Chapter 7: I Became a Hacker Loved by AIs

Aptitude Test (2)

Affiliation: ImmuneWire, Chairman’s Secretariat, Division 3

Title: Chief of the 3rd Secretariat, Svetlana.

With sharp eyes and a cold aura befitting someone who serves the top brass—

A captivating woman in a black suit, radiating elegance and authority.

Svetlana was currently observing an “Aptitude Test” at the Paris branch.

The branch employees were all cautiously gauging her mood, while the children were undergoing the test.

But the only reason she was here was because of one child.

‘Neige.’

An anomaly had occurred.

Despite the handler's death, all the the children survived beyond the Erebus Line.

In the entire history of ImmuneWire’s Talent Development Department, such a thing had never happened.

And ImmuneWire does not ignore a child like that.

Why?

Because of the management philosophy of the company’s founder and current chairman, Cassian Kravetz.

His philosophy was simple:

Running an organization is ultimately a game of talent.

Alan Turing, who developed the first programmable computer.

John Backus, who created the first programming language, FORTRAN.

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, URL, and HTTP.

Geniuses change the world.

The rest are just parts that support the organization and its genius.

As a member of the Secretariat tasked with executing the Chairman’s orders, Svetlana could not simply overlook the emergence of Neige.

“Chief Svetlana, is there anything you’re uncomfortable with?”

“No, thanks to you, Director.”

“Oh no, not at all. You’re always so modest, it makes us feel guilty. Hahaha…”

As someone who was essentially the Chairman’s eyes and ears, the pressure on the Paris branch directors and employees was enormous.

But Svetlana had no interest in their flattery or discomfort.

It was Enora who had suggested using the Cerberus Protocol, and it was Svetlana who had approved it.

However, their reasoning had been very different.

When planning the test, Enora had said to her:

“I’d like to recommend using the Cerberus Protocol.”

“And your reasoning?”

“Cerberus can’t be beaten by a five-year-old. It’ll expose what kind of child Neige really is.”

“...Excuse me?”

Enora’s calculation, when facing Svetlana directly, had been simple:

If the Secretary Chief was overseeing the test, then any accidents would be her responsibility, not Enora’s.

So why not charm this “higher-up” into approving it and make her own job easier?

And if the troublesome and irritating Neige just happened to die in an accident—well, even better.

And what did Svetlana think of that?

‘This woman… does she really think she’s clever?’

Pure contempt.

The very notion that Svetlana might fall for such a shallow trick was insulting.

Expose Neige’s true nature?

Even the justification was flimsy.

Right now, the company was exploring a girl with limitless potential.

She could simply be lucky, or she might truly be a genius, or, just maybe, she was a genetically engineered agent planted by a rival organization.

And yet they wanted to use the Cerberus Protocol?

It was a simple conclusion, one that could only be reached after ruling out countless other assumptions.

Yet, for someone who held the title of Section Chief in Talent Development Department, Enora’s proposal was embarrassingly shallow.

And still, things proceeded according to her suggestion. Why?

Because Svetlana had something else in mind.

Her judgment was as follows:

The anomaly caused by Neige was clearly beyond standard parameters.

Among the possibilities that came to mind in such a scenario—

There was one in particular.

The possibility that she might be the ‘Übermensch.’ (Superhuman)

A genius among geniuses, the kind the Chairman had spent his entire life searching for.

History is filled with tales of five-year-olds defeating adult chess masters.

Mental brilliance often transcends age, revealing itself even in early childhood.

Enora’s test was designed to measure how long Neige could withstand Cerberus.

But Svetlana’s test was different.

She wanted to see if the girl could win.

After all, Chairman Cassian Kravetz himself had reached such heights at a young age.

And from the very first impression, Neige had shown signs of meeting Svetlana’s expectations.

“...So, you can see it.”

A quiet remark, tinged with admiration.

Hyper-sensitive perception in cyberspace—able to see things from a distance that shouldn't be visible.

