Chapter 36
Whether they had eyes or not, there were half a dozen of those annoying people who asked for a menu explanation when it was right in front of them, so I kindly explained the cocktails and gave recommendations, only for them to agonize over it and finally order a single beer, just sitting there killing time.
A table with a gang that had clearly been chattering loudly among themselves suddenly went quiet, and when I checked on them, smoke was rising with that distinct smell of burning mugwort.
Are they crazy people? Did they really think I wouldn't notice them throwing a drug party so openly?
Like that, the Troublemakers kept cycling out; Customers and orders poured in like a flood,
but Tony was still off in Another World, only moving his hands, and Sey was busy doing their own work.
The Ronin were spewing complaints from all directions about the free radio broadcasts and protesting the Loofah Cake we served on the house.
Meanwhile, the Mercenary Agent and Ladam Customer, Mr. Ravin Haywood, was actively approaching several Ronin for contracts like a fish in water....
During all this, I, the Temporary Field Manager, felt like I was dying.
I had to personally deal with all sorts of shitty Ronin at the Hall Tables, and when orders backed up, I just made and served simple cocktails and drinks myself, and I heated up and served all the Frozen Snacks too....
No, it was definitely Fried Crickets Preserved Food, so why did it sound like bugs were exploding alive inside when I put it in the Microwave Machine and ran it?
Weren't they supposed to be distributed already killed and fried?
Anyway, it was filthy busy. Still, it was bearable.
I had been prepared for this much, anyway.
Rather, I should consider the past few days to have been excessively relaxed and peaceful compared to what the Dragon President had warned me about.
All sorts of peculiar Customers and Troublemakers had come in, but aside from the mental stress, the actual intensity of the work hadn't been that high.
On the other hand, right now, in the midst of being so busy I didn't even have time to breathe, I even felt like things had returned to their proper place.
Reminiscing about the times I worked like a dog going back and forth between the Head Chef and the cooks at the Restaurant, I felt as if the Labor Cells in my body that had been slack for a while were waking up one by one.
...Was that too much of a slave-to-the-bone kind of statement?
It just means it was reasonably manageable.
Most of it was an extension of the work I had been doing at the Restaurant anyway, and I had become sufficiently skilled at the other types of service over the past few days.
The targets I had to serve were all Ronin with destructive appearances oozing bloodlust, so it was like I was intimidated, but that much was nothing.
If there's one thing I'm confident in, it's the size of my guts. There probably aren't many people in all of Dusk City who could match my nerve.
A massive VVIP Room was where the notorious Chairman of a Military-industrial Corporation sat on a cushion, with dozens of Guard Cyborgs lined up behind him.
Do you know what it feels like to personally finish the plating for the dish going out to the VVIP and even explain the dish while everyone watches in that dead silence?
The City Bigwigs I've made eye contact with and conversed with at the Restaurant number in the hundreds.
It means I've experienced situations where my head could literally fly off if I twitched a finger wrong or ruined the food over a hundred times.
Even before that, kneeling in front of the notorious Megacorp Isiho's Iron Blood Chairman and begging for a job wasn't something a sane person would do.
This was the kind of person I was.
, a human who had thrown away the concept of fear to survive in this harsh Cyberpunk World.
Just like the countless Crazy Types of People in Dusk City, somewhere inside my head might have already become twisted as well.
It was a World where you could only survive by going crazy, because those who hadn't gone crazy were already all dead.
My idle thoughts ran long, but the conclusion was this.
First, I wasn't particularly afraid of these bloodthirsty Customers I was serving.
That was the case unless they openly shoved a gun barrel or a blade in my face, making me feel an unavoidable, instinctive threat to my life.
Second,
I was also someone with a screw loose somewhere. I was also undeniably a member of this Crazy city.
Looking back, that must be why I was able to turn the bar upside down by showing off that explosive Fallen Angel in front of the Troublemaker Detective on my very first day of work.
And now, that same madness from back then has relapsed.
Right now, I am shoving the blade of a Super-Vibrating Jet Engine Saw toward the face of a Troublemaker, preparing to press the Activate button.
The reason is that this crazy homo bastard took advantage of the chaos to reach out and try to touch my ass.
It was a sufficient reason to kill a person.
* * *
Where should I begin the explanation?
Right.
First, I should probably talk about the fact that I know who that homo Troublemaker is.
We obviously don't know each other personally; he was just a guy who, rarely among those swarming Ronin, had visited our bar a few times.
His name is Alexey Alexeyevich Sergeyev.
What a long name. It seems fine to just comfortably shorten it and call him Alexgey.
As you can tell just from the name, he is a Slavic Ronin.
As if boasting that he has some sort of connection with the Red Mafia gang, the Bratva, he goes around wearing an intense red synthetic punk leather jacket, tight black skinny jeans, and pitch-black sunglasses.
And he is a homosexual.
A member of the LGBTQ+ Rainbow Commando, commonly referred to by terms like gay, homo, Queer, and so on.
I don't hate gay people. Who am I to argue about someone else's sexual orientation?
