ch23

“……Seriously, you’re not helping at all.”

I close all the hundreds… almost a thousand network windows that were open in my view.

In the end, the Cyberware upgrade attempt, which I invested a whole half-day in, went down the drain like that.

I looked around the city’s main network, teeming with all sorts of people, and checked out the carefully selected programs sold on the black market… but none of them. None of them were as clean and efficient as my Cyberware, which I had modified in my own way while living outside the city.

If I want to get stronger here or prepare for external dangers, I’ll have to get additional procedures to change my body itself, or change external equipment.

…Why? To be honest, I don’t really know the reason.

Maybe the doctor who prepared the state-of-the-art Suit, gun, and basic Implant provided good Cyberware, or maybe the changes I made based on Neo Haven’s interface worked well. Or… maybe it’s just that development is slower because the date is much earlier than in the original…?

Ding…!

I get off the elevator that arrived in the lobby.

Avoiding the eyes of the receptionist who’s looking at me with a strange gaze, I go to the sofa in the corner of the lobby and sit next to Omen and Domino, who were waiting.

“……? Unexpected. I thought you’d be late because you were being tormented by that guy.”

“…Tormented?”

Domino made a strange gesture with his hand when he saw my puzzled expression.

Making a loop with one hand… and then subtly putting his other finger in and out….

“?! Are you crazy?! I didn’t do anything like that!! I just listened to his complaints…!”

I was really taken aback by the lewd jokes that came out so naturally.

Since moral decay of groups and individuals is the norm in this world, I can’t expect everyone I meet to be as cultured as Grandpa or Mr. Schneider… but this is too much.

Unsurprisingly, Omen only understood the latter part of my words and retorted.

“Complaints…? Hmph! I guess that loose-lipped Daredevil was blabbing… I’ll tell you in advance. I…! Unlike him, I don’t have any special attachment to the slums. I despise them! Just animals living day to day, masturbating to the fact that there’s a lower level than them, busy licking the rice bowl they’re given….”

“…….”

He trailed off and kept adjusting the mask he was wearing.

It wasn’t that he genuinely despised them, but it seemed like the dark environment and the things he had experienced while living had twisted his emotions into a mix of love and hate. As proof, Domino, who was sitting across from him, was also wearing a bitter smile.

It was a little funny how sentimental they were, despite their appearance as battle-hardened veterans, and how hard it was to believe that Horatio and these guys were mercenaries with one foot in the underworld.

Aside from their rude attitude and heinous rumors, I might have discovered a side of them that you can only know by experiencing it firsthand……. Wait a minute.

“……Omen? Domino? How old are you guys?”

“? I’m 23. And let’s stick to nicknames during the operation, Ivory.”

“I’m 22. You can ignore half of what Omen grumbles about.”

“…Shut up, Nocturne.”

……Shit. I pressed my eyes in dismay without realizing it.

The fact that these guys, who look like they’re at least in their 30s or 40s, are actually younger than me…? I don’t know whether to blame the harshness of the world or the side effects of drugs and Juggernaut modification procedures.

“…Mr. Daredevil? How old are you?”

Clutching at straws, I asked Horatio, who had somehow come up behind the sofa and was waving his hand, asking me to ask him too.

“Ahem…! This body, the oldest member of the team… is a whopping 24 years old! Ah, you’re still my noona, so don’t worry!”

“……I’m 27, so please be quiet.”

“Yes, sir!!”

Their startled reactions and expressions didn’t comfort me at all.

The feeling of my reliable mercenary teammates suddenly looking like fresh-faced college freshmen or newly transferred recruits… no one will understand.

…Especially if I have to carry out missions while being protected by those younger brothers from now on…!!

Whoo-oong…! A huge platform-like elevator moves.

Originally, it was a facility used by Yellow and Green grade citizens, who live closer to the surface, to commute to and from work in the upper areas… but now it was full of assembled mercenaries and brokers who came out to check the site.

There were many mercenaries with overflowing personalities like our team, but there were also many who were armed with uniforms and guns, just like special forces in movies.

They only glanced at each other as if to confirm their allies, and didn’t say a word until they arrived in the Yellow Sector.

Thud—!

