Chapter 30
CHAPTER 30
Surprisingly, the call really came .
The next day, shortly after returning home from school, a call arrived on my mobile device .
“Hello . ”
It was a man’s voice . It was not familiar to me .
Who could this be, I though as I wondered how to respond, but the man coughed and spoke .
“This is Lios . I’m the system administrator for The World . ”
Suddenly, yesterday’s conversation about The World came back to my mind .
“Oh, yeah,” I replied dumbly .
“Thanks for the other day…”
Once I knew who he was, I had no clue how to react .
He said my name and confirmed he hadn’t made a mistake .
I replied with a yes .
“Actually, I’m near your house right now,” said Lios .
“I would like to talk to you directly about future developments in The World . Is school now over?”
“Yes . ”
“Is there a place where we can talk? It won’t take too long . About thirty minutes is all I need . ”
I mentioned the hamburger chain in front of the station .
That’s not to say that it was a particularly easy place in which to talk . It’s just a good place to go .
“Understood . I’ll be there in about 30 minutes . Okay?”
The call was disconnected .
I changed from my school uniform to plain clothes and went to the station by bicycle .
The man was already waiting for me when I entered the store .
A man in a suit stood up and beckoned me with his hand .
“You must be Kite, right?” said the man .
“Allow me to introduce myself . I am Lios . ”
He offered me his business card as he spoke .
It seemed the likelihood of me getting business cards increased recently .
I received it with an awkward motion .
CyberConnect Corporation System Management Department Manager
Kouji Tsuchiya
“Please have a seat . ”
As he spoke, I, somewhat flustered, sat back in the seat he pointed to .
But this can’t be helped, I thought .
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When I entered the store, I unknowingly looked for Lios . In other words, the appearance of a man with an atmosphere similar to that of Lios . Fat, large, middle-aged . I was using that image as a clue .
But now, the man who sat opposite me was completely different .
First, he was young . Probably young, I thought . He seemed to be younger than Mt . Tokuoka who I had met last time . No, is that really the case? I don’t know how to tell the age of adults .
He also had broad shoulders . Yet he was not fat, but rather thin, sharp and powerful . Was it the look of a top athlete? I didn’t know any top athletes . In any case, he was totally different from the rich and merchant-like Lios .
“First of all, I apologize for the frivolous behavior of my subordinates the other day . ”
Waiting for me to relax, he bowed .
“Huh?”
Subordinates? Perhaps he meant those PCs he appeared with who looked like a copy of him?
“Umm, you mean those… pig race squad people?”
“That’s right . ”
Mr . Tsuchiya frowned faintly .
“A system administrator’s job shouldn’t extend beyond the sense of their role in the game as it should be . Their attitude had a significant lack of self-awareness as a system administrator . ”
He continued with a deep sinking look, without worrying about being embarrassed .
“But… they were also tired of working overtime after already working overtime . Banning that would drastically reduce their motivation to work . Sorry if you felt uncomfortable . ”
“Yeah…”
Apparently, this person seemed to be struggling in a way I could not imagine .
However, if I wanted to say that I was uncomfortable, I thought that it was more shocking when I was called out by a false email and told that I was going to be deleted, but I thought it was wiser not to say anything more, so I refrained from putting it out there .
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“So, let’s get into the subject…”
I realized that there was only one thing he and Lios had in common . It was the unfriendly sour look on their faces .
“The world has long been an Internet society, but I have never been face-to-face when judging people . You know?”
“Yes . ”
“That woman, Helba said – ‘Managing them is not controlling them . Why don’t you look at these kids a little more?’ I’m not in the least willing to follow the words of a hacker, but…”
He coughed .
“In order to do that, I need to get to know you . I wanted to meet with you, talk, and learn about you . “
Then the interview began .
It was nothing but an interview
Mr . Tsuchiya asked a question and I answered .
When did you start The World? Why did you start?
When did you get your bracelet? From whom?
What do you know of the series of incidents? And so on .
For some of the questions, I felt that Mr . Tsuchiya already knew the answer and was checking with me just in case .
“Are you talking about the incidents outside of the game?”
When I was asked this, I remembered Mr . Tokuoka .
However, Mr . Tokuoka was extremely reluctant to let CC know about him .
“No,” I answered .
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“So, one last thing . Why do you keep playing the game?” said Mr . Tsuchiya .
“A mysterious phenomenon is happening in The World, which I have to admit . And you are probably one of the people most often facing the anomaly . So why continue the game?”
“I want to help my friends,” I answered, and Mr . Tsuchiya nodded lightly .
“The PC named Orca, Yasuhiko in the real world, is in hospital because he is unconscious . ”
He leaned on the table and he looked directly at me .
“Do you really believe that if you continue the game, Yasuhiko will recover?”
“Yes,” I answered .
“All the answers are within The World . I think so anyway . ”
There was silence for a while .
“Alright, understood . ”
Eventually, Mr . Tsuchiya gave a small nod .
“”I will refrain from commenting on your opinion right now . I’m was a CC employee before being a system administrator in The World . ”
Mr . Tsuchiya himself did not want to recognize the causal relationship between The World and the coma cases .
“In any case, we want the system to be stable,” he continued .
“And you want to save your friends . ”
I nodded .
“If we cooperate with each other, we may open the way,” said Mr . Tsuchiya .
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