Chapter 20: The Hacker’s Proposal
“Not that hard. You did well, Ar.”
A rooftop room overlooking downtown Seoul.
Diesel was connected to the Electrosphere, talking with Ar.
A week had passed since the last job.
Since the client had been a spirit relief organization, he had worried they might take issue with the creation of a wastewater spirit, but perhaps they were satisfied that the facility had been wrecked beyond repair, because they let it slide with surprising leniency.
“This time, try raising it to Grade 3.”
〈Ar is strengthening the firewall protecting the electronic straw to Grade 3.〉
“Hm……. So this is about Grade 3.”
While resting and repairing his prosthetic body, Diesel was attempting actual hacking together with Ar.
Ever since being attacked by a hacker for the first time, he had felt the need to understand the Electrosphere better.
And the very first thing he tried was breaching a firewall.
After all, the first security measure you encountered during hacking was always the firewall.
〈Master, you are making an incorrect attempt. From Grade 3 firewalls onward, the surveillance net’s range expands drastically, so breaking through by detouring like that is impossible.〉
“I get it, so just stay still for a moment.”
〈The method Ar recommends to Master is…….〉
“Tsk, stop backseat driving. I can figure it out on my own.”
When Diesel waved his hand to stop Ar mid-sentence, the spirit snapped down hard and bit his moving hand.
“Ow ow ow, guess I can’t stab today since my hand hurts.”
At the word “stab,” Ar flinched, then carefully licked the spot she had just bitten with her tongue.
“There, I broke through. Like you said, detouring is impossible, but since the surveillance net got wider, there are sparse spots where the quality drops. Focusing on those makes it ridiculously easy.”
〈Hm……. This time, I will deploy it in a different manner, still Grade 3.〉
“Good. How many types of Grade 3 are there?”
〈Grade 3 allows a total of 987 different firewall configurations.〉
“Hm…… Grade 2 had 89 types, so that’s a bit more than eleven times. From this stage on, it increases exponentially. If I succeed at 100 in a row at random, let’s move on to the next grade.”
〈Your hand?〉
“Huh?”
〈Is your hand all right?〉
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
When Diesel made a genuinely puzzled expression, Ar bit his hand hard again.
“You seem to have been pretty busy lately, haven’t you?”
Boss Kim’s dumpling shop.
Dropping by the refrigerator after a long while, Diesel was being treated to dumplings and a can of beer.
“I have been.”
There was a Ghostcatcher who had dealt with both a Black Water–affiliated Level 4 Spirit Mage and an aggregate of wastewater spirits at the same time.
It seemed that such rumors were spreading quietly by word of mouth.
However, there was nowhere any talk of a ghost being killed.
Perhaps that was the result of Little Sister’s thorough management.
The first person through whom Diesel truly felt his reputation spreading was Boss Kim.
This Dwarf Fixer had persistently sought Diesel out starting the day after the last job ended.
But over the past several days, Diesel had refused to take any calls at all, including Boss Kim’s.
Now it was them who were getting impatient, not him.
“How was it? The job that Fixer named Alfred Han gave you.”
Boss Kim asked with a smile set into his tough skin.
Diesel replied, roughly adjusting his tone.
“Well, there were a few dangerous moments this time too. That’s just how back-alley work is, isn’t it?”
At his answer, Boss Kim let out a hearty laugh.
“Looks like you’ve already become one of us.”
Then he stared at Diesel intently again.
“May I ask you one question?”
At the slightly more serious tone than usual, Diesel matched his expression appropriately and answered.
“Yes.”
The Dwarf placed his thick hand on the table and spoke.
“How did you do it, exactly?”
Words with something missing.
It was not hard to guess what element he had omitted.
But Diesel asked back as if he did not understand.
“What do you mean?”
At that, Boss Kim frankly got to the point.
“The ghost. Just how did you kill it?”
He did not know how Boss Kim had found out, but he seemed to have caught on to what Diesel had done.
