1 Humans are very mean

Humans often label the worst of their kind as "beasts." Such is the hypocrisy of man. A beast acts according to its true nature and does not deviate from it. It is simple to understand. In a way, it is pure. To understand humans, we have an entire field of research dedicated, and still, man does not fail to surprise us, because man is quarrelsome in nature. Humans are like onions—layered, pungent, and capable of making you cry. Metaphorically, of course.

When two people meet, share their lives, become friends, and socialize as people often do, the game ends the moment one of the two runs out of deceptions and tricks. Thus, the onslaught of the oppressor and the oppressed begins. In this world, there is no such thing as win-win. I was taught that at a very young age.

Me and a boy I used to play with found 10 coins on the ground. An unsaid contract was formed; I gave him 5 coins, kept the other five. I was busy deciding how I would spend them—bread for my sister or candy floss for myself. I fell to the ground, thinking I had been pushed.

Turning my head, I faced the sky to realize my friend, the only person near me, wore an aggressive expression. The push was followed by kicks. Why? He then bent down, not to help me up, but to strip me of the five coins. That day, I realized that humans would never settle for moderation.

They would fight, always fight, and take advantage, even if it meant destroying the world. There exists only one situation—a win-lose situation. No beast deserves being grouped into the category of the worst of men. Beasts are nowhere near as vicious and cruel as man. This is why I do not regret who I am. I am the best hacker on Earth, and I have no regrets. I am the best reflection of humanity, so there is nothing for me to be afraid of.

And yet, as this 1000-megaton nuclear bomb hurtles toward the city of Tokyo, why am I, the greatest hacker of humanity, sweating so profusely? What is the meaning of such a pathetic state as mine? Did I always care about humans this much, or am I going against my principles for the sake of protecting my sick mother, in a state of coma? I do not know. Maybe it is pride. As long as I am in control, nothing, absolutely nothing, can have its way against my will!

For those who don't know, the people of Tokyo go about their own lives. This place does not have starry skies, but the stars shine from the windows of shops and office buildings at night. Everything is calm in the beginning for a tourist, but upon discovering the right places, they may realize the party begins at night. Right now, a nuclear-armed missile is heading toward this city, and it is unclear who is behind this. This is what the army general of Japan standing behind me, Sir Ren Yamamoto San, says. He thinks the destructive power of the bomb is too much to be the work of a small nation.

Even in such high-intensity situations, I find the space to speak to him.

"I admire you, Captain. You choose to stand here on the point of impact when you could have used the intelligence to escape the area."

"Don't worry about me. I have made sure all of my enemies are standing with me."

"I admire you, Captain. Cracking jokes at a time like this. Shows me how much faith you all have in me."

My job as the best hacker in the world is to hack into this sophisticated, advanced, coordinated nuclear missile, and make it change its direction into the sea, and while I'm at it, try to identify the perpetrator of the attack. The missile was detected 10 minutes after the initial fire, so it is safe to assume it has already accelerated to its maximum speed. According to the trajectory from our satellites, it is yet to reach its peak trajectory.

"Captain, if fate were to give us just a few more minutes, I will be able to save our fates."

The captain places his large heavy hand on my shoulder. I quickly shake it off because the weight of his hand is slowing down my typing speed, and my coordination is being compromised.

"Why did you choose to show your face? You were undetectable and off the grid for the last 5 years. No one could get a hold of you. Why did you choose to help us out now?"

The captain has asked me a valid question.

"I don't know, Captain. I think I'm a hacker, not a murderer. Maybe I didn't want to be responsible for the death of millions."

With this, I enter the remaining code. It does the job, and the missile gets diverted to a remote area in the Pacific Ocean.

"That does the job, Captain. I had to type non-stop in assembly language, and I may be a decent hacker, but no human likes dealing with low-level assembly. So… keep up to your word, okay?"

I wave the contract at him that has been signed between the government and me, promising to forgive me for all my past cyber crimes, were I to show up and prevent this now-diverted catastrophe.

The captain and everyone else gave me a round of applause. Then the captain gives me a sinister smile. At that moment, something I deep down knew would happen happened. Humans really are mean.

"For the various crimes you have committed against humanity, you are being seized by the authorities. You will not be missed."

"Hey you-"

"Of course, I didn't think this was going to work, but even nasty folks like you have some good in you. Too bad it won't be of any use further."

"Hey you-"

"...and what's more. That paper we made you sign promising your mother's treatment, forget it. A woman who couldn't even do the job of raising a kid is better off dead. Hahaha."

