Chapter 21
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Title : [Info] Let's Learn About the Mafia Families Appearing in Games (Data Warning)
For content related to the Heukseonghoe (黑星會) and Baekajō (白牙組) posts I wrote last time, follow this [link].
(Original concept art sketch of the Sparo Rapido Family arriving in a tank during a gang war)
Today, I'm going to write about the Sparo Rapido Family, one of the gang organizations appearing in the game.
This is a compilation of information from the data disks and cyberweb in the game, along with foreign wiki sites, so please leave a comment if you find any errors.
The organization's history began with secret societies in Sicily, much like that of modern mafia groups……
(Omitted)
That is why the Sparo Rapido Family mainly appears in District 49, also known as the Special Administrative District [related link].
It is no exaggeration to say that they serve as a sort of police force in District 49, where the RCPD does not exist.
That is why they do not immediately shoot you just because you make eye contact, unlike other gang organizations. For the record, they will shoot you for bumping shoulders.
If you compare their related facilities with the Heukseonghoe's human farms [link] or the Baekajō's snuff-film factories [link], you can see that they are practically angelic by comparison.
For more details, refer to the Special Administrative District Dairy Management Office [link].
(Omitted)
This is where Luciana [link], the boss of the Sparo Rapido Family who sometimes even takes over as the board's top celebrity, makes her appearance.
(In-game screenshot of a blonde woman with red eyes, wearing a suit and sitting with her legs crossed)
As you can see from the post in the link, she has such a ferocious personality that she is nicknamed a terrorist……
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─ Wakyapyahuk Nongjjukㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
─ I wish those legs would choke me just once...
└ I turned the game on after seeing this
─ Anyone who predicted from the title alone that the comments would be a complete disaster, give it an upvoteㅋㅋㅋ
└ What the hell did this guy just say...
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* * *
The Sparo Rapido Family.
A famous mafia organization in District 49.
When he received the invitation, the man could not sleep properly for several days.
‘…An invitation from the Family.’
They were a real mafia.
Not some amateur gang of thugs, but a genuine mafia with a history older than the city itself.
Because he had expected so much, the man's disappointment was inevitably even greater.
‘So much for an organizational gathering.’
Wasn't this just a gathering of neighborhood punks in one place?
And they even thought they were different from everyone else.
The man downed a glass of high-proof grappa in one gulp.
‘I really came here for nothing.’
With the help of the alcohol, his irritation began boiling over.
The fact that he had already been waiting for several hours was just icing on the cake.
It was after that that the man overheard the conversation of the people around him.
“The stature of this gathering has really fallen. What kind of rootless outfit dresses like that? They must be an organization attending for the first time.”
“…Don't you think there's a strange smell wafting from around there? It's completely killing my appetite.”
Following their conversation, the man looked toward a certain ‘lunatic.’
His suit coat was black, the shirt underneath was yellow, and his pants were dark blue—a shocking combination of colors.
His clothes were covered in pilling, and it was immediately obvious that they were extremely old, even if they had not actually been torn.
‘What is he, some kind of homeless person?’
A derisive snort escaped him.
His judgment, impaired by the high-proof alcohol, and his patience, worn to the limit by the long wait, made his actions even more reckless.
The woman beside him also looked quite beautiful.
That was why.
“Hmph, he can't even live up to his size. What a ridiculous sight, walking around clutching a woman's hand.”
The man picked a fight with the dimwit.
Completely and blatantly.
He could not detect any sign of a cybernetic prosthetic in his opponent, so he thought his chances of losing were close to zero.
“Ha, I was already pissed off, so this is perfect. They said we just couldn't use weapons─.”
And then.
The man's memory ended there.
* * *
The surroundings fell silent, as though the air itself had frozen.
Everyone's gaze turned in this direction, followed by the sound of people's flustered breathing.
“……”
“……”
If a clown performing an amazing magic show accidentally dropped a pistol on the floor, the atmosphere would probably be something like this.
In a word.
It was extremely awkward.
I even felt a little embarrassed.
I hunched my shoulders back down.
‘Maybe “ta-da” was a bit much.’
Come to think of it, even in the movie I had seen, it was closer to “Ta-da!” than a literal “ta-da!”
But the milk had already been spilled, the graffiti could not be erased, and the accident could not be undone.
If I had carefully patted the fallen thug on the shoulder and said,
- Are you all right?
- Someone in the suit, call 911! And someone beside him, get a defibrillator!
- Begin thirty chest compressions.
It would have been a little strange to perform the first aid I had learned in the reserve forces, too.
Wouldn't that make me look even more like a lunatic?
‘Well, it can't be helped.’
I turned toward Rivera as naturally as possible.
“So, what do you want to eat?”
“Uh, well….”
Rivera also seemed a little flustered as she stared down at the fallen man, but soon she quietly nodded and pointed toward a table where an entire pig had been roasted.
