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Technological advancements are accelerating.
It’s the same in any industry. As new standards come out, compatibility between previous generations gradually deteriorates.
In particular, the data chip field is one in which generational changes and standard changes are rapid, so even after a dozen years, ordinary people cannot even touch it.
Moreover, the chips I brought are from the period when Agata Custoria and Noel Mulizka were active.
Gilda stared at the holographic screen and searched the network for the chip’s specifications. However, Gilda’s eyes narrowed as if there were no clues.
“If there’s no information on the internet… … hmm.”
“Ah, it’s probably a chip produced before the Empire settled on the planet Novas.”
I added. Gilda’s eyes widened and he furrowed his brow for once.
“You should have said that a long time ago! It’s not even two hundred years ago… It’s something that was used about three centuries ago. Anyway, I feel a sense of challenge burning within me.”
She walked into the storeroom, her arms folded, and she came out carrying a handful of dusty books.
thud!
Gilda dropped the pile of books on the table, causing a cloud of dust to rise.
“Identical or similar items, and you see the numbers and letters here? If you see a model that overlaps, tell me right away. It’s because it’s a product from the same company or has the same specifications.”
Looking at the covers and titles, they were all books related to electronic devices.
Gilda and I opened the book and just moved our eyes around.
Shhhhhh.
I was much faster at turning the pages. After a long time, he glanced at me with a surprised face and then focused on his own book.
I finished a book in about thirty seconds. Even I can’t read at this speed. But I had no problem checking spelling and pictures.
“Ugh, what, what happened?”
Meanwhile, Gabriel stood up, holding his head.
“You fell over because you were really drunk earlier. Drink moderately.”
I said, turning the page of the book. Gabriel tilted his head, rubbing his chin as if his lower jaw was sore.
“Oh, really? Did you fall and faint? No, I think there was something important… … Miss, what was it?”
Gabriel just blinked. I threw the book at him and repeated Gilda’s explanation verbatim.
“First, find this. It’s important.”
Gabriel turned the pages of the book with his thick fingers in a daze.
Gilda’s hands, which had been turning the pages, slowed down. She looked back and forth between the chip and the book.
“I think I found it. Just a moment.”
Gilda was the first to find the clue. She sat in front of the holographic screen with an old book open. She dragged and pulled the holographic screen around, superimposing the information onto one screen.
“That’s why it doesn’t come out! At the time, it easily passed the highest security level, and the capacity was built up in a stacked manner, so it was incredibly huge.
The laminated chip is laminated, and is stacked like a puzzle by fitting it into empty spaces, so the thickness is… … Oh, well, you probably don’t care. Anyway, it’s a chip that concentrated the technology of the time to an excessive degree.
Because the price range was so low and the demand was so low, only small quantities were produced. It feels like it was actually made to show off technological prowess.
So the company that produced it created a separate, top-level category called Oparts to distinguish these chips. These are chips that can now be commonly seen on the streets.”
Gilda said excitedly, adding that it could be traded at a fairly high price.
“Anyway, you’re saying it’s expensive?”
Gabriel, who had been listening blankly, opened his eyes and became interested in the details.
“So, can you extract the data?”
My only interest was the content.
“You could line up your computer terminals by generation and move them to compatible standards one by one. If you just convert them to standards from a hundred or fifty years ago, there will be no problem reading them afterwards. However, there will be data loss and corruption. I don’t know what the contents are, but if it’s a program, it’s possible that it won’t work properly. And the security system is different from now… .”
Gilda also added the reason why the work was taking so long, but it wasn’t something I was particularly interested in listening to. I was thinking of leaving it entirely up to her.
“Ah! I remembered! Luca, you, you punk!”
Gabriel finally came to his senses and screamed.
“If you want to get hit, hit me. I’ll take the hit.”
“That’s not what I meant! Anyway, I’ll let you off this time. Because you, with your big mouth! Said you were sorry!”
Gabriel spoke with emphasis, pressing hard. I was tempted to take back what I had said. But words cannot be taken back once they have been spoken.
Kwak! Kwang!
Gilda was busy taking out some antique electronic equipment from the storage room. She was busy working without paying any attention to us.
“You, then, are from an orphanage and adopted into a noble family. You’re really something. I felt like you didn’t have the aura of a noble young master. No matter how I looked at it, it was strange that a kid from the lower classes called himself a noble.”
Gabriel said, nudging me with his shoulder. He took out another beer, as if he wasn’t tired of it. He offered me one too.
“I didn’t say anything because it was too complicated to explain.”
I also had a thirst, so I drank beer. It was more like a soft drink than other alcoholic beverages, so it was drinkable. I didn’t feel drunk either.
“But you could have told me, Luca. That you were upset.”
Gabriel grumbled, his anger finally dissipating.
‘Gabriel is a loser from the lower sector.’
When we first met, Gabriel’s body was out of balance. It would not have been strange for it to break down or malfunction at any time. If he had continued living like that, he would have died in two or three years. It was an obvious ending.
‘He likes to drink and party all day long, and when he gets some money, he squanders it in a few days. He’s a short-sighted idiot.’
So Gabriel can’t rise above and lives the life of a loser. He’s one of the types of people I hate the most.