As expected of a Fixer who had rolled around the back alleys for a long time, he seemed well-versed in that kind of high-level information.
“You know as well as I do what a ghost is.”
“…….”
“Alive and yet dead at the same time, having everything and yet able to possess nothing. A ghost is such a paradoxical being.”
A paradoxical being.
Having met a ghost himself, Diesel knew well what that meant.
The meaning was also contained in the words his Older Brother had said: ‘To cut a ghost, you must not try to cut it.’
“There aren’t many people in this world who can cut a ghost. And there are even fewer who can kill one.”
Just having a resolute mindset like his Older Brother’s was not enough to kill a ghost.
That was probably what Boss Kim’s question had meant as well.
“Am I prying too much?”
“No.”
“I have no intention of pressing you on why you’re hiding such ability. But…….”
Boss Kim spoke with a gravity rarely seen on his face.
“You can’t hide the sun in your bosom all night long.”
The sun in one’s bosom…….
The Dwarf, having put forth a fully poetic expression, relaxed his face and let out a breath.
“At the very least, it’s impossible alone. If it’s you, you’ll know what I mean.”
It was both an acknowledgment of Diesel’s ability and a request to maintain a good relationship with him.
At that, Diesel smiled faintly and said.
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
Then the Dwarf laughed heartily and gulped down the beer he was holding.
“Since the topic’s come up anyway, I’d like to sign an exclusive contract with you. What do you think?”
“I’ll have to decline.”
“That’s a shame.”
His booming laughter shook the inside of the refrigerator.
“May I ask one question as well?”
Boss Kim’s turn was over now, so it was Diesel’s turn to ask.
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“What kind of person is the hacker called Little Sister?”
“Sis?”
“Yes. She seemed to be both a hacker and a teker.”
“That’s right. You already know she’s extraordinarily skilled, so that’s probably not what you’re curious about…….”
When the Dwarf trailed off, Diesel asked more specifically.
“Is she someone I can trust?”
“Hmm…….”
He chose his next words carefully before answering.
“Yes. Sis is someone you can trust well enough. She’s also one of the very few sane people among hackers.”
“I see.”
“But why do you ask? Have you already built some kind of connection with a high-ranking Ghostcatcher like that?”
“Well……. You could say that.”
“Oh, impressive. Looks like I’ll be reduced to cold rice now.”
That wasn’t going to happen.
The moment Diesel recalled his Older Brother’s memories, there was a reason he had come to this nameless, shabby dumpling shop.
Of course, part of it was to build a basic foundation for adapting to this world while taking on small jobs, but that wasn’t all.
“Cold rice? Not at all.”
“Then what, is there hot rice in the refrigerator instead of cold rice?”
The Dwarf’s boisterous laughter echoed loudly through the refrigerator.
Seoul Sector 1-8, the Underground Great Hall.
A massive facility disguised as a refined teahouse.
Diesel looked up at the exterior of the building, which had become quite familiar to him by now.
‘This side is new.’
Instead of the back alley he usually used, he grasped the doorknob of the teahouse on the first floor.
“Welcome.”
A living attendant, something rare these days, greeted him.
She was a female Elf wearing an elegant hanbok, with an unmistakable air of noble blood.
“Do you have a reservation?”
Instead of answering, he handed over Little Sister’s business card.
The Elf accepted it carefully and bowed politely.
“I will escort you to your seat.”
The place they arrived at was a cozy room overlooking the tranquil night view of the Joseon Imperial Palace.
The teahouse was only about two stories tall, yet he couldn’t understand how it managed to look down over the palace.
And before that scenery, Little Sister was sipping tea poured into a pure white porcelain cup.
“Oh, you’re here, Diesel.”
As he sat down, the attendant Elf bowed again and left the room.
“Did your prosthetic repairs go well?”
“Yeah. Thanks to you, I replaced everything with brand-new parts.”
“Well, that’s only natural.”
With the more-than-generous compensation Little Sister had sent, Diesel had not only repaired his prosthetics but even upgraded them to a higher-grade material.
