"She's your sister?!"
At the W Corp cafeteria table, Komini was frantically serving food, while Arthur leaned closer to Yulia, lowering his voice as he asked.
No wonder he had felt a vague sense of familiarity the first day he saw Yulia's blue hair…
"Then your family is really full of talent. All of you working for Wings of the World…"
"Shut up…"
Yulia kept her gaze fixed on Rose across the table, replying to Arthur with only two cold words.
The atmosphere was awkward. The tension between the sisters was impossible to miss.
"Where's Renka? Didn't both of you get accepted into L Company?"
Rose's expression remained calm. She sat at the cafeteria table but hadn't taken a tray. The spoon in her hand clinked lightly against the tabletop.
"Why haven't I seen her?"
"She's still at the company…"At the mention of Renka, a trace of avoidance flickered through Yulia's eyes, her voice dropping slightly."This business trip—I was just unlucky enough to be selected."
Arthur, standing nearby, raised an eyebrow. He immediately realized that Yulia was covering up the fact that her sister had already died.
"You two…" Rose continued, unaware of the lie. "Father told you to choose W Corp when filling out your applications, but you insisted on L Company."
She paused, idly stirring the spoon.
"What's the point of never coming home even once after graduating from university?"
"He's your father. Not ours."
"I know you don't understand him, but—"
Rose stopped mid-sentence. Her hand froze, then slowly lowered. In the end, she said nothing more.
"…Forget it. How are you two doing now?"
"That's none of your concern."
Yulia's answer was sharp and final.
Good grief.What kind of melodramatic family drama is this?
Arthur watched the exchange, so distracted that he completely lost his appetite. He silently pushed his untouched plate toward Komini.
This awkward conversation might have dragged on even longer—if not for the arrival of new people.
"You're here."
Supervisor Lentz and Old Aaron entered through the cafeteria doors.
The moment the W Corp Director appeared, all nearby employees stood and bowed—including Rose.
"Rose, still entertaining guests?" Old Aaron asked with a smile.
"..."
Rose glanced briefly at Yulia before bowing.
"My apologies. I'll return to work immediately."
W Corp demanded absolute obedience from lower-ranking employees. Without hesitation, Rose turned and headed for the elevator, preparing to return to the Warp train cleaning rotation.
But in that final glance, Yulia understood—
This would not be their last encounter.
Yulia stood up. Knowing this only made her feel more uncomfortable.
"Supervisor, can we leave now?"
"Yes," Supervisor Lentz replied, nodding. "Some contracts still need to be drafted, but they can be finalized before the day after tomorrow."
Komini quickly raised her hand.
"Then… do we need to return to the Branch?"
"No need. I've already approved your business-trip leave."Supervisor Lentz smiled warmly."Just return to Lobotomy Corporation before 0:00 the day after tomorrow. You don't need to stay with me twenty-four hours a day."
"I hereby grant you freedom of action."
…He really does want to give us a vacation.
Arthur was surprised—but he accepted the sudden freedom without guilt.
Compared to returning underground to face endless Abnormalities, life in the Nest—assuming nothing went wrong—was undeniably more comfortable.
Meanwhile.
As the Lobotomy Corporation Supervisor and his employees were speaking—
A W Corp employee hurried over to Old Aaron's side and leaned close, whispering urgently.
"Director… monitoring data… spatial density…"
Old Aaron's expression subtly darkened.
"Everyone, the company has urgent matters to attend to. We'll be taking our leave."
Without waiting for a response from L Corp, Old Aaron and the employee quickly exited the cafeteria.
Within minutes, he arrived somewhere entirely different.
A place filled with ringing alarms, rapid commands, and overlapping voices.
"Has Platform 1 been cleared?"
"Train 23 requests departure!"
"Has the Third Cleaning Squad reached Train 13 yet?!"
...
This was the W Corp Institute—
The Warp train dispatch center.
Here, thousands of W Corp employees worked in continuous shifts, issuing dispatch commands and coordinating cleaning squads around the clock.
Only through this relentless operation could the City avoid falling into paralysis.
Old Aaron wasn't here for an inspection.
He walked straight toward the massive screen at the center of the room.
A gigantic blue display showed a full map of the City.
This was a quasi-Singularity system acquired by W Corp—technology capable of monitoring spatial density across affiliated Nests.
Every time a Warp train tore open space to depart or arrive, the surrounding spatial density thinned.
On the screen, blue areas would briefly flare red.
Under normal circumstances, such thinning could only occur at authorized platforms.
But—
If a Warp train appeared somewhere it shouldn't…
That event was classified as a Derailment.
And derailments were unacceptable.
They had to be detected, contained, and erased immediately.
The truth of W Corp must never reach the public.
"Where is the derailment?" Old Aaron demanded.
Yet the W Nest area on the screen remained stable—no red zones.
"No… the anomaly isn't inside the Nest," the technician replied hesitantly.
"Then where?" Old Aaron snapped, waving for him to continue.
The employee swallowed and enlarged the map.
The display zoomed outward, past the Nest center—
Until a single red point appeared at the very edge.
He pointed at it.
"…23rd Alley."