If there had been no communication and bonding, I would not have considered Gabriel a fellow human being. In fact, I acted that way.
… … But now I don’t hate Gabriel. I don’t want to look down on his life.
‘It’s all just funny.’
Just because we know each other well, we can overlook the person’s shortcomings. At one time, I despised that attitude and considered it vulgar.
‘Well, even now, Gabriel sometimes looks pitiful… … No, not sometimes, but almost always.’
Even that pathetic Gabriel wasn’t so bad.
To put this complicated feeling into simple terms, it’s simple: If Gabriel dies, I’ll be sad.
“Luka, can you see my wing tattoo?”
Gabriel lowered his coat and exposed his back. His scarred shoulder bore an incongruous wing tattoo.
“You don’t have to show it. I don’t want to see a man’s back.”
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“Gabriel is a common name. That’s why my mom got this tattoo to find me. Gabriel is actually the name of an angel or something.”
“You look great together. I don’t know for sure, but I guess all angels are handsome like you.”
“I was pretty handsome before my face got ruined. If I had three surgeries for facial sunken areas and fractures, you would end up like that.”
“It’s a good thing I have an excuse for being ugly.”
“Ha, shit, I really want to beat you up. Even if you were weaker than me, you’d just… … .”
Gabriel clenched and unclenched his fists, suppressing his anger.
“Well, I’m glad I remember my mother’s face. Oh, I’m not saying I’m jealous. I’m not that sensitive.”
“I was not originally born as an Arkbaran. To be exact, the Empire is not my home.”
I hesitated and looked at the side of Gabriel’s face.
This was a bit of a different story. Just because it was an empire database, it didn’t mean that even the history of the lower class was meticulously recorded. The empire’s information network wasn’t that detailed.
“Are you from Corana Bellato?”
“That’s not it… … .”
Gabriel chuckled and paused. It seemed like he was trying to annoy me.
“… … I was born in the wilderness. I am a nomad who lives a free life.”
Gabriel said with pride. I felt like I wanted to trample on him for no reason.
“Are you talking about those vagrants who live without even a proper home?”
“Hey, you!”
“Just kidding. I know. It’s surprising, Nomad.”
It was a word I rarely heard.
On the planet Novas, there was a wandering group that did not belong to any nation. That force was the Nomads. It was hard to even call it a force, but it was called the Nomads when it came to several small communities. That was why it had no presence.
Above all, the members of the Nomads were a multi-ethnic group, to the point that they could be considered a part of humanity. They were an impure force that had no need for interaction with the empire, which prioritized humanity.
I only know that there is a group called Nomads.
“I was about four or five years old at the time, so I don’t remember much. When I think about it, I think the group I belonged to was about to face something dangerous. That’s why they paid to leave me at Akbaran’s orphanage. Since we haven’t heard from each other in over twenty years, they’re probably all dead.”
Fortunately, he was not kicked out of the orphanage because he was treated as a non-national citizen of nomad origin. A boy of the same name, ‘Gabriel’, died in an accident, and the orphanage director had him transferred under Gabriel’s false identity in order to continue receiving support money. It was a common corruption and trickery.
From then on, Gabriel’s life was no different from that of any other boy in Akbaran.
Gabriel was assigned to a vocational school because he did not meet the military aptitude requirement in the screening test. After a short training session, he was assigned to a construction company site, but he lost both his legs in an accident and was forced to leave.
‘This is also the first time I’ve heard this story.’
Gabriel calmly told his story.
“So I robbed the boss’s safe in a fit of anger. Since I didn’t have legs, I felt light and could easily climb up walls. Anyway, I used that money to buy legs for combat. I didn’t even have to calculate the suitability of this or that, I just asked them to buy it because I was in a hurry. Thinking back now, I was lucky. I even knocked out the employee who ran to kill me with those legs.”
After going back and forth like that, I ended up here.
“I was pretty confident in fighting, that is, until I met you. It was the first time I’d ever been defeated so miserably.”
Gabriel stared at his hands. The rough lumps of iron were his arms. He too had been replacing limbs to become stronger.
I just drank beer while listening to Gabriel’s story.
The reason Gabriel told me this story was simple. He knew my past, no matter what the route, so he told me about his past as well.
“That was just your bad luck. It’s not often you see someone like me in the lower sectors.”
I said, putting down my empty beer bottle.
“No, I think I was lucky. After all, this is how it turned out. See you next time, noble hunter Luca.”
Gabriel stood up, muttering nonsense. He stuffed his large hands into his coat pockets and left the factory.
I stared at the door Gabriel had exited through, lost in thought.
Squeak.
About ten minutes later, the door opened again. At first, I thought Gabriel had left something behind and was coming back in.
Swish.
A cold wind blew in through the open door. It must have been because the sun was setting. But even without that, I felt a chill.
My heart, which had been warmly beating, felt like it was freezing. I opened my eyes half-heartedly and stared at the man standing in front of the door.
‘… … Kinuan.’
Kinuan calmly took off his coat and stepped into the factory.
“Ah, Luca. You’re here too. It’s been a while. You seem to be busy with work, but please accept my greetings.”
Kinuan, who had passed by me, sat down.
… … Think about it, Luca. Why did that monster come here?
