Chapter 87
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Floaties for Everyone
Swim lesson at the water park, and she's demonstrating on you
Operation complete.
Axis's rampage had stopped, and the situation was resolved.
Humanity had defeated the AI.
It would have been nice if it had ended this simply.
Reality wasn't that easy.
First of all, naturally, Axis had been marked for disposal.
An AI that had attacked a person once would not be given a second chance, whatever the reason.
When I explained how I had acted, the only answer they gave was, "We'll take it into account when we make the next AI."
Just as AI learns from people, people also learned their fear from AI.
In Cyber City, along with rallies demanding anti-AI measures, politicians were also scrambling, saying a human leader was needed.
Especially since support was apparently high for pure humans who hadn't had prosthetic bodies implanted.
Anyway, Cyber City was going through a turbulent period.
I was still staying in Cyber City.
I even watched Namgung Yeon get beaten up by Namgung Pacheon, and toured Cyber City with Baek Yeonhwa and Ryu Seoram.
Before heading down.
The last place I stopped by was the church.
“…….”
A tiny church that couldn't even hold a few people. The cross jutting from the top of the building was stained, as if it had been hit by bird droppings.
For reference, churches are a religious and architectural style that came up from the third-floor district.
As Christmas spread to Cyber City, these religious facilities naturally came up as well.
I had even seen a documentary about how, when the Tower first appeared, religious people got so excited they were like gunslingers on the eve of the Wild West, and rushed out ahead of one another with Bibles in hand.
The shabby door didn't even have a lock.
Inside, all I saw were long-hanging cobwebs and a thick layer of dust.
There were no signs that anyone had lived here for quite a long time.
I almost put a cigarette in my mouth while looking around, then stopped myself.
‘Mister! No smoking in here!’
‘I’ll tell the nun on you!’
The voices I had heard here drifted faintly into my ears like echoes.
“Honestly, how did Ms. Bichakos hide it?”
The five kids didn't know Mosco Bichakos was a smoker.
The fixer nun who smoked right along with me had quite a few strange tricks.
Mosco Bichakos had run away.
Whether she'd planned to run from the beginning.
She hadn't left behind any trace.
Even here, where she'd lived with the children, there wasn't a single sign of her.
‘I wonder if the kids are okay.’
They probably were.
That woman cared for the kids as much as she cared about her own life.
I had no way of knowing what she had received from Axis.
All I had heard was that the contract terms included deleting Axis's memory data.
So now, only she knew what sort of deal Axis and Bichakos had made.
At any rate, one thing was certain: she was now the most famous wanted criminal in Cyber City.
I stepped deeper into the church.
On the platform, there had always been a frame with the children's photos—
“It's gone.”
Now it was gone.
Looks like she took the kids' photos with her.
All that was left was, at best, a dusty Bible.
Uncharacteristically, I opened it, intending to read it, and a single photo tucked inside like a bookmark fluttered down to the floor.
An old photograph.
A blonde girl was smiling brightly.
“Did she forget it while packing up the kids' photos?”
But... had there even been a kid like this?
In the process of retracing my memories, I realized there had been no such child.
“Big bro! The taxi's here!”
“Juseon, let's hurry. If we time it right, we can go straight to watch baseball!”
The two people outside the church were calling for me.
“Oh, okay.”
After looking down at the blonde girl's photo for a moment, I tucked it into my pocket.
I left the church.
The exhausting, complicated case was over.
Mosco Bichakos... if our paths are meant to cross, we'll meet again someday.
In the end, everyone has their own life.
It was time for me to return to Meracle.
* * *
Meracle entrance.
Back from Cyber City, I felt my chest tighten as I looked at Meracle's entrance.
“Ugh!”
Heart disease?
Seems like it.
Let's hurry and get to the hospital.
In that sense, today's workshop was canceled—!
“B-boss. W-what are you doing.”
Kim Yang was calling out to me from behind.
Instead of her usual neat suit, she had come in full casual clothes.
“Kim Yang, is this really right? In a dangerous situation like this at Meracle, is it really okay for us to go on a workshop and all that?”
“W-well, there a-aren't any customers anyway.”
“Kraaah!”
A brutal hit.
It just went straight through my chest.
That's exactly the problem.
Because of the Yeoeumhoe incident, the flow of customers coming to Meracle had been slowed down a bit.
We had taken in a lot of Yeoeumhoe customers.
For now, I was trusting time to sort it out on its own, and the money we had made then was still in my pocket.
Even so, as the boss, it hurt.
‘Haa, let's stay relaxed.’
And besides, they said they'd pay us separately for solving this incident.
I don't know how much they'll give us, but it would be nice if it were a lot.
“Hurry, hurry. Le-let's go!”
Kim Yang tugged at my arm.
In the end, with a sigh, I put a notice on Meracle's door.
[Closed for the day due to personal reasons.]
“Ah, nice. H-legal vacation!”
