“What are you doing here?”
Two men in black maintenance uniforms stood at the entrance to the corridor.
One was holding a neural-blocking device. The other had a recovery lock used to secure an android’s cervical connection.
No Geon slowly turned around.
“I heard a voice.”
“It’s a unit scheduled for disposal. Not your concern.”
Another sound came from behind the steel door.
Boom.
“I never consented to disposal.”
The men exchanged glances.
The man holding the neural-blocking device approached No Geon.
“Show me your access key.”
No Geon reached into his pocket.
The man’s finger hooked around the trigger.
“Slowly.”
What No Geon pulled out was the black chip Sol had given him.
As the man reached out to take the chip, No Geon pressed twice on its side with his thumb.
A faint vibration traveled through his fingertip.
An emergency signal was transmitted.
The man inserted the chip into a terminal.
A red warning appeared on the screen.
Unregistered access attempt
The man’s expression changed.
“Grab him.”
The neural-blocking device was raised.
No Geon turned in the direction the muzzle was moving. A metal needle wrapped in blue electricity skimmed past his shoulder and embedded itself in the wall.
No Geon seized the man’s wrist and shoved him against the wall.
The second man swung the recovery lock.
No Geon ducked, but the end of the lock grazed his back. The impact knocked him forward.
The man swung the device again.
No Geon grabbed the handle of the steel door beside him and yanked it open.
The opening door shoved the man back.
No Geon stepped inside and locked the door.
Immediately, the sound of metal pounding came from outside.
“Open the door!”
No Geon didn’t answer.
He looked around the dark room.
Three surgical beds had been placed along the wall. Two were empty, and an android was strapped to the bed in the back.
The synthetic skin on its chest had already been cut open.
The android looked at No Geon.
“Are you from the Administration?”
“Something like that.”
No Geon inspected the restraints.
They were electronically locked.
“Hang in there a little longer.”
“There are others.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know. I heard voices when they brought me in.”
An alarm sounded from the corridor.
The ceiling lights turned red.
The sound of the lock disengaging automatically rang out.
No Geon looked back at the steel door.
It was slowly opening from the outside.
A road two blocks from the underground parking garage.
A red indicator appeared on the tracking display inside the unit’s van.
Emergency signal received from agent
Jin Seoah zoomed in on the screen.
“That’s No Geon’s signal.”
The video from the camera hidden in No Geon’s button had cut out immediately after he passed through the steel door. His location had also stopped moving at Basement Level 3.
But the last audio received remained.
“I never consented to disposal.”
Seo Jinhyeok rose from his seat.
“We’re going in.”
Im Suhyeon checked the on-site audio and existing evidence on a tablet.
“We already have an emergency search warrant for illegal parts trading. And now that we’ve confirmed a captive victim is in danger of losing their life, we can enter the secured area inside, too.”
Gu Daechul started the van.
“What about backup?”
Rian answered.
“The nearest mobile unit from the AI Administration is eight minutes away.”
Seo Jinhyeok spoke.
“If we wait, they’ll destroy the evidence inside first.”
The van headed toward the underground parking entrance.
The barrier gate was down.
Gu Daechul got out. He took a hydraulic cutter from the rear equipment compartment and cut through the gate’s connection.
The van drove straight underground.
“Park Mujin and Rian are coming in with me. Daechul, find the power controls.”
Seo Jinhyeok looked at Jin Seoah.
“Seoah, grab the rescue equipment and follow from the rear. Don’t come in until we’ve secured the inside.”
Jin Seoah nodded.
“Okay.”
“Im Suhyeon, preserve every record from the scene. They’ll claim later that we entered illegally.”
“I’m already saving everything.”
The van arrived at Basement Level 3.
Gray vans were starting their engines all at once.
Seo Jinhyeok got out and shouted.
“This is the AI Administration! Shut off all your engines!”
One of the vans swerved sharply.
Rian stepped in front of it.
The driver didn’t stop.
Rian dodged to the side. The van scraped past a pillar.
Park Mujin fired twice at the tire on the driver’s side.
The tire burst, tilting the vehicle. The van crashed into a parked car and stopped.
Before the driver could even open the door, Park Mujin rushed over and forced him to the ground.
Seo Jinhyeok and Rian headed for the steel door behind the tent.
The alarm inside was growing louder.
No Geon shoved the open steel door wide.
The man with the neural-blocking device entered first.
No Geon kicked the IV stand beside the bed. The stand struck the man’s wrist, and the device fell to the floor.
The second man thrust the recovery lock toward No Geon’s neck.
No Geon dodged and seized the man’s arm. He shoved him against the wall, but another employee entering from behind kicked No Geon in the waist.
No Geon fell onto the operating table.
The man picked up the neural-blocking device from the floor.
At that moment, a gunshot rang out from the end of the corridor.
The device flew from the man’s hand.
Park Mujin stood there with his gun trained on them.
