Chapter 200
Tony’s barrage of half-teasing, half-scolding ended when I couldn’t take it anymore and gently started up my “Means of dialogue”.
Vroooom -
Tony immediately changed his stance 180 degrees. As expected of a former net diver, his judgment ability was swift.
“But come to think of it, I support 'Che-Sa-Mo'. Chainsaws are cool, you know. Unique. I’ve always thought it’d be nice to have a bartender who handles such… unique tools from time to time, yeah. It’s good to see, Aaron. I really like you, a member of 'Che-Sa-Mo'! That Chainsaw Man Yangban would have loved to see this too.”
“Right?”
As I smiled brightly and turned off the engine, I heard him grumbling, “Oh, my poor fate. I’m clearly the deputy, yet I have to work while subserviently catering to my Junior, blah blah blah…', but I simply ignored it.
But in the end, Tony was right. I couldn’t just pull out an engine saw and use force every time something happened at the bar.
I wasn’t the Chainsaw Man Ronin but an ordinary bar staff member, and I had to stay true to my duties as a bar staff member.
You shouldn’t use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.
It was indeed a slightly rough means of dialogue that didn’t suit a bar, having been taken out as a test.
It seemed I should only bring it out in truly special situations, when an incident occurred that an ordinary bar staff member couldn’t resolve.
Until then, it was best to save it. I’d treat it as a special move and keep it sealed.
After I stored the engine saw and returned to my spot, the atmosphere in the bar was heated up.
I could quickly figure out the reason.
The passionate voices of people played as background noise, not only in reality but also on the hologram channel.
The long mayoral election schedule had reached its climax. It was nearing its end.
[This May has been a very turbulent month. The Mayoral Election Exit Poll results are so murky that we can’t predict an inch ahead. D.D. McMillan is leading in the exit polls, but according to expert analysis, there is a high probability that the landscape hasn’t changed significantly yet due to the influence of El Valentine’s repair corporation consolidation effect, the Megacorp Effect, and so on. However, what if McMillan’s final third pledge, promised to be revealed on the 18th, is announced?]
“Woohoo! Go McMillan!”
“If McMillan doesn’t get elected, I’m going to the Mayor’s Office and burning it down!”
Loud cheers. As you can see, about 90 percent of our bar’s customers are McMillan Supporters.
It would be similar not just in our bar, but anywhere around here.
D.D. McMillan is just that popular in the lower district these days. At this point, it is on the level of a syndrome.
Thanks to that, it was convenient for me.
Since only one type of election edition cocktail was selling, it was easy for the one making them.
It was even better because McMillan had been going around clean-shaven lately, so there was no need to carve out a bushy beard.
It was a bit of a shame that I couldn’t use the El Valentine version I had practiced so hard for, but what did that matter? Being comfortable was the best.
However, there was a minor side effect.
“Hey, bartender! You’ve been quiet for a while, why aren’t you saying anything? Are you by any chance… Faction 1?”
While Tony was away from his seat, a spark suddenly flew at me as I was covering for him.
In an instant, I drew aggro, and the bloodshot eyes of the gathered political fanatics focused on me.
It was chilling. A dagger flew and pierced my heart.
Saying “Haha, I’m not really interested in politics…' here would be the mark of an amateur.
Those vicious person troublemakers would immediately say, “Seeing how you’re avoiding the question, you must definitely be Faction 1!' and continue to harass me.
Our bar gave employees the authority for summary disposal of customers who acted rudely, so it wouldn’t be a big problem even if they did. But it would get annoying.
I couldn’t possibly use my sealed Black Flame Dragon… no, my engine saw, for such a trivial matter, could I?
In times like these, it was best to just pass it off lightly with acting.
“How could that be? I’m Faction 2 as well. I’m an ardent supporter who even subscribed to McMillan’s Patreon Page. This is quite an unpleasant suspicion.”
Usually, if I said this much, most would back off, saying, “Ah, I see. My mistake. Sorry.”
But sometimes, there were scum who stubbornly clung on to the bitter end.
“You’re a McMillan supporter? Hmm… I don’t really buy it. Why don’t you recite the McBible to prove your purity?”
Phew, this guy was the real deal among the real deals. I could smell a true fanatic.
What could I do? If he asked for it, I had to do it.
“McMillan said, “The city I lead does not abandon its people, and only I can change the city.” He spoke unto L.K. Schiff and Diane Caesar, “If your hand has the power to bestow insurance, do not withhold it from the citizen who rightfully deserves it.” Thus Diane and L.K. gained enlightenment and pointed to the statement, saying, “Behold, McMillan, as it is written, we have come to do McMillan-nim’s will.'”
What kind of bullshit is this, you ask? I don’t know either. I just memorized it to survive these crazy McMillan fanatic psychopaths.
It was the “McMillan Bible”, abbreviated as the McBible, which had been gaining cult popularity on the net lately.
The McMillan supporter put on a very gentle expression, drew the M-shaped Sign of the Cross, and shouted, seeing me recite the verse with a reverent attitude without stumbling in the slightest.
“Mc-men.”
“Mcmen.”
And then, as if nothing had happened, he calmly continued the conversation he was having with his friends.
At this point, hadn’t D.D. McMillan sprayed a massive amount of hypnotic gas over the lower levels of the city?
It was hard to explain otherwise. Anyway, it was a crazy city.
