2451— Apart from technological advancement, the cityscape of Bangkok had remained the same ever since four centuries ago. Well, if you didn't count flying car highways and hologram ads. Right now, I was staring at the same old view outside the convenience store. Even though robots and AIs had replaced humans in many industries, there was a law that every firm had to hire human employees. At least I still had a job to do. 

I twirled my hair out of boredom. As if a ghost town, there were no customers.

This convenience store was located in the downtown yet no one wanted to grab some late-night snacks. Why? Because people spent their night time in the virtual world. People who struggle with financial stability had to work at night, I was one of them.

'Hey, Pochi. Any interesting news?' I thought in my head. Not because I was delusional, but to send neural data to AI in a small device called Universal Personal Device, or UPD behind my ear.

[Good evening, Canary. Today's hot topic is about Gaia Grand Quest's third anniversary which currently has over 500 million active players.]

The AI or Pochi answered with a bright and polite tone.

Video games, I had never looked into those since I focused on studying and earning money. When I was interested to play, I already had a large debt.

'Did you considered that interesting? Please look at my condition. Sob... sob... I can't even afford a decent meal. E-everyday I have to eat one or two cups of instant noodles' Although our communication was on neurotransmission, I tried my best to use my acting skills. If this was an audition, I was sure that they would select me as a leading actress! Sadly, the one I was conversing with was artificial intelligence.

[From definition on the internet, 80% percent considered people like you a social waste.]

Ah... if this was a manga a word bubble was probably going to stab me following by me spitting blood out.

I wanted to punch whoever invented or train this neural network model. But wait... I might be the one who made Pochi behave this way.

Mere AI stepped on my pride. I had no excuses. Well, at least I could make myself feel better by consoling myself by looking at my past.

My school life was miserable. I had no boyfriend because my personality was too tomboyish, so I chased after money instead of men. Right after earning a hefty amount of cash, I was caught by Interpol. I was sued by tech companies. I was expelled and listed on the blacklist of universities and companies. The police took all my money and assets, so I didn't have anything to pay. Luckily my debt was bought by the UN, however, have to work for them.

Even though I did illegal things, but hey! I was proud that I raise myself for 7 years since I was 15.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right!? The present life is considered good compared to hardship in the past. I smiled to brighten my mood.

[From your sudden smile and mood swing, you have a chance of being diagnosed with a bipolar or multi-personality disorder. Would you like me to make an appointment with a psychiatrist tomorrow?]

'Shut the fuck up. I'm SANE OK!!!?' I let out a big sigh. That wasn't AI. It was a demon. If I could rewrite a bible, I would put the word Pochi instead of Satan.

'Speaking of Gaia Grand Quest, can you tell more about it?'

[Do you want the whole article or summary?]

'Make it short. It's not like I can get a hand on this pricey stuff anyway.'

[Gaia Grand Quest third anniversary will be held on 15-19th December in Los Angeles. The game has over 500 million players which roughly equivalent to 10% of the world population. During the event, there will be a PvP tournament, War Game, and more. Gaia Corp will give 2,000 game ID and Full-Dive capsule, Hyper-realistic Virtual Reality giveaway to anyone who people who participate in the lucky draw event. The analysts estimated the number of player in next year will be increased around 50-60%]

'Pochi, I remember I said make it short.'

Whatever.

Judging from the hype, the player base is still growing. So 50%  of the current active players should be 250 million at minimum. The chance to get the price is 1 in 125,000 or 0.000008%. Praying to RNGsus wouldn't be enough. 

And to get both ID and HRVR I have to pay around 20,000 THB as a bundle. 

If you had the ID, you could play the game at Gaia Center which costs 50 THB per night. I thought it was better to pay a huge sum one time and enjoyed the game afterward.

Sadly, my income was spent on clothing and cosmetics— 

With my skill, it was possible to make a fake ID. However, it was also too risky. From my experience, illegal activity should be offline as much as possible, no... as primitive as possible. 