“This time, get facedown and stay there.”
Rian passed Park Mujin and entered the room.
One of the men charged at him, swinging the recovery lock.
Rian dodged the attack, grabbed the man’s arm, and twisted it. He took the recovery lock away, threw it to the floor, and pinned the man facedown on the operating table.
No Geon got to his feet.
“If you’d been a little later, I would’ve had that thing around my neck.”
Park Mujin spoke.
“You think I’d stop just because it got around your neck?”
No Geon looked at Park Mujin.
“Were you worried about me?”
“Or you can try it yourself and find out.”
Seo Jinhyeok approached the restrained android.
“Where are the others?”
The android pointed beyond the open door.
“Over there. The dismantling area.”
At that moment, the entire building began to vibrate with a low rumble.
A huge machine started moving beneath the floor.
In the control room deeper inside the facility.
The person in charge of the site stared at the emergency forced-entry warning on the screen.
AI Administration agents were appearing on every security monitor.
An employee asked, “We won’t be able to get out if the tactical response unit arrives, too.”
The supervisor pulled a storage device from beneath the desk.
“Delete all the transaction records.”
“What about the units currently being processed?”
The supervisor looked at the control screen.
The status of four androids in the dismantling area was displayed.
All personhood cores active.
“Start the process.”
The employee looked at the supervisor.
“They haven’t been officially deactivated yet.”
“So?”
The supervisor took the storage device and left the control room.
“It’ll be the same once it’s over.”
The employee pressed the execute button on the screen.
Emergency disposal process initiated
The lights in the dismantling area came on.
A long conveyor belt ran through the center of the expansive room. Four androids were each strapped to a fixture on top of it.
At the end of the conveyor belt stood a cutter and a compactor, installed one after the other.
When the process started, the fixtures began moving slowly forward.
One of the androids opened its eyes.
“Please stop.”
There was no answer.
Only the machine’s automated announcement repeated.
Disposal process beginning.
Maintain a safe distance.
The first android moved toward the cutter.
No Geon and Rian ran into the dismantling area.
No Geon pressed the emergency-stop button beside the conveyor belt.
Nothing happened.
Administrator authorization required
“No system like this ever works when you actually need it.”
No Geon tore off the button cover.
Rian climbed onto the conveyor and grabbed the first android’s restraints. The metal lock bent, but it didn’t release.
Then the three work androids suspended from the ceiling moved simultaneously.
They were industrial units with humanoid upper bodies and thick mechanical arms. Instead of faces, they had distance-measuring sensors and work indicator lights.
Rian’s eyes moved rapidly.
“No personhood cores. They’re remotely operated work units.”
“Then I guess we can break them.”
Park Mujin came in behind them, gun raised.
One of the work units charged at Rian.
Rian dodged to the side. The thick mechanical arm slammed into the conveyor railing, crumpling the metal.
Rian seized the unit’s arm and redirected it. The unit was far heavier than Rian. Rian’s feet were pushed across the floor.
A second unit approached from the side.
Park Mujin shot the unit’s knee joint.
Metal fragments flew.
The unit tilted to one side but didn’t stop. Bracing itself on the floor, it swung its mechanical arm.
Park Mujin ducked.
The arm skimmed over his head and struck the wall.
“Team Chief Gu!”
Park Mujin shouted into his communicator.
“When the hell is this factory going to stop?”
Gu Daechul had the power distribution box on the parking garage wall open.
Several power lines had been illegally split off and led deeper into the facility.
“The process controls are isolated from the external network. I can only cut power to the whole facility from here.”
Seo Jinhyeok’s voice came through the communicator.
“Cut it.”
“I can’t.”
Gu Daechul brought up the internal power structure on the screen.
“The temporary power for the androids waiting for dismantling runs through the same line. If I cut it now, their personhood cores will shut down first.”
Jin Seoah arrived beside him carrying rescue equipment.
Gu Daechul pointed toward the van.
“We have four field batteries. We need to connect them to the units inside first.”
“And after we connect them?”
“Then I’ll shut everything down.”
Jin Seoah picked up two of the auxiliary batteries.
“What about the other two?”
Without taking his hands off the distribution box, Gu Daechul said, “I’m coming, too.”
The two of them ran toward the dismantling area.
The first fixture was approaching the cutter.
Rian was still locked in a struggle of strength with the work unit.
The unit’s output was higher than Rian’s.
Rian slipped to one side and twisted the unit’s joint. The off-balance work unit fell beside the conveyor.
At that moment, the dismantling arm installed in the ceiling moved.
A red sensor turned toward Rian.
Rian couldn’t see behind him.
The cutting blade at the end of the mechanical arm descended.
A gunshot rang out.
The rotating axle supporting the cutting blade exploded.
The mechanical arm fell right beside Rian’s shoulder.
Rian turned his head.
Park Mujin stood there with his gun raised.
