The 27th floor was one of the lesser-known floors amongst the populace because, apart from the small suburban shops that lined across the roads, with only a numbered residential area, the biggest source of income for its sustainability was the storage houses and small-scale contractors that had set up shop here. Every thriving business has always had an office that reflects the business's wealth and is used to build trust with customers; however, small businesses don't care about offices. They just need a physical location for the sake of documentation. These businesses usually involve online warehousing, repair and maintenance offices, and scam call centers. Even multimillion-dollar companies had setups like customer care centers in difficult-to-find areas to encourage the customer to rebuy something rather than shouldering the extra effort to locate a place far away from home and make multiple rounds for a nifty little thing to get done.
As such, the 27th floor also made a convenient place for teenagers to buy illegal items, for criminals to meetup in a still-organized manner without being an eyesore, and even for some sneaky lovebirds to enjoy the privacy of a hotel room at the price of an internet cafe.
In any case, it was safe to assume that the 27th floor, the place that was my homeland since I had translocated here, wasn't short of people who had secrets they wouldn't want others to know. For the type of work that I was going to do along with Madam Blanka, it seemed like a fish farm, and all we had to do was dip our hands in and pull a few big ones out.
Our plan was simple: for me to wander into the streets of floor 27, read the memories of potential targets, find any information that could be exploited, and return safely into the underground neighborhood. From then on, Madam Blanka was going to handle the rest.
Madam Blanka and I walked out of her house and into the street.
"This time of the day seems busier than usual, don't you think?"
"Well, it's not like we can wait for the sun and moon to show up. Most people began sticking to alarms. Soon everyone realized it was better to sync their times with each other."
"That makes sense."
"Anyways, you remember the map of the floor, right? All you need to do is meet up with Yuki at the spot she told you to."
"Gotcha. I'm totally ready to do this. Yuki doesn't know, right? You didn't tell her the actual plan, did you, Madam Blanka?"
"Not at all. There's simply no need. I told her you're going to use the salesman approach of offering help to needy people at the mobile center in the markets."
"She didn't suspect, though, right?"
"Yuki believes things easily, Hasumi. She bothered bringing a human into the underground neighborhood. That's proof enough of how naive she can be. That is all the more reason not to get caught."
"Yeah, I can't imagine facing her if she finds out. I won't be able to face her."
I clenched my fists, knowing I was sinning yet again when I had been given a new opportunity. Still, there was no use living a life like mine. I promised myself to do more good than harm with my talents this time around, but I could not change my methods. Still, even now, the only thing I was good at was cybercrime. Thus, I was going to use these skills to bring forth good from evil.
"Why does the world think bad people do not deserve doing good deeds? Are good deeds the inheritance of self-righteous people only? That's utterly false, and it disgusts me. Did you ever hear a criminal say good people are barred from sinning?"
"What are you even saying?"
"tch. Why does the world make it hard for bad people to do good, but easy for good people to do bad?"
"Woah, loosen up a bit. You'll need to keep feeling aside throughout this mission."
"Well, yeah. You're right about that."
I regained my focus quickly, realizing now was not the time to dote on the cruelties of the world.
"There are multiple entrances and exits to the underground neighborhood. For security reasons, each doorway is either an exit or an entrance, not both. Also, each android can register with a set of five exits and entrances. This is to ensure security as well."
Madam Blanka stopped walking once we were standing in front of a very large store. It was Victorian architecture, with numerous hints of modernized architecture. For instance, the facade of the entire store was continuously changing color, from vibrant pink all the way to blue, changing its shades continuously. A large glass window behind which stood mannequins wearing strange gadgets, from headgear to gloves, was displayed on them.
"Want to check out this store? It seems to have grabbed your attention quite a bit."
I had indeed been staring at it; the gadgets had piqued my interest simply because everyone here had some type of machine that enhanced their capabilities in one way or another.
"It wouldn't hurt to check it out, but we'll make it quick."
Blanka smiled.
"What's up with that smile?"
"Just call me Blanka instead of Madam Blanka."
"Huh?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it. You probably call me Blanka in your mind anyway."
"Did she break through the anti-thought intrusion magicode?"
"No, actually, I didn't. It's working perfectly. I can read you, that's all."
"Yeah, yeah, you're so cool, Blanka!."
I muttered, frustrated by the accuracy of her reading. Was I really an open book to her?
I entered the shop, which, to my surprise, was dark. Upon entering, I couldn't make out the interior. However, in an instant, the music from the underground neighborhood faded into non-existence, and I found myself standing in a small market square in the middle of two small shops, both with their shutters drawn down.