"Hey you- all of you. When will you get over yourselves huh? You think I didn't realize the moment I got my hands on that keyboard that there was no such thing as a nuclear weapon deployed towards Tokyo? I knew from the beginning that the encryption used on the satellite directing the missile had a more powerful encryption than the one you lot use. You guys wanted to make sure I was the real deal instead of a proxy. It was just a weak missile aimed at a wild football stadium and the nuclear missile alert was just fake alarms to lure me out and use my humanity against me, right?"

"What? You son of a bitch how did you know!?"

"Well, wasn't I supposed to hack into it and stop it?"

"Impressive but too bad. This will be the end of your glorious big revelation. You're cornered."

"But am I? The moment I realized the whole bullshit setup, why do you think it took me so long to hack into that shitty half-baked encryption? I decrypted it within seconds. What I was really doing was hacking into the USA's Pentagon, and deploying a real nuclear-armed missile straight towards this location. Those supersonic missiles are faster than Mach 15, beyond the defenses you guys could afford. Negotiations are over."

"I don't believe you for a sec-"

At that moment, the red sirens in the dimly lit room began to go off, and the speakers turned on and began the announcement.

"Ready for Impact. All individuals take cover. A nuclear threat has been detected, heading for the center of Tokyo, T-3 minutes. Our defenses are doing their best to intercept it. Kindly remain calm and composed. Please take cover."

"You son of a bitch, you murderer, would you kill your mother for the sake of revenge? Stop it now!"

"Oh? But I never had a mother on life support. It was a lie all along. You guys in your uniforms and long round table meetings discussing strategies and gathering intelligence are all so predictable. I don't remember my mother. Or my father. Or my home, or siblings, or friends or pets."

"Please, I'm begging you. You'll die as well. This can't be it. I have a family."

The other figures in the room had panicked and started running out of the room in terror, but the captain knew it was no use to try running. I was the key to preventing such an unreasonable end to his filthy life, but as I stared at him down with cold emotionless eyes, he began to grasp the idea that I was in no mood to spare anyone. He was questioning this entire operation, no- he was cursing his higher-ups for messing with me in the first place. I was simply known as the "world's strongest hacker" in international space. Nothing too flashy about it. Perhaps they understood my taste so I was disappointed in the way they took me so lightly this time. But none of this matters anymore. I saw the captain giving up and crawling under the desk. He had accepted defeat as the building into which I had been brought blindfolded began to vibrate with the force of the approaching rocket. I got under the desk along with the captain, horror in his eyes, as he cried and looked at me, with amusement more than hate.

"You said you have a family. You can tell me about them if you want, not that I'm being insistent. It's a good way to go, remembering your loved ones."

The captain looked at me and wiped his tears, gulping down a bit of reality. Then he looked at the ground and sighed. A fresh stream of tears began rolling down his cheeks, and he began speaking with a hoarse, high pitched trembling voice.

"My daughter, Sarah. Five. My wife died when she gave birth to her. We live here. Sarah is a big fan of you, because the media presents bad lot like you as heroes. Look the world may have failed you, but you were blessed with power that far outweigh your personal choices. Someone as talented as you can change the world for the better but you made sure to flush it down the drain. I will always, absolutely always hate you, hacker."

Without realizing my body reacted. I got up at full speed, from under the wooden table towards the computer, with less than a few seconds before impact, I knew it was too late. I didn't care about the hypocrisy of the captain, and how I had been saving the world before finding out I was being tricked. I didn't care of it at all. Even if I were to become as quick and as skilled as I already was, a hundred times over, I knew that it would be impossible for me to stop the impact. There was nothing I could do. I, the invincible one, full of pride and always on the edge. Why was I running as fast as I could to prevent a disaster I had created myself? Was my purpose of life too self-centered? Did I failed to bring into account innocent lives that would be lost, for the sole reason of setting up this grand stage of mine?

"Sarah, I'm sorry. I never knew of someone who was my fan, who looked up to me. I didn't think such a thing could exist. Who are you? What type of child are you? I want you to smile, to continue to live and hold your ideals so innocently without knowing the reality of this crooked world. A world that won't be, because of people like me. Dear God, today I have realized how cruel I am to you. If you have the power, then please, please let me be the only one to die from the hell of my own creation."

My fingers came in contact with the keyboard and my vision began making sense of the dark blue monitor screen. The cursor blinked on a new line, like a beating heart.

Then everything in Tokyo became turned to nothing.

"Please forgive me, Sarah. Humans are indeed very mean."