Chapter 74
The influence of corporations in the world of the game I fell into was truly immense.
How immense? Even the name used to describe a major corporation was Megacorporation.
Even in South Korea, where corporate influence was relatively weaker, it would make huge news if three conglomerate chairmen gathered at one fried chicken restaurant.
In a cyberpunk (and fusionpunk) setting where corporations determined the law, overturned legitimate outcomes, and sometimes even upended the world, there was no need to belabor the point.
I realized my situation had gone from bad to the worst possible.
‘Well, I’m screwed.’
A blinding spotlight shone between buildings expanded haphazardly like an ant colony.
It felt like I had become an actor stepping onto a stage.
‘Then is the name of this play Les Misérables?’
The role of a sad Jean Valjean who had no choice but to steal a megacorp’s goods because he couldn’t endure poverty….
It actually seemed pretty decent.
That escape from reality lasted only a moment.
Boom!!
People began landing one by one from the van-shaped aircraft that had been scattering the spotlight.
They were all heavily armed like a tactical unit.
I couldn’t see their expressions because thick helmets covered their faces, but the Beltech logo was emblazoned prominently across them.
‘What, they’re coming down without even using rappelling lines.’
Unfortunately, no one performed a hero landing.
Soon, the aircraft, having emptied out all its passengers, landed on the roof of a nearby building.
Then a mechanical voice erupted toward us in warning.
“I’ll say it again! Hands above your heads!!”
“Ah.”
I covertly rolled my eyes toward Michael beside me, and he was raising his hands above his head faster than anyone else.
So I was the only one spacing out.
After awkwardly checking everyone else’s reaction, I raised my hands above my head like Michael.
“This is Delta Team. We have successfully secured Area F-3.”
The muzzles of the assault rifles the security team had trained on us were extremely intimidating.
I quietly asked Michael, who stood beside me.
“Are those all smart bullets?”
“…They look like models that prioritize firepower to me, so it’s unlikely. Considering why they came to Area 49, it’s not particularly strange, either. …But are you thinking of fighting?”
Michael’s voice was worried.
I shook my head slightly.
“I just wanted to know.”
Leaving Michael behind as he gulped nervously, I eavesdropped on the security team’s conversation.
[Got it. I’ll be there soon, so keep controlling the scene.]
“Understood.”
The conversation hadn’t been very long, but it was clear they had reported to someone.
With my improved hearing, I can hear things like this too.
‘So what should I do?’
The most troublesome thing right now was still Marcus Vogel’s condition, as he lay at my feet.
‘I would’ve had fewer worries if I’d just finished him off earlier.’
Marcus Vogel was still alive, relatively intact save for the slight collapse of his nose.
If he’d been dead, I would have gotten the experience.
But I couldn’t finish him off now, because….
“You there! Five steps back! Now!!”
“Tsk.”
What would the others think if I strangled him or stomped on him here?
- That homeless man is trying to destroy the evidence!
- Hmm, is he connected to the guy?
- I suppose we’ll have to take that homeless man in too.
Those would probably be the conclusions they drew.
For now, let’s watch the situation a little longer.
Since the megacorp security team had already discovered our presence, there weren’t many options left anyway.
As Michael and I shuffled backward, a security team member who had stepped forward looked down at Marcus Vogel’s thoroughly mangled face.
Bzzzt.
Or perhaps simply confirming it with their eyes wasn’t enough.
They even scanned him with a device attached to the mask.
“It is him. Marcus Vogel. Murder, robbery, kidnapping, assault, unauthorized use of illegal weapons, and illegal drug use. And now they can add theft to the list. It would be better just to kill a piece of trash like this.”
“Don’t let your emotions get mixed up in the job. His face isn’t in very good shape, but what about his head?”
“Looks fine. Though that’s bad news for this bastard.”
After finishing their conversation, the security team’s attention turned to us.
An injured Marcus Vogel and ordinary civilians at the scene.
Naturally, they had no choice but to be suspicious.
