Chapter 88
When Vance Kim heard highly personal information—even details unknown to himself, such as his birth weight—through the mouth of none other than a mad psychopathic criminal,
he felt a bone-chilling cold, as though a bucket full of ice water had been poured over his head.
‘Oh, no….’
The terrifying gang member had already obtained information about his family.
He himself was fine, but his family….
He absolutely had to protect his family.
“Um, I’d appreciate it if we could keep the fact that we met here a pleasant little secret, for both our sakes….”
Abel Anderson’s kindly tone reached Vance Kim in a grotesquely distorted form.
“Heh heh…. As long as you do exactly what I say, your family won’t be sold alive on the black market. Probably. I can’t say for sure, though. Kekeke….”
He couldn’t imagine that the hedonistic madman would keep his word.
Vance Kim could bet his entire fortune on that.
If he simply let this madman go, it felt as though his family back home would never be safe.
Blood ties were shackles.
Because they were that difficult to sever.
Just like his mother, who had fled all the way to District 49, known as the bottom-level district because she couldn’t pay her taxes, yet had never given up on Vance Kim….
Vance Kim filled himself with resolve.
Though he was terrified and wanted to run far away immediately, he did not.
Solely to protect his family.
He lowered his knees.
He put strength into his legs.
His fists… well, whatever.
One step, boldly forward.
Clatter!!
He flung open the door to the logistics center’s security office.
“You can’t come in he─.”
“A crazy terrorist, psychopath, mentally deranged hedonist, scumbag gang member has infiltrated this logistics center right now…!!”
“…What?!”
* * *
Wheeeeeee─!!
Along with the noisy siren, the ceiling and walls glowed red.
“W-what?”
“Good grief, man…. Don’t just stand there spacing out; get outside, quick!”
The people around them looked extremely flustered, but soon calmly sat down where they were and raised both hands above their heads.
It was a swift response befitting the citizens of Risk City.
With the atmosphere inside the logistics center thrown into utter chaos, this was my chance to move.
Fortunately, we had already unloaded everything from the truck in the designated area.
Now, if I just moved this truck somewhere, it would look as though the cargo had been sitting here ever since Beltech lost it days ago.
With hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of containers being delivered into the city on a regular basis.
A small cargo box sitting on the floor looked so natural that no one noticed it was there.
Rivera had probably already infiltrated the facility and was manipulating the date data and camera records.
‘…Nothing went wrong, right?’
Just then, my terminal vibrated faintly.
When I checked the sender’s name, I saw that the message had come from Michael.
───────────────
Title : [No Subject]
I can’t tell how the situation is unfolding, so I’m sending this message for now.
Hot Dog Man, are you all right?
Miss Rivera has already achieved her objective and come back outside.
(A photo of Rivera making a V with her hand.)
It seems some unexpected variable or disturbance has occurred inside, so I’m contacting you like this.
───────────────
I had worried for nothing.
It was the kind of speed that made me think I could figure out how the megacorp chairman had been assassinated.
A brown bear—or rather, Mikhail Romanov—strode up behind me as I quietly checked the terminal’s screen.
“……”
He said nothing, but he seemed to be asking me what we were going to do now.
At least the logistics center managed by the Ryan Eliens Company was enormous.
Only the sirens were ringing loudly so far, and it seemed unlikely that the guards inside had grasped the entire situation.
First, I replied to Michael.
If the typing keypad had used the Cheonjiin input method like a smartphone, I could have typed faster, but unfortunately, this turtle-like speed was the best I could manage for now.
Thanks to that, I kept my message as concise as possible.
───────────────
Title : Re: [No Subject]
Plan changed
Report this to Beltech immediately
I’m good.
───────────────
At the same time, a reply filled with question marks came straight back.
I put the terminal back in my pocket and.
I reclined the truck seat and took out the ‘clothes’ and ‘mask’ I had prepared inside it.
“You know what?”
“……”
There was no answer, but as I looked down at the outfit I had taken out, I added the rest to Mikhail.
“A proper rabble-rouser always operates as an anonymous user.”
The mask and clothes I had taken out had the Ryan Eliens Company’s corporate logo emblazoned across them in huge letters.
* * *
“What do you mean, a gang member all of a sudden…. What kind of crazy bastards would dare think of robbing a warehouse managed by Ryan Company?”
“Still, the person who reported it was awfully persuasive. At first I thought he’d taken the wrong drugs. But they say he checked out fine.”
“Well, true. They say the professional security team is on its way here now, so let’s take a rough look around before they get here.”
Just then, two people who looked unmistakably like a professional security team began approaching the corporate guards on patrol.
“Uh, uhh….”
Their heads naturally tilted upward.
Because both of them were incredibly tall.
Two meters was already a remarkably large build, but the other person beside the first stood a full two meters and thirty centimeters tall.
The logo representing the Ryan Eliens Company was engraved on their masks.
The guard remembered that the uniforms worn by the professional security team working at headquarters looked exactly like that.
Their builds and clothing—in every respect, they were clearly field personnel.
But there was something strangely shoddy about them─.
[What are you doing here right now?]
“……Excuse me?”
The modulated voice came across with intimidating force.
