Chapter 73
Michael Dillon.
He was born at a private orphanage in Risk City operated by the Astra Group.
After scoring highly on the intelligence test administered by the orphanage itself, he enrolled in an academy also established by the Astra Group.
On the [Dream Job of the Future] survey.
1. Astra Group corporate executive
2. Astra Group mercenary
3. Astra Group shareholder
4. Astra Group─.
He had proudly chosen number 1.
For the rest of Michael Dillon’s life, the megacorp known as the ‘Astra Group’ would be an inseparable shadow.
“What? Who? What Dillon? Jeez. You think I donated my genes only once or twice?… Get lost, will you?”
Though he went through some hardship when he realized that his biological parents had effectively sold Michael to the Astra Group in exchange for the paltry sum of ‘a few thousand dollars,’ it happened during adolescence, of all times.
Eventually, as time passed.
Living along the prescribed conveyor belt, Michael Dillon had become an elite corporate executive.
“Are you sure? This is an implant that’s difficult to remove once installed.”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
It was a harsh world where humans and machines constantly competed for a single job.
Fortunately, humans were cheaper than machines.
Even so, ordinary preparation wasn’t enough to compete with the latest androids developed by corporations.
To avoid being pushed out of that competition,
Michael Dillon underwent a separate procedure to deaden the movement of his facial muscles.
An expressionless, mask-like face was advantageous when performing secretarial duties.
However.
“Why do you look like you’ve swallowed shit? Did you eat a cheap nutrient tube wrong? If your stomach hurts, go to the bathroom.”
“…Pardon?”
The Astra Group executive assigned to Michael Dillon was quite the eccentric.
That was Michael’s first meeting with the executive.
As someone who, like Michael, had come from an Astra orphanage, he was naturally an uncomfortable presence from the other executives’ perspective.
Of course, he didn’t seem to care about that fact at all.
“Don’t worry about it. What do you think was the reason the Astra Group promoted me to an executive position?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because one catfish can provide an appropriate level of tension. …If you don’t know, read a book once in a while. Do orphanages not even distribute e-books properly these days?”
Still unaccustomed to working life, Michael grumbled resentfully.
“…Even so, I think it’s too much that you don’t even properly share the schedule. At this point, can’t I officially raise an objection?”
“Ugh, if someone’s going to get shot, take the bullet yourself. I still have lots of food I want to eat in this world. Speaking of food, I’m suddenly hungry. Have you found any new good restaurants lately?”
“…I’ll show you the way immediately.”
“Ha! That’s the kind of dedicated secretary I need.”
He was quite carefree
and sometimes even ridiculous,
but under him, Michael Dillon learned not only how to handle work, but also how to live.
“The essence of us corporate executives is ultimately that of merchants. That never changes, no matter how the times change. And what’s a merchant’s most important virtue? Money? No, you idiot. It’s knowing where it’s safe to stretch out your legs.”
“Wow, this is a fucking mess. The corporation and city government are playing footsie like crazy…. It’s practically a sex party. A party. Huh? This? Of course we cover it up. If you want to shove your face into a toilet and die, go ahead and open it. …Oh, and I’m skipping today’s schedule. I have someone to eat with for the first time in a while. Who? For now, just an ordinary reporter.”
“Oh, the container you lost contact with? Don’t worry about it. I did that on purpose. No matter how much you love money, you shouldn’t cross the line. …You’re asking whether it’s dangerous? Fuck it, then I’ll quit being a corporate executive.”
A person who didn’t fit in with Risk City.
Even now, Michael could vividly recall his final moments.
He should have retired with the money he’d earned and gone around visiting restaurants, just as he was always saying….
“…Director!!”
It was a day when torrential rain poured as though a huge hole had opened in the sky.
Completely at odds with his social status as a megacorp executive, he was dying pitifully in an alley, bleeding.
“Cough, my head hurts…. Keep your voice down. And how many times have I told you not to call me ‘Director’ outside?… People will think I’m an eighty-year-old geezer.”
“Is this really the time to be talking about that?!”
His clothes were stained completely red.
Michael desperately tried to calm himself and manipulated his optical HUD with trembling fingers.
“F-for now, I’ll call medical services.”
“…Can’t you tell from the fact that they still haven’t come, despite how many insurance policies I have? Don’t do anything pointless.”
