Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed

The streets outside were silent.

Pat pat the sound of rain echoed in my ears.

Occasionally, vehicles pierced through the rain, and a few people with flashing LED umbrellas were seen walking, but it was clear that the foot traffic was sparse.

For this to happen near the Center Plaza, the central business district of Neon City, was just absurd.

But perhaps it was to be expected. Just as I didn’t want to go outside, the urban dwellers avoided outings when it rained.

Many believed that being drenched in rain for too long would peel their skin or mess with their hair.

I wasn’t sure if that was true. But thinking about the homeless I saw in the lower-class area with their peeling skin implants, there was a possibility.

Amid the cascading rain, the navigation path indicated by Eve appeared before me.

It was projected through my visual interface, so only I could see it.

The remaining distance… was about 50 meters.

The area I lived in, North Houston, was quite close to my destination, the Center Plaza. Just as Eve had said, it was walkable.

I continued to move towards my goal.

Before long, a large store came into view.

[Cyberware and Implant Specialty Store]

Above the sign, the holograms of Kojaka’s ‘Pete Mc’ and the Monolith Corporation’s logo spun at a steady pace.

[You have arrived at your destination, ending navigation.]

Hearing Eve’s voice, I walked towards the store, tap tap.

Passing through the automatic door, there were no armed guards as I’d seen in the lower area.

Only a few turrets that could turn intruders into Swiss cheese stood at the ready, just one button press away from activation.

Maybe it was because I was wearing a mask, but the employee’s gaze became sharp as he looked at me.

Unlike me, who wore a mask purely for health reasons, many in Neon City wore masks for other, more suspicious reasons.

So, it was only natural to be on guard.

I closed my umbrella and pulled my hand out of my pocket.

I made sure to move my empty hands where the employee could see them.

“Sir, I am harmless.”

No matter how bulletproof my clothes were, getting shot barehanded would be very painful.

Moreover, if I did nothing and got hit by a bullet, it would hurt my feelings too.

I slowly approached the counter where the employee stood.

“Excuse me.”

“…Welcome, how can I assist you?”

Could you please ease up with that intimidating gaze?

Maybe I should have taken off my mask before coming in.

I couldn’t understand why there was such suspicion over a mask in a world where it was possible to alter one’s face entirely.

“What high-capacity data module products do you have?”

[Based on net space searches, the products currently in stock are—.]

“How much were you looking to spend, customer?”

[…….]

Eve fell silent.

Suddenly, the employee’s attitude shifted.

A very fake smile appeared on his face.

“Well, I found out from the net that this place is cheaper than others.”

“Come on, you can’t trust everything you find on the net. But I can definitely give you a good price.”

“……”

This time it was me who fell silent.

I couldn’t trust net information…
In a situation where prices fluctuated in real-time as customers entered stores, I thought to myself.

Everyone in this city was swimming in capitalism.

This is cyberpunk for you.

Living in this city had made that all too familiar.

Due to the employee’s insistence on outrageous prices, I felt a headache coming on, but in the end, I successfully purchased the desired product at a reasonable compromise.

Of course, the price was a bit higher than what Eve had told me.

But I couldn’t help it.

Unfortunately, I had a critical weakness where I couldn’t haggle much.

[I’m curious as to why you bought something at an above-average price.]

“……I can’t come back empty-handed after finally going out.”

That’s why.

Since I was I, I had to prioritize maximizing profit when I went out.

After all, I had walked all the way here (10 minutes).

There was no option for me to scout around other stores or come back empty-handed.

It wasn’t the case that I had just bought something roughly just because of Eve’s automatic income streaming.

Anyway, it wasn’t.

I was really looking forward to playing a virtual reality game after a long time.

I wondered how many new titles I’d missed.

I felt my heart flutter.

I thought about searching on net space while walking, but using smartphones while walking is the most dangerous thing in the world.

Even if I could project holograms in thin air.

I decided to just look it up at home.

With a lighter step than before, I left the store.

I had bought the product I wanted, and the employee got the price he wanted too.

It was a win-win for everyone.

Just as I decided to head home, I sensed a raucous atmosphere from somewhere.

Some people seemed to be dropping their umbrellas and running, while others, like me, were clueless and looking around.

What’s going on?

I couldn’t hear any screams, but something definitely happened.

Did someone just sneak off for a public urination?

I was quite far from the center of this disturbance.

It was hard for me, who hadn’t received any implant surgery related to vision like a Monovision cyberware, to figure out what was going on.

I was blankly standing there, holding the bag when Eve’s voice reached me.

[I’m attempting to hack into the cameras. …Done.]

“Are you not going to ask about that protection protocol you mentioned last time?”

