Chapter 36
The air in the room grew heavy.
It wasn't a metaphor. It was real.
There was a peculiar weight unique to martial artists, and it swallowed the space itself.
Namgung Hwaryeong stared at me with her arms crossed, her gaze seeming to demand an explanation.
“Ahem. First, I'd like to confirm something.”
“How did you know? I'd be disappointed if that were your question. Did the reason matter to Meracle?”
“……”
“However—”
She let out a short breath.
A faint vein protruded from her forehead.
It was proof that she was angry.
“Rumors about Meracle have been spreading through the Taiji Yin-Yang Sect. Baek Yeonhwa of the Twin Veins successfully got married. Someone defeated her in a martial-duel marriage. And that person was—”
The corner of her mouth twitched upward.
But she wasn't smiling.
Rather, she looked as though she was desperately trying to hold back her anger.
“The boss of Meracle.”
“……”
“Wow, wow.”
“She's really giving us some proper publicity.”
Yeah, it was publicity.
A kind of wifely support, promoting Meracle on the 5th floor so she could send us more customers, but—
‘Ah, shit.’
If Namgung Hwaryeong had come all the way here, that meant Cheongpung Muhu Peng Sorin might come later too.
The two of them had an oddly competitive relationship, after all.
“I had no idea you were such an incredible expert.”
“This isn't as simple as you think. I didn't intend for this to happen either.”
“Oh? Is that so? I thought—”
A wave of force scattered in every direction like a storm. Kim Yang and Renea hurriedly gathered up the papers flying through the air.
“I figured the boss had deliberately pretended not to notice because I'm the oldest old maid on the martial-duel marriage list and just let it slide—!”
“P-papers! B-boss!”
“Aaaah! The office is spinning like it's inside a washing machine!”
“That Baek Yeonhwa girl is twenty-three, right? Ah! I see? This Namgung Hwaryeong is already over thirty! A very old spinster!”
“Hold on! Seriously! Calm down!”
This was a situation where one wrong move could lead to a major disaster.
While I racked my brain over how to calm her down, Renea stepped forward.
“A kindred spirit!”
“Huff—! Huff! What is this young wretch daring to—!”
“I am on the martial-duel marriage list too! I am 1,901 years old, so let us older ladies get along!”
I didn't know whether Renea genuinely felt a sense of kinship, or whether this was an answer born of the wisdom of age.
But it was clear that it had worked.
The pressure began to subside.
Namgung Hwaryeong gradually calmed down.
Looking at the handshake Renea offered with a bright smile, Namgung Hwaryeong replied with a strange sense of superiority.
“I'm still thirty, big sis.”
“……”
“No, grandmother.”
How dare a 1,901-year-old try to compete with her? Even so, I could beat you.
Yes, this was the marriage market.
For a woman past her marriageable years, the marriage market was that cold and cruel.
“A bow! She's drawing a bow!”
“Stop her! We really have to stop that!”
* * *
There had been quite a commotion, but we finally managed to calm her down.
“Sniff…… I worked super hard too.”
“I-it's okay. W-want some chocolate?”
Kim Yang patted Renea on the back as she grumbled beside her, offering comfort.
I left the two of them alone and looked back at Namgung Hwaryeong.
I knew she could get a little violent when she was agitated, but I hadn't expected to see it this time as well.
“Ahem! Anyway, I want to get married before that Peng Sorin woman. Definitely! Definitely!”
Look at her emphasizing it twice.
“I know. But did you really come because of that? I naturally assumed you wanted help.”
“I'm not so senseless as to ask a mere matchmaker to stop a war between a clan and a corporation.”
She had a point.
I had only introduced them; I wasn't responsible for the dispute that followed.
In fact, the contract explicitly stated that we bore no responsibility for any legal disputes arising through matchmaking.
“But I am curious.”
Namgung Hwaryeong's gaze fell on the black analog phone I'd held out earlier.
She held it in her hand and examined it from every angle.
“It is a phone, isn't it? How can this stop a dispute?”
