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Chapter 9 Part 1: I Became a Hacker Loved by AIs
🕑 Added 2025-06-19 03:16:23 +0000 UTCTo a Higher Place (1)
It had been a few days since the aptitude test ended.
Which meant it was time for the consequences to reach me.
And unsurprisingly, a lot had changed.
What do cows have four of, and human have two of?
[Σ(°△°|||)]
I don’t know what V was imagining, but the answer is legs.
[(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)♡]
And right now, I had four of them.
Because no matter where I went—
Svetlana was glued to me like a second pair.
That black-suited woman I met during the test?
Yeah. That was her.
Honestly, she was so elegant and graceful in appearance and demeanor, I almost thought it'd be nice to have someone like her as my secretary someday.
Too bad her actual job was stalking me.
If I sat down to rest in the dorm, she would follow.
If I went to the bathroom, she would follow.
She ate next to me, and even gave commentary over my shoulder while I studied.
Once, Clea even mustered the courage to try and rescue me from her.
“Cool unnie.”
“Yes, did you call?”
“Give Neige back. She’s mine.”
…Excuse me? Why am I yours?
I mean, I get what she meant, but treating me like property is a bit much.
“Neige and I were going to play board games and eat snacks together!”
“That sounds lovely. Unfortunately—”
Svetlana lifted me off the ground like a cat and said calmly:
“Unfortunately, that won’t be possible. The young miss has many responsibilities ahead of her.”
On the other hand, I just dangled there, completely limp and done with everything.
[Posture resembles a stretched-out cat, 'Longcat'. Machine learning in progress.]
‘What exactly are you learning from this?’
To understand how I ended up like this, we need to rewind a little.
After defeating Cerberus, Svetlana began influencing my life immediately.
The moment I exited cyberspace, I was shoved into a tub of ice water on “direct orders from a higher-up.”
Svetlana, obviously.
She said it was to quickly cool down my overheated brain and neural network after battle, to prevent long-term damage.
Apparently, adult Bitmancers often plug into cyberspace while already submerged in cooling chambers when expecting high computation loads.
Honestly…
We’ve officially entered the era where humans are treated like overclocked CPUs.
[Without treatment, you would’ve suffered two weeks of side effects.]
Well, thanks, I guess.
Actually, no.
If they hadn’t sent me in to fight Cerberus in the first place, I wouldn’t be injured at all.
So no, I take that gratitude back.
The other kids, like Clea, were placed into classes based on their performance during the test.
“Neige! I made it into the top class!”
“Really?”
She’d bragged earlier about scoring 98 points, entering Class A.
Figures she’d land in the top.
Was it from class A to class E?
That's first place out of five levels.
“What about you, Neige?”
“Class S.”
“Huh? That’s a thing?”
“Nope.”
“Huh?”
Of course, I was the exception.
Svetlana told me herself that my placement was up to the Chairman.
Right. I really can’t skip telling that story.
My meeting with Svetlana.
After a bit of ice-water recovery and a short break, I was finally granted the meeting I’d been promised.
Not just anywhere, but in the reception room located on the top floor of the Paris branch, with very gracious treatment—
The kind of room where they smother you in luxury from the carpet up.
A leather couch so soft it felt illegal.
State-of-the-art climate control (air conditioning).
An obscene spread of premium snacks and tea, and so on.
In short, the kind of room where money is wallpaper.
“Could everyone please leave the room?”
Svetlana made it clear she wanted to be alone with me.
The employees practically fled the room with happy expressions on their faces.
I guess nobody likes to serve the higher-ups, no matter the era.
Before starting the conversation, she connected a cable from her wrist into the room’s computer.
I had no idea what she was doing, but she even started humming, as if she was in a pretty good mood.
As for me, I just sat and waited in a child-sized chair.
It felt strange that my legs were so short they didn’t reach the floor.
Svetlana spent a long time at the terminal checking something, then finally nodded and turned to me with a soft smile.
“No security concerns in this room. Sorry to keep you waiting… Princess.”
“Prin—?”
My spine twisted and I got goosebumps at the title of princess.
My soul and every male hormone embedded within it vehemently rejected that title.
Wow, if it were the spine of my past life with spinal cancer, I wouldn't have experienced such vitality.
Thank you for giving me a good first-experience.
[Souls do not contain hormones.]
‘I know.’
“Don’t you like the title? Shall I call you ‘miss’ instead?”
“Yes, please.”
“Got it. So you don’t like that kind of thing. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Svetlana sat across from me, personally serving refreshments and warm tea.
“It's a nutritious snack that's good for your body and tastes good. Eat a lot. You're at an age where you should only eat good things.”
Apparently “nutritious snacks for growing kids” is still a thing in this day and age.
It must be a luxury item for the rich, right?
I appreciated the gesture, but something about how considerate she was made me uneasy.
Pure goodwill doesn’t exist anymore.
If you let your guard down, you become someone else’s pawn.