He slumped down in the alley
and stared blankly at the city’s nightscape visible through the gap.
“What happened to the security team you used to take around….”
“Yeah, what did happen to them. Cough.”
A bloodstained palm slowly rose onto Michael’s shoulder.
“You little shit…. If you hadn’t come from an orphanage, I’d have fired you on the spot and hired a beautiful android secretary…. Of all people, you had to come along….”
“T-the bleeding hasn’t stopped. Please stop talking. I’ll start by staunching the bleeding.”
“Forget it.”
The limp hand weakly clutched Michael Dillon by the collar.
Michael instinctively realized that the executive’s life would not last much longer.
“…You’ve had it fucking rough because you got stuck with the wrong boss. Next time, instead of some half-assed, guilty bastard like me…. Work for someone who gets things done, is smart, and has a backbone. Heh heh…. Damn, I’m leaving without ever seeing you crack a proper smile, right to the end.”
Michael’s expression twisted more intensely than usual.
Because he couldn’t smile in this situation.
Despite undergoing an implant procedure that deadened his facial muscles, his sorrowful expression was clearly visible.
【This is a security service announcement. A report has been filed in this area, so citizens─.】
Sirens continued to sound in the distance.
The executive released Michael’s collar and gave him a light push.
“Go on, now. Don’t get involved and end up dead.”
“B-but still….”
“Hah, enough. Go.”
He slowly closed his eyes.
It was a roundabout way of saying he would no longer listen to Michael.
“I’m going to see my little brother now, too…. He was a whiny little bastard just like you. I wonder if he’s been doing all right on his own without me…….”
With those fading words as his last,
the arm that had fallen never rose again.
Whether it was falling rain or flowing tears,
the droplets, impossible to distinguish, slowly ran down Michael’s face.
If only he could cry freely….
But the implant procedure had made even that impossible.
Because it was a kind of shackle.
·
·
·
Therefore.
“My balls, my balls! Give them back!!”
“A grown man bawling over something like that…. Ah, I guess that doesn’t apply anymore. Sorry.”
Michael failed to realize that his own face was now colored with shock.
‘…Balls?’
When it came to a man’s ‘balls,’ there was only one thing that came to mind.
“W-what on earth have you been doing….”
Michael finally felt he understood where Hot Dog Man’s terrifying reputation came from!
* * *
Marcus Vogel charged at me, maintaining an unstable posture as though he might topple forward.
Like a beast running on all fours.
“…Or I’ll take your balls, at least!!”
“Gah.”
For a moment, I wondered whether that was actually possible with cyberpunk’s astonishing technology.
But I couldn’t sacrifice something so small and precious merely to satisfy my curiosity.
Having recently encountered an opponent (Black Kellogg) who moved similarly, I didn’t panic when a finger suddenly swung up from below and stepped back.
Whoosh!!
The sound of a fist cutting through the air.
He didn’t seem to possess a trick like Bansho Takemaru’s, which used magic to extend one’s reach.
I narrowly dodged the fingers sweeping past the tip of my nose and threw a punch in return.
Thump─.
My heartbeat slowed for an instant.
Not only that, the entire world did too.
Until I could see each and every particle of dust floating in midair.
‘…Is it because I leveled up? It feels like the passage of time has gotten slower.’
Otherwise, I couldn’t have afforded to be this relaxed against Poppy, whom I used to be unable to do anything against and could only take a beating from.
(For reference, that is the name usually given to dogs that have been neutered at a neighborhood grooming salon.)
I had even selected traits such as 【Iron Man】, 【Steel Skin】, and 【Mana Circuit】.
I was completely different from back then.
Of course, it was also possible that my opponent had grown weaker.
“Die─!!”
Just looking at his current state made it clear he wasn’t normal.
A blue-green energy circulated through my bloodstream.
At the same time.
One punch, two, three……. A full fifteen punches.
My fists slammed into his face.
Pabababak!!
Good grief, he’s hard.
Is his body made of scrap metal or something?
It felt like casting a construction-site T-beam with my bare hands.
But even in this overwhelmingly favorable situation, I couldn’t let down my guard.
‘…What’s with that man’s eyes.’
His pupils were tracking my movements precisely.
Even as his nose bent, cheekbones collapsed, and jaw broke,
Marcus Vogel kept his eyes fixed on my face without blinking even once.