I already decided to stay clean for the rest of my life. Maybe at least try to.

[If you're interested in a better job without qualification, I have 396 search results. Bargirl—]

'Stop it. Customer is coming' Before Pochi continued speaking the long list of search results, someone was entering the store.

In the night, there were three types of customers—

People who took a break from gaming, people who worked in the night, and alcoholics. I hope this customer fell into the first two types because drunkards were hard to deal with.

As soon as they enter, I had to give them a warm and nice welcome.

"Good evening! Welcome to Koko Mart!" I spoke with a smile. I tried my best to be as friendly as possible. Switching the mood from talking with Pochi to welcome a customer was not an easy task. After facing Satan (Pochi), now it was time to face God. Not the actual god— as you knew, there was a saying, the customer is god.

I looked at the guy who was walking in.

Kyaaaa!!! 180 cm, well dressed, and most importantly... his face! Ikemen! Okay, we have to be humble to god.

And then I smelled alcohol reeking out from time.

He was drunk, but since he was a hottie I was willing to work with service mind.

He went to pick things to buy. I had to use this time to calm my pounding heart.

'Now calm yourself down Canary. Stabilized your breath. Good job. Don't blush. Keep your cool. People like cool girls, right?' I told myself repeatedly.

Shortly, he came back with lots of snacks and mixers and put them on the cashier counter.

"Can I have whiskey too?" He said and pointed to the back of the cashier.

"Which one? Single malt?" I had to guess what he wanted because there were Black Lable, Jack, and single malt placed next to each other.

"Black Lable please." He answered

Thai people mostly preferred blended Scotch whiskey. Maybe because they drank with mixers. I was into Irish more than Scotch.

I quickly grab the whiskey and scanned all the items.

"Your total is 115 Baht." He paused for a moment. He raised his hand and touched behind his left ear.

It seemed that he forgot his UPD.

"We have delivery service too. You can go back and buy them on the app. Leave the items here. I'll put these back on the shelf"

"Haha. I think I lost it." He smiled embarrassingly and became depressed a bit later.

Losing UPD was a pain in the ass. You had to report it to the police, went through several procedures.

"How about you give me your contact? I'll pay for you and you can transfer the money to me later." I made an offer. It wasn't like I wanted to help him, but I wanted to get his contact. The chance to get to know a good-looking guy didn't come often.

There was almost zero chance that he was a con man. Who would dare to commit a crime when every corner of the store is full of cameras, right?

I didn't know what kind of expression I made. I hoped it didn't look seductive or sly.

"How about this?" He pulled out a black card and handed it to me.

At first, I thought it was a credit card. Then I noticed the GGQ logo on the card.

[Confirming signature— It's a genuine Gaia Grand Quest ID card. Ownership binding, none.]

Pochi informed me without my order. I modified my UPD to be able to read the information in flash memory. Even though UPD modification was illegal, but I managed to find a loophole.

Every law has a loophole. That was what I believed.

It may sound useful, but it was only capable to read low-density flash memory.

"This is too much." I quickly rejected. The price of an ID card was 20 times more than what he was purchasing.

"It's fine. I already have one. The manager gave me the spare ID today— and I have to go to Seoul tomorrow. " He pulled another ID card out which is white.

"But..."

"Ah! I forgot that my friends are waiting! You accepted the deal, yes? Great!"

He grabbed all the groceries and left immediately.

It happened suddenly that I couldn't respond in time. 

Considering my past experiences, I've been through a lot of negotiations, this was the most illogical offer so far. No, it shouldn't even be considered a negotiation in the first place. What did I expect from a drunk person? Maybe because he was hot.

Still, it was a great bargain... I felt like I took advantage of a drunk person, but I would never say no to profit if another party was satisfied.

That guy said that the manager gave him ID, so there was a high chance that he was an e-sport pro player.

