chapter 48
48 – Golden Generation (3)
“Ha ha.”
In the end, the sun rose without being able to fall asleep.
The conversation with Phyllis ended in the middle of the night, but the problem was that her words were too unconventional.
It was already 5:00 AM when I calmed down Senna who had exploded late and finished the remaining work.
Now it’s an ambiguous time to fall asleep, so in the end, I greeted the morning sun with my eyes wide open.
“I should prepare.”
For the meeting in the morning, it was necessary to slowly prepare the documents from now on.
Normally, Alice, the secretary, will take care of it, but today I have some free time, so I’ll have to do the work of the other executives as well.
‘Come to think of it, there was a manager’s meeting right after the entrance exam.’
Unlike the daily meeting where only the executives gather and discuss, the director’s meeting is a meeting where the department’s department heads gather to check the status of each department.
Find out whether the policies being implemented in each department are being properly implemented, and if there are any deficiencies, correct them and make a resolution to continue the activities more smoothly.
It could be said that this is the most important meeting that decides the general course of action of the general school.
This time, there is an entrance ceremony and a large number of freshmen have entered, so it is expected that there will be a lot of agenda related to it.
Well, I’ll have to set up a daily meeting right now.
‘Sena won’t be there today, so I just need to prepare 3 servings.’
Senna, the vice-president, told her to take a day off because she must be tired from dispatching.
I nailed it so that you don’t come even if you want to come, so at least you should be resting quietly at home today.
On the day of the entrance exam, everyone in the student council was busy, so I had to relieve my fatigue until then.
───
“Then let’s end today’s meeting here.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“You worked hard.”
10 O’clock in the morning.
After finishing the meeting after handling more agendas than expected, Seonhwa approached me while organizing the paperwork.
“Master, I have to stop by the control tower today.”
“To the control tower?”
Did it be called by Hiho?
As expected, Sunhwa nodded and answered.
“Yes, they say they have something to say about demons.”
“Hmm. All right. Let’s go right away. No important events right now?”
“Yes, there is an inspection of the research district, but you can send a deputy.”
I nodded at the words of Alice, my secretary.
“Then let’s send the accountant instead. Tatiana, if there are any problems during the inspection, report them immediately.”
“Yes, I’ll take a closer look.”
Having gathered the necessary items for her inspection, she lowered her head slightly and quickly disappeared.
“Then we move too.”
I uttered a few words and immediately opened the door and stepped out.
───
There are three symbolic buildings in the Acropolis, the core governing body of Academy City.
First, the Acropolis used by the student council.
The second is the Agora Grand Hall, which is being used by the Council of Representatives.
Lastly, the central control tower managed by the board of directors, Babel, is that.
Among them, Babel, the control tower, is said to be managed by the board of directors, but the actual owner was the control AI ‘Hiho’.
A long time ago, a futuristic AI that was created at the time when Academy City was being built and shared the history of the city.
It is a legacy of a great hero that remains very rarely on the continent, and it is famous for its exclusive artifact.
‘…That’s what everyone knows.’
However, to himself, a late figure in the [Failed Hero] Series, ‘Hi-Ho’ was a familiar guy in a different sense.
‘The navigator unit of the Fallen Warriors series.’
The NPC commonly referred to as the guide character was Haiho.
‘Not only in Failed Hero 1, but also in the previous work 2, I supported the main character while constantly showing my face.’
Although she was not a heroine that could be captured, she was a popular NPC with many fans thanks to her unique cute and foolish side.
‘He was a particularly important NPC in that he was the first NPC the protagonist encountered.’
Because she has the role of a guide, she is not only an NPC that determines the first impression of the game, but also a signboard NPC used as an icon of the game.
Is it because of that?
Even in Skyna, Hi-Ho was of exceptionally high quality to the point where it felt like it was made deliberately.
A solid character that supports the main character in the game’s flagship NPC.
Even the few NPC titles throughout the entire series.
On top of that, he was a definite good man as much as he helped the main character.
The fact that her users, including me, liked her was, in a way, a natural step for her.
Although she finished her journey with the main character in 1 and became a control AI of Academy City, in 2, she provided various information to Alex in order to protect the peace that the main character in 1 kept.
Even though she was an AI, she had feelings no different from other NPCs.
‘Besides, the guy’s setting is that he doesn’t forget and misses the protagonist of 1.’
The character is also stronger than expected.
Thanks to that, he was a popular NPC in real life too, and I expected to meet Hiho…….
“Ah! Help! Help! Save me, Chairman!”
“I wish I could show you a little less like this…”
I wonder who is not a crappy character.
Hi-Ho got caught in the wires he had installed and was dangling in the air.
As the small body unique to the fairies was tied to the wires, the already dangerous costumes were emphasized and began to be exposed.
“Aaaaah! I’m dying! I’m dying!”
For some reason, the more he struggles to solve it, the stronger the tie.
Aqua-colored hair swayed to and fro with her movements.
“Haejaaang! Don’t just watch, do something!”
