"Are you all right, Manager?"
A gentle yet cool voice sounded beside X , pulling him back from shock and unease.
"Ah— ah… Angela, it's you…"
X flinched slightly. His chaotic thoughts returned to reality, and the tension in his body eased a little.
"I'm fine. It's just that this is the first time I've encountered something so counter to common sense. I was momentarily at a loss…"
"It seems your understanding of the company's 'common sense' is still insufficient."
Angela appeared to have anticipated this. Faced with her visibly shaken Manager, her tone was calmer than usual—but also colder.
"If managing Abnormalities were always as simple as dealing with low-level ones, why would we repeatedly emphasize that extreme caution is required?"
"Lobotomy Corporation is a company that supplies energy to the entire City. The vast quantities of clean energy we produce are built upon the enormous risks involved in managing these Abnormalities."
"Energy always comes first."
She repeated a principle she had already told X countless times:
"Of course we know that choosing weaker Abnormalities is safer. But weaker Abnormalities also mean lower energy output."
"The TT2 Protocol that you frequently use to save employees consumes a tremendous amount of energy."
"And outside the company, there are other Wings of the World that rely on our supply—especially our strategic partners, T Corp and R Corp. They are heavily dependent on our energy orders…"
"So you've finally realized that this work isn't something as simple as playing house?"
"You should listen to me more and take your responsibilities more seriously."
"..."
X fell silent.
Angela was right. Ever since he gained access to the "inner Lobotomy Corporation," he truly had been less focused on the real-world work than before.
Deep down, he had unconsciously developed a mindset—
One that treated the work of the "surface world" as a game where he could reload at any time.
To the point that he had nearly overlooked one crucial fact.
Even if time could be rewound, the despair and pain the employees experienced were real.
Their fear—and the fact that they had died—did not simply vanish with the reversal of time.
"…I understand."
X raised both hands and wiped hard across his sweat-soaked face.
When he lowered them again, the tension and panic in his eyes were gone, replaced by seriousness and focus.
"Thank you for reminding me, Angela."
"It's my duty."
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Angela's lips.
She was quite satisfied with the change in her Manager's attitude.
"Would you like some tea or coffee?"
"Strong green tea. Warm."
"Here you go, X ."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
—
The box collector for O-06-20 was only a few units away from being filled. One could say that Justin had fallen just before dawn.
Based on the box already collected, the maximum box capacity of this Abnormality was estimated to be around thirty-three.
Even more than Judgement Bird, which had been contained yesterday.
There was also that same mechanism shared with Judgement Bird: after repeated work, the containment unit entered an abnormal state, reducing work success rates—a special phenomenon known as "Inverse Qliphoth Energy Overload."
In other words, O-06-20 could now be confidently classified as an ALEPH-level Abnormality.
Theoretically speaking, the most dangerous tier—capable of destroying the entire facility.
—
Testing communication barriers—
Checking mental state—
Analyzing positive responses—
Attempting to eliminate resistance—
Strengthening self-regulation—
Evaluating work progress—
As Audrey continued her work with O-06-20, its exclusive PE-box steadily increased.
At the same time, the employee herself was continuously taking damage from the Abnormality.
The tense waiting period soon ended. The heavy door of the containment unit slowly opened.
The moment the figure clad in the "Gaze" E.G.O suit stepped out safely, X finally let out a breath of relief.
There was no breach, no additional casualties, and the work evaluation was even rated "excellent."
Combined with the box gathered earlier, X was finally able to access more detailed information about this Abnormality—
It showed positive reactions only to instinct work and communication work, while displaying near-hostile rejection toward insight work and repression work.
However, when assigned to high-level employees with sufficient self-discipline and emotional stability, communication work could yield remarkably good results.
Reading the analysis report freshly delivered by the Information Department, X fell into another round of contemplation.
Was O-06-20 responding to communication work because it was imitating the original owner of its borrowed body—
Or did it, by its very nature, possess an instinctive need to "learn humanity"?
"If treated purely as an Abnormality, once its preferences are understood, managing it doesn't seem all that difficult…"
"But what if it were treated as a 'person' instead?"
"Elite employees are already capable of staying calm when facing monsters like this… which means it can't learn much from them."
"Then… should I try giving it more learning samples?"
"..."
X hesitated for a long time after that thought surfaced.
He didn't want to rely so heavily on the TT2 Protocol to trial-and-error his way forward, because that was essentially treating human lives as disposable.
Sacrificing individuals for collective safety, committing sins now in the name of eventual salvation—was such an outcome good, or evil?
…
In the end, as the Manager of the company, X displayed the decisiveness befitting his position.
The philosophical debate between good and evil could be set aside for now. What mattered was dealing with the problem in front of him.
As for the sin of squandering lives—he would remember it, and bear it alone.
"…Employee X i, please proceed to Training Department Containment Unit No. 3 to perform communication work on Abnormality O-06-20."
Releasing the intercom and broadcast button, X rubbed his temples in exhaustion.
"If I need to make it up to them… maybe tonight… I'll treat them to something to eat?"
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