336 – The Past (15)

“Are the results out?”

“No, we just started.”

The fight with Dok Soo Hee was a kind of stimulus to Jitter. Her fierce resistance and hostile gaze reminded him that ‘I might be wrong.’

Any rational person who realizes that he is wrong will listen to the opinions of those who have different opinions. Jitter wanted to talk to Dok Soo-hee again.

Here, if Jitter went to find Dok Soo Hee, it was obvious that she would run away, so he left it to the other Alpha team members to persuade her. Still, since she was a familiar face, he figured she would at least listen to him.

“Are you ready?”

“yes.”

In order to have a ‘conversation’ with Dok Soo Hee, of course, they couldn’t meet in person. Jitter’s body itself was a weapon, and there was a high possibility that his presence would be perceived as a threat to the other person. Therefore, he wanted to talk to Dok Soo Hee remotely, and sat in a room where broadcasting equipment was installed in advance and waited.

So five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes. An hour. Two hours.

“…”

Mahesh entered the room with a very stiff face. Jeter also sensed that the negotiations had not gone well. Not because they were too late, but because they were too early. If they had been properly persuaded, it would have taken much longer.

“… What was the problem?”

Was the problem the personnel I sent? Or the content of the conversation? If not that…

Jitter ponders the cause of the failure. However, there is something that Jitter, the embodiment of efficiency, has not considered. Jitter was unable to manage personnel matters in detail due to his schedule with the president.

“That’s… the ‘Master’ who received our request is being greedy…”

“…what?”

The point is that not all humans are rational.

**

Members of ‘Team Alpha’ are currently active all over the world. No one can deny that they are of great help in maintaining the current order.

It would be absurd to order such busy and precious bodies to ‘wait on the 26th floor because Dok Soo Hee might come’. Jitter therefore gave a mission to the players who had free time and were spending time on the 26th floor. Something like ‘notify the association when Dok Soo Hee comes to the 26th floor’.

And when Dok Soo-hee came to the 26th floor, the player who was on duty was none other than the player called ‘Do-ryun-nim’. He had been openly saying that he would beat Michael Jeter based on his good characteristics, but after almost dying on the 25th floor, he had given up on climbing the tower any further. Since then, he had been spending his time as the government’s ‘insurance’, and he had received a request from Jeter.

Normally, such an unattractive player would not have been given a chance, but the reason was that there was no room.

‘… You want me to tell you when Dok Soo Hee comes?’

The problem is that the young master was much more stupid, arrogant, and evil than he thought. It could be because he grew up with a father who was a minister, or it could be because he was born that way.

As mentioned earlier, Do-ryun felt a sense of rivalry towards Jitter. He felt inferiority complex when he saw Jitter being praised as a hero every time he appeared on the news. In the midst of all this, he suddenly received a request to ‘notify me if Dok-soo-hee appears on the 26th floor.’

I don’t know exactly, but I could tell that something was wrong between Jitter and Dok Soo Hee. And that the association was desperately looking for Dok Soo Hee.

Naturally, he thought, if I can persuade Dok Soo-hee, wouldn’t I be able to exploit the association’s weakness?

When Dok Soo-hee came in while it was his turn to be on duty, he immediately took action.

“Okay, Dok Soo Hee. Look at this…”

The master’s plan was as follows. First, he would sign a ‘non-aggression’ contract. After that, he would explain the situation and help Dok Soo-hee destroy the association. (The reason he prepared the contract was because he was a government player on the surface, and he was worried that he would lose if Dok Soo-hee betrayed him.)

“asleep.”

“…uh?”

There were two things that the master had not considered here. First of all, since she was a member of Team Alpha, she had already signed a ‘contract’. Now, the master had mistakenly thought that the contract he had brought in was his own.

‘Now? Tomorrow? When can I go see Junho oppa? When? It’s hard. I’m lonely. I want to die. If I knew this would happen, I should’ve secretly taken out a mask. I’ll pretend to be someone else and go out.’

It is said that Dok Soo-hee has been confined to the first floor for quite some time and is in a considerably mentally exhausted state.

If he had been in his right mind, he would have listened to what he had to say. At the very least, he would have considered it. If he had just taken a moment to relax, he would have realized that the contract was not the one Dok Soo Hee had written. He would have realized that the contract had not been activated in the first place, so there was no magic lingering around.

“Ugh…!”