“It isn't an ordinary phone. It's a phone with limited functions.”
“Hmm? Do you understand how serious the current situation is when you say that?”
“Mr. Namgung Yeon is stationed on the 6th floor, isn't he? I heard that although there have been no casualties so far, at least two factories have been shut down by the attacks.”
“……You often seem to know things you shouldn't, I see.”
“I have a few close friends.”
Fights between companies, organizations, or individuals on each floor were common.
But that didn't mean anyone took them lightly.
They could escalate into an inter-floor war, so the Tower Management Bureau was constantly monitoring them.
The Hunter Association was closely connected to the Management Bureau.
My friendship with Yoo Yena, the Hunter Association's vice president, had been a great help.
“Strictly speaking, the two of them will solve it themselves. I'm only laying a bridge. Still, I think the odds are high.”
Because I'm a marriage matchmaker.
I only create a ‘meeting’ where the two of them might hit it off.
“Laying a bridge. Interesting. May I hear about it?”
At Namgung Hwaryeong's question, I immediately beckoned to Kim Yang.
“Kim Yang, let's go on a business trip.”
* * *
Beneath the enormous bridge known as Albridge.
The martial artists of the Namgung Clan, who had taken over the thugs' tents, were currently using this place for both lodging and meals.
They had always been raised as precious members of their clan, so having to live beside a river that reeked of chemical fumes was more than an affront to their pride that they could simply dismiss.
But if not here, they had no idea where else they could stay.
Returning to the old Murim would mean having no meaningful achievements to show for it.
The fight with Hellite had amounted to one-sided raids on their part. There had been some results, but they were too meager to say they had achieved what they wanted.
Considering the size of the corporation, the results were hardly significant.
“Hoo, at this rate, I won't be able to face the clan head.”
Namgung Yeon stood before the river with his hands clasped behind his back.
The other martial artists standing beside him all wore grim expressions as well.
“The problem is that they're learning our swordsmanship.”
“If we'd known this would happen, we should have staked everything on the first raid—”
“It's disconcerting that they even fight in bizarre ways we don't understand.”
“Did you see yesterday? I cut off an arm, but the severed arm flew through the air and hit me.”
“How bizarre……”
If they fought head-on, they would definitely win.
Even against augmented bodies, they had a much greater advantage in a full-scale battle.
But the people on the other side kept responding with unexpected methods of fighting.
Not to mention conducting electricity through the water from the sprinklers.
They had used drones for suicide attacks, and smart bullets that curved around cover to hit them even when they were hiding behind it.
They had even been fooled by a technology called a simulation background, believing they were being attacked.
‘Was the gap really this great?’
The difference between knowledge and ignorance.
Those with knowledge could toy with the ignorant with ease.
There had been no fatalities, but there were many wounded, and morale was falling. They were supposed to raid Hellite's factory again today, but defeat already felt inevitable.
Like the river flowing before their eyes, the course of events would eventually be set if things continued this way.
“The situation is not good.”
At the familiar voice, Namgung Yeon abruptly turned his head. The other martial artists did the same.
Everyone's expressions brightened despite themselves.
“Sis!”
“Greetings, Impassive Sword Beauty!”
“Greetings, Impassive Sword Beauty!”
Their hearts pounded with uncontrollable excitement as they welcomed Namgung Hwaryeong with the martial artists' clasped-fist salute.
With Namgung Hwaryeong, they had a chance.
Overwhelming martial might.
If she, a woman so strong that she couldn't even marry, joined the fight, they could take revenge on those damn Cyber City fixers and Buster as well.
But—
“I know what you're hoping for, but what meaning would my helping have?”
With her arms crossed, she clicked her tongue.
“Pathetic men. Everyone who tarnishes the Namgung name has gathered here.”
Everyone lowered their heads at Hwaryeong's words.
It was humiliating and shameful, but because she wasn't wrong, it was all the more embarrassing.
“They say that a wise person doesn't feed you, but teaches you how to catch fish.”
When Namgung Hwaryeong stepped to the side, a beastkin wearing a black mask was standing there: Kim Yang.
