Chapter 106
“…I keep telling you, I'm not Nakamura.”
I grumbled while looking around the street submerged in a hazy gray.
Look at this Yangban, still calling me Nakamura after hearing all that. He's doing it on purpose, one hundred percent.
At my sullen reaction, the Dragon President threw an arm over my shoulder and laughed, ahahaha.
[Well, because your reaction is more Omoshiroi (interesting) when I call you that.]
“….”
[And there's no need to be so self-conscious. There's no one watching, and no one listening. At least for now, that is.]
He said that in response to my constantly looking around. Was it that obvious?
I couldn't help it. The part about the Fake Data was practically my reverse scale.
Carelessly blabbing about it outside could put me in grave danger. I had to be careful, and then careful again.
[That's true, but if you were going to be careful, wouldn't it have been better to hide it until the end?]
“Be quiet. I'm already slightly regretting it as it is.”
[Fuhahaha.]
He laughed so obnoxiously. When I glared at the displeased expression on his Helmet Display, the Dragon President struck an exaggeratedly frightened pose.
[Whoops, looks like you could kill a man with that glare.]
“….”
[Maa (Well), don't worry too much. Sey is tight-lipped by nature, so she'll absolutely never go around talking about it, and Tony might usually act like a chatterbox, but he tends to get serious when he needs to be.]
That was true. I nodded at the Dragon President's words and spoke.
“But those two aren't the ones I'm worried about.”
[Huh? If it's not those two, then the only one left is….]
“…….”
[…….]
At my silent stare, the Dragon President snorted , [Hah!].
[You got me there. That was a pretty funny Jodan (joke). I admit it.]
“It's not a joke─.”
[You wouldn't view me as some frivolous person who goes around cheaply blabbing about the privacy regarding a subordinate employee's safety, so it must be a joke. Right? Nakamura-kun?]
“Well….”
At my sly answer, the Dragon President put me in a headlock with his arm draped over my shoulder and shouted.
[If you don't admit it's a joke right now, I really will spread your secret far and wide. Do you want a Breaking News report titled 'The shocking truth of Bar Employee Nakamura-san!' to pop up on the broadcast station's main channel? Huh?]
“Why would something like that be reported on the broadcast station's Main Channel!”
[Because I'll make it happen! Oresama (My Great Self) is Sasha Dragon! There is nothing I cannot do in this city!]
“I get it, so please calm down!”
What a crazy person.
Is he still not sober, meaning his 5-Star Transcendence Sasha Dragon Mode hasn't ended yet?
I barely managed to stop him from storming into the Broadcast Station by writing a memorandum admitting it was a joke right then and there.
Since it was the Dragon President of all people acting like that, I shuddered at the thought that a report on the Shocking Truth of Bar Employee Nakamura-san might actually appear on the morning news in a few hours.
Good grief, it's so scary I can't even carelessly make a joke.
[Hah, so it really was a joke. I knew it.]
Funny, even though you made me write a memorandum because you didn't believe me.
I opened my mouth with a sigh.
“So, why did you call me out?”
There was no way he asked to talk for no reason.
He definitely had something he wanted to say to me.
[No particular reason?]
“….”
[I'm kidding, I do have something to say. I do, but how about we sit down somewhere first? My legs hurt from standing around like this. Oh, there's a seat right there.]
At the end of the damp path surrounded by a pile of trash and an iron fence, there was a small metal bench.
“Well, sure.”
Plop.
After roughly wiping the moisture off the narrow seat, we sat down together.
However, because the Dragon President wearing his Powered Armor was so bulky, I ended up in a posture where I was barely perched on the edge.
What is this?
“I think this is more uncomfortable than standing.”
[Endure that much. Or should I move aside for you? Iyadayo (No) to that.]
“Why is that?”
[Because you're the employee and I'm the president. Should the president endure discomfort for the employee?]
Hmm, it was irrefutable logic.
It was the natural order of things for the president to be comfortable and the employee to be uncomfortable.
“…….”
After the idle chatter finished, a brief silence flowed.
The Dragon President yielded a little space to the side as if it had been a joke, and thanks to that, I was able to sit comfortably.
We looked up at the empty air with our rears resting side by side on the bench.
“I can't see the night sky.”
It wasn't because of reasons like light pollution, but the sky was just physically blocked.
The densely connected skyscraper of the city center and the passageway of the Upper Levels tangled together, obstructing the view.
That might be why the Ground Level felt even more dull and dark.
[Indeed. The view here isn't that great.]
“Living in the Lower Levels is a sin. The air is murky, and you can't even see the sky properly.”
I said that as the breathtakingly beautiful view of the orbit I had seen from the 110th floor of Gintoki Tower suddenly came to mind.
Just because it was the Lower Level didn't mean the top was completely blocked off like this everywhere, but even if it were open, it would be the same.
A terribly polluted atmosphere, a feast of eye-piercing advertising towers, and a ceiling that was nothing but dizzyingly uncoordinated.
Unlike in the past, looking above your head had become an act with absolutely no benefit.
If I had known it would be like this, I would have looked at the sky to my heart's content in my original hometown.
I slightly regretted my past self, who had always only stared at my phone screen or the direction straight ahead where I was walking.
It was when I was lost in such thoughts.
[Soredemo (Nevertheless), I don't think the scenery looking up like this from below is bad either.]