[In my records, it says there’s a voice data record approved by human ‘Lee Siwoon.’ I am notifying you.]

Oh, that time.

I allowed it back at the restaurant where I met Julia.

Once approved, it was a lifetime arrangement, huh?

This is why it’s important to thoroughly verify when signing or granting approval.

[Syncing with visual interface data… done.]

As soon as Eve finished, a small screen appeared before my sight.

From the quality of the image and the captured location, it looked like footage from a surveillance camera.

In the screen, a hulking man fully equipped in black cyberware stood there.

Was he human or orc?

With that much full-body cyberware, it was hard to tell the race.

A few pieces of the cyberware he was armed with flashed before my eyes.

Recalling them, they were military-grade products.

These were rare items in the free city of Neon City, which had escaped from national control.

They’d typically be found only in requests involving mega-corps.

Why was a person like that just standing in the street?

“I think he’s mumbling something.”

[Confirming… Voice signal detected, amplifying lens and voice.]

The screen zoomed in enough to show the man’s entire face—his lack of a jaw was striking.

Then, through the low-quality sound, the mumbling from the man could be heard faintly.

It sounded like some slurred Chinese.

Since my neural computer chip’s translation module couldn’t interpret it, I couldn’t grasp what he was saying.

[Information confirmed. He resembles a criminal currently imprisoned at ‘Pelicanus,’ Neon City’s prison, with a 90% similarity.]

“…Why is someone like that here? Is it someone who has a face duplication implant?”

[Cross-referencing cyberware and biometric signals… Aligns with database information, confirming a 99% probability it’s the real person.]

“Ugh.”

To think I would encounter an escapee just after stepping out of my house; even on a rainy day, the odds were incredibly low.

So why was he here?

[Checking current news on NCB24. 《Reports that several prisoners have escaped from Pelicanus prison. Citizens are advised to avoid going outside─.》, I provide.]

Great timing.

I know that Pelicanus is where only serious criminals are usually confined in Neon City.

“Then, if he’s escaped, shouldn’t he be running away from the city? Why is he still here?”

[Name confirmed: ‘Hei Wang (黑 網)’. A mercenary affiliated with Heishukai (黑輸會). Charges include multiple murders of upper-class citizens, with eight records total. Classified as a Chrome Psycho, I explain.]

No matter how painful your joints may be in the rain.

I thought it was over the line to crawl back into the city after escaping.

Suddenly, the mumbling man, the Chrome Psycho, lifted his heavy hand.

His fingertip was aimed at a fleeing child.

No one was around to protect the child.

Then, the Chrome Psycho’s palm transformed.

Whirrr, a mechanical hole formed, and a red heat ray emerged, growing larger.

It wasn’t an automated shooter.

It looked like a small grenade launcher.

At least for the child, that was fortunate.

The moment I saw the grenade being fired at the child, I reacted.

I circulated my mana and unleashed it.

A powerful gust of wind radiated from my hand, consuming the entire linear field.

Such a type of grenade launcher needed to simultaneously possess an internally fired ammunition and a cyberware device to trigger it.

Therefore, it was common to make the weight light and minimize the size.

This meant that if I could predict the firing direction…

It was possible to change the grenade’s trajectory with strong wind.

If only I had a bit more time, I could have sent the grenade right back.

What a pity.

The grenade originally aimed at the child awkwardly veered offMidair.

And then the explosion followed.

– KWAAM!

The grenade also seemed to be military-grade.

The blast capacity was no joke.

Had I made any mistake, I wouldn’t have stopped it.

[Explosion confirmed. Estimated time until NCPD arrives—.]

“NCPD won’t be able to stop that when they get here, will they? They need a special unit like Chrome Force.”

[Confirming. Hacking the police department’s internal data… completed. Estimated time until Chrome Force arrives: approximately 600 seconds, I predict.]

Ten minutes.

I’d have to either hold out that long or take him down before then.

I didn’t want to get rained on.

But I also couldn’t ignore the grenade fired at that child.

There was nothing I could do about what had already occurred.

Eventually, the Chrome Psycho’s red optical sensors turned towards me.

But then,

As soon as I recognized that fact, the Chrome Psycho man was split in half.

“Huh?”

What the heck is going on?

A chill ran down my spine.

“You were here; I’ve been looking for you.”

The voice I heard in my dream yesterday echoed.

Oh.

Had there been a broadcast about multiple jailbreaks on NCB24 earlier?

….

I prepared for combat.

In front of me stood the scariest person among the Chrome Psychos I knew, a woman who had once tried to kill me.

I thought I really needed to find a cyber-shaman to have some bad luck reversed.

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