Chapter 9
I recalled the title of the movie featuring the most famous volleyball in the world.
‘It was called Cast Away. I think.’
There wasn’t anything particularly special about it.
It was a movie with a very ordinary plot about an employee of a delivery company getting stranded on a deserted island while flying out on a business trip.
Whether it’s a novel, comic, or movie, it’s a genre convention that never leaves the protagonist alone.
Since there are already countless stories about sending ordinary people to strange worlds like medieval fantasy settings or Qing-dynasty China,
it’s much easier to understand if you think of it as a case where an author sent someone to the real world’s otherworldly setting—the deserted island—to make the worldbuilding more plausible.
Anyway.
The reason I suddenly brought up this movie was that I was starting to understand how its protagonist must have felt.
The protagonist of Cast Away was stranded alone on a deserted island for a full four years.
And I had only been here for two days, just about to enter my third.
…….
Although the dates didn’t quite match, aside from the setting changing from a deserted island in the twentieth century to a nonsensical cyberpunk-fusionpunk world, I was still stranded in another world just the same.
When I was making a gloomy face and looking dejected,
[Dyu.]
a huge turret slowly emerged from inside the ceiling.
An entity I had grown fairly familiar with.
My small—or rather, slightly large—turret friend.
I still instinctively felt afraid whenever I saw that enormous muzzle, but still.
I immediately got to my feet.
[…Dyu?]
The turret’s muzzle was aimed at me.
Whoa, turn that muzzle away.
But the muzzle and lens faced in the same direction, so from the turret’s perspective, it couldn’t help it if it wanted to look at me.
A few days ago, I would have trembled and prepared to worship machine gods, but after three days, my nerve had already grown as much as it could.
“Only someone prepared to be shot has the right to shoot.” I remember that being something an emperor of some empire once said.
For the record, I wasn’t prepared to be shot. Therefore, the other party probably had no intention of shooting either.
And thus, I had more or less completed the miracle three-step syllogism.
I stared at the red lens as it lit up and thought carefully.
“Hmm. What would be a good one?”
[Dyu, Dyu.]
Maybe it was because I looked unwell.
The turret moved its muzzle back and forth as though it were flustered.
Whirr, clack. Whirr, clack.
Every time the turret moved, frightening sounds echoed throughout the grocery store.
‘The owner said it had a reasonably capable AI.’
I recalled what the owner had told me and continued thinking very seriously.
“…Wilson is too ordinary, for starters.”
Buddy, Max, Iron….
Leaving aside the fact that they were all dog names,
I couldn’t think of a name that really appealed to me.
I didn’t know how long I would be able to work part-time at the grocery store.
But I couldn’t keep calling the friend who would be spending time with me for the foreseeable future simply “Turret.”
“Is there perhaps a name you’d prefer to be called? No. It’s possible you already have a perfectly good name and I’m simply unaware of it.”
[?]
The turret’s movement stopped briefly after my abrupt question, which had come out of nowhere,
[Dyu.]
and its enormous muzzle slowly moved up and down.
Very simple body language.
It wasn’t difficult to figure out what it meant.
After all, humans were the kind of creatures who gave names even to volleyballs with handprints on them. There was no way a turret that looked this expensive didn’t have a name.
The turret descended even lower from the ceiling.
It came down low enough that I could see the top of it.
At the same time, the turret’s body rotated completely around to face the opposite direction.
It seemed to want to show me something on the back of the turret.
My eyesight had improved considerably, so I could read the writing without even approaching it.
【Novarek-A41, Military Tactical Composite 20mm Fortress-Type Automatic Turret, Dedicated Service Even to a Single Lead Bullet. Jolt Industries】
“Wow.”
Those terrifying specifications reminded me of the 81mm mortar that had been my partner during my military service.
So.
“Is this your name?”
[Dyu.]
“That’s not really a personal name….”
People didn’t call someone’s name “Human,” after all.
I imagined it for a moment.
Let’s try greeting the turret.
- Hello, nice to meet you! Novarek-A41, Military Tactical Composite 20mm Fortress-Type Automatic Turret!
Hmm, horrifying.
I had to prevent that situation.
‘Can’t be helped.’
I sighed and casually opened my mouth.
“From now on, your name is Nova.”
[…Dyu?]
No objections accepted.
Not that it could object anyway.
It was a very simple name made by taking just two syllables from Novarek-A41.
Even so, it felt considerably less mechanical.
[……Dyu.]
