Chapter 41
Although I was suspected of being a member of a gang, my actual job was nothing more than managing an ordinary grocery store.
That fact wouldn't change, no matter what anyone said.
Therefore.
Before heading to the black market, I had contacted the grocery store's real owner─Christine, whose actual occupation I knew even less about than my own.
“…Hello.”
[Identity and purpose.]
“It's me again. Abel Anderson. The terminal I bought last time got smashed for some reason.”
[……. ]
I could hear the exasperation in Christine's tone through the terminal at my incomprehensible excuse.
Then again, how could a terminal break after only a few days?
Especially when it had been ‘smashed.’
[…How did that happen?]
“Well, it's rather complicated to explain….”
Of course, I somehow managed to explain it properly.
Meeting Walter, buying a terminal that could be used as a substitute for gunpowder, the kidnapping of Walter's daughter, the android Anna, and a business run with sex toys─.
“That's more or less what happened.”
I failed to summarize it in three lines, but I had still organized things fairly neatly.
From the other side of the terminal came a click, like someone pulling the flint of a lighter.
It seemed she was about to smoke herbs that helped with the lung disease she suffered from, rather than an ordinary cigarette.
A little while later.
I heard the sound of wind as she exhaled the herbal cigarette's smoke.
[I understand the circumstances. I've also been informed that you purchased a new terminal.]
It suddenly occurred to me that Christine's way of speaking was rather stiff.
In a different way from the little girl named Runrun, she had a much stronger military-officer sort of vibe.
[But how, exactly, did you suddenly reach the conclusion that you needed to obtain ‘an android body’ from that chain of events?]
“Ah, explaining that would take a while too….”
I briefly explained my relationship with Nova as well.
The grocery store manager and the turret guarding the grocery store.
It could be called the bond between a castaway and a volleyball.
After hearing my serious explanation, which combined a spoonful of reason with a bucketful of emotion, Christine muttered in a slightly exasperated tone,
[Well, I more or less understand.]
“That's why I'm going to visit the black market.”
[Really, only more or less.]
Unexpectedly, Christine was weak against emotional appeals.
Then again, if she had been a person with little sentiment, she wouldn't have rescued me from the dump in the first place.
Besides, leaving me as a figurehead owner while running a grocery store in District 49 was practically a form of volunteer work.
Christine was fundamentally a kind person.
She let out a soft sigh.
[I didn't expect you two to become close enough for you to give it a name….]
“Just calling it a turret would be too impersonal.”
[…I never thought I'd hear the word affection in this city.]
The people in this game who spoke Korean with bizarre fluency understood me easily.
Was this the power of a Korean-language patch?
[Wait a moment.]
Christine's voice cut off for a moment.
It seemed as though she had muted the microphone altogether.
Since I was lavishly enjoying the real view of downtown visible between the ant-hill-like slum buildings from the grocery store's rooftop, the wait didn't feel boring.
‘I wonder if I'll ever get to visit that place.’
The game's true backdrop─.
The forest of Risk City, made entirely of skyscrapers.
‘Well, I probably wouldn't have much to do even if I went.’
How many minutes passed like that?
[Yeah, apparently there shouldn't be any problems.]
“Who says?”
[The idiot who made ‘Nova.’]
Christine answered in an intentionally nonchalant tone.
The word idiot might have sounded a little harsh, but I could tell it was her roundabout way of expressing familiarity.
[They made such a racket asking whether you were really using it only as a grocery-store management AI….]
“Didn't you say that from the very beginning?”
[That's why they're an idiot.]
Christine pulled the flint of her lighter again.
Perhaps because she had been talking so much, her breathing sounded slightly labored.
[Anyway, my business partner really is a fairly skilled web spider…. And that idiot made your ID, too.]
This was only the second time I had heard the job title web spider.
I remembered hearing the same word when I first met the mafia organization's boss.
I should search for it on the terminal later.
[…But an android body will cost more than you think. Are you sure?]
“Ah…. I suddenly came into some unexpected income.”