If his body had been in good condition, he probably would have caught my fists several times.
─The moment I thought that.
“Ah.”
His joint rotated 180 degrees.
A cyberarm.
A cutting-edge cyberpunk technology boasting a range of motion more overwhelming than a body made of blood, bones, and muscles.
The memory of my ankle bone being crushed flashed through my mind.
This time, what had been caught was my wrist.
The arm muscles affected by the serum and level-up swelled in an instant, as though they had been pumped up.
Psshh….
Along with the sound of hydraulic cylinders engaging,
white steam spurted from his shoulder.
“…It didn’t break this time.”
A contest of strength began in earnest.
He strained with all his might to pull me toward him, while I used all my strength not to be dragged along.
But that clumsy struggle of strength ended in what felt like less than a few seconds,
because he had judged the situation in an instant and released the strength in his arm.
Pulled toward me, he forcefully planted his pivot foot and launched a full-powered kick aimed between my legs.
“Whoa, shit.”
That scared the hell out of me.
I barely managed to block the kick with the sole of my foot.
It would have been difficult to block if he hadn’t been suspiciously fixated on my peanuts.
Taking advantage of the opening, I threw him in another direction.
‘Is it because he used to be a corporate mercenary?’
His combat experience really was on another level.
I had overcome each crisis through sheer physical ability, but if we had had the same physical specifications, I might have lost something precious of mine.
I shook my wrist, its skin scraped raw and red, and waited for him to get up.
“…….”
But why isn’t he getting up?
As I watched his movements,
Marcus Vogel slammed his fist into the ground.
“…Aaargh!!”
Like a little kid throwing a tantrum because he wanted someone to buy him a toy.
The ground rumbled every time he pounded it.
Thinking he had finally gone mad, I glanced toward Michael.
Michael flinched when he felt my gaze and hurriedly composed his expression.
“…Ahem. Excessive emotion. Nerve pain. Typical symptoms of a Chrome Junkie. Apparently, it’s because he claims that, um. …That was taken from him.”
“I didn’t take it.”
At my words, Michael’s darkened complexion brightened a little.
“So that’s how it was? Well, there was no need to listen to a criminal’s words anyway. Hahaha….”
“I did drop it, though, somehow.”
“…….”
It darkened again.
I could have ended up being called Meatball Man instead of Hot Dog Man, but I couldn’t lie about it.
“Fuck!!! Fuu─.”
“Stop.”
At that point, I firmly pressed Marcus Vogel’s head down.
Though his wailing, like a mournful cicada that had lost its production facility, did make me feel sorry for him,
if he caused any more commotion here, the megacorp’s special forces might appear─.
“─uck!!”
He rapidly spun his body sideways.
As though he had been waiting for me to come close, all of Marcus Vogel’s fingers pointed toward the sky.
Click.
That brief noise.
When he twisted his body so violently that his waist creaked, a vivid-blue pillar of flame surged up beside me like a fire whirl.
What the hell.
Fortunately, the flames that spewed out like a flamethrower weren’t fired for very long.
“Phew, that was close….”
“Heh heh…. Close?”
He spoke to me with precise pronunciation.
His eyes, flickering like a madman’s, had returned to normal at some point.
“It’s a shame you didn’t get hit and melt, but I’ve already accomplished my goal. ‘Close,’ you say…!”
“Wh….”
At the same time, I understood why he had been shouting and making such a commotion.
Because the sound of a huge siren had begun in the distance.
“You’re finished now─.”
“Shut up.”
When I stomped his face down with my heel, his pupils rolled upward.
He seemed to have fainted.
But the flames he had deliberately fired into the sky were effectively a signal to someone else, just like the hologram I had created.
Soon.
【Beltech Co. announces. There is a high probability that a criminal who damaged corporate property is in this area, so citizens are requested to calmly place their hands above their heads and remain─.】
The situation had become quite a headache.
Michael’s shoulders trembled as though an unpleasant memory had resurfaced.
“……The corporation’s security team.”
Right.
This was exactly the situation I wanted to avoid.
Though I hadn’t expected this lunatic to grit his teeth and try to drag me down with him.
Soon, people wearing outfits as hard as enormous armor began dropping from the sky one by one.
【This is a repeated announcement. Citizens are requested to place their hands above their heads and remain─.】