Controlled by an AI chapter 51

Shin Eun-ha was in the 7th-floor restaurant, Penelope. It too had been taken over by armed men.

If the adversaries had been wielding knives, she would trust Na Kang-In and wait.

But they had guns.

She and Na Kang-In had known each other for less than a month.

She asked Lee Tae-ho.

“Mr. Kang-In won’t really come here, right?”

“Of course. If he comes, he’ll get shot.”

“Then what happens to us now?”

THO Entertainment’s CEO, Lee Tae-ho, glanced at the foreign woman who had been captured by the masked men.

The leader of the masked men was quietly talking to the foreign woman.

They couldn’t hear the conversation. Other masked men, after herding people into a corner, gathered around the woman.

Lee Tae-ho, observing their actions, spoke.

“They have no interest in us. That woman is their target.”

“Who is that woman? Is she some kind of foreign minister or something?”

“She’s the CEO and head of research at OmegaTech.”

“Omega? What’s that? A supplement company?”

“It’s an American company. Famous for its advanced technology.”

Shin Eun-ha only knows a few American tech companies.

“Oh, like the fruit company or the search engine one?”

“No, they’re famous in a different way. For various equipment and robots, and… weapons.”

OmegaTech conducts research on military weapons.

Lee Tae-ho’s father is the president of Ironman Engineering, a company that makes military and police equipment. His older brother, Lee Tae-sung, is the head of the headquarters at Ironman Engineering.

When Director Lee Tae-sung found out that Scarlett Kelly, the CEO of OmegaTech, was dining at this restaurant today, he asked his brother, Lee Tae-ho, the president of THO Entertainment, to make a reservation.

That was last night.

THO Entertainment is a well-known company in the film and performance industry.

As its president, Lee Tae-ho naturally has many connections in the entertainment world.

The owner and head chef of this restaurant, Penelope, is Oh Gyuchul, who frequently appears on TV.

Oh Gyuchul also has ties to the entertainment industry.

Trusting his brother’s claim that it was important, Lee Tae-ho used his connections to ask Oh Gyuchul for a favor.

Oh Gyuchul couldn’t refuse and arranged for the dinner reservation at Penelope.

Lee Tae-ho complained.

“My brother told me to make the reservation yesterday, but I’m the one who got stuck here.”

Shin Eun-ha hesitated.

“Wait a minute. What do you mean? Mr. Lee made the reservation here yesterday too?”

“Yes.”

“What time?”

“Around eight o’clock…”

‘My reservation was at seven, so he did it later than me?’

Shin Eun-ha realized why her reservation was canceled.

“Wow. So, Mr. Lee Tae-ho took my reservation? Unbelievable. I thought it was strange when you cut Kang-in’s fee, but still…”

“What? Oh, did I?”

“If my reservation hadn’t been canceled, I’d be having coffee with Kang-in upstairs right now. This whole mess is Mr. Lee’s fault.”

Lee Tae-ho quickly changed the subject.

“That’s not the point right now, is it? We’re being held by guys with guns.”

“Oh, right. But it’s still Mr. Lee’s fault.”

“Eun-ha, you don’t seem very scared. You’re still arguing about that?”

“After experiencing a collapsing set, I’ve toughened up.”

And after hanging out with Na Kang-in, most things didn’t scare her anymore.

“Your expression is the only bright one here… Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Of course. You know why?”

She was an entertainer with no ties to advanced technology or the military.

She glanced at the armed masked men and asked.

“So, this is some kind of trouble among arms dealers?”

Lee Tae-ho corrected her.

“Scarlett Kelly isn’t the kind of arms dealer you’re thinking of. She’s the head of research at OmegaTech. An engineer-turned-CEO.”

She asked again.

“But it doesn’t concern us, right?”

Though Lee Tae-ho was in the film industry, his family made military and police equipment.

So, he had some idea about the arms industry.

“I hope it doesn’t concern us…”

Shin Eun-ha grumbled.

“If my reservation hadn’t been canceled, I’d be upstairs, completely uninvolved.”

“Eun-ha, it was wrong of me to take your reservation. I’m sorry, so please stop.”

***

Armed masked men stormed the café on the second floor, brandishing pistols and ordering the staff.

“Take everyone’s phones. If you miss even one, we’ll shoot as many bullets into you as there are phones you missed!”

