Chapter 38
The story continues off the page
Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
- X: What do you think the weather will be like today?
- J: There’s an 82% chance of rain today. It’ll be especially cold under the bridge, so please watch out for hypothermia or frostbite.
- J: Do you have an umbrella?
- X: It’s fine. What’s a little rain on me?
“Heh.”
Namgung Yeon, who was eating at the buffet, looked at the screen with an involuntary smile.
The thought of someone like a wife looking after him made his chest warm for no reason.
- X: Thanks for looking after me.
- J: It’s for your sake.
‘How can she speak so prettily?’
Even as his smile showed no sign of fading, the Namgung clan martial artist seated opposite him and eating asked,
“Young Master, is it really that amusing?”
Startled, Namgung Yeon looked around.
The others were already watching him too.
After clearing his throat and slipping the phone back into his pocket, Namgung Yeon composed his expression.
“Ahem. Haven’t we received a great deal of help thanks to this marvelous device?”
No one could refute that. Thanks to the information J provided, they were steadily gaining the upper hand in the fight against the mercenary groups of Cyber City.
“But if that bastard shows up, it’s all for nothing.”
“He was called Buster, right? Hah, I can’t even count how many arms and legs that bastard has.”
But it still ended in defeat.
The reason was none other than the veteran fixer, Buster.
“I heard he gets paid an amount equal to the hiring cost of an entire mercenary unit all by himself.”
As Namgung Yeon complained while scooping scrambled eggs with a spoon, someone asked in surprise,
“How would Young Master know that?”
“……I asked the AI.”
“You even know that? Huh, amazing.”
Having gotten past it so naturally, Namgung Yeon kept his gaze fixed on his plate, as if he wanted to focus on eating.
Even so, the martial artists continued their conversation among themselves.
“At this point, shouldn’t we call it sorcery?”
“But is that even possible? Aren’t the possible and impossible clearly separate things?”
“Knowing even Buster’s salary is kind of creepy.”
“……”
Namgung Yeon’s hand, which had been lifting food to his mouth, stopped.
‘That’s a fair point. How could I possibly know the bastard’s salary in such detail?’
A faint doubt began to creep in, and Namgung Yeon had the strange feeling that the phone tucked inside his clothes had somehow grown a little heavier.
* * *
“It’s raining like this, huh.”
After the meal, once they came out of the restaurant, a steady rain was pouring down.
Cyber City’s rain had an oddly damp, musty feel to it. It wasn’t the refreshing sort of downpour you’d see from the 5th floor; if anything, it gave off a stale odor.
“Tsk. Are we really going to have to walk through the rain?”
“Ah…… this is troublesome when I can’t even wash properly.”
“Since we’re on the subject, I’d like to stop washing in that river already.”
“How about going to a bathhouse or something?”
“Then who’s going to pay for it-”
While they grumbled under the eaves of the restaurant, sheltering from the rain.
Just as customers came in and were about to make way.
The moment he saw who the customer was, Namgung Yeon’s eyes went wide and his hand went to his waist as he tried to draw his sword.
It was none other than the mercenaries guarding Hellight Industry’s factory, along with Buster.
“You bastards! You really came all the way here!”
“So you did mean to take this to the end!”
“Young Master! Give the order!”
Namgung Yeon was about to shout that he should draw his sword at once and fight for the honor of the Namgung clan.
Yet the enemy had not even fully armed themselves, and Buster was not wearing his usual gear either.
Buster, not wearing his suit, shrugged as he approached. He was a very large, muscular man with bronze skin.
“Hey, we only fight for money.”
“What?”
“Let’s not get emotional about this. We’re only doing it because we have to, right?”
Unlike the image he had seen on the battlefield, he gave off the unmistakable vibe of an easygoing middle-aged man.
“Seems like you martial artists don’t know this, but if you come to Cyber City, you should follow Cyber City’s culture. That whole thing you call tradition……? Yeah, something like that.”
And this guy was even good with words.
“There are guys among us who’ve shot each other, and people they’ve crippled too.”
“On a previous job, I fought this bastard and my twenty-million-won sniper rifle got blown away.”
“I shattered his left prosthetic arm. It had only been a week since he’d had it fitted.”
The mercenaries were chatting away as if they were telling some ridiculous story, but what they were talking about was anything but.
But they all dismissed it as just work, and it didn’t seem like feelings were involved.
“It’s a job we get paid for. Let’s not put our feelings into it. If you really want to fight, we’ll respond, but then I’ll call Cyber Pol.”
Cyber Pol was what they called the police.
A fixer calling the police—what a ridiculous situation.
“……Let’s go back.”
In the end, Namgung Yeon let out a troubled sigh and strode into the rain.
It felt like he was realizing just how thin his own world had been while staying here.
“Hey.”
The one calling Namgung Yeon was Buster.
He tossed over the umbrella he had brought.
“Use this. Cyber City rain is nasty. Your hair starts falling out in no time.”
“Hahaha! Just like this bastard!”
“I told you to get a hair transplant.”
Amused, the mercenaries teased each other and cackled among themselves. Glancing over, he saw they really were handing out umbrellas.
“Why are you giving this to me?”
