Chapter 5
As Max headed to the 1st floor with his fattened Seed Money, the bartender was waiting for him.
As Max took a seat following the gesture to sit down, the bartender sighed and put a cigarette in his mouth first.
“You’ve got the refreshed look of someone who’s earned their fill.”
“Thanks to this place, my bleak situation cleared up a bit. I needed money fast.”
“Well… do you need something to drink?”
“No thanks. I drank a lot of water down below.”
Declining the drink, Max popped the last Lollipop he had brought from home into his mouth.
It was his favorite Melon Flavor.
“From the way you look, you probably have no intention of being our Star Player.”
“Right.”
“Then I’m sorry. Next time you come, we can’t accept you as a Fighter.”
This meant it was fine to come as a spectator, but fighting directly was forbidden.
It seemed they didn’t like the flow of capital.
`[The amount of money I took shouldn’t have been enough to strain them… Did they have to pay for shop repairs?]`
Max accepted it with a light heart.
He liked their method of ending things with words rather than doing anything unnecessary.
“I have comrades waiting, so I’ll be going.”
Max left the shop, bluffing loudly enough for them to hear.
He headed to the station his nerves sharpened.
Whether the bluff worked or it was the aftermath of the matches, no one targeted his bag stuffed with bills.
`[I’m tired.]`
After leaving District 50 and returning to his Studio apartment, Max opened a stock account.
He fell into a deep sleep.
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`[This is where it begins.]`
Waking up in the morning, he put all his money into the stock account, excluding a small amount for food.
He checked the news while waiting for the market to open.
`[To think I’d step foot in stocks again.]`
Before Regression, there was a time I thought my ability was “the power to make stocks plummet just by buying them”.
Wasn’t it a truly amazing authority? Whenever I pressed the buy button, corporations would stumble as unexpected bad news erupted.
There was the minor issue of my already thin wallet dying a heroic death, but it was an opportunity to deeply feel the beauty of honest labor as well as the pinch of my emptying balance.
My self-reflection, vowing never to touch stocks again, had been spectacularly successful.
`[Vow retracted! A regressor is different!]`
It was time for the pain of that time to become fertilizer and sprout seeds.
The charts from before I completely quit stocks were in my head.
`[I remember them… but the problem is the short timeframe.]`
Because I had lost all my money day-trading and left the stock market, the charts I remembered spanned less than a week.
Since I hadn’t even glanced at stocks after quitting, I didn’t know the long-term trends either.
Therefore, the next few days were the turning point.
`[Not a single failure is allowed.]`
I spent all the time when I didn’t know the charts on exercise and Meditation.
Meals were kept as healthy and cheap as possible.
`[Blue Water - Stripped of exclusive drinking water supply rights in managed zones… Suspicions of concealing water pollution erupt, spreading boycott campaigns by Citizen groups]`
News I had seen before began to catch my eye.
It was the time when the stock price of Blue Water, which Max had purchased in the past, first plummeted.
The stock discussion board filled with real-time wailing.
▷If you just give me my principal back, I’ll never show my face here again… Plz…
- It’s just a rumor anyway; the stock price will recover, yeah. Just average down and wait
- Really? What’s your average price? T_T
- Are you telling me to buy this trash stock right now?
Even the appearance of a demon tormented those who wailed.
It was an all-too-familiar hellscape.
`[It’s flowing exactly as I remember.]`
Max grabbed his computer and his Smartphone and acted quickly.
There were a ridiculous number of corporations in Haze. Dozens of good and bad news stories poured out a day.
`[Titan Crane - Secures exclusive waste disposal rights in District 50 and emerges as the core of the Scrap Forest Redevelopment Project]`
`[Used parts trading platform “Mechanic Soul” experiences an unprecedented boom and breaks the record for highest transaction volume]`
`[Volt Core - Acquires patent for waste battery recycling technology… Proposes cooperation with Vector Mobility]`
`[Miyabi Logic - Develops an anti-tracking engine… Secures stability for anonymous transactions]`
`[I’m riding the flow.]`
In a short time, Max’s capital multiplied like crazy.
After he spent a few days at home, his account held an amount of money he had never possessed in his life.
Even so, it wasn’t enough to buy what he wanted.
`[Just a little more.]`
There were a few pieces of good news left that he remembered clearly.
Max didn’t leave his computer chair for days.
“Done! It’s finally done!”
The day he saw the end of the good news he remembered and neatly finished organizing his stock account.
When he stood up and looked at the clock, the hour hand was pointing to 7 PM.
`[This station is District 38.]`
Max rubbed his stiff eyes and got off the subway.
