NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20 - Barrier Agency 1
Chapter 20: Barrier Agency 1
Alice arrived at Oriana’s house and climbed in through the window.
At that moment, Oriana, having just finished a shower, was drying her wet hair with a towel.
The refreshing air and the brilliant morning sunlight streaming through the windows.
This place perfectly suited the description of a fresh morning and the start of a lively day.
The Magrid Step, where Alice had been earlier, was part of the lower layers, and the air there was not just toxic but filthy and suffocating.
The lack of artificial sunlight made it hard to distinguish whether it was day or morning.
However, just flying a bit upward to a higher level revealed a place as clean and vibrant as something out of an advertisement, marking the beginning of a new day.
‘It really is a different world.’
Alice nodded inwardly, acknowledging how even the air felt distinctly different here.
The lower layers were not merely different in terms of air or culture but gave the impression of an entirely separate world.
Although Alice had only been down there for a few hours, she could feel the difference immediately.
Alice found herself wondering what would have happened if she hadn’t been taken in by Oriana, a First-Class Overseer, and instead had been picked up by some shadowy criminal organization in the pitch-black depths of the lower layers.
She didn’t know for sure, but it wouldn’t have ended well for anyone involved.
Neither for the person who found her nor for Alice herself.
If Alice had started her new life in the lower layers, she might have ended up torturing people to secure the scarce energy supply, causing enough chaos to draw the upper Overseers down and spark a battle.
But that was all just an “if.”
There was no point dwelling on it now.
By sheer luck, a First-Class Overseer had accepted her as a successor.
The two of them had even formed a transactional relationship, mutually fulfilling each other’s needs.
It was a much better start than she had expected.
Instead of beginning from scratch with no foundation, no home, and no money, having a high-ranking Overseer backing her meant her life had naturally become more prosperous.
“Good morning, Oriana.”
“Haah… Ah, Alice…”
Judging by Oriana’s drowsy expression, it seemed she had just woken up or wasn’t a morning person.
“How was your first night in the Ark? Did you sleep well?”
“I’m a tin can robot; what could be uncomfortable? Besides, this place is much better than the lower levels.”
“Oh my, do you even know what the lower levels are like?”
When Oriana had been a Second-Class Overseer, she had once descended to manage a near-civil war caused by a power struggle in the lower layers.
At the time, what Oriana witnessed in the lower layers was nothing short of hell on earth.
The images had left a deep impression on her mind, so she had nothing good to say about the lower levels.
In fact, this wasn’t just Oriana’s opinion but also the general perception among Ark citizens.
‘Hmm, good. Oriana hasn’t noticed that I slipped out.’
From Oriana’s response, Alice could tell she was completely unaware of her late-night escapade.
Alice didn’t even want to imagine how Oriana might react if she confessed to going down to the lower layers and treating people to “mint-flavored electricity.”
It was better to keep quiet and avoid any unpredictable reactions.
“How would I know? But it’s probably not as nice as the house of a First-Class Overseer, right?”
“That’s true. While this place isn’t as luxurious as my family home in the Ark’s core, it’s still a decent residential area. As for the lower layers… well, you probably won’t have much reason to go there while living in the Ark, but it’s best to avoid them altogether.”
“What’s the Ark core like?”
“Hmm, if I had to describe it… A mechanical palace?”
“A mechanical palace?”
“You’ll understand when you see it later.”
By now, Alice had grown so comfortable with Oriana that she spoke to her casually, as though they were old friends.
Though Alice’s current mental age matched her physical appearance, she had lived three lives, including this one, so she habitually viewed herself as the senior in most conversations.
This was why she spoke informally to almost everyone.
On the other hand, Oriana knew Alice was a Returnee, so she didn’t bother correcting her manner of speech.
At first, Oriana might have thought of her as a slightly cheeky kid. However, Returnees often had a mismatch between their appearance and the years they had lived, and Alice was likely no exception.
“Haah… Let’s eat first. The Energy Corporation reissued the electricity subscription certificate.”
“Electricity subscription certificate?”
“In the Ark, all energy, including electricity, is strictly regulated. There are billions of people here, so the demand is high, but the supply is limited.”
Although the Ark wasn’t small, its population density was mind-bogglingly high.
To sustain such a density, advanced technology, mana, and various forms of energy were essential.
The Energy Corporation’s administrators, appointed directly from the Ark’s core, meticulously adjusted energy yields.
Should any conflicts arise, Executors, Overseers, and Hunters from the Corporation stepped in.
There was even a joke that the most powerful force in the Ark wasn’t the Pioneer Team but the Executors from the Energy Corporation.
Of course, outside the city, the Pioneer Hunters and Overseers, who directly confronted external calamities, were stronger. However, within the city, it was no exaggeration to say the Executors from the Corporation were the most formidable force.
“Ugh, those administrative folks from the Corporation. Just because they work in offices, they’ve become completely lax. Can you believe they tried to pin this nonsense on me?”
“…”
Oriana shoved a meal kit into the automated cooker, her face full of irritation.
