Chapter 91: Worker #663
[Are you feeling a bit better?]
Kang Da-hee’s voice ca through the comms.
She seed to be trying to sound casual, but concern practically dripped from her tone.
[I’m fine.]
[……So, when do you think you’ll be coming back?]
[Hard to say. I can’t give you a definite answer. I’m only just having the eting today.]
[Then it’ll take at least another week.]
[That’s probably right.]
I turned my head and looked out the window.
I was in an old teahouse sowhere in Hong Kong’s old district.
A place where tangled power lines crisscrossed like spider webs.
Right now, I was waiting to et the team mber for the job Zhou Wei had assigned.
[……I’ll let the clan mbers know that.]
Kang Da-hee said in a stiff tone.
For so reason, I felt like I shouldn’t just end the call, so I asked out of a sense of obligation,
[Nothing else going on, right?]
Like it or not, I was currently the clan leader of a clan.
Even if I had dumped all the actual work onto Kang Da-hee.
[Nothing major.]
[Good. That’s a relief…….]
[Except for a few minor issues.]
[……Like what?]
[Betty exhaled her breath during a job, so we had to use half of the previous contract fee for damages. The other half went into information control costs.]
[Information control costs? Why that?]
The fact that Betty Barosi was a Half-dragon wasn’t sothing that even needed to be hidden.
If anything, she was a kind of special icon for our Aguiggun Clan.
[Herja’s shadow got caught on CCTV. We hired a terrible hacker.]
[Ah…….]
But Herja was different.
For reasons I still didn’t fully understand, that small Valkyrie was being hunted by a clan called ‘Abyssal Fla.’
‘The clan that hacker Raja belonged to.’
A hacker whose personality was trash, but whose skills were undeniably real.
In a way, he seed like the perfect fit for an assassination-focused clan like Abyssal Fla.
‘Herja must never be exposed.’
The best solution would have been to keep her out of jobs altogether, but then there was the problem of the power she possessed.
‘The Plundering Shadow,’ a power that had to constantly devour sothing.
Even the talisman Chae Seol-ah had given us had its limits in suppressing that overflowing force.
She had to experience combat to sate her hunger.
[Anyway, the biggest problem right now is money.]
[Hmm…….]
The biggest weakness of the Aguiggun Clan was capital.
Most Ghostcatcher clans were backed by wealthy investors, but Aguiggun Clan had never planned for that.
‘Investnt is just another word for interference…….’
That was why the job ihua had assigned was so important.
A ritual that granted imnse wealth—the Ji-Cheon Man-Geum Rite.
If we could just carry that out, all our worries would disappear.
[……The money problem will be solved soon.]
[Don’t push yourself too hard. We still have a bit of leeway.]
Right now, Kang Da-hee seed to be running illegal magic tutoring on the side for the sake of the clan.
She wasn’t showing it, but she must have been busy nonstop.
[You’re working hard.]
[……Don’t get hurt.]
[Okay.]
After ending the transmission like that, Diesel muttered to himself.
‘I should buy sothing on the way back.’
I heard there was a dessert shop nearby that was the most famous in Hong Kong.
Just as I was thinking I’d pick sothing up from there—
The teahouse door opened, and a familiar face walked in.
“Uh……?”
Soone I never expected to et here.
Judging by her reaction, she felt the sa way—her eyes widened as she recognized .
“Why are you here?”
She was the woman who had endured Baekung Urmus’s attack and temporarily restrained the excommunicated knight Garcia.
The lee Mage, Kali.
Had she not returned to Seoul yet?
Or had she gone back and then been recruited again?
Considering that her face had been exposed at the Black Market, the latter seed more likely.
The chairman of ihua struck as the type who cared about that kind of ‘story.’
Kali walked over toward and asked,
“Are you here sightseeing or sothing? No, wait—this teahouse isn’t a place just anyone can enter…….”
She had no idea that she’d already t at the auction house.
“Or don’t tell …….”
“I’m your job partner.”
“What……?”
Her mouth fell wide open at my words.
“W-wait. You an the job ihua gave us?”
“Yeah.”
“No way…….”
She muttered as if she couldn’t believe it.
“You said that Furry Land was your first team job back then.”
“That’s right.”
“And that was only three months ago…….”
