"My name is X. Male. I am currently serving as the Manager of one of the Wings of the World—L Corp's Lobotomy Corporation."
The pen scratched across the paper, leaving clean, legible lines.
"I have to say, this place is quite special."
"Whether it's the employees who work on the front lines at the risk of their lives, my AI secretary Angela, or even the department heads—the beings known as the Sephirah…"
"There is something uniquely, indescribably 'cute' about all of them. I like the atmosphere of this workplace… even though it is always accompanied by a tension that's impossible to ignore."
"Angela has reminded me more than once that, as Manager, I should maintain an appropriate distance from employees to preserve managerial efficiency and necessary authority—and to guard against certain extreme employees' ulterior motives…"
"But I keep thinking: if I, the nominal 'superior,' am willing to share risk, share pressure, and even occasionally show a little… yes, a touch of human concern…"
"Then maybe, when they think of that, they'll work a bit harder? Feel a bit more belonging?"
Beside the paragraph, the pen drew a small question mark—then quickly crossed the whole thought out.
"Heh. Just kidding… at least not entirely. Honestly, I just want to care a little more about them."
"The pressure of working here is too much… and even a little goodwill might keep dangerous people from going down the wrong path, or become a tiny light that helps fragile souls keep going."
"Heh… who doesn't like to be cared for?"
A familiar voice came from the doorway—steady, faintly inquisitive.
"What are you doing right now?"
"Ah. Good morning, Angela."
X stopped his pen, casually closed his diary, and smiled at her.
"There's still a bit of time before work starts, so I thought I'd write something to pass the time."
"Actually, I've been here for a while now. There are a lot of interesting things I really want to record."
"If you have such ample time, I would still prefer you ensured more rest for yourself, rather than arriving this early only to write your diary."
Angela frowned slightly, her expression faintly helpless.
"Even ten extra minutes of sleep would greatly benefit the energy and focus you'll need to sustain a full day of work."
"It's fine."
X rather enjoyed her concern, but on the surface he waved it off as if it didn't matter.
"If something goes wrong with my body, isn't there K Corp's treatment ampoules?"
As he spoke, X glanced at his watch.
"Alright, enough chatting. Work should begin."
Once he confirmed the time, X reached out and pressed the button on the console that marked the official start of the workday.
But unlike usual, his eyes were subtly unfocused, and his finger lingered on the button for a fraction of a second longer than normal.
The reason was simple: the bizarre exchange that had happened this morning—fifteen minutes before Angela arrived.
—
Fifteen minutes before Angela arrived.
The office was silent. X was alone.
Suddenly, the Manager-exclusive console screen in front of him flickered without warning, giving off a faint electrical hiss.
Then a green Lobotomy Corporation logo lit up abruptly—like an eye opening in the dark.
Beneath the logo, a small line of white text appeared, letter by letter, with the mechanical feel of a typewriter.
"…Hello?"
"Can you see this line of text? Is anyone there?"
The sudden intrusion made X's chest tighten; his body snapped into alertness.
"Hello?"
He hesitated, then answered softly to the empty office—or rather, to the screen.
"Who are you?"
Someone who could bypass Angela and connect directly to core control…
Was it one of the mysterious Board members Angela had mentioned—people whose position far exceeded his?
Who could it be? Could it be the person named "A"?
"You can call me B."
The text vanished, replaced by new words.
"Think of me as… someone familiar with this company."
"Hello, B."
"Please understand that I cannot reveal myself."
The text refreshed again, carrying a strange aura of secrecy.
"This may be abrupt… but I will now reveal three secrets about this company—secrets you do not know."
"Before that, let me ask you something. Do you truly believe you were hired by this company?"
?!
The question was like an invisible scalpel—precise enough to cut clean through X's mental defenses.
The shell he had built from "busy work" and "warm daily life" shattered in an instant, and he was thrown back into that original sense of dislocation and unease.
Almost instinctively, X began rapidly reviewing his performance since taking the job:
Strict adherence to the manual.
Efforts to maintain employees' mental stability.
Steadily improving energy collection efficiency.
Even a perfect record of zero casualties each day.
A fairly harmonious relationship with the Sephirah across departments…
He checked every link in the chain in frantic haste, searching for any mistake—any reason a mysterious "superior" would seek him out to "teach him a lesson" like this.
He couldn't find one.
So what did this mean?
A special test?
Had his performance been too good, drawing upper management's attention—some kind of probing before promotion?
Or had his "humanized management" finally violated some taboo in the Nest of L?
"Hard to answer? Then let me put it differently."
While X was still racing through his thoughts, "B" on the other side of the screen clearly misread his silence.
"Are you satisfied with your current job?"
"Satisfied."
X nodded.
"It's difficult, but it's fulfilling and… honestly, it makes me happy."
"…Is that so?"
The response was only those two words. Then silence.
The silence lasted a dozen seconds or so, as though the other party was digesting X's answer—or evaluating something.
Even through the cold screen and sterile text, X could sense something behind it: a faint, hard-to-describe disappointment.
Or rather—an emotion that was complicated and uncertain.
"Fine. I can't judge whether you're telling the truth."
After a moment, the text returned:
"You are the Manager of Lobotomy Corporation, but to be honest, you don't know anything about this company, do you?"
The words landed with surgical accuracy.
"Still… I can't entirely blame you. With a Manager's permissions, at most you can know the outer 'front' company: employees, machines, Abnormalities, and the TT2 Protocol."
"But you don't know that the company has another side."
"The 'inside.'"
"…"
X opened his mouth, then found he didn't know what to say.
He could do the job perfectly, but B was right. Anything deeper, he knew nothing.
And what exactly was this "inside" Lobotomy Corporation?
"Relax. I'll explain as briefly as I can…"
The sentence clearly had more to come—something important, the reveal.
But at that moment, the text stopped abruptly, as if forcibly cut off.
A final line appeared in a hurry:
"…Staying connected while hacking the network for too long is dangerous. See you."
—
The communication ended.
"Phew…"
Somewhere in the company, a short-haired woman with silver hair—her face obscured—cut off all communication signals and murmured to herself:
"This time, I will definitely help you escape this prison…"
"I just don't know whether Farah has finished preparing the 'inside' side yet…"
-------
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