I didn't bother adding that I had received financial support from Luciana.
If she asked what I had been up to, it would be difficult to answer.
Besides, Christine already knew, from what I had told her last time, that I had destroyed a perfectly functional gang.
Christine chuckled at my answer.
[Well, in that case, I won't say anything.]
“Yes, you don't need to worry.”
How expensive could an android really be?
* * *
There was a time when I thought that….
I had one, too.
“…How much?”
“At least $150,000. As I said earlier, this is the outer layer, so you'll have to pay $175,000.”
“Isn't all of District 49 part of the outer layer?”
The shopkeeper's expression crumpled like a sheet of paper at my question.
His gaze naturally shifted to the kid behind me.
“What kind of man is this, not to know even such basic common sense?”
“…That's what I'm saying. I got caught up in this by mistake.”
The shopkeeper looked down at the kid, who was frowning just like he was.
“…Did you get caught stealing wallets again?”
“No, I have an excuse this time. There wasn't even a cybernetic body….”
“One of these days, you'll run into someone who really teaches you a lesson. If you have nothing to do, just sweep the floor here.”
I didn't know exactly what their relationship was, but the shopkeeper's gaze at the kid held fairly complicated emotions.
It didn't look like simple sympathy….
The kid kicked a pebble on the ground for no reason and opened their mouth.
“What am I supposed to do with that much money?”
“Look at the mouth on this brat.”
“Whatever.”
Then the kid looked at me.
“Mister. You seem short on money anyway, so now that I've shown you here, my job is done, right?”
Who was the kid calling Mister?
But before I could answer, the kid turned around and walked out of the shop.
Soon, the shopkeeper and I met each other's gazes in midair.
“So, are you buying something?”
“…Even so, isn't that too expensive?”
From my perspective, it was a reasonable suspicion.
$150,000. No, $175,000 meant a whopping 87,500 hotdogs. If I went with the ones that had a little more topping, 50,000 of them.
That was enough to swim in a sea made entirely of hotdogs.
The shopkeeper clicked his tongue and began to explain.
“Did you think a fully functional, brand-new female android would be cheap? It's not some used model with only a few parts replaced.”
Even so, used was out of the question…!
As if he had read my thoughts, the shopkeeper folded his thick cybernetic arms across his chest.
“It's not as if you want a hard lump of scrap metal with skin like steel, either.”
“Ugh.”
I was disappointed in myself for being unable to immediately say no.
At that moment, a small voice slipped out from the terminal I had put in my pocket.
[I'm fine with─.]
“…No.”
[……. ]
Regardless of my personal desires, I wanted to get Nova a proper body, as good as possible.
If I imagined Nova's body becoming a hard lump of metal like a Dalek from a TV drama.
- EXTERMINATE!!
I couldn't bear to see a future like that.
As my deliberation dragged on, the shopkeeper let out a soft sigh.
“For the record, just because I mentioned the outer layer, don't think about going farther inside. It's not a place where someone who knows nothing can enter and come out with their body intact. Besides, getting into the true center isn't easy without the Black Star Society's permission….”
“So the black market is divided into different sections?”
The shopkeeper looked at me with pity.
“…Do you have any idea how large Black Square is? Of course it is. District 9 is the outermost of the outer districts. A lot of tourists who don't know much come here.”
To put it simply.
The black market, Black Square, could be considered a sort of miniature Risk City.
Hearing them talk about the outer and central regions, I began to get the general idea.
Perhaps he was tired of explaining, because the shopkeeper waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly and added,
“Anyway, if you're short on money, just leave. You're only getting in the way when customers come in.”
I stared straight at him.
At the sudden change in atmosphere,
the shopkeeper closed his mouth and looked at me.
And.
“$50,000.”
“Quit bullshitting and get out.”
“$75,000.”
The shopkeeper picked up an iron broom.
Backing away, I said,
“$100,000. I absolutely can't pay more than this─.”
“You worthless beggar! Get out right now?!”
Strange.
It had worked so well on Walter.
I thought about that as I fled from the broom.