Frightened employees moved among the people, collecting phones. They didn’t miss any, fearing they might actually be shot.

All the phones were already unable to make calls. The customers handed them over without resistance.

The armed men herded the people inside after taking their phones.

“If anyone tries to signal for help from the glass wall, we’ll shoot them first. So don’t try anything stupid.”

The café’s glass was tinted, making it hard to see inside from the outside. For someone inside to signal for help, they would have to press against the glass.

No one dared to do that in front of the armed men.

A few people from the first floor were also brought up to the café. The masked men pushed them to a corner as well.

***

The leader of the armed group that appeared in the seventh-floor restaurant went by the nickname “Jackal.” Jackal made an offer to Scarlett Kelly, the CEO of OmegaTech.

“Tell me the access code, and I’ll let you live. No amount of money is worth more than your life, right?”

Scarlett countered.

“How much? Whatever you’re being paid, I’ll give you double. No one has been hurt yet, so it’s best for both of us to stop here.”

Jackal chuckled.

“I refuse. This isn’t about a few extra bucks.”

Scarlett glared at him and said.

“I refuse too. Even if you torture me, I can’t give you the access code.”

“We’ll see about that. We have plenty of time.”

“Do you think the Korean police will just sit by?”

Jackal’s laughter echoed from behind his mask.

“We’ve already taken over the building’s control room. All the CCTV and other security systems are destroyed. The landlines are cut.”

He waved her phone screen in front of her.

“Of course, mobile phone communications are blocked too.”

Scarlett glared at him and asked.

“Who are you?”

Jackal pointed to his face.

“Why do you think I’m wearing this mask? It’s so the police won’t know who I am if I let the hostages go. Do you want me to reveal myself? Anyone who sees my face dies. Is that what you want?”

Scarlett swallowed nervously.

“No. I’m not curious about who you are. Really.”

Jackal pointed Scarlett with his pistol.

“If you want to live, tell me the access codes. You have to speak while I’m wearing this mask for you to survive.”

Scarlett hesitated for a moment.

Beside her lay her secretary, Jessica, unconscious. Jessica had fainted after hitting her head on a chair when the first shot was fired.

Scarlett looked at Jessica, then grimaced and spoke in a low voice.

“Prometheus, Ouroboros, Pandora. You have to input the three-stage access codes in that order. I’ve told you, so keep your promise.”

The leader smirked and picked up a short-range radio.

“Let’s verify first.”

Scarlett panicked.

“W-wait. Didn’t you say all the communications in this building were cut off?”

“Didn’t you think I might have men waiting outside the building? By the way, if those codes are fake, I’m going to be very upset. Then some of the people huddled in that corner might die.”

The leader pointed his pistol at Jessica’s chest.

“Or should I start by killing this woman?”

Scarlett, flustered, spoke hastily.

“It’s a lie. Don’t verify it!”

Jackal chuckled.

“I thought so. The access codes were too simple. You should have mixed in some numbers. Then I might have believed you.”

Jackal aimed his pistol towards the people huddled in the corner.

“This is the end of the rehearsal game. What’s the real access code? You want to save your secretary and those people, right?”

Scarlett’s face turned pale as she hesitated. She didn’t want to see anyone get shot in front of her.

But the conclusion was inevitable.

If OmegaTech’s confidential weapon technology, currently under research, fell into terrorist hands, it could lead to a massacre.

Scarlett Kelly, the president of OmegaTech, gritted her teeth.

“You can kill me, but I won’t tell you.”

Jackal pulled the trigger.

The gunshot wasn’t loud. The pistol had a silencer and an additional chamber noise reduction module, and it used subsonic quiet rounds.

The bullet shattered a display cabinet filled with wine.

The glass broke into tiny pieces, cascading down like a waterfall.

Several wine bottles fell and shattered from the impact.

Red wine flowed across the restaurant floor like blood.

The sound of glass breaking and wine bottles smashing was louder than the suppressed gunshot.

People screamed. Shin Eun-ha was no exception.

“Aaah!”

Jackal spoke to Scarlett.

“Just lowering the shutters and cutting off the phones won’t make anyone call for help. Anyone who visits in person will be turned away by my men on the first floor.”

Jackal laughed quietly.

“We have plenty of time. And plenty of bullets. You’ll eventually tell me the access codes.”

Scarlett despaired. There was no hope of rescue in sight.