Around that time, Sis had contacted him, saying she had a separate proposal, but Diesel had refrained from replying to her message for quite a while.
“I thought you’d come earlier, you know.”
There was a faintly complaining nuance to her tone, but Diesel went straight to the point.
“What’s this proposal?”
“What? You’re jumping straight in like that already? Aren’t you curious about how I’ve been, or the cleanup after that day?”
There wasn’t really anything he was curious about.
She would have handled it well on her own anyway.
Still, the atmosphere made it feel like he ought to ask, so he humored her politely.
“Seemed like you handled it reasonably well.”
“Well, yeah. It was complete chaos, though. First of all, Sera…… no, Zeon—that kid is banned from going out and banned from accessing the Electrosphere for a while. When I went back and grilled her, it looked like she deliberately took on the spirit rescue job because she wanted praise from me……. Then she lost control of her emotions in the process and caused all that trouble. Anyway, I’m going to take this opportunity to start from basic character education and teach her very thoroughly myself.”
Could education really change someone?
That doubt crossed his mind briefly, but in any case, it had nothing to do with him anymore.
“Still, I couldn’t stop the Inquisitors from showing up at the scene in the end. A ghost did appear, after all. They didn’t contact you too, did they?”
“No.”
“Good. That’s a relief.”
What kind of thing did you have to do to manipulate the movements of an organization on the level of the Inquisitors so freely?
This was a glimpse of the caliber of the woman called Little Sister.
“So I was incredibly busy too. All the jobs I was originally working on were completely stopped. It was absolute mayhem. But even so…….”
Sis smiled slyly and continued.
“I did gain one thing.”
“What?”
She narrowed her eyes and pointed her slender finger at Diesel.
“You.”
“……?”
“I was too busy back then to say it properly, but you…… you killed a ghost, didn’t you?”
“…….”
“Of course, what came out that day was a Level 9 White Variant, the weakest among ghosts, but still, I think you of all people know best what it means to have cut down a ghost.”
Sis drained the remaining tea in one gulp and stood up from her seat.
“Then shall we go somewhere to have a proper talk now?”
She snapped her fingers sharply in the air, and the glass window that had filled the view moments ago slid open to both sides, revealing an elevator.
“The details are downstairs. You know where, right?”
A White Floor filled with nothing but pure white light in all directions.
There floated Skeljunger, a whale-shaped Electrosphere spirit.
Beside it, a tiny cat spirit—so small it was embarrassing to even compare sizes—circled around the whale.
“Your spirit is as lively as ever.”
“It’s name is Ar.”
“Oh, Ar……. That’s a cute name.”
〈……? This woman is calling my name.〉
Ar approached Sis and bit down hard on her hand.
“Ahahaha, that tickles.”
〈Tickles……?〉
As if shocked by her words, Ar stared blankly at Sis for quite a while.
“That whale looks like it’s in much better condition.”
“Right? It’s free from the binding staff, and sometimes it even sings.”
Sis spoke with a slightly sad expression.
“But it still can’t leave this place yet.”
Reading the whale’s emotions, Diesel said,
“The reason it can’t leave is very different from before.”
“Huh……?”
“Now this whale is grateful. To you, Sis.”
“Ah…….”
At Diesel’s words, Sis smiled softly and said,
“I see……. That makes me happy.”
How had she pulled a spirit out of that deep swamp of dark emotions it had once been trapped in?
For a moment, Diesel recalled the chilling declaration Sis had once uttered, but he didn’t pursue the thought deeply.
“Anyway, Diesel, you said you had something to ask me too, right?”
“Yeah.”
One reason Diesel had come to find Little Sister was her message about having a proposal, but he also had a request of his own.
He currently owed a kind of debt of goodwill to a top-class hacker.
And just as he was beginning to take an interest in hacking, there was no way he could let an opportunity like this slip by.
Diesel stated his business straight away.
“Teach me about hacking.”