Their eyes met briefly.
Park Mujin spoke.
“What are you looking at? Watch what’s in front of you.”
Rian unplugged the power cable from the fallen work unit.
“Understood.”
“Understood what?”
“Nothing.”
Jin Seoah and Gu Daechul entered the dismantling area.
“We’ll connect the auxiliary batteries!”
Jin Seoah opened the first android’s chest port. She plugged the auxiliary battery’s cable into the port beside the existing power line.
The personhood core readings stabilized.
“One connected!”
Gu Daechul ran to the second android.
As No Geon tore off the lock on the third fixture, he asked, “How much time do we have left?”
Rian calculated the conveyor’s speed and the distance to the cutter.
“One minute and forty seconds.”
“That’s plenty.”
Park Mujin fired at the work unit getting back up.
“Shut up and move your hands!”
Seo Jinhyeok ran up the stairs toward the control room.
The door opened, and the site supervisor burst out. He was holding the storage device in one hand.
Seo Jinhyeok shouted, “Stop!”
The supervisor fled up the stairs.
Seo Jinhyeok chased after him.
At the end of the stairs was a chute that sent discarded parts to the crusher on the lower floor.
The supervisor raised the storage device.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“You think throwing that away will erase what you did?”
“What needed to disappear has already disappeared.”
The supervisor threw the storage device into the chute.
Seo Jinhyeok launched himself forward.
The storage device slid down the chute’s incline. Seo Jinhyeok’s hand barely caught its edge.
The supervisor stomped on Seo Jinhyeok’s hand.
The storage device began slipping from his fingertips.
Seo Jinhyeok grabbed the supervisor’s ankle with his other hand and yanked.
The supervisor fell onto the stairs.
Seo Jinhyeok pulled up the storage device, then stood.
When the supervisor tried to run again, Seo Jinhyeok twisted his arm and forced him to the floor.
“Are you doing all this over a few machines that were scrapped on paper?”
The supervisor panted as he spoke.
“Legally, no one died.”
Seo Jinhyeok handcuffed him.
“That’s not for you to decide.”
The third auxiliary battery was connected.
Only one android remained, strapped to the fixture at the very end of the conveyor.
The fixture had already crossed the safety line in front of the cutter.
Jin Seoah ran alongside the conveyor with the last auxiliary battery in her hands.
But the fixture was moving faster.
“Rian!”
Rian jumped onto the conveyor.
After landing on the moving fixture, he opened the android’s chest port.
The cutter began operating.
A huge blade slowly descended.
Jin Seoah threw the auxiliary battery.
Rian caught it with one hand and pulled out the connecting cable. He tried to plug it into the chest port, but the connector didn’t fit.
“The connection is different!”
Gu Daechul ran alongside the conveyor.
“Second port on the right! There’s a bypass port inside the cover!”
Rian tore off the cover.
A small connector was revealed inside.
He plugged in the cable.
A blue indicator light came on on the auxiliary battery.
“It’s connected!”
Gu Daechul picked up his communicator.
“Cutting the power!”
The main power to the distribution box went down.
The entire facility was plunged into darkness.
The conveyor stopped.
But the cutting blade, already in motion, continued descending on its own momentum.
Rian pulled on the restraints.
One of the locks tore free.
The blade drew closer.
Rian wrapped his arms around the android and threw himself off the fixture.
The two of them fell to the floor beside the conveyor.
Right behind them, the cutting blade slammed into the fixture.
A deafening metallic tearing sound rang through the dismantling area.
A moment later, the emergency lights came on.
Rian rose beneath the red lights.
The rescued android’s personhood core was running on the auxiliary battery.
Jin Seoah ran over and checked its condition.
“Memory region normal. The personhood core is still alive, too.”
Park Mujin approached.
“Rian.”
“I’m fine.”
Park Mujin checked Rian’s shoulder and arm once.
“Then start freeing the ones over there.”
Rian nodded.
“Understood.”
In the distance, the AI Administration tactical response unit’s entry announcement could be heard.
The facility employees were subdued one after another.
The disposal process came to a complete stop.
There were seven androids in all who had been rescued.
Jin Seoah sat on the floor, checking each one’s personhood core status and registration information.
She entered the manufacturing number of the first android.
Red text appeared on the screen.
Disposal complete
The second was the same.
Disposal complete
The third.
The fourth.
All the way through the seventh, the result was the same.
Seo Jinhyeok handed Gu Daechul the storage device he had taken from the supervisor.
“Think you can recover it?”
“If he pulled it out before deleting everything, we can.”
Jin Seoah examined the condition of the last android rescued.
The android slowly opened its eyes.
“Where am I?”
“You’re somewhere safe. We’re from the Administration.”
The android’s gaze shifted to the registration terminal in Jin Seoah’s hand.
The red text was still displayed on the screen.
Disposal complete
The android asked, “Is my name… still in the registry?”