“Let’s call it battlefield camaraderie. We live with rain as part of daily life. We even have our own dry cleaners.”
“……I won’t refuse your kindness.”
He really wasn’t accepting it.
He just didn’t want to lose in the mood of it all.
They were brushing it off so casually, and if he couldn’t do the same, he’d only seem narrow-minded.
“Come on, let’s go eat! It’s on the company card!”
“If it’s the company card, why are we eating here?”
“Shh, you punk!”
“Instead, drinks are unlimited!”
As Namgung Yeon watched them rush inside, he suddenly had a thought.
‘Then why do they carry umbrellas?’
As if they came to hand them out?
‘No way.’
Probably not.
Namgung Yeon shook his head to brush off the thought and headed back under Albridge Bridge.
* * *
Under the bridge, Namgung Yeon ducked into the tent and took out his phone again.
- X: I’ve finished eating.
- J: Was it delicious?
- X: Mm! I never seem to get tired of it.
He continued the conversation with this and that afterward.
- X: Since coming up to the 6th floor, it’s been full of fascinating things.
- J: What was the most fascinating?
- X: A carriage that runs by itself, carriages that fly in the sky, and the like. Those were things I’d heard of often enough, so I took them in stride.
- X: That there are people living in an environment like this,
- X: and that there is clearly another world apart from mine was fascinating.
Another world.
Another culture.
Another set of values.
The fixers he had just met were one of them.
‘Come to think of it, wasn’t that her own way of showing respect?’
An idea suddenly struck him, but he didn’t bother entering it and moved on to another topic.
- X: Do you know what a company card is?
- J: Yes, it’s short for a company card.
- X: Company card?
- J: Think of it simply as a card the company uses for work-related expenses and to handle costs.
J explained it as simply as possible so that the martial artist could understand.
The conversation between the two continued with one thing and another after that.
- X: These days, I keep seeing lots of pictures with trees and an old man in red clothes.
- J: That’s because Christmas is in three days.
- J: It’s a holiday that came over from the 3rd floor. Even in Cyber City, where holidays are rare, it’s an especially popular day.
Christmas.
He had heard of it before.
A time when couples were most glued to each other.
- J: There is a reason Christmas is special in Cyber City.
- J: Because of the ‘Christmas Truce.’
- J: A moment of humanity that arrived in the middle of war.
- J: It symbolizes that Cyber City is, in the end, a city where people live.
- J: So, as for me.
- J: I like this day.
“……”
Looking down at his phone, Namgung Yeon felt strangely heavy-hearted.
- J: If you’d like, should I recommend a romantic place for Christmas?
A romantic place?
He wanted to ask why.
And the moment his finger moved.
Into the room rushed a Namgung clan martial artist in a hurry.
“Young Master! The clan head has sent a letter.”
“My father?”
Namgung Yeon sprang to his feet in a hurry.
Carefully opening the letter, he found that its contents were a blunt, brutally obvious expression of disappointment.
He had set out boldly, shouldering tradition and honor.
Just being this late was already a disgrace to the Namgung clan,
so return at once.
“……”
After reading the letter in full, Namgung Yeon felt his heart sink.
But whether that was from the shame of disappointing the clan head, or—
“Young Master? What does it say? Your face looks terrible.”
“No, nothing. Go on out.”
“Understood!”
As soon as he went outside, Namgung Yeon unconsciously pulled out his phone and kept pressing the button with desperate urgency.
- X: If I end up going down to the 5th floor, can I still talk to you with this?
The reply was a little slow.
But even if it was slow, a reply came.
As always.
- J: Impossible.
- J: Once you cross to another floor.
- J: We won’t be able to talk anymore.
* * *
Three days left until Christmas.
Our Meracle was hard at work.
We only rest on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and we don’t bother taking any more time off than that.
Even if it’s a private business, shouldn’t we be strict about things like this too?
Besides, more and more people were trying to force meetings by targeting Christmas, so work was quite hectic.
“B-b-boss, you bastard.”
“What.”
Kim Yang, still sulking about being sent on a business trip, called out to me.
Her face was buried in the papers as she stayed busy sorting and classifying everything.
“I-I want to go home.”
“Me too.”
“I-I’m gonna die.”
The sun had long since set.
I was busy working hard for the customers who wanted to meet on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
“Want some late-night food?”
“P-pizza. Large. C-cheese crust.”
“……”
“O-oven spaghetti. A-add a brownie.”
Well, since she was working overtime.
I could spring for that much.
After finding a pizza place on a delivery app and placing the order, I looked at Kim Yang.
After rattling off the menu, Kim Yang went back to work and focused again.
“Kim Yang.”
“D-don’t talk to me, y-you evil boss bastard. H-hey, pay up my night-shift pay.”
“Do you have plans on Christmas?”
“……!?”
Kim Yang jerked her head up.
She stared at me with her golden eyes, then answered while fidgeting.
“I don’t.”
“Really? Great.”
“……Why?”
“Ah, well-.”
I hid my pounding heart.
I carefully made the suggestion so she wouldn’t feel burdened as my employee.
“Lend me some money.”
“Bashaaaaaa!”
Kim Yang immediately stood up and planted a headbutt right into me.