“……That one.”
“Excellent choice.”
You can't beat a well-roasted pig.
There were no cooks or servants in sight at the party hall.
I personally took a knife and began slicing open the pig's skin, placing the meat on a plate.
Scritch, scritch….
As the sound of meat being cut echoed through the hall,
I suddenly fell into thought by myself.
‘…Definitely.’
My personality seemed to have changed somewhat.
The first time I noticed it was while I was returning home—the grocery store—after taking down three thugs.
I had kept saying that the outside world was frightening, but if I had truly been afraid of the outside, I would never have dared leave the grocery store in the first place.
And that was exactly right.
I had been dropped into the world of a game overnight and nearly killed by robbers right from the start.
Yet I recovered far too quickly and returned to normal.
Physically, and mentally, too.
Looking back, something had been strange when I dealt with the Bogus gang members as well.
Charging barehanded at someone holding a gun—wasn't that the kind of idiotic behavior that got you killed?
And what about driving a truck straight into the gang's hideout afterward?
‘…Just now, too.’
I had knocked my opponent down with complete naturalness.
My hand had simply moved before I could think.
No matter how much I had intended to protect Rivera, I had personally performed a magic trick that made my opponent's teeth disappear.
Maybe this was what it felt like to suddenly develop anger-management issues you had never had before.
It wasn't that my personality itself had changed; I just seemed to have become somewhat more brazen.
I should ask Christine about it properly….
“Um, you can stop piling it up now.”
“Oh.”
A mountain of pork had accumulated before I knew it.
I seemed to have cut far too much while spacing out.
Ignoring the gazes I could feel around me, I was about to hand the plate to Rivera when I belatedly realized that the pile of meat I had made was taller than her head.
I shouldn't do this.
She might spill it, after all.
I cut the pork into smaller pieces again, speared one with a fork, and held it out to Rivera.
Rivera's golden eyes grew wide.
“I-I can eat it myself…!”
“Now, now, little one. You have to eat well if you want to grow tall.”
“…This is as tall as I get.”
Perhaps she sensed how firm I was being.
Rivera floundered in confusion, then carefully lifted her mask and bit down on the fork I held out.
It felt like feeding sunflower seeds to a hamster.
“…Little one? She just looks like a short adult.”
“Why are you thinking so hard about it? That's just the sort of thing a lunatic does. Still, it's been a long time since I've seen someone in such terrible shape….”
I was focused on Rivera, so the voices chattering around me went in one ear and out the other.
Aww, look at her eat.
And then─.
Thud, thud, thud.
Heavy footsteps filled the party hall.
People dressed in neat suits entered the party hall one after another.
Without joining the party, they quietly took up positions along the walls.
What was this?
Bzzzzzt—. A woman's voice came through the speakers with a ringing sound.
[Is everyone having a good chat?]
For a moment, I mistook it for some random-encounter thing ringing in my head.
But the voice was different.
If the game system's voice had a very cheerful quality, the woman speaking now continued in an extremely annoyed tone.
Her voice almost seemed to cling to the air.
[First of all, I'd like to offer a small word of thanks to the organizations that participated in the gathering held by the Family today….]
Her words trailed off for an unusually long time.
The atmosphere felt quite heavy.
[Originally…. What was it again? Ah, right. I was going to talk about the ‘kidnappings carried out by those fucking scumbags’ happening on the old-city streets these days, partly to warn you about them.]
Her languid voice sped up only when she started swearing.
[But an unexpected appointment came up, so unfortunately, I don't have much time left. I assume the people gathered here more or less understand what I'm trying to say.]
At those words, several people's movements suddenly stiffened.
With my heightened senses, I could feel it.
They reacted as though they had something to feel guilty about.
[As always, the first time is a warning, and the next time, we deal with it. So conduct yourselves accordingly.]
That seemed to be all the woman wanted to say.
Soon, the voice ended─.
[Ah, and there's still something else I wanted to say….]
The gazes of the mafia members waiting in the party hall turned toward me.
[Recently, there was a war with the Bogus gang, and someone blew up an entire building all by himself, …
Hotdog Man
?
]
My shoulders jerked.
I had not expected to hear that nickname here all of a sudden.
[This? Hmm, I see. That's an unusual nickname. Anyway, he and his companions have some things they're curious about and would like to discuss. Since you're here, don't refuse; follow our people.]
The woman's voice cut off there.
[That's all.]
The murmuring around me gradually grew louder.
Most people were bursting with curiosity about the person called ‘Hotdog Man,’ who had appeared out of nowhere.
“Hotdog Man? What kind of nickname is that?”
“I've never heard that name before. Could it be….”
A few sharp-eyed people—most of them attending the party for the first time—kept a close eye on me.
And then.
“Will you accept the invitation sent by our boss?”
“……”
I swallowed hard.
I really didn't want to go.