Furthermore, this is the 22nd century Dusk City, a city incredibly free when it comes to the body and mind.
It's a trend to detach and reattach one's genitals, freely changing the size and additional parts for customization, and this is a place overflowing with all sorts of Transhumans who, if they set their minds to it, can change not only their gender but even their race through surgery.
It's a world overrun by crazy people who claim their gender is a Tiltrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, and where it's a struggle just to figure out if the person right in front of you is male or female,
or whether they are a surgically altered Transman or Transwoman. In such a world, just being gay might actually be considered normal.
Just take our Dragon President, for example. When I asked what his gender was, he spouted some bullshit about not having one because he's a Red Dragon.
What does he think he is, a legendary Pokémon? One having no gender?
The story went off on a tangent, but anyway, I don't particularly hate the affiliates of the Rainbow Commando.
As long as they don't cause me any harm, that is.
And this Friend Alexgey here was clearly a threat to me.
The first time I ran into him at the bar was three days ago.
I received weapons from a Customer and guided that Customer to a seat with an appearance that boasted a somewhat gloomy atmosphere, moving while surrounded by a gang of Russian muscle-bound thugs.
However, his sticky gaze and greasy tone of voice were somewhat unusual.
Feeling uncomfortable, I asked Tony just in case, and he told me that the guy was a pretty notorious Ronin in this area anyway.
His alias is Man Hunter.
It was a nickname with a double meaning.
He is a Man Hunter because he is a bounty-specialized Ronin of the type who tramples his opponents under thorough and cunning tactics to the point of being called a Hunter,
and at the same time, he is called a Man Hunter because he uses his captured prey, especially men, as trophies and playthings.
It would be one thing if he simply 'Hunted' targets with bounties or requests on them,
but many of the men he usually kept an eye on were individuals unrelated to any requests, yet they suddenly disappeared one day and were found as violated corpses.
And he was a guy with a very vicious perversion, to the point that rumors circulated that the way their traces were handled was very similar to the Man Hunter's methods.
His own skills aren't overwhelmingly outstanding, but he is connected to the Russian Bratva Gang and is so resourceful,
and because he never travels alone but always moves in a group of five or six, everyone says he's a person you can't mess with carelessly.
He had visited this Dragon's Lair a few times, though not often, and every time he dropped by, he would watch from afar with an unpleasant gaze, so Tony had investigated what kind of person he was.
Whether he gave up because he couldn't figure out an angle to hunt Tony, or if he had other business, he hadn't shown his face for a while until he recently reappeared.
It wasn't certain, but I felt like I had also been subjected to the Hunter's unpleasant hunting gaze, so I was thinking I needed to pay attention to my safety.
I don't hate gay people, but just as there are bad people and good people, there are good gay people and bad gay people.
And I hate bad gay people.
Man Hunter Alexgey was definitely the latter.
Especially since he showed signs of harboring desire toward me and Tony, it was even more so.
While I was in the midst of being careful and vigilant like that, of all days, on such a busy day, he came into Dragon's Lair mixed in among the other Ronin.
I couldn't have missed him even if I tried. He was showing off his presence so much.
As always, he stood in the center, surrounded like a prince by his Gang of large Brutes.
Unlike the muscular Skinhead Ronin around him, his slender body line and flowing hair stood out.
I noticed his distinct, bright red glowing outfit, and the sticky gaze from behind his sunglasses that I felt the moment he stepped inside the bar.
A feeling of displeasure, like a cold snail crawling down the nape of my neck, washed over me. I quickly turned my head to look, and sure enough, it was the Man Hunter.
It might have just been my imagination, but even when I received his weapons from him, our hands kept strangely touching, which was quite unpleasant.
Feeling that something was off, I looked at Tony at the Bar Table, wondering if it was okay to let him in like this, but it was a lost cause.
He was still unable to snap out of the shock of his duel defeat. Muttering incomprehensible sounds, he was just making cocktails according to the given orders like a zombie.
He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the man hunter, who threatened his chastity, had entered the bar.
...It couldn't be helped.
I had to let him in. What else could I do?
He might have a bad reputation, but it was ultimately just a rumor, and he hadn't caused any trouble in our bar yet.
I couldn't block a customer from entering simply because I had a bad feeling or because he was a bad gay person.
That would be discrimination. Even our Bar Regulations have an Anti-Discrimination Clause attached to them.
He might be a dangerous customer, but that applied to all the Ronin currently in the bar.
In fact, if you went by the history of crimes committed, there were probably plenty of guys with far more spectacular records than Alexgey.
The only difference was that they only posed a threat to my life, while the Man Hunter posed a threat to both my life and my chastity.
But I couldn't let the others in and refuse entry only to Alexgey.
If I was going to let them in, I had to let them all in, and if I was going to kick them out, I had to kick them all out.
And it would be ridiculous to consult Sey or the Dragon President about this issue.
I just need to keep good Surveillance so that neither Tony's nor my asshole ends up in danger....
With that thought, I let him into the bar and guided him to a table.
In that situation, that was the best judgment. At least, that's what I thought.