Sterlt District, inside a black bulletproof car.
Jonas propped his head on his hand, bored out of his mind as he watched the scenery race past the window.
As though something had occurred to him, he smiled and asked:
"Miss Amau should have seen the video by now, right?"
"An hour ago, an anonymous, unregistered user decrypted the encrypted content using the ES-XS method and left traces of access."
The girl named Eiffel held the steering wheel as she answered Jonas:
"Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Miss Amau should have seen your transaction with Ian Strala by now."
"Ah, that really does complicate things..."
Despite his words, Jonas sounded utterly unconcerned.
Without turning her head, Eiffel exposed him mercilessly:
"Isn't this precisely the situation you wanted?"
The Wetting Conglomerate's security systems were not so easily cracked... Jonas had ordered in advance that the confinement room's surface-level security system be switched to E2-S System encryption.
In other words, the result Amau Sueko had worked so hard to obtain was nothing more than a trap Jonas had painstakingly designed.
"I only made a tiny contribution."
Jonas looked into Eiffel's eyes through the rearview mirror. Rather than deny what she had said, he smiled and continued:
"Most of the credit belongs to Miss Amau's own hard work, doesn't it?"
"You really do have a nasty streak."
Eiffel delivered her verdict without mercy.
Manipulative, treacherous, and cunning.
Throughout this incident, Jonas had perfectly demonstrated the qualities expected of someone who controlled a conglomerate.
Although the final piece of his plan had yet to fall into place, Eiffel could already foresee Miss Amau Sueko's miserable end.
She really was... pitiful.
The poor prey was caught deep in a carefully woven web. By the time she realized something was wrong, it would already be too late...
"No matter how elaborate a trap is, its purpose is to lure prey inside..."
As though he had guessed what Eiffel was thinking, Jonas said:
"And to keep that prey from escaping once it enters, traps are often linked together, one after another. From the moment the prey steps inside, it is doomed beyond salvation."
Eiffel paused at his words, then asked with some curiosity:
"Did you learn that from a documentary too?"
"No."
Jonas grinned. "That's just part of a capitalist's self-cultivation."
"...I think I'm starting to believe what you said earlier."
Eiffel had become certain of one thing.
This man named Jonas Wetting was a born scumbag.
"Perhaps no one is better suited to controlling the Wetting Conglomerate than you."
Miss Eiffel Margarita, known as the [Butler], offered her sincere praise.
Three full days had passed since the riot in Alt District.
The Wetting Conglomerate had reduced the incident's impact to a minimum, making it seem as though the turmoil it had caused had been completely quelled.
In reality, however, its lingering effects had not been entirely eliminated.
The Wetting Conglomerate's Alt District branch.
Eiffel methodically analyzed the losses caused by the Alt District riot and placed a spreadsheet in front of Jonas.
"After the attacks during the riot, the Alt District servers' firewall also sustained considerable damage..."
"The damage hasn't just burdened us with maintenance costs. A considerable number of hackers of unknown origin are also trying to breach the firewall, and outsourcing hackers to deal with them is another substantial expense."
The spreadsheet in front of Eiffel contained highly detailed figures. Most of the spending had gone toward the Alt branch's firewall.
After all, the Alt branch's database held a great deal of important information. Losing any of it could cause losses amounting to tens of millions of Credit Points.
At such a sensitive time, a major business blunder like that would inevitably give plenty of people ammunition against him.
If that happened, Jonas's entry into the board of directors would also be affected.
But letting the firewall issue drag on was not a sound decision either.
After all, Jonas was paying most of the firewall maintenance costs out of his own pocket, with most of those expenses deducted from funds under his name.
The longer it dragged on, the more money he would spend.
"How much longer... until the firewall maintenance is finished?"
Jonas rubbed his temples as he asked.
"At present, at least twenty days."
Eiffel paused, then added:
"The hackers' attacks also slow down maintenance. Unless we can ensure their attacks have absolutely no effect on the work, it will only take longer."
But they were using an outsourced team, and merely keeping the firewall maintenance running normally was already extremely difficult. To resolve the issue, they would need to find an experienced, prodigiously talented hacker... someone capable of defending the firewall with hundreds of millions of calculations.
The Wetting Conglomerate did have people with that kind of talent, but the board members were itching for him to slip up. Why would they approve such a personnel transfer?
Clearly, Jonas was now caught between a rock and a hard place.
He rubbed the space between his brows, racking his brain for a way out.
A moment later, inspiration struck. His eyes lit up as though he had suddenly remembered something.
"A hacker... right, how could I have forgotten her?"
The [Brain-Melding Hacker], Iris.
She was also one of the characters who had betrayed the original owner of his body the most times in the original storyline.
Though he could hardly feel comfortable employing someone like her, things had reached a point where he could no longer afford to worry about whether she would turn traitor later.
Setting his personal reservations aside, Miss Iris's talent was truly frightening. Handling hacker attacks of this level would be well within her capabilities.
And if he remembered correctly, Iris had yet to become involved in the storyline.
Taking a deep breath, Jonas said:
"Eiffel, get the car ready. I'm going to the slums."
It seemed he would have to start Miss Iris's [Brain-Melding Hacker] storyline ahead of schedule.
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