"Yes."
"Who was that boy yesterday?"
"Ah, he seems like a new Unit who just moved into the basement security room..." I let my voice trail off.
"...Hmph, another one of them. Those 'have-nots' are always... Tsk tsk... obsessed with nothing but their petty change... money, money, money..."
Chairman Gene sneered at the underground Units with excessive contempt.
I loathe that sarcasm. And I know the true meaning behind it. Because you, too, share that kind of bloodline.
"I received word from Xen today. He says he's coming back soon. But you know, of all the people who said they’d return, has anyone actually kept that promise?"
"More people reach their end under the guise of 'returning'..."
"I will never understand, even in a hundred lifetimes, this emotional play of those born with everything without effort."
"I’ve experimented on those basement dwellers for decades, and all I ever obtained was mere black ash. Yet, those people... they are born holding that shimmering Solet from the moment they enter this world. Isn't it unfair?"
"Go and tidy up Xen’s room. If anything comes up, report to me immediately!"
"Yes, sir."
Xen is a good man. Born of an elite bloodline, he possesses a brilliant and sharp mind.
For someone of high birth, he has a warm heart. Perhaps that warmth is what eventually held him back.
Ding. The elevator doors open. I enter the space where I maintain everything that constitutes Xen.
Hmm? There is a login record from early this morning. Though it was deleted, the history remains, and I can see it all.
First, I process the urgent payments and then check the encrypted message from Xen.
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My fingertips glide and dance over the holographic interface. This is not mere data entry.
It is a process of accessing and synchronizing with the neural network of the vast world that is Xen.
The countless assets he left behind, the decision-making authorities, and the complex web of interests—all are 'coded' and processed through my fingertips.
This is an internalized language between Xen and me, something no one else can easily decipher or access.
The reason Chairman Gene keeps me by his side, despite his suspicion and tendency to purge everyone, is that I am the only surrogate who can handle this complex algorithm.
[ >> SYSTEM_SYNC: X_E_N_O_S ] [ >> DECRYPT: 53.70.72 | 46.6C.6F | 57.69.6E ]
It looks like system logs converted to hexadecimal, but in my eyes, they are deciphered into perfect sentences.
Spring. Flower. Wind.
It seems like a simple list of data, but to me, it reads as a greeting from him.
Is this message for me? A small breeze seems to pass through a corner of my heart. I let out a small, unintended laugh. It’s so like Xen.
You must be happy.
How much longer can I sustain this life of Xen that I am holding together? I instinctively feel that Xen’s happiness is slowly fading.
People come here with light hearts, or perhaps out of curiosity, thinking of it as a slightly long vacation in The Monolith.
But soon, they experience that freedom of being present in this world while simultaneously being absent.
Once they fully experience that perfectly guaranteed void of life, they begin to crave that gap again, like a predator that hasn't eaten for days.
At first, it’s an hour or two. Later, it becomes a day or two. Then a week, a month, two months.
Eventually, after much conflict, they choose to leave for that 'other place' entirely.
Their absence isn't noticed immediately, but because their grounds are detailed, specific, and sensitive, the void eventually reveals itself.
Chairman Gene—the man who makes them drift away in their hearts, pretends to maintain everything for them, and eventually leads them to choose to abandon themselves.
Even if they lose everything and become a mere husk, the value of what remains is beyond imagination.
He discovered how to accumulate wealth and exercise power by scraping those remains together.
In his eyes, he probably thinks of me as his hands and feet, but that foolish human does not know that I exist here to help my grandfather, Dr. O, across that world of Ebony.
. . .
"Rea!"
"..Yes?" It was Adin.
"I was told to clean this place because someone is coming back!"
"Yes, Adin. It seems he’s returning. But we never know how things will turn out."
"Huh??"
"No, for now, let’s just clean up and prepare to welcome the master!"
The expression Adin saw on Rea's face—was it joy within sadness, or sadness within joy?
It looked more subtle and complex than ever before.
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