"Huh?"
It took me a few seconds to realize the shop was, in fact, an exit.
"Being pranked is never frustrating. Damn you, Blanka."
Still, Blanka had made me go through the floor 27 map and explained to me where to meet up with Yuki. Since surveillance was strict in some places while lacking in others, there was no way to know which security camera was working at which time. Even the fact that some security cameras didn't function was lucky because the lower floors were often ignored by the megacity governing body.
More shops were opened up for business here than in that place from where I had gotten onto the bus, but the atmosphere was familiar at that time. I walked around slowly, observing everything, from the people to the streets. The one thing I had to make sure of was not being identified by the police. I had no idea if the police recognized me or why they even targeted me in the first place, so if there was one thing I couldn't afford, it was to get stopped by them, even for a chat. Most people were wearing masks, as Yuki had said, so I was thankful for wearing one too.
"Now then, let's see which one of you will be the unlucky one today."
After some wandering in the streets, I finally saw my first potential target. I was in the seafood market, from what it seemed, which to me was kind of funny because to me it seemed as if I were fishing. A fat man with a coat and hat walked lazily past me, smoking a cigar. He seemed to be very rich and a real thug. "Is he part of the mafia? Guess there's one way to find out."
Making sure twice that I had my anti-thought intrusion magicode correctly working, I turned to the man who had now passed me and tapped his shoulders.
"Ummm, excuse me, good sir. I'm lost. Can you guide me a little bit with the right directions?"
As I said this to him, in my mind, I simultaneously activated the magicode.
"Unique Ability: Inspect Photon."
All of a sudden, my mind was flooded with the recent events that had happened in this man's life. Although I tried to keep a consistently confused face expression, I was sure my face may have seemed a little suspicious and natural because the eyes cannot see a stranger or someone intimately close to you in the same motionless manner. Familiarity is anything but physically acquirable; however, my ability seemed to have a hidden cost. I was not only inheriting the man's memories but also his feelings. At that moment, I realized that misusing this ability could prove to be the most fatal mistake of mine, for it was not easy to burden just one person's mind with the joys and sufferings of a thousand people.
I learned that the man was a very wealthy businessman who dealt with logistics and had recently lost his wife to some disease. He was feeling guilty deep within for not feeling sad about losing her even after spending 27 years of marriage with her. His only son, whom he had recently discovered, was under debt, and he had come to the 27th floor to pay the debt of 800,000 EC's to the loan shark. His son had wanted to prove to his father that he could become a businessman like his father without using any financial support. The man had spent a very tough life, struggling for the first few years, until his business finally bloomed. Things like the man's first kiss, his regret to not become an athlete when he was younger, and a memory of bribing the local government to give him his first push into the business, all unyielded in front of me. Still, there was one thing that I saw in the man's memories that shook me to my core. He was going to the hospital tomorrow for chemotherapy. At that point, I stopped searching. It didn't feel right to do so, nor did I want to exploit this man. Maybe in the year 2024 I wouldn't have cared. I wouldn't have picked a target unless I was sure they could offer something of value, but had my weakness in this time period brought me closer to being human? What was it that weighed down on my heart? Something strange made me hug the man and tell him he was a strong man for facing the toughest challenges head-on. All I could do, however, was keep a straight face.
The man turned slowly toward me and stared at me.
"Sure. Where would you like to go?"
He said every word with clarity and calculation. No wonder he was a businessman, and an experienced one at that. He had nothing against me, but for him, everything he did in life was an investment. In this case, he may be seeing helping me as a bad investment.
I randomly named a town square, and he guided me. A good hacker was not someone who could intrude into any system. This was just part of the process. What defined a great hacker was his cleanliness when hacking into a system. The question was: how long would it take for the security experts to even know they had been hacked? I had never been found out unless the system I was hacking had been a government-backed organization or a remote database with no connection to the internet. Many times I would hack into computers, do my job, and leave after covering up my tracks. I was going to do something of a similar nature here by trying to overwrite the man's memory of ever meeting me. This was a tougher task, but nonetheless worthy of trying.
"Thanks a lot for helping. I'll repay you for your kindness one day."
I extended my hands to encourage him to shake them, but he simply turned and began walking in his direction. Touching him twice without consent would spark suspicion, and he might report to the police. It was better at this point to be as natural as I could and follow along where he had pointed.
