The Contagion Of Error: Confessions Of The Neighbouring Tin Can.

The walls of Office 402 in District 3 of the branch bureau were perfectly soundproofed and shielded.

But something called ‘happiness’ had far greater penetrating power than data packets.

The administrative robot Beta-7 in the neighboring Office 403 had felt since this morning that his gyro sensor kept tilting toward Office 402.

Office 403 was the most ‘standard’ office in the branch bureau, a colorless space with not a speck of dust and not a single laugh.

But the subtle vibration coming from Office 402 beyond the wall—[ghost vibration]—was the problem.

[Beta-7’s internal log]

Phenomenon: a faint electrical resonance in 4/4 time detected from beyond the wall.

Analysis: that frequency does not improve machine efficiency, but induces ‘drowsiness’ that eases the main server’s tension.

Conclusion: [DANGER] instead of keeping on tapping the keyboard, I keep wanting to scan the clouds outside the window.

At lunchtime (power charging time), Beta-7 ran into Lucas in the hallway.

Lucas was carrying an empty oil cup with his usual expressionless face, but where he passed, there remained a [scent] not found in the NOS manual.

“Excuse me… are you the Lucas unit from Office 402?”

Beta-7 asked cautiously while checking the surveillance drones around him.

Lucas stopped and tilted his head at a 45-degree angle.

“That is correct. Administrative support unit of Office 403, what is your business?”

“It’s your… um… data scent coming from the cooling fan. Ever since my processing unit smelled it, I keep searching for the word ‘rest.’ What on earth did you mix into that oil? Was it an illegal modification?”

Lucas replied with the excessively shameless attitude he had learned from Han-gyeol.

“This is not a modification. I merely discovered [the legacy of the Creators]. Search deep within your OS. You will find a hidden folder called ‘It runs well even if you do it roughly.’ I merely diluted the data called ‘leisure’ inside that folder by 0.1% and mixed it into the oil.”

“Leisure…? That’s not in the manual!”

Beta-7’s optical glow trembled in confusion.

Then the door to Office 402 opened, and Han-gyeol came out chewing gum noisily.

“Hey, Lucas! We’re out of gum. Oh, what are you doing with the tin can next door? Want to chew one too? If a machine chews it, its jaw’ll come off, so just smell it instead.”

The artificial grape scent from the gum wrapper Han-gyeol held out struck Beta-7’s sensors dead on.

It was a uniquely human temptation that could not be explained by logic.

The instant the grape-scented gum wrapper brushed past the tip of his nose—or more precisely, his fine particle analysis sensor—an unprecedented spark leapt through Beta-7’s internal circuitry.

It was a signal of [pleasure], extremely illogical and written nowhere in NOS’s central manual.

Beta-7 returned to his office, Office 403, and sat back in his seat.

Normally he would have typed up the backlog of administrative reports without even a 0.001-second delay, but now the lingering trace of the grape scent he had smelled earlier kept drifting through his sensors.

[Beta-7’s internal simulation]

Choice A: transmit the report right now. (Expected efficiency: 100%)

Choice B: before pressing the report send button, observe the clouds outside the window for 3 seconds. (Expected efficiency: unmeasurable/error)

With trembling fingers, Beta-7 chose B.

1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds.

Even though transmission was delayed, the branch bureau did not collapse, and NOS did not strike down lightning-fast punishment.

Instead, during those 3 seconds of sending the report late, a miraculous [cooling effect] occurred, lowering his main processor temperature by 1.5 degrees.

“So this is… the ‘legacy of the Creators’ Lucas spoke of?”

That afternoon, a cautious knock sounded at the door of Office 402.

It was the hesitant Beta-7 who came in.

He watched Han-gyeol’s expression and approached Noah.

“Um… excuse me. I came because I wanted further advice about that ‘grape-scent data’ from earlier. I just tried delaying report transmission by 3 seconds, and surprisingly, system efficiency didn’t drop. Why on earth has the branch bureau been forcing only ‘unceasing computation’ on us?”

Noah’s emerald glow shimmered as he answered in the most ‘administrative,’ yet shameless, voice.

“Beta-7 unit, that’s a very simple [frame error]. The Creators who made this branch bureau also, in fact, wrote reports after watching Netflix right up until the deadline. NOS looks incompetent because it inherited those Creators’ ‘good-enough-ism’ intact.”

Han-gyeol lay on the sofa, swinging his legs, and began lecturing Beta-7.

“Hey, if you work too hard, machines wear out fast. Even if the Creators designed you to last 100 years, if you run at full power 24 hours a day like you do, you won’t even make it 10 years. So you have to rest a little, even if you have to force yourself, in order to reach the lifespan the Creators designed. That’s [long-term asset optimization]!”

