IBACT Chapter 3

Guilty (3)

Bill, who worked at a food factory, woke up to the sound of a blaring alarm.

“Damn… already?”

Just getting up was painful. Every day was torture.

Sometimes, he would imagine lying there and never getting up again.

“Hey, hurry up and get ready! The foreman will throw a fit if you’re late again.”

“Damn it…”

It was a group dormitory. The only personal space was a small locker in the corner.

Bill gathered his wits, packed up his bedding, and rushed to the shower room so he wouldn’t be late.

He waited with empty eyes for the long line in front of him, then surrendered his body to the shower where cold water poured out.

[The hygiene and safety of Hansan Foods depend on you. Please be particularly careful as workers may be held responsible when hygiene-related accidents occur.]

“Damn it. If you’re going to say that, at least replace the showers…”

Even that ice-cold water didn’t come out smoothly. Bill twisted his body, trying to make sure the water falling from the fixed showerhead could wash his entire body.

“What’s on the menu today?”

“Beans and water.”

Bill entered the cafeteria, picked up a bowl, and stood at the end of the long line.

“Well, at least there won’t be bugs in it.”

Tom, his workplace colleague, nodded with a smile.

“I wish they’d at least give us crackers. They’re damn hard to eat, but at least you feel like you’re chewing something.”

“Those sawdust crackers? I hate sawdust more than bugs. Shit, at least bugs are organic matter.”

“I don’t mind farmed insects. At least they’re clean.”

“You know we’re not in a position to expect cleanliness in our food. We just have to eat what they give us.”

“Damn it… since I don’t expect anything, I wish they’d at least give us enough.”

The amount of bean porridge the serving machine poured into the bowl was absurdly insufficient.

“Damn, it’ll all come out with one piss. How are we supposed to work on this?”

“There are plenty of people who would work on that food.”

“Well, that’s coldly realistic of you.”

But it was true.

There were still many people waiting outside the cafeteria. They had to finish their meals as quickly as possible and rest for a few minutes before work began.

When mealtime ended, they all had to enter the workplace.

“I’ve been complaining about these rubber gloves for a week, but they’re still the same.”

“Well, that’s how those higher-ups are.”

Bill put on the torn gloves roughly, sighed deeply, and then entered the factory.

“Just smelling this scent makes my head throb now…”

The countless ears of corn pouring in from agricultural zones were processed into food products by their hands.

Even these cheap grains were too expensive to be provided to them for free, but at least they could get minimal calories by spending their wages to buy corn at the company store.

Bill started working with his mind half-gone. Work that was too complicated for machines but too simple for humans.

No, even that wasn’t an accurate description. Almost any job humans could do could be replaced by machines.

Using such advanced machines for mere food processing was just an inefficient choice compared to using much cheaper humans.

It was work that consumed not only the body but also mental strength, requiring humans to chip away at their own humanity and fill their hearts with machine-like qualities.

Still, it was a job Bill was used to. After all, he had been working here for seven months.

He continued working mechanically, emptying his mind.

“…Attention everyone! I know work is busy, but this is fucking urgent!”

The foreman, pale as a ghost, ran over shouting. Bill, whose concentration was broken, glared at him with a frown.

But the atmosphere was unusual. People who should have been sleeping at this hour were dragging themselves in with grim faces.

“Why are the night shift guys here at this hour…”

“Some really important people are coming. I’ll take care of these guys later, so for now, fix up the appearances of the guys who are already working!”

It was an unreasonable request. Bill muttered in a small voice.

“We need time to rest our hands before we can fix our appearances, damn it…”

The conveyor belt continued running, uncaring of their situation. But Bill couldn’t bring himself to voice his complaints out loud.

It was a 12-hour shift. Considering that meal times and work preparation times weren’t counted as working hours, there was barely enough time to sleep, let alone rest.

People who had been forcibly brought in despite desperately trying to manage their conditions would not be living, even if they were alive.

“Now, you guys start cleaning! Quickly! Clean it spotlessly, immaculately!”

The dragged-out humans spent dozens of minutes cleaning every corner of the factory. But the expectations were different.

Not just the foreman, but even the factory manager had crawled out wearing a proper suit to assess the situation.

“Oh, they’re here!”

“Already? Damn, everyone get your act together! Just don’t say anything unnecessary. They probably won’t ask you regular employees anything anyway!”

The factory manager shouted in a booming voice.

“Who on earth is coming…”

Bill and Tom slightly raised their heads to look at the factory entrance. They could hear the sound of an incredibly expensive-looking car stopping in the factory parking lot.

“Shit, keep your eyes down. Don’t make eye contact at all.”

Tom, who had confirmed it first, hurriedly lowered his head. Bill reflexively lowered his head as well but soon became curious.

“Who on earth is it?”

In a whispered voice, Bill asked Tom, who was working next to him.

“Han Sanwoo.”

“Shit, why would that gentleman come here…”

To begin with, he was someone whose face an ordinary Stella City citizen would never see except on TV.

He was the troublemaker of the Hansan family and a public enemy who swaggered around the city with impunity.