However, Dok Soo-hee, who had lost her senses, sprayed poison gas right away. She was so cornered that she even forgot that violence was not allowed on the 26th floor.

“What, what is it?”

“Hey, shit. Isn’t that Dok Soo Hee?”

To those who didn’t know, this was the embodiment of the conflict between the government and the association. No matter what anyone said, Do-ryun-nim was on the government’s side, and Dok-su-hee was on the association’s side.

So Dok Soo Hee was banished from the 26th floor, and Do Ryun Nim barely managed to escape with his life. Only then did the news reach Jitter.

“…”

Jitter finally fully realized his own shortcomings. He assumed that since his emotions were gone, all humans would act as ‘efficiently’ as he did.

Old memories that come to mind only then. How many of my seniors did crazy things when I was a rookie? How many of my comrades ran away because they couldn’t overcome the harsh training? How many criminals were captured and killed while working in the special forces because they couldn’t overcome their desires?

Humans are originally foolish animals. Why did I forget the nature of being human? Why did I judge others by my own standards? Jitter, who was troubled, returned to the lab with the thought that he had to finish the work he was doing.

“… jitter.”

And what greeted the return of Jitter?

“You… no, you. What have you done?”

The president was so pale that his lips turned blue.

**

If you’ve heard the story so far, there must be someone who has questions.

‘The relationship between the US government and the association is very good.’

Clearly, the relationship between the association and the government must have been the worst. Why do the president and Jeter work so closely together? Why do they help each other and move forward?

The reason is because of the discussions between Jeter and the President that have been mentioned all along.

Michael Jeter didn’t like the current association. That was a fact.

The Players Association is not, in fact, an organization in which player experts sit as executives. In the first place, the percentage of players is extremely low compared to the entire human race, and the possibility that some of those players are government officials is even lower.

Moreover, the Players Association was a hastily formed organization. It was natural that its members were ‘administrative experts’ rather than ‘player experts’.

When the association was first established, their influence was significant in laying the groundwork. Jitter had no intention of denying this. After all, creating systems, setting up frameworks, and making things run smoothly were the specialties of bureaucrats.

But the problem arose after that.

“This part definitely needs support.”

“Yes. I will look into it.”

“… I heard that you are investing your manpower in player classification and analysis, and legal finances, rather than player support.”

“Well, it’s a new, unprecedented power. Isn’t it something the Association must do?”

“The establishment of new educational programs is more urgent than that.”

“Once the infrastructure is established, we should implement such welfare programs. This is how the government works.”

The association interpreted by Jitter was ‘an organization that supports players who risk their lives to climb the tower’. The players’ association interpreted by the bureaucrats was ‘an organization that manages and supervises players’. Since they had different perspectives, conflict was inevitable.

Jeter wanted to get rid of them. Jeter wanted to fill at least the key executive positions with ‘players’, even if it meant leaving the administrative staff.

“… it may become uncontrollable.”

At the same time, the president was also worried. He was worried about a breakdown in order.

I heard that there are players in South America who are bulletproof and live like royalty. Also, Michael Jeter said that after enough time, players will become unstoppable with guns.

What if there were a case where the power of the players could overthrow the country? What if those with power were to realize that they could take everything? Order would collapse like dominoes.

“Mr. President, how about we postpone the conflict?”

Here, Jitter’s suggestion was one that the President liked very much.

The president of the association, Michael Jeter, ‘acts’ out the conflict with the government. They spread negative rumors about each other and clash over every little thing. (The rumors that Kim Jun-ho heard were mainly focused on the association’s people, which made him feel like the government was trash, and the information that Choi Ji-won, who met with the government, collected was that the association was not normal.)

Then, at a point when the conflict reached its peak and led to a show of force, Michael Jeter surrendered. The president willingly showed mercy and restored the existing order. The United States showed its strength by overcoming the threat of the players, and Jeter gained a justification for changing the association in exchange for losing some of his influence. It was a win-win situation.

Therefore, the current conflict was all staged conflict. It was a trap set to separate the jade from the stone and to reform. (The young master’s impulsive behavior was also due to falling into a trap.)

“…the president. No, Michael Jeter.”

Yeah, it was acting. Until this point.

The trembling president. In the two hours that Jeter went to wait for Dok Soo-hee.

“You b*stard, didn’t you sacrifice American lives for a book?”

He was amazingly in touch with the truth.