Chapter 99
In Risk City, the concept of bodily modification is truly vast.
It can mean regulating one's metabolism with serums, extending one's allotted lifespan by rearranging one's DNA code, or replacing one's body entirely with machinery through cybernetic prosthetic surgery known as implants….
Magic circuits were the same.
They were different from implant surgery─.
They were basic bodily modifications.
Apparently, there are two main ways to learn them.
The first is to undergo an artificial procedure.
Apparently, most of the people who swagger around the streets claiming to be magic users belong to this category.
In the case of magic circuit procedures, they literally cut away at the subject's money and lifespan, so their miserable ends are apparently difficult to put into words.
I heard that some of the skilled specialists from the ‘families’ in the city center can greatly reduce the side effects caused by artificial procedures.
I probably don't know enough to say anything about that.
The second method is to properly learn and master a magic circuit training method.
It felt somewhat like an internal energy cultivation technique from a martial arts novel, but apparently I had to make a separate paid purchase from this point onward to view the rest of the content.
The old me would have cursed and simply shut off the terminal screen.
From my perspective, where I could learn magic circuits easily by assigning a trait, it was better to save that money and buy a few more hot dogs instead.
Was I curious about magic users?
It wasn't particularly important.
But now that things had turned out this way, I couldn't help feeling a little regretful.
I should've eaten a few fewer hot dogs.
‘Well, it's too late now.’
I looked at the woman sitting beside me and sending an intense gaze in my direction.
“…A magic circuit?”
“Yeah.”
Under normal circumstances, I would have tried playing dumb and denying it at least once, but there was already certainty in her voice that I was a magic user.
Who was she, anyway.
It wasn't as if I had magic circuits tattooed onto my skin like Bogus, either.
How could she be so certain?
It felt slightly different from all the countless people I had met so far who had called me a magic user based solely on my outstanding physical abilities.
‘Now that I look at her, she does seem to have a somewhat unusual air for an ordinary vagrant.’
For one thing, even the material of her clothes was unusual.
I had thought it was simply an old, shabby coat, but there wasn't a single loose thread sticking out from its finish.
As someone who was genuinely wearing old clothes, I could tell.
It had something of a vintage-fashion feel….
To quote the homeless people from the fashion industry I encountered when I tried infiltrating the Ryan Eliens Company logistics center last time.
Even while standing still, she naturally carried herself with a certain ‘air.’
I scratched my head and asked her in a rough voice,
“How did you know?”
“Answer my question first.”
“…Hmm.”
But in terms of behavior, she fit in with the homeless better than anyone.
I had been speaking politely to her this whole time, while her replies were extremely curt.
Manners: fail. -1 point.
Although I was living in Risk City purely because I had no choice, a Confucian dragon was still performing a dragon tornado in one corner of my heart, so I couldn't help finding it extremely irritating.
If your words going out are kind, the words coming back will be kind, too.
I taught the woman one of the laws of the world.
“I’m not telling you.”
“…?”
Of course, strictly speaking, it was closer to being unable to tell her.
I had gained this ability in an instant simply by clicking a trait, so how could I possibly explain it?
I carefully set the completely frozen No. 49 Special down on the bar table.
Perhaps he sensed the atmosphere between us growing somewhat strange, because Vance Kim rolled his eyes around inside the bar.
When I turned away as if completely ignoring her, a chilly coldness spread through the surroundings.
“…Do I look like I’m joking right now?”
The air actually seemed to have dropped a few degrees.
Cold air spreading around her according to her emotions.
The One Piece world is two blocks down.
Looking more closely, I saw white, ice-like fragments fluttering around her.
They weren't snowflakes falling from the sky.
After all, the snow that fell in Risk City was basically grayish-white, like volcanic ash.
But this feeling was….
‘Magic?’
There couldn't possibly be an implant with such a bizarre ability, as if its user had eaten a Devil Fruit.
Whenever the ice fragments she created drew closer, the magic circuits embedded in my body reacted with a popping sound, like the fizz in a carbonated drink.
‘Is this how she noticed that I have magic circuits in my body?’
Because she was a magic user, too?
But if that were the case, I hadn't felt anything like this when I fought Bansho Takemaru.
“W-why did it suddenly get so cold….”
Vance Kim, an ordinary person by contrast, seemed unable to notice anything except the lowered temperature.
Had he simply failed to see the ice fragments by chance, or could he genuinely not see them….
He was such an oblivious guy that I couldn't tell.
Anyway.
A chilly, bitter cold began to envelop the entire bar, to the point that the electric heater inside the bar table seemed pointless.
I was still fine.
But if the situation grew any more serious, there was a possibility that Vance Kim would be put in danger as well.
In that case, I had no choice but to make the first move.
“…This is your last chance. Answer me. Who taught you that magic circuit─.”
I stealthily shifted my long leg, which I had secretly extended, farther to the side.
Clatter!
When the bar chair caught on my leg toppled to one side, an expression of bewilderment appeared on the face of the woman who had been watching me and demanding an answer.
“Eek!!”
The screams in this place are pretty good.
Screams: pass. +1 point.
The way she growled like a small Chihuahua while staring straight at my face made it obvious that she didn't have much combat experience.
She belatedly seemed to try moving the ice fragments around her, but before she could, I had already drawn my pistol with the utmost naturalness, as if it were simply the next step in a familiar process, and aimed it at the woman's white forehead.
“Ugh…!!”
“Whoa, whoa.”
The woman was completely pinned to the floor.
I gently stepped on the hand she was using to draw up her magic and spoke in a low voice.
