said the possibility was high.
It stated that a signal resembling Lin's biometric response had disappeared beneath the upper-level transport conduits, and that Seraph-specific circuit residue had been detected in some wastewater pipes leading to the underground levels.
The underground levels.
The moment that word appeared in the report, Adrian was unable to say anything for a long while.
That night, he took out a bottle of liquor he normally would not even touch.
The one he had received as a gift and kept only in a display cabinet.
Adrian sat alone in the CEO's office and poured the liquor into a glass.
When he drank, the back of his throat grew hot, but he could not taste it.
Lin's childhood photograph was displayed on the screen. A little girl sat in a conference-room chair, holding a data pad larger than herself.
-Grandfather, why is this person lying while smiling?
When Lin had asked him that, Adrian had answered,
-The more someone is like that, the more careful you need to be.
He was the one who had taught her those words....
Yet the fact that he had placed the person she needed to be most careful around beside Lin drove him mad.
“Pale.”
Adrian muttered to himself.
“If you did this.”
Whether from the alcohol or the anger, his voice was slightly cracked.
“Death won't be the end of it.”
That was when it happened.
The door opened hurriedly, and an employee from the security analysis team came in, gasping for breath.
“CEO!”
Adrian slowly raised his head.
“What is it?”
The employee was still breathing heavily.
“CEO! Coordinates have begun transmitting from Ms. Lin Arclight's tracking chip!”
At his words, the glass of liquor Adrian had been tipping toward his lips stopped in midair. His pupils shook frantically.
“Say that again.”
“The tracking chip has been reactivated. It's currently transmitting coordinates. A biometric response has also been confirmed, though it is weak.”
Adrian shot to his feet. The chair scraped backward across the floor, but he paid it no attention.
“The location?”
The employee manipulated his wrist terminal, and the screen in the center of the CEO's office changed.
From the city map to the upper levels.
From the upper levels, past the checkpoint, to the lower levels.
And farther down.
A single red dot blinked.
[Signal coordinates confirmed]
[Magitera Lower District, 7th Industrial Zone, Block D-12]
[Near Underground Level 20, Unit 1409]
“Underground Level 20.”
“Yes, sir.”
The employee also seemed puzzled by the fact, but calmly continued his report.
“The coordinates are being transmitted from the underground levels.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
The underground levels.
It was a place where Lin should never have been.
It was not a place Lin could reach alone, nor one where it would be easy to survive.
That meant someone had brought her there.
“….”
Kidnapping, protection, a deal.
It could be one of the three, or all of them.
Adrian's eyes grew cold.
“Pale's signal?”
“Still nothing.”
“The security division?”
“Following your orders, sir, everyone directly under Pale has been isolated. We're currently reorganizing a temporary security team.”
“Do not use the existing security personnel.”
He spoke decisively.
“We aren't taking a single person connected to Pale.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Build the new team only from personnel cleared by the audit team. Two from the security analysis team, one medical team member, one circuit stabilization technician, and two fifth-tier or higher users.”
The employee quickly took notes.
“I'll prepare it.”
“No.”
Adrian picked up his coat.
“I'm going myself.”
At those words, the subordinate raised his head in alarm and tried to dissuade him.
“You're going personally, CEO? That's too—”
“Lin is alive.”
Adrian set down his glass.
“So I, as her guardian, will go.”
“But it's the underground levels. There's no guarantee your safety will be—”
When Adrian's gaze fell on him, the subordinate immediately fell silent.
“Safety?”
His voice was cold.
“My granddaughter has been there for days.”
He turned away again and began walking slowly.
“And now you're worried about my safety?”
The employee merely bowed his head.
“I'm sorry.”
“Prepare for departure.”
“Yes, sir.”