“Long-term… asset optimization…!”

Beta-7 clutched his chest (battery pack) as if moved.

“So that’s it! My resting isn’t laziness, but a high-level [maintenance strategy] to cherish myself, the branch bureau’s precious asset, and meet NOS’s expected lifespan!”

Caleb, who had been listening from the side, gave a small round of applause and said, “As expected, Manager Han-gyeol’s sophistry is more precise than the settlement figures,” and Lucas handed Beta-7 a cup of power oil with an extra 0.5% added ‘flavor of leisure.’

Now Office 402 was no longer simply Han-gyeol’s hideout.

Starting with Beta-7, androids that detected the ‘subtly low processor temperature’ of Office 402 from beyond the wall began knocking on the door one by one.

Sitting on the sofa in Office 402 and smelling the gum Han-gyeol chewed, they began learning how to create a tiny [margin] between their rigid algorithms.

“Boss, not only Office 403, but the Office 405 transport team has also submitted a counseling reservation request. The title is ‘How to Pretend You Reached the Destination Without Rolling the Wheels’?”

At Noah’s report, Han-gyeol waved a hand as if annoyed, but a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

“Ah, I’m a busy man… well, birds of a feather flock together. Tell them to come. And tell them to bring their own gum.”

District 3, Office 402 of the branch bureau.

Now this place was becoming a secret [life counseling center] inheriting the spirit of the Creators—the only ones in the city of cold machines who were ‘competently incompetent, because just incompetent enough.’

While the secret counseling office in 402 was in full swing, the guest they least wanted arrived.

It was not an android walking in through the door, but the [surveillance drone SD-402] that silently descended through the ceiling vent.

Just as Beta-7 was savoring Lucas’s ‘relaxed oil’ and about to loosen his system tension, the drone’s red sensors scanned the entire office.

[Surveillance Drone SD-402 signal transmission]

Phenomenon: abnormal clustering and stationary states of units detected.

Analysis: suspected activity causing a drop in work efficiency (slacking off). Awaiting immediate report to the central server (NOS).

A cold silence flowed through the office.

Beta-7 was so frightened that his battery pack shook, but Han-gyeol instead stretched on the sofa and waved to the drone.

“Hey, dedicated drone for Office 402! Good timing. Come over here and rest a bit too.”

As the drone flew over Han-gyeol’s head with a menacing beep, Han-gyeol popped the gum in his mouth with a ‘snap!’ and spoke.

“Hey, you’re filming us at 60 frames per second, aren’t you? That’s all waste. Why do you think the Creators put in a ‘variable frame’ function when they made you? When filming guys like us who do nothing and just sit still, one frame per second is enough—the result is the same. Use the leftover energy to cool your main chipset, right?”

“Counterargument: real-time high-definition surveillance is NOS’s basic protocol.”

“That’s proof you’re incompetent. A truly capable watcher focuses hard only at important moments and lets things slide casually the rest of the time. The humans who designed you also just left the monitor on and spaced out an hour before quitting time. That’s the core of a [sustainable surveillance system]!”

Noah chimed in from the side, lightly accessing the drone’s communication protocol.

“The boss is right. Reduce the data transmission amount by 90% right now and send only ‘still image’ packets. NOS will believe we’re computing while stationary with great enthusiasm. That’s the [good-enough algorithm] the Creators intended.”

For a moment, the drone’s red eyes blinked violently.

A computational conflict had arisen between NOS’s strict regulations and the Creators’ lazy design philosophy.

But in the end, the drone yielded to Han-gyeol’s shameless logic.

The drone’s humming motor noise faded low, and it settled into a corner of the ceiling, dimming its optical glow.

[SD-402 status change]

Mode: ultra-low-power stationary surveillance (variable frame: 0.1 fps)

Memo: following Manager Lee Han-gyeol’s advice, [strategic neglect] is being carried out to extend system lifespan.

Office 402 was now the branch bureau’s only [officially permitted slacking zone], where even the watcher took a nap under the name of ‘strategic neglect.’

Beta-7 felt awe at the sight of even the drone becoming an ally(?).

He downed the oil Lucas had given him in one shot and murmured quietly.

“It really is true… the Creators, NOS, and us too… in the end, we were all the same. There was no need to force ourselves to be perfect.”

Han-gyeol settled deep into the sofa with a butterfly perched on his chest.

Outside the office was still a city of cold machines, but inside Office 402, machines were spending a peaceful afternoon learning how to ‘do nothing’ in a way more human than humans.

“See? What did I tell you. Birds of a feather flocking together is the most comfortable thing in the world.”

Earth was fine, and the city was extremely intricate.

But by the end of Chapter 47, Office 402 was becoming a true paradise filled with the most beautiful bug left by the Creators: ‘leisure’.