“Tell her she may meet me. Section Chief Enora.”

The girl didn’t follow the system’s lead. She rewrote the rules of the game to meet someone in power.

She demonstrated initiative without being dragged around by the board.

And finally, the confidence she carried as she entered the test.

While ordinary people are busy flattering the sky, you are looking for a way to fly in that sky.

The test began, and Neige disappeared from sight after being attacked by Cerberus.

Then, from Svetlana’s suit pocket, a small serpent emerged.

It slithered up her right arm and coiled around her shoulder.

“The Ouroboros Protocol…! Only the Chairman’s secretaries are authorized to use that—!”

The surrounding employees gasped in shock.

But Svetlana simply turned around and held a finger to her lips, signaling them to be quiet.

The snake formed a small data block on her shoulder.

The data block floated slowly through the air until it touched one wall of the observation room.

Then—

With astonishing speed, it spread across the surface like a virus, rewriting the space into a massive theater screen.

On it appeared the image of Neige, trapped inside the maze of Cerberus.

“Prove it,”

Svetlana said, filled with anticipation.

“Prove that you are the greatest gift I could offer the Chairman.”

***

There were a few principles I had to follow in this fight.

First:

I must not let them discover I’m being aided by an AI.

That was fine past the Erebus Line, but there were too many eyes watching here now.

Second:

Never confuse cyberspace with reality.

I'm stuck in a maze, being hunted by a monster.

It sounds like something out of a movie or ancient Greek mythology.

But let me stress this again—

This is not reality.

The opponent is a defensive ICE system created by ImmuneWire.

Defeating it means I’ve successfully hacked it.

Yeah.

This is my first real hacking.

So I need to switch my mindset.

From this moment on, I am ‘Bitmancer.’

I’m not fighting some monster called Cerberus.

I’m currently infiltrating a security system.

At the heart of that system lies a maze — one designed to draw intruders in, sever their access to the core system, and leave them wandering in circles.

Cerberus itself is surprisingly passive.

The fact that I haven’t been attacked in any way so far proves that.

So, how was I pulled into this maze?

It tampered with DNS to scramble my data coordinates.

I took a few cautious steps and started counting in my head.

1... 2... 3...

When I reached 60 seconds—

In the blink of an eye, I was snapped back to my original location.

[DNS coordinate alteration detected.]

[Analyzing anomaly... complete.]

[DNS coordinate resets every 60 seconds to prevent master from leaving your position.]

‘Interesting.’

I closed my eyes and focused inward, on the data beneath the surface.

The code that determines my location.

My DNS coordinates weren’t under my control, they were encrypted by Cerberus.

In short, it’s my data, but I don’t own it.

A punishment, perhaps, for failing to stop the first attack.

‘Can we unlock it?’

[The encryption key is constantly changing in real time. You must locate the entity responsible for updating the key.]

‘Is that so?’

This was nothing like dealing with Cyberdemons.

Those guys just hurled hacking code-imbued data weapons and attacked.

But ICE uses complex puzzles.

‘I can make weapons too, right?’

[Possible.]

‘Then what if I use one to smash this maze to pieces?’

[Impossible.]

[Target is using ImmuneWire’s high-performance security computers for computation. Master’s computational power is vastly outmatched. The recovery speed will outpace the destruction speed.]

[Unless Cerberus attacks directly, brute force is not viable.]

Right.

Back at the Erebus Line, the method I used to protect the children was also to increase computational power through parallel processing.

Now, in my head, the rules of this world are starting to line up.

Destructive methods through hacking only works when you’ve got the raw computational power to back it up.

If not, you have to move secretly, find vulnerabilities in the system and exploit them.

Now I understand why ImmuneWire chose Cerberus for testing.

Isn't it the perfect protocol that gives you time, but also pushes your limits, all the while measuring your skill?

The first step to escaping this maze is to get my DNS back.