I didn’t know what that sound meant, but since no bullets immediately came flying out, it didn’t seem all that angry.
Although I had given the turret, Nova, a new name.
That lasted only a moment.
A deep sigh escaped my mouth.
‘…What am I even doing?’
Seriously.
Hadn’t our Tom from Cast Away felt this way too?
“This won’t do.”
People’s minds grew complicated when they sat around doing nothing.
First, I stretched my stiff body.
Then I aired out the store, checked for products that hadn’t been arranged according to first-in, first-out, and roughly dusted off the turret, which was staring blankly into space with a bewildered look on its face….
[Dyu.]
“Whoa, look at all this dust. You should wash yourself once in a while.”
[…??]
My next destination was the storage warehouse.
The cool air filled my lungs, and I felt as though my cluttered mind had grown a little lighter.
Temperature was important when storing food.
The warehouse wasn’t as cold as a freezer, but its temperature was still quite low. Maybe about as cold as a refrigerator.
The expiration date on the hot dogs in this box was….
‘Damn, it’s already expired.’
In that case, it couldn’t be helped.
I finished it all in less than ten minutes.
The flavor was reliably good. It tasted good even cold.
I organized the stock while checking the dates and times, and filled my stomach in the process.
‘About five boxes.’
There were already this many expired products piled up.
No matter how much my appetite had increased, I couldn’t dump every food product into my stomach.
Perhaps because the grocery store had only recently opened, there didn’t seem to be any products that had been sitting around long enough to rot.
Still, I had to throw out what needed to be thrown out.
Well, there was no special procedure for throwing away expired products.
There was a back door behind the grocery store connected to the storage warehouse.
The last time I had stuck my face out to take a quick look, I had seen an empty lot about as wide as the building itself.
The higher the floor-area ratio in a neighborhood, the more expensive the land naturally was, but for some reason I couldn’t understand, this seemed to be a vacant, landlocked lot.
The large trash can I was going to use was located in that empty lot.
It was a very large trash can, big enough to hold all the trash produced by the grocery store and still have room left over.
Humming lightly, I carried the discarded expired food over in its boxes.
Come to think of it, I remembered a news article I had seen on the internet long ago.
(Shocking) The reality of America throwing away perfectly good food.
That was probably the title.
I heard they didn’t even sort their recyclables very well over there.
‘Not my problem.’
I was just about to throw the entire box into the trash can when
“……!!”
I discovered a homeless man who had made the trash can his home.
What the hell.
The filthy homeless man had perhaps taken refuge inside the trash can to avoid the biting cold wind. He was looking up at me from inside it in utter terror.
“A-a robber?! I don’t have anything!”
At those words, I checked my shadow reflected in the streetlamp’s light and saw that I looked like a murderer about to throw a huge rock at an innocent person.
I frowned and opened my mouth.
“Mister, you can’t sleep here.”
“We don’t look that far apart in age, so what’s with the ‘mister’?”
“…?!”
KRAKABOOM!!
Lightning struck above my head.
…What?
Wait, I took a closer look at the homeless man in front of me.
His bushy beard, nasty-looking dark circles, and deeply sunken eye sockets.
Despite looking old enough to be well over fifty at first glance, he was saying that there didn’t seem to be much of an age difference between us….
No matter how much I hailed from the Land of Eastern Courtesy, it was difficult to keep using honorifics in a situation like this.
Manners were like playing catch.
If the other person wasn’t being polite, I didn’t need to be polite either.
The filthy homeless man seemed to notice that I had no hostility toward him. He belatedly sighed in relief and grumbled.
“I almost pissed myself from surprise. You look like some gang boss….”
“…….”
“What.”
He was being so brazen that, conversely, I had nothing left to say.
The self-proclaimed young homeless man waved his hand dismissively, then crawled out of the large trash can.
The nameless homeless man looked me up and down for a moment before noticing the box I was holding and widening his eyes.
“Th-that!!”
“What.”
This time, I answered with confidence.
“That’s merchandise from the grocery store over there! D-did you steal it?”
Indeed, his way of thinking was different from ordinary people’s.
No wonder he was homeless.
“No, I came to throw it away.”
“That perfectly good stuff?!”
“It’s already past its expiration date.”
Maybe it was because our first meeting had been so absurd.
Unlike the other homeless people, who looked frightening even from a distance, I could actually have a relatively normal conversation with him.
Then again, this was a place where people lived too.
And I could feel something ominous.
The homeless man took a step toward me.