“Are you vagrants from Area 49? What’s your relationship with the criminal lying here?”
“Uh, well….”
I made a quick decision.
About how to handle this situation.
‘…First, I have to kill Marcus Vogel.’
That was the most important part.
The megacorp wanted to recover its property, and Marcus Vogel was the person who knew more than anyone where the missing goods were.
Once he regained consciousness, he would reveal the truth to defend himself—or no, to get revenge on me.
Therefore.
While he was unconscious and unable to say anything.
This was my only chance.
“Well, I’m just an ordinary citizen who works part-time at a grocery store around here….”
I deliberately drawled out my words clumsily.
Pretending to be flustered, I averted my gaze and slowly closed my eyes.
In my vision, blackened over, crimson trait branches extended in every direction.
【Telekinetic】 【33%】
It would have been nice if I could spend trait points separately to raise insufficient proficiency, but this crappy game didn’t seem to have such a user-friendly system.
I’m overwhelmingly in the mood to leave a negative review.
Still, I didn’t think any other new trait would be much help in getting through this situation.
‘…Can’t be helped.’
I had no choice but to try it.
“The weather was nice, so I was taking a peaceful walk, when wouldn’t you know it, I spotted a strange hologram in the distance. I got curious and came over here, but then some crazy bastard suddenly came running at me….”
A bead of sweat ran down my temple.
It wasn’t because I was particularly nervous.
It was because this was my first time using telekinesis with all my strength.
【Telekinetic】 【35%】
My proficiency continued to rise.
Marcus Vogel’s neck, as he lay faceup, began to turn unnaturally to the side.
Fortunately, no one here was paying attention to the fallen Marcus Vogel.
“At first, I was just going to run away. But he came charging at me, shouting his head off. It’s not like I’ve ever worked as a mercenary, but I did use a little force…. Oh, right, do corporations offer bounties for criminals?”
“…No.”
“Ah, that’s too bad. Still, I feel a little better knowing I helped all you corporate people who work so hard day and night. Haha.”
Blah blah blah.
As I rambled on incoherently.
I concentrated until the veins bulged on my forehead.
A little while later.
“You’re saying that even though he’s become a complete idiot, an ordinary grocery store part-timer took down a corporate contract mercenary?”
Along with the security team’s response.
Crack.
Marcus Vogel’s cervical vertebrae twisted.
The sound was so quiet that no one else could hear it.
‘…It works.’
I hadn’t known my telekinesis was this powerful, either.
Well, if my telekinesis had been weak, I wouldn’t have been able to spin someone’s peanut around dozens of times.
A peculiar sense of satisfaction filled my entire body.
I didn’t level up, but at last I could be certain that Marcus Vogel was dead.
So I nodded in relief.
“Yes…. It’s true.”
“…Whatever. We can check for ourselves.”
How were they planning to ask a dead man?
The security team’s attention shifted back to Marcus Vogel.
“…?”
They seemed to find it strange that his previously intact neck was twisted like a pretzel.
But the man didn’t panic; he gestured toward the back.
“The ‘box’ we prepared.”
Box?
At those words, another security team member pulled out a cylinder just large enough for a human head to fit inside.
…No way.
Whirr!!
A sharp saw blade cut straight through Marcus Vogel’s head.
His neck, dripping black electrolyte fluid, slipped neatly into the cylinder.
Once again, I realized this was a cyberpunk world.
‘…Then all that effort was for nothing.’
I thought killing him would be the end of it.
Now I had to figure out what to do with that head.
Just then, another aircraft appeared between the buildings and slowly landed in the middle of the vacant lot.
─Whiiir.
Unlike the aircraft the security team had disembarked from, this one had a fairly luxurious exterior.
What emerged from it was….
A woman with a deeply furrowed, irritable expression.
Naturally, I had never seen her before.
It felt rude to say this upon our first meeting, but if I had to rate her first impression out of ten, I’d give her about half a point.
She approached the security team holding Marcus Vogel’s head and asked,
“Is this him?”