“You like that? Enjoying yourself while not working?”
“B-boss's money! L-lazing around and eating! T-the best!”
An excited Kim Yang dragged me to the first floor.
The building's parking lot was already full of people and—
“What's that?”
A rash guard and goggles hanging around the neck.
Reichen, with even a tube float looped over one arm.
“Why is he dressed like that?”
Seeing him like that in the parking lot made it too scary to talk to him, so I asked Kim Yang, who scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Uh, yesterday. We made a bet.”
“A bet? What kind of bet?”
“R-rock-paper-scissors. The loser had to come in a swimsuit.”
“…….”
“I-I really didn't think he'd actually do it.”
“Good grief.”
At least that was a relief.
Dajeong, who had come along as Reichen's date, was cackling while taking photos.
“Ahahaha! Reichen! Look here! Here! Smile! Peace sign!”
“Peace.”
Click, click, click, click!
“Cute! So cute!”
Look at him even posing for the camera. Dating really does change people.
But it's still too cold to be walking around in a swimsuit...
Meanwhile, Renea, who seemed uncomfortable with the outrageous outfit and had been standing a little apart, trotted over—
“Ohayou gozaimasu!”
“Ah, my head.”
Renea suddenly started spouting Japanese.
Even while complaining of the throbbing headache, Renea cheerfully shouted.
“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!”
“…….”
“Kisama! Uh, uh— that is... let's go!”
Apparently not knowing the Japanese word for departure, Renea smiled brightly.
“Phew, what is this now.”
When I asked Kim Yang again, she scratched her cheek as well and answered.
“J-just a prank.”
“What kind of prank.”
“F-for the hot spring. You have to speak Japanese to get in.”
“As far as I know, the owner there is a fox beastman, and even he probably can't speak Japanese, right?”
“...I-it's funny, isn't it.”
Yeah, Kim Yang, I can see how badly you were looking forward to this workshop.
I should check later to see what nonsense she's posted on SNS.
“Shit! Chiksho! Chik— ah, now I want some chikchok!”
Damn, shouldn't we be taking him to a nursing home instead of a hot spring?
Looks like dementia is progressing in real time here.
Seeing me come into the parking lot, Reichen hurried over and bowed his head.
“社長、レイチェンです。本日はよろしくお願いいたします。”
(Boss, I'm Reichen. I look forward to working with you today.)
Look at him, he's even good at that.
“Pffft! Bwahahaha!”
Seeing Dajeong in the back clutching her stomach with laughter, I figured they weren't going to be splitting up anytime soon.
“Kim Yang.”
“Y-yes?”
“Write an incident report.”
“Ah, why! It's fun!”
Leaving Kim Yang behind as she kept pounding my back with "thump thump thump!" punches, I headed for today's highlight.
The Shinra Company's large sedan, the Argent S, was neatly parked in the lot.
Its black sheen and smooth lines, even its thick tires.
“That thing really is handsome.”
The only flaw was that the license plate gave away that it was a rental.
Unfortunately, having missed my chance to become a car-poor guy, I rented the Argent S for just one night and two days today so I could at least enjoy myself.
Once I opened the door and got in, even the car smelled good. The steering wheel grip was great, and the ride quality was no joke.
“Ah, someday I'll definitely buy one.”
As I buried my face in the steering wheel and sniffed it, Kim Yang sat in the passenger seat and looked at me with disgust.
“D-don't eat the leather.”
“I'm not eating it.”
“I thought you were.”
Do sheep eat leather too?
Not sure.
People piled into the car behind us.
“Reichen! Deflate the tube!”
“はい、承知しました。”
(Yes, understood.)
“Cut out that Japanese already! From now on, if anyone speaks Japanese, I'm kicking you all out and leaving without you!”
That guy still had a long way to go if he thought he was learning how people work. He couldn't even tell a prank from the real thing and just swallowed it whole.
“Boss.”
Then Renea, peeking her head out from the back seat, smiled and held out a thermos as big as a person's head.
“Want a drink?”
“What's that? A hippo?”
Do elves normally drink that much water?
“Ahem! If you go somewhere like that, even the water costs a fortune, doesn't it? I brought this thermos to save money wherever I can!”
“Even if you bring something like that, it's all extra baggage. Once you've finished drinking it, it'll be a pain to carry around.”
“Hey! You can just refill it!”
Refill?
“How do you refill it?”
“Hm? It's a hot spring, isn't it? Just fill it with the water and drink—.”
Ah, fuck.
Trying to reason with pointy-eared bastards who go wash their faces and come back after only drinking the water is exhausting.
That habit of flopping down whenever they see a tree really doesn't go away.
“......Fine.”
Relenting with a nod, I was urgently shaken from the side by Kim Yang.
“D-don't give up! I-I have to stop you if you do this in the women's bath!”
“Drink as much as you want. Your insides will get all squeaky clean.”
I have no idea.
Let's just get going.