He wanted to luxuriously go to a bathhouse and soak his body in hot water, but taking a lighthearted rest after finishing what needed to be done was always sweeter.
`[If I have money left over, should I set up a Mercenary Office? I could clear out the Studio apartment too.]`
He walked through District 38 while making plans.
He took out a Lollipop and put it in his mouth. It was apple-flavored.
`[This place is flashy no matter when I see it.]`
True to the name Neon Street, its characteristic lights were brilliant.
The air smelling of disinfectant was also considered a feature, and the Public safety was better than that of District 50.
Even if it was little more than a decoration, a police station did exist.
He headed to his destination, passing by shops flashing in various colors.
Upon arriving, he raised his head.
`[Mermaid’s Song]`
He had made use of this place when entering the Oil and Blood Fight Club in District 50.
It was the only bookstore in District 38.
`[No matter how I look at it, it sounds like the name of a bar or a karaoke room.]`
He thought that every time he saw the signboard.
What kind of sentiment was behind naming a bookstore Mermaid’s Song?
Jingle! Jingle!
As he opened the door with a bell attached and entered, a middle-aged man in a green apron welcomed him.
An Electronic Device and a pen were tucked into the apron.
“Welcome.”
Max gave a light nod to the man greeting him.
`[Joshua.]`
Whether it was his real name or not, he was the man closest to the saying that one makes a living purely on trust.
He was a man who would never leak a Customer’s information, even if the lackeys of a large Corporation or Noble Family came, shoved weapons in his face, and tortured him.
`[Should I find the books first?]`
What Max was trying to obtain was an item that only the highest-tier members of Genesis Bio could purchase.
It wasn’t something they handed over just because you had money.
Asking Flora, who was right there in his phonebook, would be one method, but if this fact somehow reached his father’s ears, it would become annoying.
`[It’s not like I have a good relationship with Flora either.]`
He literally only knew her number and was her stepbrother in name only.
He couldn’t make the shameless request to ask Flora to buy the item for him.
That was why he needed a reliable Broker like Joshua.
As long as he paid the commission, he could obtain it without leaving a record.
`[This one, and this one… and it was this one.]`
Max walked around the bookshelves and pulled out specific books.
He stacked them in order and pushed them across the Counter.
“Do you have a membership card?”
“No. Please make me one.”
“You just need to write your name and phone number here.”
Joshua handed over a blank piece of paper the size of a palm.
Max filled in his personal information on the paper and wrote Genesis Bio Solution No.1 and No.2 at the bottom.
A Special Enhancement Ampoule that condenses the technological prowess of a massive Corporation.
Solutions No.1 and No.2 were called Prime Exclusive models, and to borrow an expression from the old era, they were items that would be nothing short of 'elixirs'.
Despite repeated administration was meaningless, the effects were so good that among the exceedingly wealthy tycoons, there were those who couldn’t forget their first dose and regularly received doses.
“The sign-up fee comes out to this much. Is that alright?”
“…I’ll pay it now.”
His jaw almost dropped at the price, which included the commission.
Still, it was at a level he could Handle with the money in his account. It was worth the trouble of clinging to his computer.
“You can bring your membership card and come by tomorrow after 7 PM. If the bookstore door is closed, please visit through the back door.”
“Understood.”
Taking the card, Max left Mermaid’s Song and stared at his now-shabby account.
Compared to when he first regressed, it was a ridiculous level of abundance, but when he thought about the future, it was lacking.
`[I wanted to set up a Mercenary Office in a good district.]`
The unit price difference and the quality of missions were different.
Moreover, just being talked about by the people there created a difference in reputation.
“Hmm.”
If it really didn’t work out, giving up a lump-sum deposit and setting up an office on monthly rent would be an option.
Paying monthly rent would bleed him dry, but the higher the district, the more it is worth it.
`[I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it more.]`
Since he had taken a step forward, he decided to indulge in a small luxury.
He directed his steps toward a bathhouse in District 38.
`[Whichever path I take, it’ll be better than the past.]`
Max pictured a hopeful future again today.
“Ah~ That hits the spot.”
Max, who had been in the hot bath for a long time, finished his bath and came out.
He finished his healing session by peeling and eating eggs that cost a whopping 3,000 credits for two, then opened his locker.
As he took out his clothes and put them on, the Smartphone that had been buried under his pants was blinking.
`[There’s nowhere that would contact me right now, though?]`
He had blocked ads cleanly too, so what could it be?
There was no contact that should come at this time, even looking back. Did a problem occur with the Broker?
“…”
He was checking his phone just in case.
A message had arrived from a truly unexpected Person.
`[Flora Crimsonhowl: Are you busy?]`