BATTER 24

“Do you know why someone would put a 100-million-dollar bounty on an android like that?”

“I don’t. I need the money, and I don’t see any reason to know more than that.”

“That much cash? Why? Planning on paying damages to the lab with it or something?”

The teacher remained hunched over, her head held stiffly high. He’d known since he first saw her in the rearview mirror—this wasn’t the kind of person who could commit a murder and keep on living. The ethics she’d learned made the most crucial part of her blade soft. Baron took a step toward her.

“Even if it’s illegal, if it’s a lab serving the rich, you must’ve studied hard to get in. You were pretty successful. Now you’re out here in a shipping container in the middle of nowhere, playing school with a bunch of brats. I bet you’re getting tired of it.”

A dark shadow fell over the teacher. Baron dropped one knee to the floor to meet her eyes. Through those eyelids, thin as an egg’s membrane, he could see her soft spots completely and without exception. He whispered like a cliché villain.

“I hate kids. They’re annoying and useless. I’m saying I won’t judge you if you tell me the truth. Saving them is actually the easy part. It’s momentary and gives you quite a rush. But taking responsibility? That’s a different story.”

A slight tremor ran through her cheekbone. The tip of his bony index finger traced down the shivering upper part of her cheek.

“You’ve finally got a chance to undo the mistake of saving those runts.”

The moment he finished speaking, the teacher slapped Baron across the face with her one good hand. She screamed at his stubborn head, which hadn’t even budged.

“I am taking responsibility for them until the very end!”

Her voice pierced his ear like an arrowhead. It was a voice so overwrought with emotion that the ends of her words frayed. Even if she hadn’t been able to use either hand, she probably would have found a way to hit him. The teacher glared at Baron with eyes hot and brimming with moisture.

“Do you think I’d need a hundred million bucks if I was the one using it, you son of a bitch?!”

Her tears didn’t fall; they evaporated at the edge of her eyelids. She must have been raised quite refined, because her string of curses was shorter than her academic transcript. An awkward silence followed. Baron cupped the cheek where her palm had landed and burst into a loud ‘Bwahaha’ laugh.

“Phew, yeah. If I say something bad, I deserve to get hit.”

“Yes, you said something very bad, sir.”

Bijou carelessly poked Baron’s cheek. It was the side that had just been slapped, as if he were telling him to reflect on his actions. Despite not flinching when he was actually struck, Baron made a fuss, groaning, “Ouch, ouch.” After rubbing his unswollen cheek a few times, Baron turned his head back with his usual smirk.

“Well, there are endless ways to spend money, but taking responsibility for clones until the end is a risky business. They don’t even have registered identities. I mean, forging IDs isn’t that expensive, but…”

“I’m sending them to Mars.”

Lips that had been bitten into a tattered mess finally spat out a meaningful answer. It seemed to be the price for the slap.

“Mars is a special autonomous zone, so the laws are different from Earth. Much more merciful… Even if it’s revealed later that they’re clones, they’ll be protected as long as they’re registered residents. Then those kids can just… live as normal children.”

“I heard the screening process was tough.”

“There are brokers over there who help with migration. It’s just that the price for passage is unspeakably high.”

“I heard it was a perfect utopia once. I guess everywhere people live is… Honey, would you quit blowing on me?”

Baron couldn’t take the constant draft from his side any longer and turned around. Bijou was leaning in, blowing air onto his slapped cheek with a ‘whoo, whoo’ sound. With his lips puckered, Bijou blinked his clear eyes.

“It was treatment for your statement that you were in pain.”

“I’m not in pain anymore, thanks to you. Much appreciated.”

“I’m so proud!”

The endlessly positive android laughed as refreshingly as someone flipping on a light switch. The teacher, who had watched this series of comedy skits in real-time, looked utterly exhausted. With a face where a layer of hollow dejection was thinly spread over anger and tension, she looked at Baron.

“What exactly are you? This android’s owner? Or did you claim him before me? Why are you traveling with him?”

“Oh, right. I almost forgot.”

There was a reason he had come all the way to the edge of the Undercity, which wasn’t exactly a tourist spot. He’d just forgotten for a moment in the rush of dopamine. Lucky he remembered now, right? Baron slapped his own forehead with a loud crack. While he hadn’t shown a hint of swelling when the teacher hit him, this time a red handprint bloomed on his forehead.

“You’re the one who sent that military-grade tin can after us, right? The one painted dark gray. Carrying an electromagnetic pulse rifle.”

The teacher nodded blankly. It was a fact so welcome he could have mentioned it in his grace before dinner.

“Good. Where’d you buy it?”

“What?”

“Ah… It’s a long story, but I need the pedigree of the guys who deal in that stuff.”

At the vague explanation, the teacher furrowed her brow skeptically. She looked as if she were implying, ‘Could it possibly be longer than the story of working as a researcher in an illegal clone lab, eventually smuggling them all out and living in hiding for years?’ Regardless, Baron scratched his shaggy hair with an awkward look.

“Anyway, if you aren’t lying, your intentions are generally quite noble, and I’m not this guy’s owner or anything. You two settle it between yourselves.”

“Wait, what?”

“Have I become unnecessary to you, sir?”

“It’s not that you’re unnecessary yet, but this young teacher says she’s taking responsibility for the lives of ten identity-less brats. Now that is true suffering. As an S2-2, what do you think?”

The S2-2, manufactured for human suffering, thought for a moment. Then he replied.

“Using ‘true’ and ‘genuine’ in succession is a tautology, sir.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I’ll miss having a witness, but thinking utility-wise, I should probably handle my own business.”

Baron, unable to drop his old habits, gave a light wink and a thumbs-up. Even by pan-human standards, it was an incredibly swift resolution. The teacher, who had firmly resolved not to be tricked, hunched her shoulders sensitively with suspicion.

“This is some kind of plot, isn’t it? Making me feel safe so you can take out the competition…”

Her suspicious eyes scanned Baron’s expression anxiously. At that, Bijou—the kind and capable android who definitely needed a lecture—stepped right up next to Baron. First he stood on the left, then he circled around and placed his palm firmly on the right side of Baron’s face. Analyzing comprehensive biological data like hormone levels, heart rate, and blood pressure in an instant, he gave a thumbs-up just like Baron.

“Rest assured! Based on the detailed biological sensor data, the probability of this proposal being a lie is less than 10 percent!”

Faced with the double pair of thumbs, the teacher honestly couldn’t think of anything else to say. After stuttering several times to get the words out, she finally managed to continue.

“I said the bounty is 100 million dollars. You’re really just going to hand him over?”

“I can’t say I hate money, but that amount is a bit of a burden, shall we say. And my sweetheart here is technically an intelligent being. I think this is a question we should ask him.”

Two pairs of eyes turned toward Bijou. Bijou was still holding his thumb up.

“Honey, what would you think if you could change the lives of ten minor clones by handing yourself over to an anonymous billionaire?”

“I believe that would be a worthwhile endeavor!”

He didn’t hesitate. The fear he didn’t feel was instead replaced by the teacher’s bewilderment. Baron placed his hand firmly on Bijou’s white, slender shoulder. Now his role was becoming increasingly ambiguous. A question followed, its purpose blurred between persuasion, enticement, or a test.

“Really? Truly? You don’t know what that anonymous billionaire might do to you, yet you don’t think you’d regret handing yourself over?”