Her reaction was understandable.
This was a high-grade job directly commissioned by a gacorporation.
Judging purely by experience, it should have been far beyond my reach.
“That’s insane growth. It took over three years just to start getting gacorp jobs. And that was considered pretty fast. But you, in just three months…….”
This was actually my second job from a ga Corp, but I didn’t bother ntioning that.
“Well, whatever. I saw your skills back then, so I know how capable you are. Anyway, it’s good to see you again.”
Kali sat down across from and continued,
“Let reintroduce myself. I’m a Double lee Mage. Last ti, I only used acceleration-type, right? Besides that, I can also use Slow-type.”
“Mm……. I see.”
I nodded while managing my expression, since it was information I already knew.
She then looked at expectantly, waiting for my introduction.
“And you?”
“……I’m also double. Ice and Lightning Spellcaster.”
“That’s it?”
“What more do you need?”
“Co on. Your ice-type mana isn’t just ordinary mana.”
Kali smiled slightly and went on.
“That ‘Black Ice,’ I an.”
“…….”
“No wonder you never told what you got from that Polar Bear old man back then. To think it was sothing that incredible. When I heard about it later, I was so jealous I thought I’d die.”
The artifact Urmus had gifted , Seolha Thousand-Year Ice.
By now, the fact that I possessed Black Ice was fairly well known.
“If you got sothing that valuable, shouldn’t you treat to a al?”
She laughed at her own joke and lightly punched my shoulder.
“Just kidding. Just kidding. Like that kind of thing ever happens in the backstreets. We’re not even in the sa clan.”
“…….”
“Anyway, I look forward to working with you. Mage who wields black ice.”
I wondered what kind of reaction she’d have if I told her I also had another Attribute Awakening—‘White Thunder.’
It seed the rumor hadn’t spread that far yet.
‘Well, she’ll find out sooner or later once we start the job…….’
After the brief chatter ended, the real job discussion began.
“Here, take this. It’s a briefing chip.”
I slotted the small chip Kali handed in beneath my ear.
“You probably know already, but this job is infiltration from start to finish. The team is just the two of us.”
Sis was still staying in Hong Kong, but she wasn’t participating in this job.
She said she had sothing more important to handle.
—I need to keep monitoring lissa. I’ll support you from the outside when I can, so don’t worry.
Her actions also had a considerate side for .
With fewer operatives, each person’s share of the pay naturally increased.
“What’s the objective?”
I hadn’t heard the details when I t the chairman of ihua.
He had only hinted that we were stealing sothing.
‘lissa definitely took sothing from the undersea warehouse during the Black Market auction.’
It seed that whatever it was, it had been so tightly managed that even Sis hadn’t been able to figure out what it was.
“We’re securing targets.”
“Targets?”
“Yeah.”
“Not items?”
At my question, Kali glanced around briefly.
Then she raised two fingers and whispered,
“People. Two of them.”
“…….”
So they were storing people in a warehouse.
As expected, the Black Market was nothing ordinary.
“Just think of it as securing VIPs.”
Just who were these VIPs that the Black Market valued so highly?
The fact that Despotis’s hacker had targeted them must have had its own significance.
“What about the date and location?”
“The date is tomorrow. The location is…….”
Kali projected a hologram over the table.
“A gacorporation banquet hall—‘Royal Spirit.’”
[The current ti is 04:30. Today’s weather is cloudy. Temperature 8.7 degrees Celsius, chance of precipitation 95 percent, humidity 80 percent, atmospheric mana concentration 7.19 percent…….]
The southern tip of the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong.
The artificial intelligence of an apartnt complex built to house corporate laborers, ‘Chungking Mansion,’ woke its tenant with a cheerful voice.
When he didn’t get up and rely tossed around a few tis, the apartnt flung open the tiny window by the head of the bed.
Cold dawn air, chilled by rain that had fallen through the night, rushed in.
A cold wind unimaginable in Hong Kong under normal circumstances.
This was all because of a factory built several years ago.
Ice-type mana leaking from there had completely altered the climate of the surrounding area.
‘Damn it, I’m gonna freeze to death.’
The worker, unaccustod to the cold, cursed inwardly as he got out of bed.