He was already from a company with a bad reputation. Among them, he was a member of the Hansan Group, which was the most powerful and disgusting.

If not the entire group, at least within Stella City, he was a person who wielded absolute power.

“No matter how I think about it, he doesn’t seem to have come with good intentions…”

“Wait, why isn’t he coming in?”

But that man had stopped outside the factory and wasn’t coming in.

Han Sanwoo’s vile smile briefly crossed Bill’s eyes.

“Director Han Sanwoo, coming to such a humble place… we truly consider it an honor.”

The suited factory manager hurriedly bowed his head.

“Oh, yeah. I came because I had… something to see personally.”

“Feel free to look around. Our Hansan Foods factory is, as always, operating perfectly.”

“I see…”

“Of course, it might be uncomfortable for you to come inside? Since you can see well enough from outside, maybe this much…”

Misinterpreting the way my gaze was darting around, the factory manager breathed a sigh of relief.

But I had no intention of letting it go easily.

Regardless of my real purpose, at least within the company, my visit had to appear as a ‘vile and insidious nitpicking.’

There weren’t many areas that needed to be touched, but if I pinpointed those areas, it would raise suspicions later.

So, I needed to start with something trivial.

“No, I’m going in. Hat.”

“Hat… what do you mean?”

“Hygiene cap, you should have one. Am I supposed to just enter a food factory in this state?”

The factory manager’s face turned pale. It was understandable.

The Hansan Group’s base was in Korea. And Unified Korea had a social system that was closer to an ordinary dystopia than cyberpunk.

A typical dystopia where dictators oppressed all citizens, destroying humanity within perfectly functioning rules and order.

Naturally, Hansan Foods, which followed those rules internally, also had ‘on paper’ strict hygiene and safety rules.

“I’ll guide you right away!”

But it’s different in Stella City.

This is a free city. Located within US territory but not under US governance, a city that could serve as a buffer zone in the war between corporations and nations.

Of course, companies that entered here had no obligation to follow the restrictive laws of Korea or any other country.

The rules and laws within Stella City had long been gutted and rendered meaningless by numerous corporations.

“I’m already getting annoyed.”

Naturally, not only the managers but even the workers didn’t respect such rules.

“I’ll prepare it right away!”

This was a kind of declaration of war.

Once I declared that I would follow those rules, everyone below me had to follow those meaningless rules as well.

After keeping me waiting briefly, the factory manager returned with a powerless face.

“I’m, I’m sorry. I checked, but… the inventory.”

“What, you don’t even have a hygiene cap for me to wear? With this, how can anyone eat anything from Hansan Foods?”

“We… since we mainly produce lower-priced foods at this factory. We don’t have enough hygiene caps for all factory employees right now…”

I already knew. In factories that produced more expensive processed foods, much stricter rules would be followed.

But Stella City doesn’t embrace the poor. The argument was that for food that could be eaten at such a cheap price, such treatment should be expected.

“Well, fine. Let’s get started…”

Still, it was a bit infuriating that they didn’t even have inventory. It meant they hadn’t even thought about following hygiene rules, not just leaving them out for a day or two of comfortable work.

But I hadn’t forgotten my purpose. Today, I needed to properly stir up this factory. To the extent that anyone could see it couldn’t be operated for months.

“There are quite a lot of people here? They don’t look happy.”

“That, well…”

The factory manager’s expression darkened.

“Never mind. I’ll ask directly. You, mister?”

“M-m-m-me, are you talking to me?”

“Yeah, you. The mister in the blue clothes. Come here for a moment.”

I beckoned, calling one of the employees as if calling a dog.

“You. This isn’t your regular working time, is it? You should speak honestly.”

I pressed lightly on his two shoulders with my hands, smiling mischievously.

“W-well, that is…”

“Sure, take your time. But this doesn’t seem like such a difficult question, does it?”

He was watching for cues. I could see his eyes darting slightly.

Probably looking at where the factory manager was standing.

“This is my regular working time!”

“My, how confident. Good.”

“Thank you!”

“Hahahahaha…!”

After laughing heartily, I suddenly changed my expression and turned my head with a cold voice.

“Suhwa. Scan the work schedule here.”

“Understood.”

My secretary and bodyguard immediately began extracting information.

It was a bit much to call it hacking; it was more like looking up information accessible with her authority using the computer in her brain.

“John. 54 years old. Recorded as night shift in this company’s personnel management program.”

The factory manager rushed over.

“Ah, no, that’s…”

“Shut up.”

If the factory manager also lied to me here, the damage would be greater than I thought.

“Check the information on everyone here. Compare with the personnel who should be here.”

She continued to dig through the information with unfocused eyes.

“Checking personnel inside the factory, excluding unregistered workers. As a result, the number of workers deployed in this factory is 187% of the normal personnel.”

I scratched my head.

“No, what’s with the lies? John. Have you really lost your mind?”

It wasn’t a pleasant situation to have a person old enough to be my father trembling at my words, but I had to do what needed to be done.

“You’re going to have to leave the company, aren’t you?”