I stepped back in response.
“Now, now.”
“…Wait, wait, calm down and listen to me.”
It seemed like he was the one who needed to calm down.
The homeless man seemed to have realized that I worked at the grocery store.
“You came here to throw away food.”
“That’s right.”
“Which means it doesn’t matter to you whether the food you throw away ends up in a landfill or in the stomach of a poor, starving homeless person.”
This wasn’t even half-formal speech. I had no idea what kind of tone he was using.
That was how crazed his eyes were.
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Even though I had a pretty good idea, I asked him anyway.
Under that heavy pressure,
the homeless man’s cry burst forth.
“If you’re going to throw it away, please throw it to me! No, please throw it away! Give it to me! Right here, in my mouth! Plop!”
“…….”
Apparently, he was very hungry.
* * *
To cut to the conclusion, the homeless man got his hands on a box full of frozen food.
“It’s delicious!! Why is this delicious….”
But another problem arose.
“Thank you….”
“How long has it been since I had proper food?”
“…Sob, sob. Today’s meal was delicious.”
Today’s life tip.
A homeless person crying summons another homeless person.
It was almost like the behavior of wild animals.
‘I should’ve just left the goods and run.’
The empty lot became filled with homeless people.
Still, no particular problem arose.
“…Do you happen to have any alcohol, cough!!”
The homeless man who brought up that strange subject was struck on the chin by another homeless man standing right beside him, staggered, and collapsed.
Instant iron-fisted punishment.
Even the fifteenth-century medieval era, when romance was still alive, probably wasn’t this harsh.
‘I don’t know anymore.’
Since it was already out of my hands, I could only hope that the news would reach the owner and Christine late.
And then.
One of the homeless men approached me with extremely cautious steps.
Was he going to thank me too?
But the homeless man’s question was beyond my expectations.
“…Um, are there any leftover hot dogs? Corn dogs, I mean.”
It was a slightly unusual question.
At the same time, another homeless man struck him on the back of the head.
Smack!
“You bastard! Are you already acting full?”
“No, it just seemed strange that there are so many empty bags in the trash can, but not a single thing inside them….”
What the man said made some sense.
I answered with an awkward expression.
“Well, there were about ten boxes originally.”
“Right?”
“Because I ate them all.”
Since I had started speaking casually, I continued speaking casually.
It didn’t seem like anyone here cared about such trivial things anyway.
In any case, hot dogs were really delicious.
Maybe it was because hot dogs were the first food I ate when I opened my eyes in this world.
I found myself reaching for them especially often.
The homeless people began looking at one another and murmuring after hearing my answer.
“…You ate ten boxes by yourself? You’re not some enhanced human made by a corporation.”
“Holy….”
“No wonder there weren’t any hot dogs….”
It was a very belated realization, but
I shouldn’t have answered that way.
After that,
“Hey, Hotdog Man! If anything happens, be sure to tell us!”
“Yeah, you’re our superhero!”
every homeless person I encountered started calling me Hotdog Man.
“…….”
I should’ve just not answered.
* * *
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Title : [Tips/Strategy] Early Tips for Area 49
First, don’t worry about the spawn point. I recommend finding the grocery store building first.
(Map screenshot)
If you go here, there’s an empty lot behind the building. Simply knowing about the trash can there can be a huge help for surviving the early game.
Food that restores your fullness is continually restocked here at regular intervals.
Even with the hardcore setting enabled, this alone is enough to get by.
The reason you need to find the trash can as quickly as possible is that there’s a time-limited event.
If enough time has passed since the character was created, a garbage truck will come and empty the contents of the trash can.
If you find it before that happens, you can discover an NPC named Michael inside who will help with surviving the early game.
As you may already know if you’ve read the game guide post in the announcements, he’s also fairly useful as an early support NPC.
(If you don’t know, refer to the announcements.)
The event NPC Michael is set up as having arrived in Area 49 only recently, so you can find dialogue explaining that he had been living in the trash can.
Anyway, the reason you should save this hairy man is that he’s helpful when taking the corporate route,
and there’s a linked event later on. The details would be spoilers, so I’ll only explain them briefly.
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Then, thank you for reading.
Please leave a recommendation once in a while.
─ The speech style is fucking awful
─ Aaaaah, I just started in Area 49 yesterday
└ (Author) It’s not mandatory anyway.
└ Don’t worry, bro, I already deleted my character.....
└ (Author) ?
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【Random Encounter Occurred!】