The cheap matrix springs let out a loud creak, and the aluminum skeleton of the worker—long overdue for regular maintenance—added its own discordant accompanint.
[Good morning. Worker No. 663.]
‘There’s no such fucking thing as a good morning.’
663 swallowed those words and muttered them only in his head.
He had no desire to earn derits for lifestyle attitude by arguing with the apartnt first thing in the morning.
“Close the window.”
[I’m sorry, but on days with such good air quality, ventilation procedures are mandatory.]
“Good air quality, my ass…….”
A round cleaning drone that had popped out of nowhere cut him off.
An outdated robot that looked like sothing from over a hundred years ago began scurrying around the room.
‘Haa…….’
That scrap heap wasn’t cleaning anything—it was just making the room dirtier.
Its suction intake was broken.
Even so, absurdly diligent in performing its role, it tapped at 663’s feet as he sat by the bed.
If I followed my heart, I wanted to kick it away with all my strength.
But if I did that, my stay in this apartnt would end up being extended by about a month.
Just endure a little longer.
Even a hell like this will be over soon.
The day I go to California isn’t far off.
663 muttered quietly.
Going to California was the lifelong goal 663 had dread of.
Every day, he would take out his portable terminal, look at photos of so beach in California, and imagine himself lying there.
Strictly speaking, 663 didn’t know much about California.
A blue sky, a beautiful ocean, and pure white sandy beaches.
That was all he knew about California.
‘That’s enough.’
Every ti he thought about California, 663 always concluded with that.
All he needed to know was that beyond that vast ocean lay a place like a terrestrial paradise; no other information was necessary.
It had already been seventeen years since he started working at ‘Silverwing,’ a security company under the gacorporation Royal Spirit, scraping together Qubits with grim determination.
mories of enduring those days while eating trash-like protein bars flashed through 663’s mind.
Now he was really just a step away from achieving that dream.
Once he paid off the debt he owed the company, he planned to run straight to the airport and buy a ticket to California.
But recently, one problem had arisen for 663.
“Was my condition okay while I slept last night?”
[Worker No. 663 did not achieve proper rest last night. Ti spent in bed: 4 hours 37 minutes. Actual sleep ti: 1 hour 48 minutes. Sleep quality approximately 39 percent, remaining below 50 percent for seven consecutive days…….]
For the past week, 663 had been plagued by nightmares of unknown origin.
Even if sleep disorders were more common than colds among urban laborers, this ti it was far too severe.
‘Today I should take a hot shower before heading out.’
If he used up the day’s hot water in the morning, he’d have to wash his sweat-soaked body with cold water after work, but there was no other way to shake off this heavy fatigue.
As 663 stepped into the shower booth and turned the handle, a pleasant stream of steaming water poured down.
At the sa ti, several lines of text appeared on the opaque glass.
[We will inform you of today’s special work notices. One: Due to high atmospheric mana concentration, patrols in zones B-39, B-40, B-41, and B-42 will be reinforced. Two: From redacted to redacted, a party for VIP clients will be held at the rooftop banquet hall. Accordingly, the rooftop security codes will change hourly as follows. 05:00: encrypted 06:00: encrypted 07:00: encrypted…….]
‘A VIP party? Damn it…….’
Letting hot water run over the back of his neck, 663 muttered quietly.
He opened the code, triple-encrypted so that only employees could read it.
As the characters lined up before his eyes, a throbbing pain suddenly shot through his head.
“I’m gonna have to pop a stimulant today, or this won’t work.”
[Would you like to proceed with paynt now? Please select the desired product.]
The mont 663 finished speaking, the apartnt displayed a variety of products before his eyes.
Xanthine stimulants like caffeine and theobromine, as well as narcotic stimulants like thamphetamine, caught his attention.
‘Insane. Look at these prices. Those thieving bastards…….’
At least three tis more expensive than buying from street dealers.
But stopping by the back alleys before work would make him late for sure.
663 had no real choice.
On a critical day like today, even a small mistake could cost him his job altogether.
As soon as he finished using his allotted hot water, skin-cutting cold water poured out.
Cursing again, 663 hurried out of the bathroom and dried himself with a towel.
“That party—before eleven or after?”
[Worker No. 663 does not have authorization to view that item.]