Since the drunk Ikemen has already left, I shouldn't think too much about it.

I touched UPD to confirm payment in his stead.

 

***

Time passes slowly when we're bored— I couldn't agree more with that. I had been standing like a zombie for 6 hours.

The night shift was lonely. There weren't many customers at the night, so the store only needed one person, and I was the person who signed a special contract with the company.

The sun was rising. 

Other colleagues started appearing one by one.

How envious. I watched them chatted and teased each other. I wasn't acquainted with most of the employees here. For them, I was an outsider.

It might sound like I was a loner, but I had friends! Just... not here.

"Good Morning, Canary-senpai!" Suddenly, a bright and cheerful voice pulled me out of my thoughts. It was from Kiyomi, the only person who talked to me regularly.

Kiyomi was a bit shorter than me. My height was around 5 feet 8, hers should be 4 inches shorter than mine.

Although she had fair white skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes like typical Asians, she was considered a beauty in most people's eyes.

She usually visited every department and greeted everyone in the morning.

Despite her friendly and happy appearance, Kiyomi was the daughter of Koko Group's owner, one of the biggest conglomerates in South East Asia, half-Thai, half-Japanese. She was working as a system engineer during her Summer internship, mostly responsible for monitoring and system maintenance.

Besides me, the store manager was the only person who knew this. Kiyomi didn't tell me about her identity, but I investigated her background and personal information, just like the rest.

At glance, people might wonder why a convenience store needed a system engineer. The convenience store only took small space on the first floor. This 5-floor building was also a warehouse and drone delivery center. The system engineer was needed to oversee those systems.

"Hey, Kiyomi."  I greeted her back. Looking at her cheerfulness I couldn't help but smiled. To me, she was more like a good vibes spreader rather than a coworker.

"You look happier than usual. Anything good happened?" Kiyomi tilted her body a bit closer while staring at my face. She was observant when it came to human emotion.

"It's really hard to hide something from you." I sighed. 

"I got GGQ ID for a cheap price."

"Really!? We should play together~ Ah... Sadly, our schedules are different." She made a sad face.

"To be honest, I don't have HRVR. I don't think I'll be able to play it soon."

Kiyomi looked surprised as if she noticed or realized something.

"Sorry, I have to go! I'm almost late!"

"Okay. See you later"

"Cya~"

 

***

After I left Koko Mart, I went straight back home, which wasn't far from the workplace. It was a 15 minutes walk, so there's no need for me to get on transport.

Before I entered, I noticed a man in a black suit standing in front of my house.

"You're finally here." He spoke with a deep low voice.

"You want me to crack something again? What is it this time— a puzzle? toy? candy?" Without formality, I asked him directly. This was the 26th time he was here without prior notice.

"A toy."

We didn't mean about the actual toys or candy. Since there were people walking past by, these words were used as alternatives. For example, we called drugs candy, syrup, or sugar.

He paused and I understood his intention. We should discuss it somewhere else.

I looked at the briefcase he was holding. Judging from the size, The toy inside should be a handheld object.

"Come inside."

I invited him in.

 

***

"Old man, do you want coffee or tea?" I asked Arnon. As a host, I had to provide hospitality, right?

We sat in the living room. Arnon placed the briefcase on the table and made himself comfortable. At first, I couldn't notice it because he always looked tense all the time. However, if you were observant enough, you could see a tiny movement on his shoulders.

"No need— and how many times I said I'm in my 30s."

For me, Arnon looked like he was in his 40s. His hair was all grey. Is working for national intelligence that stressful?

I stared at his hair.

Premature graying could also be caused by genetics too. Maybe I should search for his family photo sometimes. I wondered if all his family's hair colors are the same.

"If you're thinking about digging my info, please stop."

"You're no fun. That's why you're still single in your 40s."

"..."

Compared to his intimidating looks, Arnon wasn't someone who easily got offended.

