Chapter 25
#25
1.
A week had passed since I treated Arbel and reached level 1 augmentation.
It's been ten days since I became Mama Seres's driver.
That meant I'd reached the long-awaited 15th day in this fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-Necropolis.
There's no special event to put augmentation to use, but I can't exactly call that a bad thing.
In the first place, augmentation itself was insurance for emergencies.
Even after seven days, the Samurai Bitch still hadn't shown her face.
Challenge points for the gacha were steadily piling up too.
In that sense, this has been the smoothest run so far.
[5:00 a.m.]
'Today's song selection is a hymn for you who work in silence. Oh, great Necropolis!'
"Damn... at least play a male idol MV...."
I woke up in my studio apartment while listening to the morale-sapping work song blaring from the street speakers.
Normally I'd start my dogshit mornings by checking whether all my fingers and toes were still attached....
But now it's different!
Because Arbel, my comfort doll, is right beside me!
"Sleep well, Arbel."
I greeted the sleeping Arbel with a good morning.
"You're sleeping again today? It's already been a week."
"......"
"You're late. At this rate, you're going to turn into an old man, you know?"
"......"
A whole week had already passed, but Arbel still hadn't regained consciousness.
According to Isis yesterday during the second treatment, whether consciousness returns before the circuits are fully built is pure luck.
"Let me take a quick sniff. Sssssniff!!!"
"...Ugh..."
Still, mages really are amazing.
They never even bathe, yet they always smell nice.
Soft and warm, she's seriously the best cushion to sleep hugging.
I'm not doing this because I have any ulterior motive.
This place doesn't even have a boiler or heating, and it doesn't even have proper insulation.
Staying pressed together to keep our body heat up is important for Arbel too.
"...Ugh... ugh...."
While I pinched Arbel's sleeping nose shut and fed her medicine gulp by gulp, I thought over my next move.
"Hmm, I should start getting ready to move soon...."
The E-Sector where my studio apartment is located is the worst slum in history, where poor people gather.
It's the kind of crime zone where even Batman would burn out from overwork and quit to become a 'just resting' hero.
I can't keep leaving Arbel in a place like this, so I'm preparing to get us out of E-Sector....
"Housing prices are fucking insane."
Once you get out of E-Sector's slums, even chicken-coop apartments that look like they'd grow mold in your lungs demand 40,000 bios a month without blinking.
Besides, what I'm aiming for is a shop house in C-22 District.
There's a dumpling shop on the first floor, and living quarters on the second.
It's a pretty decent listing, complete with a private bathroom, but the deposit is a princely 400,000 bios.
A bit of a snag.
The key to breaking this deadlock is, of course, Director Seres's special pick....
The problem is that Seres hasn't ordered any more driving since that day.
"After getting a taste of that 100,000-bios-an-hour drive-in action, a weekly 200,000 just doesn't satisfy me...."
What do I do?
Is this what the hearts of heroines who get NTR'd feel like?
I've become a body that can't be satisfied with honest wage income.
Then I suddenly realized one thing.
"That was already the case."
Maybe not much has changed after all.
2.
[5:30 a.m.]
A driver for Twilight Resource Development can't show up to work reeking of mustiness.
First stop: the steam bathhouse.
"Wow! Big bro, your dick is huge! Can I touch it?"
"Jesus Christ, everything's bullshit!"
"Boo-hoo, that's mean...!"
"Get lost. Even gigolos have standards—who the hell do you think you are!"
I thoroughly wash myself while shaking off the advances of some clingy fellow worker in the same trade, earning a weekly 50,000.
What comes in handy here is the 'Xnel Body Wash & Shampoo (UC)' I pulled from the old-world shopping mall gacha.
This stuff is the real deal.
Director Seres even said, 'You smell nice,' and was making very feminine moves on me.
"Then why aren't you making a special request for me!!!!"
To wake myself up, I shouted as I drove the limousine to Seres's residence.
The arrival time is 6:00, but Seres coming out is random.
Sometimes she comes down at 6 sharp, and sometimes she lazily appears around 9.
I parked in the private garage, stuck a cigarette in my mouth, and enjoyed a leisurely morning smoke.
"Hoo...."
The thick hit of tar going down my throat wakes me up.
A Marlboro Red in another world.
This is also really good stuff.
I'm starting to think the old-world mall isn't so bad after all.
Before I knew it, a man in sunglasses and a suit, Henri, was standing next to me.
He's the new personal secretary handling Seres's schedule in Julien's place.
Strictly speaking, all I replaced was the driver.
"Morning."
"......"
By the way, he has a lot of hair and doesn't look like he can play soccer very well.
Instead, he has that polished elite look you'd expect from the stock market.