[Breaking News. The notorious serial killer, Crimson Rose, has been arrested by the DCPD. The Police Department declared it “a good example that no criminals can escape the judgment of the law,” and announced a special operation for the arrest of Phantom Thief Zodiac, who boldly threw down a challenge to the City Public Authority.
The 5 selected vicious criminal, including Crimson Rose, are scheduled to be transferred to Costco’s Dusk City Prison the next day, commonly known as “Glitch Hall,” the highest level prison that locks away the city’s troublemakers.]
Glitch Hall was a famous place.
In 21st century terms, it was a place with an infamy similar to America’s Alcatraz or One piece’s Impel Down.
Although it didn’t appear directly in the original game, I remembered it being frequently mentioned through the mouths of characters or lore notes.
I heard a murmuring sound from a table over there. Wondering what was going on, I looked over and saw a man swaggering immensely as he shared his heroic tales.
“I’m telling you, I served time in that Glitch Hall! You bastards can’t even imagine what kind of place it is.”
A Glitch Hall veteran?
I naturally became interested. I pricked up my ears without overtly pretending to listen.
I glanced sideways and examined the man’s appearance.
He had tattoos all over his body, and flashy neon tattoos at that, giving him a flamboyant look. He certainly looked like someone who would frequently go in and out of prison.
But Glitch Hall, I wasn’t so sure about that. Was it even possible to get out of there in the first place?
If he was a vicious criminal bad enough to be locked up in Glitch Hall, there was no way he’d ever be pardoned. And a prison break didn’t make sense either.
“Ah, this bastard, he’s starting again. What do you mean Glitch Hall? He’s making such a fuss over being locked up in some station for a few months!”
I wasn’t the only one who thought so, as boos poured down on the man. Everyone seemed to think it was an absurd bluff.
“Hey, hey, hey! Listen first before you talk. You know how I lost contact and went completely off the grid about a year ago? I was actually in Glitch Hall back then. I can’t tell you the detailed inside story or anything like that for fear of getting taken away, but anyway, I went on a grand adventure there for a few months.”
“Adventure my ass! You probably just spent your time eagerly sucking off those bastards stronger than you.”
“You have to be of a certain caliber to go to Glitch Hall. What do you mean, Glitch Hall? You’re just perfect for a Glory Hole, you punk.”
It was truly a dizzying series of jokes. It would be normal to get angry, but the man snorted and said…
“Yeah, laugh all you want. Just because you bastards do that doesn’t mean the things I experienced become untrue.”
A tone brimming with confidence, as if there really were something to it.
“Ah, why is this bastard acting so pretentious today? Did you eat something wrong?”
“It’s a good day. I thought you bastards might be curious, so I was going to do some storytelling, but do you not want it?”
“Hey, leave him be. Let’s see his skill at making up stories. I bet he won’t even last a minute before he starts stuttering, and it ends.”
And so, the man’s storytelling of his prison life began.
* * *
Hey, do those bastards know what kind of place Glitch Hall is? Not the rumors about it overflowing with vicious criminals, and how once you’re locked up you can never get out. I mean the real Glitch Hall.
Wait, are there any inexperienced bastards here who have never been to a correctional facility? Just looking around, I see some.
When you think of a correctional facility, you think they make you do hard labor, and the power struggles between inmates are fucking intense, and stuff like that, right? It’s not wrong, but it’s case by case. Glitch Hall is a bit different from other correctional facilities.
The bastards who come here all kill people like they’re eating meals, commit terrorism, massacres, war crimes. They’re those bastards whose very existence poses a risk of collapsing society.
They don’t make those bastards like this. If they even made them hold a shovel, there’s no telling who would end up dead and how. They make you unconditionally throw away your toothbrush after one use in case you use it to kill someone, and for your toenails and fingernails, you just put your hands and feet in, and a machine cuts them for you.
It’s not a correctional facility, it’s just an isolation facility. You can consider it a completely other world. The entire facility has absolutely no contact with the outside, so you can’t even guess its location.
They say no one knows the exact location of Glitch Hall, right? I’ve been there, but I don’t know either. whether it’s Underground, underwater, or in the sky like the rumors say, or completely outside the city. Even when I was transferred, I was transferred with my senses completely blocked.
You know what the funny thing is?
With vicious criminal bastards like this, they’re those bastards who deserve to die anyway, so you’d think they’d just leave them all to drop dead.
But they’re thorough when it comes to health. Even though they won’t make us do any proper work, they thoroughly manage our physical condition and health as if they’re managing products. It’s a creepy point.
There aren’t really any guards in Glitch Hall either. They say they exist, but at least I never saw one during my prison life. It feels like they just lock the prisoners up well enough so they don’t die, and leave the rest completely neglected.
Then who manages the prisoners and how?
If there are no Guards, the only ones left are the prisoners. The Prisoners control each other.
A notorious vicious criminal wouldn’t easily listen to what others say, right? So there’s a sort of hierarchy, like the military.
What determines the rank is your years of service.
The newbies who just came in are new recruits, those with up to about 3 years are private first class, those with up to 7 years are corporal, and those from then on are sergeant. It is like that.
How long have you been in Glitch Hall? That is strength, and that is power.
So imagine how surprised I was when I first entered Glitch Hall, opened my eyes, and saw a 15-year Veteran in the same room.
At first, I didn’t even know how amazing that was, or what it meant.
I still vividly remember the first conversation I had with him.
* * *
“You… yes. Call me Paradox.”