Chapter 71
Cliché.
It is a word used for situations, settings, and the like that are used so commonly and conventionally that they seem to have been pressed into a mold.
For example, the existence of heroes and demon kings, the protagonist hiding his power, or the fact that people in a cyberpunk world absolutely have to eat thick, candle-wax-like nutrient tubes….
Of course, the expression ‘cliché’ is not necessarily a bad thing.
Something being hackneyed meant it had been used widely enough to become popular.
Just as, in snack culture with the 「Harem」 tag, a forced harem ending that seems awkwardly pieced together is preferred over a convincing pure-love ending….
The frequent sudden appearances of female characters in various male-oriented works could also be seen as something created according to the logic of a capitalist society.
But.
When I ended up contributing to such a typical cliché without even realizing it, a rather complicated yet strange feeling surfaced.
For a moment, a scene from a martial-arts novel flashed through my mind.
- Heh heh heh…. He fell from this height, so no matter who he was, he must be dead.
The extra pursuer in that novel was certain of the protagonist’s death after he fell beneath a cliff, without even suspecting that he might be alive.
- Shall we go down and check the body?
- No need. It would only be a waste of time.
When I first witnessed such an artificial development, I had thought, ‘…That’s a little awkward. Still, shouldn’t they go down beneath the cliff and check?’
So, once, out of curiosity, I searched the internet for keywords like ‘Zhangjiajie’ and ‘Huashan,’ which formed the backdrop for such developments.
Wow.
‘Even Miyabi… no, even a megacorp employee would definitely die.’
Who would think that someone who fell from the top of the 63 Building with nothing but his bare body would still be alive?
We should at least pray for the deceased’s soul.
The extra villains appearing in novels, movies, and comics must have been making perfectly reasonable judgments as well.
All those circumstances were why I had been certain of the death of the guy who fell into the violently swirling waterway on a rainy day.
Looking back, I hadn’t even felt any experience points come in, so I could have reasonably guessed that he might still be alive.
Well, back then I was still a tourist in Black Square who had yet to properly understand concepts like levels and experience points.
Rather than regretting the past, I decided to focus more on the present.
“You picked up that sword there too, while you were at it.”
When I pointed beyond Cat’s ninja garb, he pulled out the sheath of the ‘katana’ he had cherished and held close to himself twenty-four hours a day.
A katana named Igni-whatever.
It wasn’t yeolhwa (劣化), meaning deterioration, but yeolhwa (熱火), meaning blazing fire.
As someone who dutifully hung a Taegeukgi at home every Liberation Day (under pressure from my mother), I couldn’t help making a wry face at the thing.
‘What is a Japanese-style katana doing here in a world where guns and gunpowder are flying everywhere….’
But this was a world where superpowers, magic, and even walking, two-legged Kellogg’s cereal all existed together.
I didn’t show my displeasure outwardly.
If Christine’s serum hadn’t improved my physical abilities, I would have become another person who needed to receive a checkup from Walter once every quarter.
This city was far too harsh to live in with the body of an ordinary person who had no abilities at all.
Several centimeters of the sharp blade emerged before slipping back into its sheath.
“…Indeed, this humble one did find it strange. A specially branded product bearing a megacorp’s name was sitting in a corner of the grocery store’s logistics warehouse.”
“I didn’t rob the truck in order to get a weapon, though.”
It just happened that way.
It had come in handy when we went to beat up the Hakuagumi boss, though.
“So what do you intend to do now?”
“Hmm….”
As I carefully organized my thoughts, Cat straightened his back and looked at me.
“Just give the word. …Even if the opponent is a megacorp, this humble one will act without hesitation.”
Was it because I had just tried to protect Cat from the megacorp employees?
His normally polite attitude had become even more neatly organized and disciplined.
I awkwardly scratched my head.
“For now….”
“Yes.”
“We should call everyone together and start by sorting out the situation.”
It wasn’t something I could decide on my own.
* * *
Grocery store.
First Emergency Countermeasures Management Committee.
Its first and, at the same time, final agenda item.
“Guys, we’re fucked….”
Rather than a humorous and tedious explanation, I went with a quick, simple one-line summary.
An unprecedented situation in which the grocery store faced the threat of shutting down outright unless we found the criminal before the megacorp did.
Thus Michael, Rivera, and Nova, who could be considered the core of our grocery store, gathered in one place.
For the record, Cat said he would continue patrolling the area, then flew away without even looking back.