Especially those rimless glasses—they make him look like a real jerk.
I keep wanting to lock him up every time I see him.
"Want a smoke?"
"...Don't talk to me, you maggot. You smell like the slums' sewers."
"Why are you so angry every morning? Kidney stones?"
"Hah, you bastard...."
Don't get me wrong.
I'm not some guy who goes around picking fights with coworkers for no reason.
At first I wanted to get close to Henri too, join an early-morning soccer club with him, and even scrub each other's backs at the sauna.
But.
"Because you ratted him out, Senior Julien is dead. You're next, so look forward to it. The other secretariat staff are all already sharpening their knives too."
Well, that's basically why he resents me.
I'm really jealous.
I'm insanely jealous of the secretariat's bond.
How can they keep defending a bastard who named a goat after his boss and got caught fucking it to death?
Is the secretariat secretly some kind of goat-lover club?
Anyway.
My most respected philosopher, Nietzsche, said:
If someone hates you for no reason, give them a reason to hate you.
"Should we maybe change our mindset? Julien died because of me. No, that's not right. Henri got promoted thanks to me, didn't he?"
"...Shut up."
"So, did you throw a promotion party or not? Come on, you did. This is clearly just fake anger, isn't it? Huh? Your mouth just twitched."
"......"
"Invite me to the promotion dinner too. I'm on good terms with goats too."
"Shut your fucking trap!!!"
"Hmph, mouth wide open!!!"
"Aaaagh!!! How did the director end up with scum like you!!!"
"Ahem. Keep your voice down."
What can you guys even do?
In any case, even if I'm assigned to the secretariat, I don't have any reason to go near there.
Besides, I'm Seres's specially hired driver.
If you know Seres's personality, she's not someone you can mess with casually.
[9:30 a.m.]
"Good morning!"
"Did you sleep well through the night, Director?"
"Yeah."
Seres finally showed herself at a leisurely pace.
Seres just gave a casual greeting and got into the back seat.
She looked a little tired, and she was much later than usual.
She seems especially low-energy today.
I should tread carefully.
Seres's very first routine is to head to Le Jardin restaurant and enjoy brunch.
"Director, let me brief you on today's schedule."
"11:00, securing new distribution routes for the ossuary and adjusting the existing 'fees' are the main items. After that, at 13:00, a meeting with the chief researcher in HQ's R&D division. It's the first report on the stabilization experiment for 'Lost Item: Category 304' recovered yesterday."
"16:00. On-site inspection of the new raw gold refining facility in D-2 District. Final check of operating rate and stability. Lastly, at 18:00, the regular board dinner is scheduled in the banquet hall on the top floor of HQ."
While Seres received the schedule report from Henri and smoked.
I drove as smoothly as possible.
"I'm not going to this regular banquet."
"Yes, then I'll leave 18:00 onward open as personal time."
I can't understand half of it, but listening to it is oddly fun.
It feels like listening to the radio and studying the worldbuilding at the same time.
When we arrived at Le Jardin, Henri quickly got out and opened the door.
"This way, please."
Now Henri would keep watch behind Seres while she ate, and I'd smoke while wiping the car down with a dry rag.
Every time, Henri would always leave with a superiority-filled expression after looking at me.
"Hmph."
Look at that smug look of his.
But today was a little different.
"Henri, you stay in the car today. Cedric, come with me."
"Yep!"
"Huh? Ah, uh... t-today, w-what's this all of a sudden...?"
When Seres's eyes came down on Henri like a weight, he hurriedly shut his mouth.
Wow, that's how you do power-tripping.
She sent the long sentence 'Do I have to explain the reasons for every single one of my decisions to you?' with one look.
That's insanely cost-effective.
"...S-sorry, Director."
"Cedric, hurry up."
"Just a second, I'm rolling out the red carpet."
"Hah, unbelievable.... Hurry up."
Not only did I get snubbed by the lady of the house.
And not only that, Henri's face turned red when he saw Seres and me joking around so familiarly.
You little shit, see that?
You know what's scarier than petty power?
Pillow-talk gossip is unbeatable even at rock-paper-scissors. Nobody can win.
I casually followed her into the restaurant while giving Henri the middle finger behind my back.
"But what brings you here, really?"
"Cedric, do you have anything scheduled today?"
While the food was being served, I asked Seres casually.
I had a feeling.
Ever since Seres canceled the regular banquet, dribbled past Henri, and sent me a long through ball.
Here it comes!!!
It's Sugar Mama Seres's sugar-sugar time!!!
"When the director calls, I have to make time even if I don't have any."
I naturally tied a napkin around her neck.
I let my fingertips brush her bare skin little by little.
"I feel like going for a drive for the first time in a while."