* * *
Once I entered a dark alley untouched even by the neon lights, the shadows of the many people gradually grew fewer.
The cracked concrete walls were haphazardly plastered with unidentified writing and obscene graffiti,
and a foul smell, like burning weed, billowed up through a stainless-steel exhaust pipe.
Step, step.
Step, step.
Beyond the barred windows, the noisy atmosphere of the black market still carried through, but
as if divided by a boundary, only the sound of two people walking echoed through the alley.
Perhaps unable to endure the awkward silence,
the kid eventually turned around toward the presence behind them─me, furrowing their delicate brows.
“Why are you following me, Mister? Haven't we settled everything between us?”
“You've been calling me Mister this whole time. Just call me hyung.”
“…Mister, do you have a conscience?”
If the kid looked at me that stone-faced, it felt like it might hurt my feelings a little.
I'm not that old yet….
You and I aren't even ten years apart, punk.
But if I made any more excuses, I would clearly look like someone whining because he didn't want to be called an old man.
I naturally changed the subject.
“And what do you mean, settled? Once you take on a guiding job, you have to see it through to the end.”
“…You seem pretty short on money. Even if I introduce you to another shop, it'll be the same. Prices are secretly fixed around here.”
“No, I want you to show me the way out.”
“…….”
What kind of place had roads this complicated?
If I simply followed the signs, I was bound to get lost like a child separated from its parents.
But it wasn't easy to retrace the path I had taken, either.
Maybe it was because there were so many people.
Even the scenery of the complicated streets all looked similar.
The kid, who had been looking up at me with an incredulous expression, suddenly turned around.
“Huh? Isn't that little guy over there Gio?”
“Hah, look who it is. Our alley boss.”
At the end of the narrow alley, I could see several people swaggering toward us.
At the same time, a woman's voice rang out in my head.
Naturally, it wasn't Nova.
【Random encounter triggered!】
I had been wondering why I hadn't heard that lately….
Having spent several days in this cyberpunk─fusionpunk world, I could instinctively tell
that their attitude toward us was by no means friendly.
The kid called Gio must not have expected them to appear at all, because they backed several steps toward me.
“Th-this isn't a path those guys use….”
“Hmm.”
Then there was a good chance it was my fault.
Events that occurred through the random-encounter system usually erupted around me, after all.
The kid, Gio, backed away until they reached me.
I gently placed a hand on Gio's shoulder.
The startled kid looked up at me.
“Mister, don't just stand there! This isn't the time for this. Get ready to run!”
“So you can call me hyung from now on.”
“……??”
I boldly walked out in front of Gio.
One of the gang tilted his head and stuck out his tongue.
Ugh, what was that supposed to be?
“Oh, a tourist? I don't know what your relationship with that brat is, but you've really picked the wrong place.”
The thug's tongue was covered in more piercings than I could count.
“Hmm, or maybe your looks are pretty much my type…. Lick. If you treat me nicely, I'll let you go unharmed─.”
“Oh, you son of a—”
A kick.
Sexual preferences were something both sides had to respect.
After seeing him scan me from head to toe with lustful eyes,
I reflexively kicked off the ground.
My perception stretched out into a long, drawn-out world,
and the thug my toe touched flew all the way to the end of the alley, still sticking out his tongue.
Then, another fade-out.
THWANG!!
He plunged headfirst, upside down, into a garbage bag between the alley walls.
The gang's gazes naturally turned toward their leader, who had flown backward,
because from their perspective, it must have felt as though the person beside them had vanished in the blink of an eye.
I naturally reached out and placed a hand on the shoulder of the gang member who had somehow come close.
With a light pat─
“
Ta-da
.”
““…….””
This time, I pronounced it properly, too.
Perhaps because of that, the gang couldn't bring themselves to turn their heads toward me.
I stretched a bright smile across my face as usual.
“I'll let go anyone who can briefly explain an excuse according to the five Ws and one H in under 500 characters, then weave it into a touching story.”
“H-how could we….”
“If you can't, then…”
I can't let you go.