"The Laughing Man Incident" started off with a kidnap of Ernest Serano, the CEO of Serano Genomics in 2024, followed by blackmails targeting manufacturers of micromachines and medical equipment. It was just the first of a series of terrorist incidents aimed at corporations, and it's been speculated that the number of corporations targeted was the highest in the post-war period. Several conjectures circulated regarding the final purpose of the criminal: terrorism against cyber and prosthetics technology, a corporate conspiracy or simply a blackmailing scheme for money. But the reality was that nothing was identified concerning the incident: nothing about the criminal's nationality, sex, age, or even whether there was an accomplice or objective. The only clear fact was that the Laughing Man was a top-notch hacker.

One day, Police Investigator Yamaguchi, who was tracking the Laughing Man Incident, calls Togusa in Section 9. Yamaguchi dies mysteriously immediately afterwards. A few days later, the Laughing Man hijacks the broadcast of a police news conference to express regrets about the incident. Section 9 is dispatched to investigate the intentions of the invisible hacker known as "Laughing Man," who finally broke his silence.

~ Production I.G