"Let's cut to the chase shall we?" I clasped my hands and spoke politely. When it came to working, I would like to maintain professionalism as much as I could.

Arnon opened the briefcase and turned it faced toward me.

"Are you saying this is a weapon?" I grabbed the object and turned it around. It was a solid black sphere engraved with a pattern. There was no display or button. The diameter was estimated to be around 3 inches. A bomb was my first guess.

"This is highly classified. I'll only say what you're allowed to know."

"Understood."

"All cameras weren't able to see terrorists. It seems that they used advanced optical camouflage. The witnesses said the sphere was floating and capable of shooting an invisible bullet."

"Kinetic bullet? Even if it can shoot a kinetic bullet, it's not going to be practical due to energy requirements."

I put the black sphere down.

This was weird. The weapon design didn't match the functionality and other requirements too.

"Every intelligence agency has investigated this matter. Three of them found 37 similar patterns in the online game called Gaia Grand Quest"

This was complete bull shit. Was he joking? I refrained from swearing out. I kept calm and asked for more information.

"Two of those are US and China, correct? What about another one?"

"Sa Dong Private Security, South Korean company."

"Is this the only physical evidence?"

"We other 2 spheres were sent to analyze as well."

"Please tell me more about witnesses testimonies"

"Sorry, this is all I can tell you. The secretary-general will contact you soon. You can ask her that."

Right now, I had someone on my mind— that yankee. Sasha Flynn was one of the UN advisers and the one who bought my debt. Thanks to her, this house wasn't taken away.

Basically, she outsourced me and used the budget to pay my debt.

"Let me guess. you're telling me to reverse engineer this thing and find more information about this by playing the game."

"Yes, just think of it as a vacation."

"..."

I was concerned. Were they on drugs?

 

***

After Arnon left, I went out to smoke in the garden.

Shortly, I received a call. I tapped UPD to answer it.

"Hello, Miss Flynn."

[Oi, what took you so long to answer my call?]

It was only 4 seconds since I heard the call...

[Drop the formality.]

"Okay.— Is the witnesses' testimonies true?  Also, what's the reason behind this job?" I was straight up asking questions.

[Tsk! Could ask one question at a time!?]

It was my habit. My parents were both scientists, so they encouraged me to ask questions rather than agreeing on what they said right away.

[Several officers were killed, and we didn't find any hallucinogens in survivors' blood.]

"I see..."

[Because of you my promotion went smoothly. As a result, I decided to give you a reward.]

"Did you make up the story about the pattern as well?"

[No, it wasn't a lie. Did you think I'm childish to the point that making up a story like that? HAHHH!!!?]

My right ear was raped.

She was pissed. My instinct was telling me to stay silent. Talking might only make things worse. I heard a long sigh before Sasha continued speaking.

[Right now everyone is focusing on this incident also, there are no other jobs to offer. From the given circumstance, I listed you as an analyst. Recently, I tried GGQ and now I've been enjoying the game, so I think you should have some fun in your life too.]

Did she say enjoy? More like, venting out her anger. Her anger management was the only reason why she was single.

[I'll buy HRVR and Gaia ID for you. ]

"Actually I already have an ID. A drunk ike-... A drunk customer lost his UPD. He gave it as payment."

[Did you sell your body?]

"Seriously? Did you forget you're the one who put me to work there!?"

[Wow. To think that you've become this rebellious—]

"I'm sorry."

[Great, I only have to buy an HRVR capsule— Feel free to analyze the object with your bonson scanner and keep it safe.]

"Bosons."

[Whatever scanner you have. Don't forget that even if everything sounds dumb, you're not allowed to disclose to the public.]

"Yes ma'am~"

She ended the call before she could hear my monotonous reply.

Although, Sasha is my superior and benefactor. She was like a mother to me.

After my parents went missing, my life was like a roller coaster. Without her help, I would be in jail or sell my organs.

...

Having fun in my life? Maybe I should do that.