Seres laughed, ticklish and a little worn out.
3.
[1:00 p.m.]
Schedule complete.
[4:00 p.m.]
Schedule complete.
[6:00 p.m.]
At last, all the schedules were done.
I took Seres on a little spin out to the docks.
"This is enough."
"Already?"
"Yeah, this is enough. You like to drink?"
"I could drink as much as you give me."
"Then let's go to my place. I have a bottle of wine someone gave me."
And at Seres's urging, we went back to her place.
[8:27 p.m.]
"What kind of wine is this? It tastes really unique."
"A gift from the Hyeon-gwi family."
"Hyeon-gwi... the Black Turtle?"
"That's right."
We drank wine together in the large bathtub and bathed together.
There were no bubbles or roses, but it was romantic enough.
[9:12 p.m.]
We went to bed.
"Hurry up, why are you moving so slowly?"
"Come now, the night is long. Don't rush me."
"......"
"Don't glare at me like that...."
With a decent buzz on her, Seres clung to me more actively than ever.
I cheered inwardly.
"You cute little thing!"
"You've been pent up all this time!"
"Of course!"
After tasting a man like Cedric—basically Jjapagetti—she'd fasted for a week.
How could she possibly hold out?
[11:16 p.m.]
"Haa... haa.... Just once, shall we do it one more time?"
"Of course. But let me rest just a little...."
"Don't do that...."
"Hmm, understood. Understood."
Seres clung to me eagerly.
Unusually so.
[12:01 a.m.]
A stormy stretch of time passed.
Seres was sprawled out long and lean on the bed.
As usual, I dressed first and prepared to leave.
And then I thought.
For sure.
Today's Seres is somehow strange.
Normally, she wrapped things up neatly.
Even though this was only our third time together, apart from the pleasure, Seres always had her own firm line.
A transparent wall that let flesh and saliva mix, but not emotions.
Today, it felt like that wall had crumbled.
"I had fun today too."
"Cedric."
"Yes?"
"Tonight... won't you just stay with me?"
Right.
Meaning she'd absolutely never say something like that.
If I think about it simply, this is incredibly welcome to me.
That means I've melted Sugar Mama Seres that much.
Why is that? My guts are sinking at crazy speed.
A tingling sensation, like right before cyanide kicks in, runs through my body.
My instinctive alarm bells are ringing so hard my ears are going numb.
What am I missing right now?
Is there something I missed this run?
Why today, of all days, ask me to stay together with her?
Is she trying to keep me pinned down here?
After one last pass through the fragments of clues, one thing came to mind.
'No way....'
'Project Z.'
Twilight Resource Development's top-secret human-cleansing project, leaked to Overnus Pharmaceuticals by Seres.
A stroke of bad luck I had no way to counter, so I could only hope to slip past it.
I think back on it again.
Seres's attitude was different from the first run and from last time.
This sudden move to keep me from going home.
Seres knows where I live. I told her.
That may be a stretch.
But if I weave these facts together, I can reach this shabby hypothesis.
Project Z's human cleansing is today, and the place is one of the E-Sector districts.
So Seres slept with me today of all days to keep me away from the slums.
"I'm sorry. I have to go today."
Maybe all of this is just a misunderstanding.
I can't even picture Seres acting for someone else's sake in the first place.
Still, I have to go.
Arbel is there.
"Someone's waiting for me at home."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes."
Seres was silent for a long time, then said:
"...I'll lend you the car. Go on, get there comfortably."
"Thank you."
My heart was pounding strangely, ominously.
I immediately took the elevator down, got in the car, and started the engine.
"Fuck... no way, right?"
My head feels like it's about to explode.
What kind of bullshit luck is this?
That giant-scale incident was actually something I could get tangled up in?
What kind of bullshit is this!
No.
What if this is all just my imagination from start to finish?
Isn't that more likely?
Please, let it be that, then.
Since I came out without even getting paid, I might as well go back and get my tip.
-Wiiiiiiiiing
As if mocking my hopes, a siren rang from the street speakers.
'As of 12:15 a.m., riots caused by a large number of subversive elements have broken out in E-Sector Districts 1, 9, 11, and 13.'
'The City Hall Public Safety Bureau has dispatched immediate response teams to the affected districts and is currently bringing the situation under control. Citizens, please do not be swayed by rumors, and for your safety immediately cease all outdoor activity and evacuate inside your homes or the nearest safe facility. Repeating....'
"Fuck!"
I floored the accelerator.
The hulking car roared like a beast and shot forward like a bullet.
The studio apartment where Arbel is lying is in E-9 District.
Then.
-Ding!
A notification rang.
======
:::Challenge(New!):::
- Consume the formless poison. +1pt
======
What the hell is this now!!!