“Okay, stay still.”
I can’t get it to work anymore because I’m moving for no reason.
Hold Haiho in his arms and remove the wires tied to his body one by one.
Soon after unplugging all the wires and removing the body, Haiho coughed and said.
“Hmm! That…Thank you. I almost got tied up for the rest of my life.”
“How did that happen?”
“That’s…”
After listening to Haiho’s explanation like that, as expected, the usual foolishness broke out.
“It’s annoying to charge the rice every time, so I thought it would be nice to keep it charged normally.”
“…….”
Then it was overcharged and the wires ran out of control…….
I wiped my face in misery.
Hi Ho also sat quietly, folding her wings, perhaps aware of her own foolishness.
“Don’t look at me like that! It wasn’t on purpose!”
“…Yes.”
She looked at her with her salty, cold eyes for a while, and then went to her main topic.
“That’s why they called me.”
“Right.”
Spreading her wings again, she floated into the air, projecting her monitor into the air above her.
“It’s the Demon I talked about before.”
“Disguised as a professor.”
This is exactly what I heard before.
“After hearing the story from the chairman, we put 24-hour surveillance on him. And as a result of close monitoring, we caught some suspicious movements.”
While saying that, Hiho raised one hand and began to operate the monitor.
The screen passed at high speed and the monitor, which showed various scenes, eventually showed a demon on the screen.
A demon entering his laboratory while closely examining his surroundings.
“I tried to keep an eye on the inside, but there was a strong barrier. I tried to hack continuously, but it took some time because I had several layers of magical and shamanic defenses, as well as radio jamming.”
“Does it take time to break through security anyway?”
“Whoa whoop whoop! Hi-ho is an excellent AI daho! Such a low level of security will be destroyed in no time!”
Proudly sticking out his tiny chest, Hai Ho projected the interior of the lab onto the screen.
The lab that was revealed was not much different from the labs of other professors, but the story changed when the demons activated the crystal ball.
“Communication? Who are you contacting?”
“Hmm… I don’t know that.”
Hey, you said it was an excellent AI until just now.
“Don’t look at it that way! Originally, ultra-long-distance communication is very easy to hack, but only that one cannot be hacked!
While saying that, Haiho said his guess.
“Daho, the demon of fear. He is the only one who can escape Haiho’s eyes.”
“A demon of fear.”
I don’t have much information on him because he’s so insidious, but at least I remember him as a guy who didn’t go to the front line and disrupted our allies from the rear.
He poisons the river or spreads bad rumors in the village where he stopped by for a break to lower morale.
Anyway, it wasn’t a very good impression that the things he was doing were quite sinister.
‘Even when he was on the front lines, I never saw him in person.’
“The demon of fear is a guy who specializes in public opinion warfare.”
“War of Public Opinion?”
“The power he possesses is not great compared to the Four Heavenly Kings. His strength is his various debuffs.”
Confusion, fear, madness, fascination and more.
Use various debuffs to control public opinion in the neighborhood.
And it lowers the morale of the entire area and disintegrates the unit.
“That’s how it is said that only the troops that you destroy without touching a single finger of yours crosses both hands.”
“You’ve been well aware of that information.”
“I don’t know about the chairman, but he’s been showing up occasionally on the frontlines of the Kingdom of Crimea recently. A guy he’s never seen before suddenly appears, and the allied side is talking a lot.”
“The Kingdom of Crimea…”
If it was the Crimean Kingdom, it was definitely in the northern part of the front line.
He appears from the kingdom of Crimea, which was destroyed by the demon of death……
‘I’m sure he’s plotting something trivial.’
There are not many clues yet, so it’s hard to take any special action, but you’ll need to keep it in your head.
“Anyway, seeing as he was contacting the demon of fear, he must be one of his executives! Besides, look at this!”
The next video we showed was a scene where people with a look of dazedness installed suspicious devices all over the street.
From the mountains near Slane to the back alleys near Venus and the streets around Wrought Iron.
“That’s… SKY-kun.”
“That’s right. They installed a gate generator around SKY.”
“Gate generator?”
“It’s a dangerous item that summons demons. It was originally used for practice, but he improved it and made it go wild.”
Once that activates, powerful beasts of a different dimension from practice will tear through the space and appear.
After saying that, Haiho looked this way with serious eyes.
“This is why I called the chairman like this.”
“……”
“I have a mission to keep Academy City safe that Hwarang has left behind. The Asmodian spy chairman requested it, and I tolerated it to steal information, but this is a different story.”
I silently nodded at her words.
Because she was madly obsessed with the safety of the city, she must have been unable to tolerate the terror this time.
Sure enough, she crossed her arms and opened her eyes wide.
“I won’t let a single monster enter Academy City. So, I’ll order you to retrieve the device and eliminate the demons right away.”
“But, I refuse.”
“As expected! I thought the chairman would understand! Then right now…”
“…….”
“……Ho?”
At the same time, Haiho made a stupid expression.