“No, damn it…… ha…… can’t you at least give a rough idea? I don’t want to be on stimulants for the entire twelve-hour shift.”
[We are sorry, but that information is outside your authorization.]
Authorization, authorization—damn that cursed authorization…….
Just endure a little longer.
Soon, he would go to the land of freedom beyond the Pacific Ocean and be compensated for all this suffering.
Thinking that, Worker No. 663 got dressed.
“D-don’t move…….”
663 stamred as he aid his trembling pistol.
[Intruder detected inside the building, current location: 6th floor. Requesting backup.]
Grabbing hold of his sanity, he sent an alert through the security network.
But perhaps it had already been hacked—the entire communication channel was dead.
‘Fuck, fuck, this can’t be happening. After everything I’ve endured, to end like this, so futilely, at the hands of so bastard like this…….’
663 carefully examined the intruder.
A solid body clad in a tactical robe, a face as beautiful as a sculpture, and sharp eyes.
Eyes devoid of any emotion were staring back at him.
Should he drop the gun?
You never knew.
If they decided he wasn’t a threat, they might just pass him by.
But then he’d be fired by the company for dereliction of duty.
That would be a fate similar to death—or maybe even worse.
Then what, shoot first?
That bastard was definitely a back-alley Ghostcatcher.
And given how silently he had infiltrated, he was probably a position specialized in infiltration—a ‘Specter.’
Specters were said to have poured all their abilities into infiltration, leaving them with diocre combat power.
If he got lucky, maybe he could capture the guy and earn a bounty?
All kinds of thoughts raced through 663’s mind.
And just as he finally decided to pull the finger resting on the trigger—
The intruder suddenly spoke.
“What’s your na?”
“……What?”
“Your na. You weren’t called 663 from birth, were you?”
“H-how do you know that…….”
663 was briefly flustered, but he didn’t lower the pistol aid at his opponent.
He must have hacked and checked his identity or sothing.
“If you don’t want to say it, you don’t have to. But why don’t you lower that first?”
The Specter said, pointing at the pistol in 663’s hand.
Lower the gun?
At those words, 663 vaguely realized what was going on.
‘He’s flustered because things aren’t going according to his plan.’
This situation was clearly not what the guy had anticipated.
When 663 glanced to the side, a colleague was lying collapsed.
He wasn’t dead.
He could hear rough breathing.
Then there was only one possibility.
‘ntal-type magic…….’
A form of magic whose use was strictly prohibited.
But for so reason, the intruder’s sleep magic hadn’t worked on 663.
It was probably thanks to the powerful stimulant he had taken that morning.
“Even if you fire that, nothing will happen.”
Nothing would happen?
What a joke.
Anyone died if a bullet lodged in their head.
Whether they were a world-dominating Archmage or a Tech Mage scraping by in the back alleys—it didn’t matter.
At least, that was how it worked according to 663’s common sense.
How much was the bounty for capturing an infiltrating Ghostcatcher?
And one who used ntal-type magic, at that.
Maybe this was an opportunity.
Feeling a bit excited at the thought that the initiative was in his hands, 663 quickly pulled himself together and calmly thought through the next step.
What to do.
Should he stall for ti and wait for the network to recover?
No, that was too uncertain.
Just shoot him and report the body upstairs.
That would be the most direct proof of his competence to the company.
“I just want to have a little conversation with you.”
Conversation, my ass.
Snorting, 663 aid at the Specter’s head and pulled the trigger.
BANG……!
The black muzzle spat fire, and a split-nosed lead bullet flew toward the Specter.
But before it could reach the mage’s body, the bullet vanished sowhere.
What?
What just…….
Did he use so kind of protective magic?
Calm down.
Stay calm.
It must have just missed because my aim slipped.
Taking a deep breath, 663 steadied himself and fired again.
But once again, the mage was unhard.
“I told you. It’s useless.”
Without even blinking, the intruder began walking toward him.
“Fuck…… fuck……!”
663 fired wildly.
Flashes burst from the muzzle, the aim went completely wild, and bullets scattered in all directions.
Then—
“California, huh…….”
The intruder’s voice suddenly ca from behind 663.
“What……?”
Only then did 663 realize what was happening.
He hadn’t resisted ntal-type magic.
‘I…….’
He was already trapped inside it.
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