(Perhaps because he was a runaway ninja, he moved so swiftly that I didn’t even have time to tell him to wait.)
Walter didn’t come, saying he was busy with work.
As usual, Michael quietly muttered with an expressionless face.
“Someone at team-leader level from Beltech, huh….”
“Huh?”
I looked bewildered at his muttering.
If he had really grasped the entire situation from my one-line summary despite my not having explained anything yet, it would have been a little frightening.
“How do you know that?”
“In Area 49, there are far more homeless people who have received food from Hot Dog Man than there are functioning surveillance cameras.”
Was he really planning to change careers and become an open ark…?
I should ask him later whether he had any plans to raise a pet pigeon separately.
“And Miss Nova told me as well.”
“Ah.”
Mystery solved.
Nova, who could borrow the eyes of the grocery store’s guardian deity (a military tactical composite 20mm fortress-type automatic turret) that watched over it day and night, couldn’t possibly have been unaware of what happened inside the store.
If anything had happened there, a gunfight would have begun immediately.
“Then I suppose you understand that things are becoming troublesome without my having to explain.”
“It wasn’t unexpected. With the help of a level-8 Web Spider, our means of being tracked through the ‘truck’ disappeared, but Beltech would still have continued searching for the person who stole its property.”
“True.”
The two of us turned our gazes toward Nova.
More precisely, we looked at the android body whose specifications made it impossible to guess what purpose the corporation had created it for.
They must have invested more capital in it than 100 minerals and 50 gas….
It was the most expensive and valuable item among the megacorp’s products loaded onto the truck.
“They didn’t happen to notice Nova’s appearance, did they?”
“No.”
Nova answered in Michael’s place.
Beautiful looks alone were liable to become a distinguishing feature.
If they weren’t idiots, they must have known that the truck’s cargo was the target of the theft.
Naturally, they must have already figured out the detailed information on the products loaded onto the truck.
“I think it would be best for me to stay inside the logistics warehouse for the time being.”
“It’ll be inconvenient, but it can’t be helped.”
“…It’s not all that inconvenient.”
A very faint blush appeared and disappeared in an instant across Nova’s snow-white cheeks.
Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who witnessed it, because Rivera quietly moved beside Nova and firmly grasped her wrist.
“Something dangerous might happen later…. I’ll stay with you the whole time.”
“That is a considerably unnecessary assignment of personnel.”
“…Is that so? I don’t think so.”
“……”
“……”
It looked as though I could understand how their staring contest had begun when they first met.
An awkward atmosphere.
I didn’t have the courage to wedge myself between them, so I naturally changed the subject.
“Anyway, I think I have a rough understanding now. The megacorp employee I met in Black Square… seems to be a guy named Marcus Vogel.”
I tapped the top of a cat-food box of suitable height to draw everyone’s attention toward me.
“I don’t know how he actually survived there, but apparently he’s now in perfect health and wandering around Area 49.”
That was the one issue.
If he were captured by the megacorp before us,
it would naturally become known that another petty thief had been there, someone who had run off with the entire contents of the truck.
Of course, a bounty had been placed in Black Square on me, who had worn a separate mask.
But only one little kid living beneath the exhaust vent knew who I really was.
In other words, what did that mean?
“We have to catch that bastard before the megacorp does.”
I didn’t know whether that was actually possible.
Even after that, the possibility that the megacorp’s special forces would say, ‘There’s none of the stuff we’re looking for, so we’ll just head back~,’ and disappear was close to zero.
The streets were scheduled to become extremely unpleasant for the time being.
After hearing my explanation, Rivera cautiously raised her hand with an awkward movement.
“…Um.”
Like a student asking a teacher a question.
I already knew perfectly well that she was an adult, but seeing her act so adorably made a pleased smile naturally spread across my lips.
“For now, I’ve told the kids as well…. Since they’ll have to hide and move around secretly, and we’re at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, I can’t promise that they’ll find him first….”
“…I seem to remember hearing that you took the kids out for a walk last time.”
The ‘kids’ Rivera was referring to weren’t the homeless people commonly seen on the streets, but little ones who shared her origins.
Genetically modified lifeforms secretly created by a corporation.
They were called Nymphs….
“But I’m not sure if that’s really okay….”
“?”
Oh, right.
They were Imps, not Nymphs.
Anyway, she would handle things well on her own, but I couldn’t help worrying about such tiny children wandering around streets with terrible security.
At my question, Rivera fidgeted her fingers and squeezed her eyes shut.