“Yes, Team Leader. 97.5% match.”
“All this trouble over one son of a bitch…. Ptooey.”
The woman called Team Leader spat on the transparent cylinder’s outer wall.
Normally, I’d say she deserved a commendation….
But that was a bit much.
She had quite the nasty temper.
Her cold eyes naturally shifted to Michael and me.
Her gaze was filled with contempt and disdain.
“Who are they?”
“…For now, they’re ordinary civilians. They provided considerable assistance in apprehending the target─.”
“What assistance? They’re just trash who heard another strange rumor somewhere and came to scavenge some crumbs.”
It was then that I realized how kind and decent the other megacorp team leader who had visited our grocery store as a customer really was.
Red-painted fingernails swept to the left.
“What are you waiting for? Kill them all.”
“…What?”
I had been wondering how to steal Marcus Vogel’s head from beside her, but her words left me utterly dumbfounded.
Why did she suddenly go off the rails?
“Oh, and clean up this whole area too. It’s Area 49, anyway.”
“…Team Leader. That isn’t our job.”
No sooner had he said that.
Yellow flames burst from the pistol in her hand.
…Ping!
The security team member wearing a mask about as thick as a sheet of steel didn’t die from the bullet.
“Do it.”
“…Understood.”
He couldn’t question her twice.
The security team’s rifles turned toward us again.
Michael seemed to have anticipated that things would go this way to some extent, and already wore an air of resignation.
And then.
“Wow.”
I muttered loudly as I watched her back while she was about to board the aircraft again.
“Well, would you look at this crazy bitch.”
Her movement stopped at my blatant insult.
Of course, I didn’t stop talking.
“Hey, ma’am. If someone helps you catch somebody, you’re supposed to thank them. What the hell…. Kill them all? Your parents really raised you artistically.”
It wasn’t as though I’d helped her on purpose, though.
Either way.
There isn’t even trash like you among the homeless.
The megacorp team leader’s teeth-grinding voice reached me.
“…And bring that one’s head separately. I’m curious whether he’ll still talk like that once he’s nothing but a head.”
The security team began slowly closing in on us.
Ignoring them, I looked at Michael, who was still beside me.
“…Megacorp security teams are on an entirely different level from the gangs you usually deal wit─.”
“Enough.”
Since the situation was becoming a little urgent.
I cut Michael off mid-sentence.
“The aircraft that crazy megacorp bitch arrived in is bulletproof, right?”
“…Yes.”
Then that was all I needed.
I kicked the dirt ground.
KABOOM!!
The kick wrapped in magic created a massive wall of dirt.
It even came with a hole dug deep enough to look as though an excavator had made it.
Clouds of dust billowed up.
As soon as I confirmed the security team’s fingers had settled on their triggers, I used telekinesis to turn the muzzles in other directions.
Ratatatatat!!
Screams erupted at the same time.
“Aaaah!!”
Most of the muzzles were pointed toward the sky.
But the only muzzle I forced downward blasted a large hole through the crazy woman’s thigh.
“Good shot.”
The security team opened their mouths in confusion.
“A-a problem has occurred with the cybernetic body!”
“Is it implant hacking?!”
It was convenient for me if they misunderstood it that way.
Taking advantage of the confusion, I grabbed the bewildered Michael by the nape and ran forward.
Past the crazy woman, who had collapsed from the pain.
I seated Michael in the unmanned aircraft, which had no one inside.
“Y-yes, what??”
“Buckle your seat belt tight.”
Ignoring Michael, who still hadn’t grasped what was happening, I forced the vehicle’s door shut.
Then I aimed the pistol I was carrying at the back of the fallen crazy woman’s head.
The whole thing had taken about five seconds.
“W-wait, what??”
I couldn’t bring myself to say, ‘Bye, beautiful.’
Instead, I smoothly pushed the muzzle closer so she could fully appreciate the reality of the situation.
“Peekaboo.”
Surprise, Motherf*cker.