As the elevator stopped, all the dangerous people who had been packed inside got off, and I was able to properly see the ‘lower town’ that I had only seen from afar.

The purple of pleasure that had been wrapped around the upper buildings was hard to find.

Instead, the gray, shabby concrete buildings took its place. And the walls were densely packed with signs of all sizes and colors.

With the darkness of the night, the lights of various electronic devices and holograms added to it, the scenery was reminiscent of… the night view of Seoul, which I hadn’t seen in so long. …It would be perfect if I added a few more bright red crosses, but it’s a shame.

“Is there a problem, Ivory?”

“…No, there isn’t.”

Omen, who had started to be considerate of me while speaking bluntly after hearing my age at the hotel earlier, spoke to me as I hesitated without getting off the platform.

Well… I was a little grateful that he was paying attention to the seriously different stride lengths, if nothing else.

“…Shit. They said it was a formal residence investigation… this is a full-blown war…?”

“Hey! Where did the police set up the control line earlier! Don’t tell me my house is included?!”

The passersby who saw the crowd of mercenaries rushing away whispered and stepped back. Some quick-witted stores even kicked out the customers they had and locked the doors.

I could see combat police officers using vehicles and iron fences to create barricades in the front and only allowing mercenaries into the operation zone.

There were many residents around who couldn’t do anything and were pacing back and forth. I felt an uneasy atmosphere that was fundamentally different from the bleakness I felt in the settlement that had been attacked by outlaws.

“!! You came on time!”

“…No matter how much I don’t like it, I don’t abandon a request that I’ve already accepted without permission. …Even if it’s a shitty Mega Corp’s request.”

Whether Daredevil was grinding his teeth or not, the broker who was waiting for us right in front of the control line quickly showed the employment status to the combat police officers who were controlling the entrance and urged them to let us through.

“…That doesn’t necessarily speed up the process. Let’s see… Horatio, Domino, Omen. And……?”

The police officer, who had been comparing the information he received with the actual people, took his eyes off the pad and stared at me.

Somehow… it was a scene that felt like déjà vu.

“……I think it’s quite a dangerous place for a cyber engineer to be….”

“……?”

What the hell is this out of the blue? Even though the mercenaries and the broker nearby were looking at him with strange eyes, the police officer only looked at me and continued to speak.

“…Please be careful not to be in a dangerous situation inside. …Because there are at least two people who care about your safety.”

“Uh… thank you…?”

I tilted my head and passed through the control line. Next to me, my teammates were dumbfounded, saying that they had met a kind police officer for the first time in their lives.

“Hoo…!”

I calmed my slightly loosened mind because of the strange police officer.

The file stated that the Painkiller drug organization’s headquarters was presumed to be in one of the buildings on Brightside Avenue in the Yellow Sector. …The investigation is quite lax for something that a company is showing interest in.

The operation overview was also a bit off.

Neutralization stage, suppression stage, and recovery stage. They said they would proceed with the work in three stages at once to prevent unnecessary asset loss, but… that question was amplified when I arrived on Brightside Avenue.

[ Arrived at the operation zone. The recovery team, including the hacker, please wait until the neutralization operation is completed. ]

Shit. …An ominous communication came in.

Unlike its bright name, the buildings here were very dark.

If it weren’t for the drug addicts leaning against the walls and lying on the ground, or the thugs anxiously glaring at the troops surrounding the area, I would have mistaken it for an abandoned building… but that’s not what’s important now.

Weee-ing…!!

…Paradise had prepared more than just mercenaries.

Along with a chilling mechanical sound, the ExaTech mobile turrets that had arrived in advance were activated. It was clear that they were models with weaker firepower than the ones installed in the lab, but they were definitely not equipment that should be used in a place like this.

Honestly… it doesn’t make sense.

Doing drugs is not illegal in this society. Even the gangsters who are trembling and holding out with a “surely not…” expression on their faces are not criminals involved in an illegal organization unless there is evidence.

Even though the police controlled the traffic, there was no guarantee that there were no innocent residents inside.

So… there’s no way they would proudly call killing them all ‘neutralization operation’. That’s too…… too…!

[ Neutralization operation begins. We ask for the understanding of the citizens for the noise generated during the investigation process. ]

“Ah…….”

A merciless flash blinded my vision along with a sigh.