I remembered something V said back at the Erebus Line.

To observe beyond the Erebus Line, you need a breaching code, but that code becomes a vulnerability in itself.

If the encryption key is constantly changing, something must be broadcasting those updates.

There’s a connection point somewhere.

I looked around.

Contrary to my expectations, I couldn't see any data stream flying toward me.

No, don’t trust your eyes.

Trust your thoughts.

There’s no such thing as zero data flow.

If I can’t see it, it must have been hidden.

‘Can you find it?’

[There are too many disguised data streams in the vicinity. Insufficient computational power to analyze them all. Also, they are all encrypted.]

So it is running on a security-grade computer.

Figures, that kind of computational horsepower is just insane.

It can handle all this in real time?

Great. Now I’m jealous.

No, screw that. I am getting premium cyberware one day, no matter what.

I turn my attention to the walls and floor.

Just like V said, I can see streams of signals flowing inside the data blocks that make up the maze.

If I want to solve this, I need to think creatively.

‘...No matter how many disguised data streams there are, only a few of them actually interact with my DNS coordinates, right?’

[Correct.]

That narrows the list.

But the real problem is cracking the encryption.

‘...V, let’s make a weapon. One that targets only the small number of data packets linked to my DNS. Thoughts?’

[Valid strategy. I recommend a sniffer code. It'll intercept the data flow to steal the internal data. From there, we can backtrack the encryption key.]

‘Why do I even have an AI based on Alphabet if I’m the one doing all the thinking?’

[(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)♡]

[This AI's computational power is—]

‘Based on my brain. Yeah yeah, I know. Stop talking.’

I remembered the data blades the cyberdemons used. That gave me the base idea.

Following the sequence of extraction, organization, and packaging that I learned on the first day, I create a small dagger.

The dagger contains a sniffing hacking code personally uploaded by V.

This was the first data weapon I've ever made that contains a hacking code.

I grip the dagger in reverse and aim it at my chest.

Don’t be afraid. It’s not a real blade.

I synchronized my breathing to calm the mind and stab the dagger deeply into my chest.

[Hacking code injection complete.]

[Sniffing DNS coordinates...]

[Analyzing encryption key... 28%...]

A dagger is embedded in my chest, but I feel no pain, not even a tingle.

While I was still reeling from the bizarre experience, V neatly snatches the encryption key.

[Extraction complete. DNS encryption can now be disabled.]

At that moment, a loud siren echoes throughout the cyberspace.

In this world, sound equals data waves.

The message encoded in the pulse was clear:

[[[WARNING: You are now infiltrating a system protected by ImmuneWire Corporation.]]]

Really? They even send out a warning like this? How kind.

[[[Further intrusion will be treated as system tampering. Hostile defense systems will activate.]]]

[[[If this was unintentional, please remain idle for one hour.]]]

[[[Repeating. This system is under ImmuneWire protection. Cease all activity immediately.]]]

So that’s what commercial-grade ICE feels like.

Too bad.

I’m not here to ask permission, I’m here to break through you.

‘Disable it.’

[DNS encryption disabled.]

[Ownership restored.]

[Autonomous control enabled.]

I smile and lightly stretch my body.

Now the real puzzle game begins.

I even feel a strange thrill coursing through my data body.

I advanced through the maze’s narrow path, slowly penetrate the interior.

At the end of the path stood a small door.

There must be another layer of protection inside to prevent intruders from penetrating further.

I cautiously open the door.

And what awaited me inside was...

A pack of data wolves. Dozens of them.

"..."

Σ(°△°|||)

We made eye contact.

The wolves saw me.

I saw them.

And so did V.

After a silent beat passed—

The wolves rush toward me all at once.

I moved too.

“Sorry!!”

I slammed the door shut violently.

Thankfully, the wolves didn't open the door and attack.

But the problem hadn’t gone anywhere.

What now?

You want me to get through that?

No, seriously? How?