Once I reached "Banana Junction," the place I had asked the man about, I silently stood there along the sidewalk, next to what looked like a vending machine. It was a machine with a screen integrated into it. Although it was of the same nature as the other screens I had encountered, its being framed on all sides made it resemble the closest to a screen. A very attractive lady wearing a blood red dress and black heels approached the machine. She glanced at me momentarily but continued to play around with the screen. Since I was standing next to it, I had no way of seeing the interface. Next to the machine was an empty space, where, out of thin air, a can of soda formed.
"What? They can make things out of thin air as well. What technology is this?"
I quickly realized that the outside world was going to be much more advanced than the underground neighborhood, so I had to hold my horses. My best guess was that this was some form of teleportation. Still, it was too early to narrow down my hypothesis, and I wasn't here for sightseeing either.
"I can't possibly touch the woman, so I'll have to wait for another opportunity. Still, she looked very nervous for some reason."
I let out a sigh, but I realized the lady was returning back towards the vending machine. Only this time, she was coming towards me.
"Are you available right now? I wanted to ask earlier."
"Huh? Lady what?"
"I want to book you for an hour. Name your price."
"Whhaaaaaaaaaaaat?"
"Hey, I'm not that kind of person. And do male pleasure workers even exist?"
All of a sudden, irrationality clouded my mind. What seemed like a simple job began to be hard. My mind was telling me to run because at any moment the anti-thought intrusion software could give up on me if not tended to carefully, while my heart was telling me to go for the opportunity, which seemed straight out of a manga.
I closed my eyes, concentrating. "Hasumi, have you forgotten who you are? Is the world's most threatening and dangerous hacker going to throw away his humanity and gain advantage of this poor lady? Of course. That is exactly what you will do. You are the predator, not the prey. You will deal your cards and leave this woman stranded."
I slowly reached out my hand to touch the woman's shoulder. For a moment, the veins under my lips twitched. Then, every other thought was gone except for one.
"Sorry, Madam. I am on an off day today. I need my rest to perform later, haha."
"Unique Ability: Inspect Photon."
With this, my second target had been caught in my hook. As I saw the woman leave another street, a lingering sense of regret came to me. However, I had a will of iron that I had developed and honed during my time as a cybercriminal. High-intensity situations require self-control and restraint. Today, I had been challenged by the greatest weakness of man, so it made sense for me to experience some level of difficulty, but at the end of the day, I was a cybercriminal, and a good one at that. This experience was only going to make me stronger.
What was concerning was that the young woman was being blackmailed by her boss into doing the most hideous sin. The young woman was a very successful marketing manager at a media company on floor number 76. However, her husband, who also worked for the same company in the finance department, had stolen money to give his wife a very expensive necklace for Valentine's Day. He had been caught, and the CEO of the company was blackmailing the woman to either make a scandalous video of herself with a male pleasure worker and send it to her husband or risk her husband going to jail and losing his job and license.
Having learned all about the middle-aged businessman and the young, successful lady from the corporate world, I decided I had done enough for the day and decided to head back to the point Yuki had told me and Blanka of. I recalled the map of the 27th floor, according to which I was somewhere in the middle of the north-western quadrant. I needed to go towards the middle, somewhere of similar nature to the time before when I had met Yuki. A few men walked into the street and stood on the sidewalk next to me.
"Oye, are you new here? Who do you work for, kid?"
"So this business was run by the mafia, huh? At any rate, I should deescalate and get out of here. I am on their turf after all."
"Oh nothing. I don't mean to give you trouble. I'll leave."
With this, I walked straight out of the area, figuring out what these strange shops were about. They had no name or showcase, just red LED bulbs on the doors. I should have figured it out.
"Anyways, I need to make it in time to catch the bus Yuki drives. She won't stay there for more than two minutes."
As I walked out towards the middle of the floor, I saw the green neon-lit bus in the distance. All that was left for me to do was inform Madam Blanka of all the secrets I had learned so that she would continue our mission to exploit them and blackmail the people for money. As for Yuki, she knew nothing about this operation. She thought I had repaired people's lost memories for money, so I had to do one more job, which was to keep her in the dark about this matter. I felt guilty for doing it at first, but as the neon bus approached, stopping right where I stood, I made up my mind and clapped my cheeks.
"Hasumi. This is for the greater good. You can do it!."
Although cooking up a story to give to Yuki was easy, the harder task for me was to decide. Was I going to blackmail these poor people and further burden them with the cruelty of life? Or was I going to save them? Was I going to simply forget all about them? I did not know. One thing was certain in all of this: I was neither the hacker I used to be nor the monster I used to be. I did not know what was happening, but sympathizing with people who needed help seems a lot easier than before.
I looked up towards the sky and stepped into the bus. "Are you looking over me, Jin-Sung? I hope I do well this time."