Like a frog shrinking back before a snake, the guard, who was merely a contract worker at best, quickly lowered his head at the megacorp security team’s voice.
“W-well…. We received a report from the Logistics Transport Team that a gang member had entered the logistics center. We were patrolling the area….”
But surely the security team members standing in front of him had also come because of that report.
What on earth were they asking about?
A small question mark briefly appeared above the guard’s head.
[Damn, where did the story leak from? What gang member? Don’t they know Beltech personnel are on their way here?]
“B-Beltech?”
The relationship between the Ryan Eliens Company and Beltech International Solutions was famous throughout the city.
The guard knew full well that their corporate war caused countless casualties every year, and he swallowed nervously without realizing it.
[Never mind. Stay here and make sure this cargo remains protected.]
“…But that’s part of our assigned duty─.”
Clack, clack, clack, psssh….
Just as the guard was about to answer,
the sound of a cylinder operating came from the thick arm of the larger security team member.
Wires and hydraulic cylinders replacing veins.
It looked like a high-performance cybernetic prosthesis that only employees or mercenaries under contract with a megacorp could use.
It was something an ordinary gang member could never obtain and use.
The guard was briefly rendered speechless by the ominous implant, but belatedly came to his senses and stood at attention.
“U-understood!”
Soon, the two began walking toward another area.
Once they had completely disappeared from sight, the guard let out a sigh mixed with cold sweat and looked to the side.
“…What, personnel from headquarters already came?”
“I don’t know either…. What would people like us know? Let’s just file a report later.”
Then their gazes naturally returned to the cargo the security team members had entrusted to them.
“But what could be in this cargo that….”
“Tch, let’s not entertain useless thoughts.”
“Ah, right.”
Curiosity kills the cat, after all.
To survive for a long time in Risk City, they quietly killed their curiosity.
* * *
“That timing was pretty good.”
At my words, Mikhail nodded.
Maybe it was because he had once worked as a corporate mercenary.
He was extremely perceptive.
“Oops.”
I casually plucked loose threads sticking out of the Ryan Eliens Company uniform (or rather, clothing made to look as much like it as possible).
Since it had been hurriedly made overnight, its overall quality apart from the appearance was extremely crude, though.
(For starters, the arms couldn’t be raised above the shoulders.)
Still, it didn’t seem likely to cause any major problems during a short performance.
- This? Us? In one day?
- …Hang in there.
I offered a heartfelt thanks in my thoughts to the fashion-industry workers (homeless people) who had labored through the night.
Anyway.
I had prepared this just in case, but I never expected it to prove so useful.
Now, the key was how quickly Beltech would respond to the public-interest report Michael had written to make himself look like an insider whistleblower.
We had mixed in several clues that only someone who knew the truck’s contents could notice, so they wouldn’t treat the report as a simple prank.
“Were those security team members from headquarters?”
“It’s only been a few minutes since the report, and they’re already….”
“…Hmm.”
As the number of people moving around nearby increased, so did the number of gazes gradually drifting toward us.
Even with a proper disguise, this was happening. How had the bald barcode from the Hitman series managed to avoid people’s attention with features like that?
“……”
“……”
Well, if I saw two people over two meters tall walking along together, I’d probably look at them at least once, too.
This was not particularly good news.
Before Beltech’s security team even attacked, it seemed our identities would be exposed first.
Then….
‘First, I think we need to move the truck we came in right now….’
Electronic data could be manipulated through hacking, but we had to deal with the truck physically left behind somehow.
If this commotion hadn’t broken out, we would have simply driven the truck back.
What a shame.
“Tsk, I should’ve taken out a few bombs….”
While I was muttering to myself, Mikhail suddenly pulled a remote switch from inside his coat.
It was the trigger for the remote-controlled high-explosive grenade I had seen last time.
“Why do you have that?”
“……”
You crazy bastard.
If you detonated that, you’d blow yourself up, too.
I had honestly returned the switch because I had no intention of detonating it, so what was I supposed to do with this….
At that moment.
Mikhail lifted the bottom of his mask.
“……Ptooey.”
He spat the high-explosive grenades he had swallowed out of his mouth.
The movement was so brisk and matter-of-fact that I could only stare at him in disbelief.
And there weren’t just one or two of them…!
Then Mikhail Romanov put his mask back on and looked down at me while holding several strangely sticky bombs.
Was that another kind of inventory….
It wasn’t a particularly appealing skill.
“…Are corporate mercenaries unusual, or are you unusual?”
“……”
Naturally, no answer came back.
I was beginning to seriously worry about the mental state of everyone around me except myself.
It really seemed as though everyone was a lunatic.
…….
Well, it wasn’t as if I wouldn’t use them, though.
We had to do what had to be done.
* * *
Inside the logistics center’s security office.
─KABOOM!!!
With a tremendous explosion, the face of the employee guarding the security office was flushed with alarm.
“T-terrorism…?!”
And then.
The civilian beside him boldly appealed,
“Didn’t I clearly tell you there was a psychopath terrorist in here!”
His voice echoed like a scream.
“There’s a completely deranged madman here!!”
As could be seen from this farce alone.
In the eyes of everyone else, Abel Anderson was just another madman from the grocery store.