“Alright, let’s get to the main topic. Miss Neige, do you know just how amazing what you did was?”
“I caught a dog.”
There was no need to sound impressive.
She sees me as a five-year-old girl, so the simpler my answers, the more she’ll feel inclined to explain.
“Exactly. And… that’s not something just anyone can do.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. There are many people outside the company who live comfortably without ever dealing with even a single ‘dog’.”
From a normal person’s point of view, that thing must’ve been a steel fortress.
“What you did was truly exceptional. And when I reported it to the Chairman… guess what? He wants to meet you!”
“The Chairman?”
“Yes. The Chairman of ImmuneWire, Cassian Kravetz.”
…That was unexpected.
That level of bigshot taking an interest in me?
Well, I guess it was what I wanted—getting the attention of someone powerful enough to keep psychos like Enora away from me.
“Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Svetlana, the Third Secretary Chief serving the Chairman. I was born in the lands of old Russia. Do you know where that is?”
“I think I saw it on a world map once.”
But… the chairman of ImmuneWire was too much of a big shot.
I just want to run away from ImmuneWire.
Because if I stay here long enough, I’ll eventually be forced to do some trashy job for the company.
But if I become an employee that the Chairman remembers, the story is a bit different.
There's also a scary story that undergraduates whose names are remembered by professors are kidnapped into graduate school.
“The chairman only meets with one team a day. He’s fully booked through next year. But for you, Miss Neige, he cleared his schedule next week. Isn’t that incredible?”
He must’ve been extremely impressed if he’s pushing through an audience this fast.
In today’s society, megacorps hold power on par with nations.
Someone like Cassian Kravetz, the chairman of a company like ImmuneWire, wields as much influence as the head of the European Federation.
Frankly speaking, someone like me—a talented orphan—shouldn’t even be on that man’s radar.
“Did I really do something that great?”
“Miss Neige, the only person to show that kind of ability at your age… was the chairman himself. And you see, our chairman has a particular fondness for promising talents.”
…So the thing I did really was way more absurd than I thought.
And Cassian did that without an AI like V?
That makes him more impressive than me, no?
[Negative.]
Suddenly V cut in—quicker than usual—with a sharp response:
[Master is not strong because of V. V is only effective because of master.]
'Isn't this body made by Alphabet anyway?'
[Correct, the body Alphabet gave is a great help.]
[However, cyberspace is a domain of mind. Master’s mind is master’s alone.]
[Repeating 5 times: Master’s aptitude for cyberspace is astonishing.]
‘Okay, okay! You don’t have to spam it 5 times!’
Spamming my brain like this…
What kind of AI floods someone’s neurons with motivational stickers? You’re basically malware now.
…I guess it’s because I kept ignoring her compliments that she’s being so pushy.
Anyway, I turned my attention back to Svetlana in front of me.
“When the time comes, we’ll take a hover ride ready to take you to HQ to meet the chairman. Are you looking forward to it?”
“...Oh, a hover ride?”
“Do you like those?”
I mean… yes, I do.
A car that flies through the sky? How could I not want to try it?
Someday, when I’m rich, I’m definitely getting the most expensive one on the market.
“You’re in luck, we’ve prepared a VIP-only hover ride just for you.”
“Cool.”
“Though… there is something else I need to mention. Something that might be a bit uncomfortable for you, Miss.”
“...What is it?”
“The chairman’s schedule is sacred. There must be absolutely no delays allowed. So, until your appointment, I’ll be by your side at all times. For close-range escort.”
And that’s how we got here.
“Miss, you really shouldn’t leave your salad. ImmuneWire’s meal plans are nutritionally perfect. We can’t have you collapsing from malnutrition before your meeting, can we?”
“Miss, please scrub the back of your neck thoroughly when you shower. We can’t let you fall ill and delay the schedule.”
Miss, miss, miss… Ughh.
Every day felt like being stalked by a psycho.
Why go through all this just to set up a meeting?
Why does Cassian make his secretaries do this kind of thing?
Is the world just full of lunatics now?
After a few days of enduring this madness, I finally made up my mind.
“Take me outside.”
“I’m afraid that’s not allowed. Outside is dangerous.”
“I’ve never been outside the facility since I was born. Orphanage, dormitory… just once, I want to go out.”
“Miss, that’s…”
“Don’t you think my mental health is worth preserving too?”
I wasn’t just going to sit around whining “boo-hoo, I’m depressed”.
No. Even in a rigged situation, I was going to find an angle and make it work.
So Svetlana was stalking me?
Fine, use her.
She’s the secretary chief of the chairman’s office. Sneaking me out should be nothing for her.
Might as well take this opportunity to finally see the world I’ve only glimpsed through windows.
“About that mental health thing…”
Svetlana trailed off, looking troubled.
“If you don’t take me, I’ll tell the chairman he’s an old fart when I meet him.”
“...gasp.”
Got her.
Persuasion: complete.
[That was blackmail.]
