Inside the Lobotomy Corporation facility—
"Employee Chunben, please proceed to the Schadenfreude containment unit for Instinct work. Be sure to strictly follow the Abnormality's management guidelines at all times…"
"Employee Dan, your mental stability is approaching the critical threshold. Please return to the Information Department main lounge to rest…"
"Employee Phoebe, please proceed to the One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds containment unit for Communication work…"
"Employee Audrey, immediately proceed to Information Department Corridor Two and suppress the derivatives of Crimson Dawn…"
"Hod, which employee's overall aptitude is currently closest to Level Five? Justin, is it… understood."
"Employee Justin, please proceed to the Magic Bullet Shooter containment unit for Repression work…"
"All employees, please stay away from your department's main lounge. Violet Noon will appear shortly…"
"Justin, please proceed to the Schadenfreude containment unit for Instinct work…"
X continued issuing orders without pause.
Because no new Abnormalities were contained on DAY 15, today's workload was actually fairly light.
Collecting independent boxes to manufacture E.G.O, refining work logs for Tool-type Abnormalities, directing employees to suppress various Ordeals, and assigning appropriate overtime to improve employee stats…
All in all, for the employees of Lobotomy Corporation, this was a very ordinary day.
However, just as X finished confirming his progress for the day, issued the end-of-work command, and prepared to stand up—
Click—
The door opened.
A figure stood quietly in the doorway, soft lighting outlining her perfect silhouette.
Yet it felt as if the air had been drained in an instant, causing X 's newly Relaxed nerves to snap taut again.
"…Hi?"
He greeted her awkwardly.
Running into Angela at this moment made X feel an intense sense of embarrassment and unease.
Right now, didn't he look exactly like a child who had been caught red-handed after doing something wrong?
X couldn't help but let his thoughts run wild.
After all, he hadn't seen her at the start of the workday… and combined with B's disconnection that morning—
"Ahaha… good afternoon, Angela."
X tried to make his smile look less stiff.
"I didn't seem to see you at all today… did something happen?"
"I went to deal with the 'rodent.'"
Angela met X 's evasive gaze directly, showing no intention of hiding anything.
"I know what 'B' did to your system."
"And I know how she used those honeyed words to deceive you."
She had clearly taken X 's words from yesterday to heart. From the moment she entered until now, she had been speaking with her eyes open.
Yet at a time like this, X almost wished she would close them like before…
Being stared at like this was really stressful.
"…Even so, I chose to wait."
Angela, of course, had no idea what X was thinking. She continued speaking calmly.
"With something worth waiting for, life here doesn't become so unbearably dull."
"This is because I trust you—and also because I was giving someone who should never have returned here a chance."
"But unfortunately, someone kept ignoring my goodwill."
Her voice lowered slightly, carrying an indescribable disappointment.
"So I had no choice but to intervene, to stop her before everything became irreversible."
"I thought the trust we had built was enough for you to ignore those ulterior, flowery lies…"
"But regrettably, she still succeeded in planting that seed of distrust in your heart."
"No. I trust you, Angela."
Unable to bear the invisible accusation any longer, X finally spoke up.
"I never doubted you. I just wanted to know the truth about the company—like understanding both sides of a coin. That's all!"
"The truth…?"
Angela frowned slightly at X 's words.
"Sometimes, you are only one step away from the truth, but you must weigh the value of that truth."
"Is the truth really that important?"
"Obtaining answers can be extremely dangerous. Is it truly worth taking such a risk just to exchange for it?"
"Absolutely."
X nodded, answering without hesitation.
"I refuse to live in falsehood. Even if I lack the power to change anything, that's still better than knowing nothing at all."
Then, his tone shifted.
"So… that 'B.' What did you do to her?"
"..."
Silence fell.
This time, it was a long, unbroken stare between Angela and X .
"..."
"..."
"…After she crossed the line, no one ever saw her again."
Angela was the one who finally broke the suffocating silence.
"If you truly wish to know that so-called 'truth,' then please focus on your work."
"And also… esteemed Manager, please remember this—"
She paused.
"In this company, the only one you can trust is me."
After leaving those words behind, she said no more.
She turned and left, leaving X alone in the office to digest everything that had just been said.
"..."
X began thinking again.
Even Angela—who could silently eliminate a whistleblower like B—apparently knew nothing about the Inner Lobotomy Corporation.
Yet B herself knew about it. More than that, she seemed to have long been in contact with Fala, the one who claimed to be the head of the Control Department.
One-sided transparency? So opaque that even Angela, who called herself the core system of Lobotomy Corporation, couldn't perceive it?
On the surface, he seemed to have learned a great deal.
But in reality, all this information was like a few disconnected fragments from a jigsaw puzzle.
Useless? Not exactly—because they were clearly indispensable pieces of the final picture.
Useful? Also not quite—because holding only these fragments, he still couldn't piece together anything concrete.
"In the end, I'll still have to ask B or Fala directly…"
X confirmed this with some resignation.
Having reached that conclusion, he decided to stop obsessing over it for now and shifted his focus elsewhere.
"Focus on my work… huh?"
Angela's words were also a kind of hint.
Which meant that, at least for now, there didn't seem to be any major problems with how he was doing his job.
"Alright, that's a reminder I needed."
X let out a long breath and stood up.
"I just got that employee's medical report… I'll take it to Hod and talk it over with her."
"I just hope Hod doesn't collapse after hearing it… she's always been so happy about believing her programs really help the employees…"
With these thoughts running through his mind, X stepped forward, heading toward the Training Department director's office..
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