Day 12, Manager's Bedroom.
"Today marks my twelfth day in Lobotomy Corporation…"
After Angela's firm, health-focused insistence, X moved his diary-writing from mornings to bedtime.
She was right. Rather than sacrificing precious sleep, it was better to record things after the day ended, once everything had settled.
"This afternoon, Angela took the initiative to talk with me about the Sephirah department heads."
"Although I know her surface intent was to have me, as a new Manager, treat the department heads more kindly, build better cooperation…"
"For some reason, I keep feeling that when she mentions them, her tone isn't exactly… friendly?"
The pen paused. X recalled Angela's expression at the time.
It had been subtle—an odd blend of personal emotion.
"Hah… how do I put it? She was advising me to tolerate my subordinates' little flaws, but between her words I could faintly hear… her own pride. Even narcissism."
X couldn't help chuckling as he continued writing.
"Things like 'I know they envy me behind my back' and 'Nothing they do can change the fact that I am the best AI in this company'…"
When Angela said it, her eyes had been calm, but the superiority and pride hidden beneath that calm had been almost palpable.
It was like a little girl showing off in front of him.
"It's hard to imagine… even with the City's advanced technology, this is the first time I've seen an AI so vivid—so indistinguishable from a human."
"The longer I spend with Angela, the easier it becomes to forget she's an AI at all."
"I just don't know if I'm reading too much into it… I feel like she actually likes it when I treat her as a real human, doesn't she?"
"At least, I think Angela wants to be treated that way—right?"
He didn't write an answer.
Maybe there wasn't one.
"Oh—wait…"
The pen paused, then wrote again. On the nearly full diary page, a few small lines appeared:
"This… I think it's called a non-human sapient entity? I wonder if Angela has reached the standard the Head set…"
"…Probably not, right? If she had, even a Wing like Lobotomy Corporation couldn't avoid punishment from the Head. But Angela is still here, perfectly fine…"
X stared at the line, sighed, and finally drew several heavy strokes through those dangerous speculations, crossing them out completely.
He closed the diary. The leather cover made a faint sound, as if declaring that, for him, today's work and recording were officially over.
After tidying the scattered documents on his desk, X stood, stretched, walked to the bed, and lay down with weary ease.
He closed his eyes, but his thoughts didn't immediately still. With both hands behind his head, he began his usual pre-sleep mental整理—sorting.
"I asked Justin from the Control Team, but she said that aside from the ambient sound—like a group chanting scripture—'the old skeleton' doesn't have anything that could be described as a 'voice.' It's more like an intention or image transmitted directly into consciousness…"
"I indirectly asked a few other employees as well—those who had maintained or recorded that containment unit. Their answers were basically the same."
Mostly "Not sure," "Didn't notice," or "Feels like there isn't a voice."
No clear denial, no clear confirmation.
So the voice he heard in the "dream"—so clear, so holy, so gentle—really wasn't from One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds?
Then whose voice was it?
And what was that portal?
And what did that "dream" mean?
The questions surged again, making the nerves he had just relaxed throb faintly.
Perhaps because it was difficult to bypass Angela's monitoring, B didn't appear today.
But X had a strong feeling: he and B would meet again soon.
"So in the end, do I have to go in there myself to see it once?"
The thought sent a chill through him.
The dream had been too real—so real he doubted it had been "just a dream."
"Still… if I think calmly, it should be a lucid dream, right?"
X tried to persuade himself in a voice so low only he could hear.
"If it's a dream, a product of consciousness… then theoretically I shouldn't be able to truly die in my own dream… right?"
Even so, at the memory of that portal's eerie light and the question that seemed to strike at his soul, his heartbeat sped up.
"…Maybe next time I can be a bit bolder? See if other ZAYIN-class Abnormalities' units are like this too…?"
The thought had barely formed before X crushed it.
No. Better to be cautious.
Whatever it was, the existence of that "dream" itself was a massive mystery—like B, and the concept of an "inside" Lobotomy Corporation—casting a heavy shadow over his mind.
Sleepiness rose. X yawned.
"Forget it… thinking too much won't help. I don't even know if I can have the same dream again…"
His awareness began to blur, as if sinking into warm water. The outside world grew distant.
Sleep's gentle touch wrapped around his limbs and thoughts bit by bit.
But just as he believed he was about to fully drift off—his consciousness nearly dissolving—
That peculiar sensation returned: as if some force was refocusing his awareness, drawing it back into a sharp point.
Curiosity about the unresolved question was like a stone dropped into water, rippling outward until it overwhelmed the drowsiness.
And the fogged awareness… became clear again.
Just like last time, X opened his eyes without thinking.
"…Fine."
He sat up on the sofa and looked around.
This time he felt none of the first arrival's panic or fear—only a near-resigned calm.
And… a faint, irrepressible excitement to explore the unknown by his own choice.
"Looks like as long as I fall asleep, there's a good chance I'll end up here. Is this like a personal dream-map?"
X laughed at himself.
"Then if that's the case, whatever the mechanism… I'll just treat this recurring dream as the 'inside' Lobotomy Corporation B mentioned."
Now that he had decided that, he stopped wavering. He grew bolder.
He got up, stretched his limbs. His body still felt completely real.
Then, without hesitation, X set off straight toward the unit that held One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds—the same one he had visited before.
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