The Dragon President brought up an unexpected topic.
Suddenly?
I fell into thought as I looked at the iron walls filling the sky, the glass and lights protruding like the teeth of a beast.
No matter how I look at it, it seems bad.
I was about to genuinely worry about the Dragon President's aesthetic sense, but when I saw him immediately move on to the next topic, it seemed like something he just threw out there to open the conversation.
[So, how was the company dinner today?]
“It was chaos.”
This was a brief assessment. It was exactly as I said.
It was nothing short of absolute chaos. Everyone was so drunk and running wild.
Especially the Dragon President. He's a person of interest.
It would be best to avoid going to drinking parties with him in the future.
[Look at you talking as if you had nothing to do with it. Hey, you were no pushover either. You made us do all sorts of weird and extraordinary things. Anyway… this wasn't what I was trying to ask.]
“Then what?”
[Rather than an evaluation of the company dinner itself, I was trying to ask about your state of mind after going through it.]
My state of mind after the company dinner.
I pondered for a moment before answering lightly.
“I felt a bit intimidated.”
[Hmm? Nande (Why)? Suddenly?]
“Because everyone is just so outstanding.”
It wasn't empty talk. I meant it.
The members of Dragon's Lair who had shared the company dinner today.
Sey, Tony, and even the Dragon President.
Everyone except me was an incredible individual.
I thought they were extraordinary, but they were even more amazing than I had imagined.
[Soo (Is that so)?]
“Yeah, well.”
Just looking at abilities right now, Sey possesses a bartending skill that anyone would have to acknowledge.
It doesn't stop there; she has overwhelming physical ability and combat maneuverability at speeds invisible to the eye, utilizing cyberware.
Not only that, but she also possesses an appearance that exudes an aura, something that cannot be simply described as beautiful.
Truly, excluding her Cursed Palate, she was a superior human being in every aspect.
Because of the feeling that she was too high up to catch up to, her superiority didn't even bring about a sense of inferiority.
Being weaker and worse at fighting than a woman is definitely something to be ashamed of, but if the subject was Sey, it wasn't like that.
'If it's Ms. Sey, well, it can't be helped.' That was the only thought that came to mind.
Sey was a human who defied comparison. She just shone brightly all on her own.
Right. I could just brush it off, considering Sey to be an exceptionally special human.
The world is wide, and it's entirely possible for the head bartender of the bar where I work to be a superhuman.
But if even the assistant bartender is like that, something is weird.
Tony was a former Net Diver.
That one phrase ends the explanation.
He was an iron man who had risen to the Upper Levels of this dystopian society, breaking through a competition rate of thousands to one using only his own genes, his own physical ability and brilliant mind, a strong mentality, and hellish training and effort.
Although he ended up being ousted due to an unpleasant incident, that didn't mean his past or his abilities disappeared.
Due to his powerless life at the bottom, he had lost a lot of muscle and gained some belly fat… but nevertheless, he was still alive.
He was a Net Diver ready to return to his former self whenever given the chance.
The lineup of bartenders is this spectacular.
And the president.
The Dragon President was… well, the Dragon President.
There's probably no need for an explanation.
[Hey, why are you just skipping over me? Explain to me too! I'm curious!]
There really isn't much to say.
I didn't know much about the Dragon President in the first place. Not only did he thoroughly hide his true identity,
but he only occasionally tossed out breadcrumbs when he felt like it… and even those were fragments so massive in scale and so old that I couldn't even properly guess at them.
The only things I knew for sure about him were that he wore a high-level Powered Exoskeleton Armor—which, as far as I knew, definitely fell under DCPD Regulated Items—as Constant Wear, and I didn't know where he got it,
that he was incredibly strong and powerful, and that he had a lot of money.
A mysterious employer who seemed as if there was nothing in the world he couldn't do, and nothing in the world he hadn't done.
To me, he looked like someone from outer space, that is, from Another World.
Considering who had truly come from Another World, it was an irony.
Anyway, it meant the Dragon President was also amazing.
Everyone was outstanding. Excessively outstanding.
And as outstanding as they were, they each had different, complex pasts and stories.
'They' who were chasing Sey and who had formed a contract with her.
The reason Tony ended up quitting his job as a Net Diver.
The Dragon President's excessively flashy past, and Isiho's Iron Blood Chairman who had ordered a thorough investigation and report on every detail regarding him.
It was to the point where I wondered how such individuals had gathered in one place.
In contrast, I felt that I looked far too shabby and meager to be stuck among them.
If you try to run before you can walk, you'll stumble, and when giants clash, it's the small fry who get crushed.
Perhaps that was why I had been getting swept up in fights and losing consciousness so often lately.
It might be because I kept trying to accomplish things outside my capabilities.
Wasn't a mere Unidentified Foreign Worker like me taking on too dangerous an adventure?
Was this truly a suitable task for me? Was it something I could do?
It was doubt and fear that had arisen after learning to some extent the true nature of Dragon's Lair and the people there.
I put that into words and explained it to the Dragon President.
Sasha Dragon, who always seemed to hold the conclusion to every problematic situation.
How would he answer this worry of mine? I was curious.
[…So you got intimidated?]
“Yes.”
[Omaega (You)?]
I heard the sound of a snort.
The Dragon President was looking at me with an absurd expression.