“Let's calm down and settle this through conversation.”
“…A-a conversation?”
The woman's eyes opened wide.
She seemed dumbfounded that I was suggesting a conversation in this situation.
There are times when a conversation is conducted with a pistol, too.
Perhaps she had never experienced anything like this before, because faint moisture began to gather around her clear eyes.
No, if you suddenly use your ultimate move….
I felt a considerable pang of conscience, but my mentality, tempered by life in this brutal city, wasn't shaken by something this minor.
Besides, in a fight, the one who lets their guard down is the one at fault.
It wasn't as if I had sat down beside her without thinking.
“Enough with the ice tricks, too.”
The ice fragments had already begun approaching my pistol and shoes, so I applied a little more force.
Just as I could freeze most ordinary enemies solid, the way I had frozen the No. 49 Special.
“Move one more time, and you die.”
“……”
It didn't work on me.
Of course, I had no intention of actually killing her.
It was merely a threat to steer the conversation.
But perhaps my clumsy threat worked, because she clenched her teeth and glared up at me.
“What kind of eyes does a person have….”
“Hm?”
“…Nothing.”
I had heard dozens of times before that I had a nasty-looking gaze, so Vance Kim's muttering didn't bother me much.
I wish I could make my eyes look kinder, too.
Well, anyway.
“Now, time to verify your identity. Boom-clap-clap, boom-clap-clap….”
I did my best to ignore Vance Kim, who had begun staring at me like I was insane, and activated the smart pistol's trigger.
Then the subdued woman's personal information appeared above the holographic dot sight.
But.
[Eleanor Crossfell. Premium-grade citizen of the Crossfell family. This individual’s wanted-person information is not updated due to a strategic agreement with the RCPD. !WARNING! The use of the weapon is entirely the user’s own choice, and Veltech International Solutions assumes no responsibility for the consequences of that choice.]
Something was a little strange.
Normally, the text ended after one line, or two at most, but this kept going on and on.
A single bead of sweat, completely out of place in the cold weather, rolled down my temple.
‘…A premium-grade citizen?’
Citizens had grades, too?
This insane city really had everything….
For now, I put aside the pointless thoughts.
I calmly assessed the situation first.
Hmm….
‘……I think I’m screwed?’
I quickly finished judging the situation.
It wasn't as if I had intended to shoot her in the first place.
Every letter displayed on the smart pistol's holographic dot sight seemed to be saying, ‘If you really shoot, you're screwed….’
If I had been able to grasp the test writer's intentions this quickly back then, my CSAT grade would have gone up by at least one level.
When an awkward silence suddenly descended, the woman lying on the snow-covered floor blinked a couple of times.
I tucked away the pistol I had drawn at lightning speed, stepped back, and helped the woman to her feet.
And, as if I were taking care of my little sister─, no, come to think of it, that bitch would let out a furious roar as if she were going to faint whenever I so much as touched her, so it wasn't an appropriate comparison.
Anyway, I even brushed the remaining snowflakes off Eleanor Crossfell's body with the utmost care.
My attitude had changed as completely as a flipped coin, and she glared at me with a displeased expression.
As calmly as possible….
“Ta-da! Surprise! Haha, surprised? At our grocery store, we sometimes put on special surprise shows like this for first-time visitors!”
“……”
“Of course, there weren't any bullets in the pistol, either. Here, look!”
Click, click, click.
“Right?”
“……”
The heavy silence cut painfully deep.
Fortunately, the moisture pooled in the corners of her eyes had disappeared, but the disbelief within them was still directed at me.
Then.
Vance Kim, who had been inside the bar table, muttered in a trembling voice,
“Wait, if there was an event like that, you should've done it to me first, in order…. Why didn't you do it for me? It's not like you're discriminating against people or anything…….”
“Shut up.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
“Aha. So you're looking for someone.”
“……”
“Hahaha, if that's the problem, I may be able to help you again. No payment necessary. People ought to help one another, after all.”
So please, just let me live.
As I continued speaking in the kindest tone I could manage, Eleanor Crossfell narrowed her eyes.
“You were speaking informally before, so why are you speaking politely now….”
“I occasionally suffer from stress-induced mental illness, so I ask for your understanding. And I told you it was an event.”
If you had lived in the twenty-first century and suddenly been dropped into this insane city, you'd end up like this, too.
But I didn't say that out loud.
Fortunately, perhaps my earnest apologies, desperate flattery, and fervent palm-rubbing had worked.
She let out a small sigh and opened her mouth.
“…So. You learned magic circuits by yourself?”
“Exactly. To master everything from a single explanation…. I had no idea you were this brilliant─.”
“Enough.”
“Ahem.”
Once I brought her a glass of warm milk as well, Eleanor Crossfell seemed to have cleanly forgotten that she'd rolled around on a mound of snow.
A precious person from one of the families living in the city center had come all the way to such a shabby place to search for someone….
“So, who is the person you're looking for?”
The answer to my question did not come immediately.
Only after a brief silence.
Eleanor Crossfell answered belatedly.
“…My younger sibling.”
“?”
“I'm looking for my missing younger sibling.”
It was a very human answer, slightly different from what I had expected.
For a moment, I also.
The existence of my younger sister back home came to mind, leaving me speechless for a moment….
·
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- Just lend me 50,000 won! Ah, oppa!!
- Huh? I borrowed 50,000 won from you? What the hell are you talking about? When? What time? What minute? What second? Got proof?
- Mom!!! Cheon Suho is bullying me again!!
Hmm.
Come to think of it, I don't really miss her that much.
Pig bitch.