“Well, the truth is, they’ve already been a considerable help in keeping the streets safe…. So it should be fine.”
Ignoring Michael muttering to himself, “Ninja squad….”
I awkwardly nodded.
“Well, if you’re okay with it, then I suppose it’s okay.”
But what exactly did she mean by saying they had helped maintain public order?
It wasn’t as though people had voluntarily taken up vigilante activities….
I was a little curious about that, but Nova’s calm voice followed up before I could ask.
“I’m checking the surveillance camera data from Area 49 that can connect to external networks. If I find anyone who appears to be Marcus Vogel, I’ll let you know, so please wait a little.”
“…Wait.”
I tilted my head awkwardly as I listened to Nova.
“You could actually look at surveillance camera data?”
Anyone overhearing that would have thought a capable Web Spider like Troy had said it.
Even though the person standing in front of me was merely an ordinary android (by megacorp standards).
“…Yes. I can.”
“Huh.”
I let out a small exclamation of admiration.
Nova, who had acquired a corporate android body, seemed to have become incredibly capable without my noticing.
I looked around at the people nearby out of curiosity.
Rivera and Michael didn’t appear particularly surprised that Nova could hack the city’s surveillance camera data.
“…Was I the only one who didn’t know?”
“It wasn’t something Hot Dog Man needed to concern himself with.”
Michael replied in a low voice.
Hmm….
Well, good is good.
I quietly nodded again.
‘Still, it feels like a great deal of progress has been made on things around the grocery store without my knowing….’
It was like my friends had continued a multiplayer game we had been enjoying together without me.
Without the 【Iron Mind】 trait, I might have suffered an emotional wound.
Still, they probably hadn’t gone out of their way to stop any attacks on the grocery store without my knowledge.
I looked at Michael one last time.
“Hmm….”
Judging from his expression, he seemed to be seriously worried about something.
His eyebrows were furrowed by approximately 5 mm.
“Is there something worrying you?”
“No. I was just organizing the situation in my head. However….”
Michael chose his words as he slightly loosened the length of his tie.
“The megacorp employee defeated by Hot Dog Man. You said his name was Marcus Vogel, right?”
“Yeah.”
Michael had struck at the core of the problem.
“But why didn’t he flee to another area? Why did he return here to Area 49? He must know that the megacorp is pursuing him.”
“That….”
Now that he mentioned it, it was a little strange.
Why?
“If he fell beneath the waterway…. It would be reasonable to assume that he crossed as far as Area 50, known as the city’s garbage dump. If he put his mind to it, he could even have escaped to the Outlands beyond the city.”
That was what Michael was trying to say.
The reason he had returned.
“So….”
Even though Marcus Vogel knew perfectly well that the megacorp was pursuing him,
the reason he had ‘gone out of his way’ to return to Area 49 instead of fleeing to another area was…
At that moment, everyone’s gazes turned toward me.
“Because of me?”
“In my view, the possibility is extremely high.”
“What did I do wrong….”
I stopped mid-sentence.
Thinking about it, it wasn’t an ordinary grudge.
‘I interfered with his work, stole the contents of his truck, and sometimes rotated a man’s vital spot—more precious than life—dozens of turns─.’
Just imagining it made my body tremble.
Revenge.
Michael was putting that intention into words.
“It’s difficult to read the thoughts of crazy people, so you don’t need to go out of your way to understand him.”
Michael, unaware of how I had defeated the bastard, comforted me in a gentle tone.
“In any case, for that reason…. It might be faster for him to come find Hot Dog Man than for us to find him. Please keep that possibility in mind.”
Although we were in a situation where we had to find and deal with him before the megacorp, it was difficult to tell whether that was good or bad for me.
…….
Still, an idea came to me.
There was a way to find him.
* * *
The sky over Risk City is dark.
Thick clouds of smog always cover the sky, making it difficult to see the sun.
It was night as well.
As a result, the light from neon signs and holographic billboards emanating from the inner districts of the city illuminated the surroundings more brightly than moonlight.
And.
Marcus Vogel, who was desperately searching for ‘someone’ in the shadows of an alley while evading the megacorp’s persistent pursuit, slowly looked up at a beam of light that suddenly shot into the sky.
That face, which still appeared in his dreams.
The peculiar visage of a black smile mask.
It had risen as large as the moon, making it visible across all of Area 49.
“…Ha.”
The method made famous by the signal James Gordon used to call Batman
appeared in this world not in the shape of a bat, but in a form recognizable to only one person.