IBACT Chapter 10

Guilty (10)

“Is this really right?”

“I told you. As you know, it’s unprecedented for a corporation to bring such a soft request.”

Doris shook her head in disbelief.

“A corporation using mercenaries just for an investigation request?”

“Yes. Remember that safety accident from before? Something seems suspicious. They want us to investigate.”

Even if Hansan Group had requested to find a lost cat for an executive, it wouldn’t have been this surprising.

No, thinking about it, that would have been a more plausible request. There was no guarantee that people from Hansan Group didn’t keep pets, and it would have been too trivial a matter to use corporate personnel for.

“How are we supposed to… What do they want?”

But this was different. Because they were asking mercenaries to do something that the corporation could do. No, something that would be much more efficient if done by their own employees.

“They must have their own information team!”

Hansan’s information department would surely know far more than what a mere mercenary could find out.

Even information that would require a mercenary to kidnap and hack a corporate employee could be obtained effortlessly by someone from Hansan.

“Unless someone was harmed by Hansan, but nothing happened there, right?”

Most citizens thought Hansan had orchestrated this too. Too coincidentally, Han Sanwoo had handled that matter just days before the incident.

“Could it be internal politics? It could get messy if we get caught up in that.”

“But the compensation is high. Read it.”

When Fumiko pressed her temples, a hologram appeared before the mercenaries’ eyes.

“…Something’s odd about these units? What’s the current won-dollar exchange rate?”

“You’re seeing it right. It’s all in dollars.”

“They’re giving this much as a daily rate, regardless of success or failure, not even as completion pay?”

Doris’s instincts were screaming danger.

This isn’t right. While it was dangerous for mercenaries to scrutinize their client’s actions too closely, they still needed to understand at least how things worked.

They needed to judge why this person hired them, what would happen when they did the job, and whether they could handle the aftermath themselves.

No client was kind enough to take responsibility for the request on behalf of the mercenary.

Victims angered by mercenary actions felt hatred and rage toward the mercenary who directly pulled the trigger.

“…This is dangerous.”

“Didn’t you want to do something big? This is quite substantial, isn’t it?”

“That’s true! But I want something that makes sense!”

Luna and Ravina also couldn’t hide their suspicious looks.

Everything was strange from start to finish. There was no reason to use mercenaries and no reason to spend this kind of money.

Corporations never spend money without reason. They only pay mercenaries this much when it’s considered ‘cheaper’ than the corporation doing it themselves.

“Just think of it as getting friendly with them. They seem more interested in seeing mercenaries’ faces and sorting out the good from the bad rather than wanting something big.”

“Hah… We’re not being used, are we?”

The biggest threat was, above all, being discarded after use.

“If Hansan is determined to deceive us, there’s nothing I can do either. They haven’t specified exactly what to do, so you’ll just have to be careful.”

“I guess so…”

Frankly speaking, they could earn considerable money just by buying time. It was a quality request where they could regularly earn money that would normally require completing several ordinary requests.

“There’s nothing twisted about this, right? Like money laundering or something?”

It wasn’t unheard of. It was quite common for corporations to use mercenaries and brokers for money laundering.

They would specifically target ghost mercenaries who had recently joined and had unclear identities, demanding ‘assign this request to this person,’ and allocating enormous sums for too-easy requests.

While it was profitable for brokers who could collect commission, the money that flowed this way would become an excellent source of funding for gangs.

“Solo or small team equivalent to solo. Someone who can resolve things cleanly without unnecessary conflicts. That’s all the client wanted.”

“This is driving me crazy…”

There was no reason not to accept it. Though the too-good conditions made Doris uneasy, the compensation clouded her judgment.

“Alright. I’ll do it. Tell me more details.”

“Their requirements were vague too, so all I can tell you is the information they sent.”

“An investigation into the recent food factory death accident…”

“You’ll need to report regularly. Obviously not through official Hansan routes, but to the number they specified.”

“Luna, can you do it?”

The silver-haired woman bit her lip thoughtfully.

“I can. While directly hacking the corporation would be difficult, factory security shouldn’t be too tight.”

“But it’ll be harder to do better than the corporation, right… Are other corporations hiding something?”

“Maybe. If Hansan is requesting this specifically… Maybe it wasn’t Hansan pulling strings, but something unbelievable is happening.”

“Hansan wants to expose that ‘something’ to expand their influence, so they’re assigning it to mercenaries… Okay, now there’s at least an understandable reason.”

If this hypothesis were true, it wouldn’t be an ordinary case. Even Hansan must think uncovering this could trigger excessive armed conflicts between corporations, making it a dangerous case.

Doris nodded.

“Alright. We’ll take the job.”

“I’ve sent the contact information. Report every three days to that number. Work out the details directly.”