Regardless of the truth, Oriana seemed convinced that an Energy Corporation employee had tried to unfairly charge her extra taxes.
“Damn them. I barely come home once a fortnight, and I’ve been paying my electricity subscription fees without fail. Now they claim I used 15 days’ worth of electricity in a single day? Do I look like a joke to them? Don’t you think so, Alice?”
“Uh, yeah.”
It was rather unfortunate timing that Oriana had left for the Junk Forest’s outer patrol base exactly 15 days ago and had only returned home yesterday.
At such a point, the Energy Corporation sent a notice charging for exactly 15 days of electricity usage. To Oriana, it seemed like the Corporation was trying to extort money under the pretext of energy costs.
In reality, the misunderstanding and conflict between Oriana and the Energy Corporation were caused by Alice inadvertently consuming 15 days’ worth of electricity for a single-person household during her stay.
However, who could possibly suspect Alice as the culprit?
Alice herself decided to keep her mouth shut, meaning the truth would likely remain hidden for a long time.
‘There’s no need to stir up trouble unnecessarily. I’ll just pay it back later with interest! After all, my relationship with Oriana is purely transactional… so later on….’
“Those Corporation guys kept insisting their detection system was flawless, so I brought my outer patrol records to show them. I told them it didn’t make sense for me to return home after fifteen days and use fifteen days’ worth of electricity in a single day!”
The Corporation had only detected the electricity drain at Oriana’s house but didn’t know how it had been consumed.
If they had known, the cause of the power leakage would have already been identified.
Alice let out a sigh of relief, grateful that her heinous crime remained undiscovered.
“So, how did it turn out?”
“Well, they concluded there must have been a leakage somewhere, and the Corporation agreed to refund the subscription fee. An inspector will come by later to check, though….”
“Is the electricity subscription fee expensive?”
“No, honestly, do you think a First-Class Overseer would care about that? It’s not about the money—it’s the audacity of them trying to rip me off that’s annoying.”
“I see… That makes sense.”
Good. It seems I won’t need to add much interest when I pay her back later.
In the meantime, Oriana retrieved the meal kit from the automated cooker.
“Oh, what’s this? Sausages?”
“It’s a meal kit provided to Barrier Agency officials. It’s probably better than most restaurants.”
In the Ark, public officials—those working for the city or government—were considered highly prestigious roles.
Public officials were either selected through extremely competitive exams or recommended from the upper ranks of the Ark’s core.
Regardless of their background, they all used their abilities to serve the Ark.
Accordingly, their benefits and support far exceeded what the average Ark resident received.
Meal kits were among these benefits.
The sausages were made not from synthetic meat but from cows and pigs raised in natural pastures in the Ark’s core.
There was also a salad mixed with boiled eggs and mayonnaise.
The kit included pasta noodles meant to be topped with a soy sauce-based meat sauce.
Even a packet of instant coffee and factory-made cookies, considered somewhat expensive in the Ark, were neatly packaged alongside the kit.
While the Ark was home to countless ethnicities and preferences, the meal kits were designed to be universally appealing, and satisfaction with them was remarkably high.
“Do you get to eat this kind of thing every day as a public official in the Ark?”
Alice was quietly impressed by the quality of the sausage.
The synthetic meat cutlet she had eaten yesterday at that restaurant—Helderi or Aldehilly, or something like that—had been decent, but this meal was genuinely delicious.
So much so that the trauma of tasting mint-flavored electricity had been entirely erased from her memory.
Even though she had a mechanical body, her ability to taste things so vividly, like a living human, remained a mystery to her. Still, culinary enjoyment was one of life’s pleasures.
She should be grateful for retaining the senses to experience such joys.
“I’ve heard these meal kits sell for quite a high price somewhere.”
“Couldn’t an Ark public official secretly take a few and sell them?”
“If they got caught, they’d be fired immediately.”
“But I saw more than twenty of these in your kitchen. Did you bring them to sell, Oriana?”
“Do you think I would do that? It’s not like I’m short on money. I brought them just for you to eat.”
“Wow. Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. That’s the least you can say.”
In truth, even if Oriana, as a First-Class Overseer, had decided to pilfer meal kits and sell them secretly, no one in the Ark would dare touch her.
After all, she was a First-Class Overseer.
Unless she committed a serious crime threatening the Ark’s peace, many turned a blind eye to her conveniences.
The meal was quickly finished.
Oriana had been hungry, and Alice needed to shove the meal kit into her mouth to drown out the horrid aftertaste of mint-flavored electricity that had twisted her entire sensory system.
“Alice, we’re going a bit farther today.”
“Why?”
“To become a First-Class Overseer’s successor, it’s not enough for me to say you’re qualified. You’ll need to pass a rank assessment.”
“Ah.”
Rank.
Assessment!
Alice’s mind instantly recalled the clichés she had seen often in novels and comics during her first life.
Despite having lived for more than a century across her three lives, her youthful mindset—aligned with her current physical form—lit up at the thought of a rank assessment.