“That person—”
“They're a Meracle employee. Meracle felt responsible and brought a solution.”
“A solution?”
Kim Yang stepped forward and held out the black analog phone.
Its buttons were physical rather than touch-operated.
It was heavy, but its large screen was unusual.
“This is—”
“……”
Kim Yang said nothing.
Kim Yang merely stared at him without a word.
Seeing that Kim Yang might stand there like that forever if left alone, Namgung Hwaryeong, who had been watching from the side, began to explain.
“It is a phone with an AI built in.”
“What? AI? Isn't that what those 6th-floor bastards go around talking about, saying it's omnipotent and whatnot?”
Namgung Yeon felt a strong urge to throw it away. Hwaryeong ignored his reaction and continued explaining.
“To use AI, one needs 6th-floor citizenship. But this is special. What was it? An embedded server? It is not connected to something like that, but supposedly an independent AI.”
“Do you even know what that means when you say it? I don't understand any of it……”
“Even so, I've wandered around a bit and picked up some things. Put simply, you ask it what you don't know, and it answers.”
It answers if you ask what you don't know?
“Does such sorcery exist?”
“It does, so try it.”
When Hwaryeong jerked her chin, Kim Yang approached and showed him how to use it.
Kim Yang didn't say a single word. They simply pressed the buttons one by one, showing him words appearing on the screen.
……”
Kim Yang looked at him as if asking whether he understood.
Namgung Yeon awkwardly nodded.
“D-do I just press this?”
A nod.
“Oh, and sometimes the answers are slow. Also, it doesn't know everything, so keep that in mind.”
“If it knew everything, that would be even creepier.”
Kim Yang bowed in farewell, as if there was nothing more to teach him, and left with Namgung Hwaryeong.
“Hmm.”
He stared down at the black phone.
Namgung Yeon couldn't shake his sense of doubt.
The other martial artists were watching it skeptically as well.
Suddenly feeling hungry, Namgung Yeon sighed regretfully.
“Damn, I should've borrowed some emergency cash from my sister.”
He hadn't expected the fight to last this long, so he had little of the money he'd brought left.
They had even ended up sleeping rough because they hadn't exchanged enough money.
Gulp.
After swallowing, Namgung Yeon decided to try it, just in case.
Slowly, he pressed each key with all his strength and typed.
- X: I am hungry. I need a place where I can eat.
“Ha…… what am I doing?”
He let out a short sigh.
Thinking he'd done something pointless, Namgung Yeon was about to put the phone away when—
The phone vibrated, and a reply arrived.
- J: There is a buffet nearby that provides meals to workers for a small fee.
“A buffet?”
- X: What is a buffet?
- J: It is a restaurant where you can eat unlimited food after paying a set amount.
“Unlimited?”
Could such a dreamlike place really exist?
Namgung Yeon looked at the screen dubiously and asked again.
- X: Tell me exactly.
* * *
“……”
A high-rise building in Cyber City.
Jessica's room offered a sweeping view of the city through its floor-to-ceiling windows.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she was looking down at the black phone in both hands.
It was something Kim Yang had left her so she could talk to Namgung Yeon through it.
Namgung Yeon had actually contacted her.
He had mistaken it for a built-in AI.
Because he said he was hungry, she told him about a cheap restaurant near Albridge.
I wonder if he's eating well?
I don't know, but—
‘Is this right?’
Jessica couldn't stop questioning it.
But was it really all right to deceive him like this?
No matter how much someone replaces their body with prosthetics, their mind doesn't disappear. Some people want to erase their humanity, but Jessica was the opposite.
That was why Jessica felt guilty.
As she anxiously held onto the phone, unable to stop worrying about whether he'd finished his meal safely,
Bzzz!
A reply came.
- X: Thank you!
- X: Thanks to you, I was able to finish a very filling meal!
- X: It's all thanks to you!
“……”
Feeling a strange sense of pride and guilt blooming inside her at the same time,
Jessica immediately replied.
- J: That's a relief.
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you