After checking the contact information, Doris couldn’t stop her suspicious gaze.

“This number seems strange? Are you sure this will work?”

“It’s a landline. You won’t be able to call directly through implants or computers.”

“No, then how are we supposed to contact them?”

“You’ll have to find somewhere with another landline. Well, it’s not the first time corporate people have been picky. Good luck.”

“…Alright. Let’s give it a try.”

Doris led her mercenary group out of Fumiko’s office.

***

“Hey, let’s go into that alley.”

“…There won’t be anything the young master would find interesting.”

“I know. Just go in.”

I looked around the city slowly from the car driven by my secretary.

It was a place I’d seen countless times in the game. I even knew roughly which quests were in which cities.

Learning from the previous accident, the car doors were tightly closed.

But cameras mounted all over the car showed everything outside. It felt like riding in a car without a body, giving a vast sense of space.

Though the scene was eerily identical to what I’d seen on monitors, the people walking around were different.

Not bits of data, but real moving people.

Ordinary people who would die if I opened the window and shot them. People who have had their own pain, sorrow, and stories for decades.

I couldn’t take it lightly. Shouldn’t take it lightly either.

“Stop here. I want to walk for a bit.”

“This place… It’s not exactly what you’d call clean.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

It was strange that my body would get sick just from an unsanitary environment.

It’s a shabby street. A street full of drug addicts, where one wrong move could get you shot.

I was an unwelcome guest here. Just seeing my car made people slowly back away, looking at me with eyes mixed with wariness and anger.

“What’s this crazy bastard doing coming here?”

“Does he think there are only a few people who lost family because of corporations? He’s got some nerve.”

Fortunately, they didn’t seem to recognize who I was.

Maybe it was because of this location. Just wearing a different suit than usual with a mask and sunglasses, no one recognized who I was.

Still, everyone knew my car was something rarely seen in this slum. They feared yet envied me.

“Isn’t this enough?”

“No, let’s go in there. That place, it was a Hansan subsidiary, right?”

“…It probably isn’t being managed properly. Even though it’s a closely affiliated franchise, it’s still a store in this district.”

I walked toward that store with an indifferent face.

There were people following me, but as we went deeper into the street, the gazes directed at me decreased.

In the end, it was because of the car. Apart from my confidence that made it hard to believe I was from this district and my excessively neat clothes, there wasn’t anything that could specifically identify me as me.

“Young master…”

“I felt this when taking out people at the factory, but this… it’s surprisingly fun?”

“It’s dangerous. Even with Hansan’s authority…”

“What does it matter if I’m not showing my face? You’ll have to get used to this from now on.”

It was partly my curiosity. While I could appreciate scenery or listen to music through computers, I couldn’t know the smell or taste.

I wanted to taste with my own mouth the astral menu items from the café that had appeared several times in the game.

“It won’t be a very pleasant experience.”

“The first time is what matters. You’ll need to get used to it too soon.”

And the other half was to train her.

Of course, if I wanted to change this city, using Han Sanwoo’s power as a member of the Hansan Group would be much faster and more efficient.

But there were limitations. While it was important to do things in Hansan’s name, that would ultimately just be Hansan taming this city.

I need to create my own force. But that’s not enough.

I need to cooperate with other forces. Whether they’re corporations, gangs, or third parties, I need to create influence that can break this balance within Stella City.

And I need to hold the leash of that force, creating room for me to control it.

In the end, it meant I had to get out there myself. To places even more dangerous and unstable than here. And my secretary needs to be present at all those places.

I didn’t have many expectations, but I also hoped she would empathize with the pain of these slum dwellers.

On the day Hansan Tower falls, understanding them will be necessary for survival, not just emotion.

“Here, one ice cur.”

I was curious about what the carbonated coffee that supposedly gave a tingling sensation in the eyes would taste like.

Though I was full of expectations, after taking a sip, I couldn’t taste anything special.

There was no sensation in my eyes, and it was just cold coffee with some carbonation that was so artificial it overwhelmed my sensitive tongue.

My secretary, who ordered the same drink and was sipping it with me, was frowning while continuing to drink it, unlike me.

It didn’t seem to be simply because my senses were dull. There was something she could feel that I couldn’t.

Whether it was due to the presence or absence of implants, or something about the Hansan family, I wasn’t sure.

“Didn’t I say… it wouldn’t be very enjoyable?”

“Well, it was worth trying. The advertisements were all over-”

I stopped speaking.

While I, as a gamer, or any citizen of this city, might have heard countless advertisements for this café franchise, it would be awkward for Han Sanwoo of the Hansan Group to have heard those ads to the point of being sick of them.

There were many things to be careful about. Rising from my seat with half the coffee remaining, I unconsciously looked out the window.

“…Huh?”

And there was a woman with a familiar face.