“Once we earn some money, the first thing we’re doing is getting a new car.”
A rattling, sputtering engine. Unyielding, rigid seats. The air conditioner spewed forth a noxious blend of dust and mold, and to cap it all, with every deep breath, a faint, unsettling scent of decay permeated the cabin.
With her tail cradled in her arms, Soo braced herself against the car’s erratic movements. Had the seatback been upright, she wouldn’t have needed to strain, but with it reclined to accommodate her tail, her body was tossed and jolted relentlessly.
“At least let me put a hole in the seat.”
“As I believe I mentioned earlier, that’s not happening.”
“Why not?”
Burying her nose into her tail, Soo murmured, a whisper almost to herself, yet perfectly audible to Enoch.
“After all, it’s a junker; a hole in the seat wouldn’t even be noticeable.”
In this cyberpunk world, most people navigate the streets in AI-driven vehicles, where autonomous driving and self-parking are standard features.
Enoch’s car, however, boasted no such luxuries.
Its gears were strictly manual, and even the windows weren’t button-activated, but cranked by hand. A visit to any drive-thru required the foresight to roll down the window well in advance, simply to avoid awkwardness.
Thus, Soo saw no issue with adding a single hole to the seat of such a vehicle.
A grinding sound—
As the light changed, Enoch shifted gears, casting a quick glance at Soo before tapping the steering wheel.
“This car was left to me by my late mother.”
“Oh.”
‘Well, that certainly changes things.’
Soo’s tail coiled back cautiously.
“And Moonlight, that pistol you’re so fond of, was a legacy from my father.”
“Ah!”
This time, her tail unfurled with enthusiasm.
‘Moonlight, she had praised so enthusiastically as magnificent…’
“That coat you called a ‘rag,’ the one I took for repairs this very morning, was a gift from my younger sister.”
“Oh.”
Her tail immediately recoiled.
Soo blinked, her gaze fixed on Enoch.
Enoch merely shrugged, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.
‘I suppose I should apologize, shouldn’t I?’
Just as Soo, carefully observing Enoch’s reaction, opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off.
“The coat can be used a little longer once repaired, and Moonlight is still perfectly operational… So, after we receive our payment this time, let’s look into getting a used car.”
“Oh?”
“And don’t apologize.”
“Why not?”
“Because, ultimately, we are en route to Irina’s office thanks to you.”
Enoch’s words carried a multitude of unspoken meanings.
When Karchas betrayed me, had you not been there, I would surely be dead and gone.
I don’t know why, but without that horde you attached, I would have perished at the hands of that chrome psycho.
Even if I had somehow managed to kill Hakon, I would have found myself entangled with the corporation, facing immense trouble. Your subjugation of Hakon, however, opened up a path for us to survive.
I was called by a Connector.
To have one’s name called signifies the qualification to accept a commission from that very Connector.
A path to venture into the greater world.
A path not merely beneath the glow of neon, but under the very moonlight of Eden itself—all of it had manifested thanks to Soo.
All of this had transpired in just one day since they first met… Though, in reality, four days had passed, Enoch perceived it as a single, momentous day.
Therefore, he did not wish for an apology. On the contrary, it was he who owed an apology—no, a profound word of thanks.
“Thank you, Soo.”
A grinding sound—
Enoch shifted gears and pressed the accelerator. With a series of terrible engine noises, the car lurched forward.
Soo, thrown backward, pulled her body forward, flailing her limbs to regain her precarious balance.
Then, she offered a soft smile and nodded.
“Mm-hmm.”
Sunlight, dappled by the towering buildings, filtered into the car’s interior.
The rattling engine still sounded abysmal, the rigid seats still pained her rear, and her tail remained uncomfortably cramped, yet her mood was far from sour.
****
“Hmm.”
Standing before the office door, Enoch meticulously adjusted his attire, yet refrained from pressing the call bell.
One minute passed, then two, then three, then five…
“Aren’t you going to press it?”
“I will.”
“Unfortunately, it lacks voice recognition.”
“…I will.”
“Go for it.”
A tremor ran through the corner of Enoch’s eye.
He never imagined that pressing the call bell before him would prove more daunting than pulling a trigger on a living target.
While the individuals Enoch typically confronted were not ‘people’ but ‘scum,’ it was undeniably true that the weight of that call bell felt far heavier than any trigger.
One might wonder why Soo, standing beside him, couldn’t simply press it herself. Yet, Soo had graciously ceded the honor of initiating contact with their first Connector to Enoch.
Thus, it was imperative that Enoch press it now. In truth, he also wished to do so himself.
“I’ll press it.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Having taken a deep breath, Enoch’s trembling hand reached out and firmly pressed the call bell.
The camera mounted above the massive steel door whirred, rotating into position. A laser beam, projected from the call bell, lightly scanned Enoch and Soo. Then, a crackle—
[Anyone would think you’re here for a blind date.]
“What do you…”
[Enoch. You needn’t be so transparent; I am well aware you’re a rookie mercenary. Cease your posturing and step inside.]
Though an immense steel door, it opened without a sound, as if perfectly lubricated. Observing the wide aperture, Enoch offered a stiff nod, his expression unyielding.
“…I’m not sure what you mean by that, but we’ll enter.”
It appeared Irina had observed Enoch’s hesitation from start to finish. Without having witnessed it, she could not have possibly uttered such words.
Irina, who had silently observed, clearly possessed an eccentric personality, but Enoch, who feigned ignorance to the very end, was no less peculiar.
‘In this entire world, I must be the only sane one.’
Soo smiled with a sense of self-satisfaction, trailing after Enoch as they entered.
Thud—thud—
Pitter-patter-patter—
The entrance corridor was remarkably pristine.
While such an entryway might typically become soiled from the frequent passage of mercenaries, this one remained immaculate.
The walls were painted a neutral, unassuming gray—neither too stark nor too dim—and the floors were finished with polished marble.
Lights illuminated automatically with each step Enoch and Soo took, and the landscape paintings adorning the walls at intervals made the space feel less like an office and more akin to an art gallery.
“Enoch, do you have an eye for art?”
“I do not.”
“What do you think? Are they expensive?”
‘He’d just said he didn’t, so why ask again?’
Nevertheless, Enoch glanced at the painting Soo indicated. He had long since ascertained that Soo rarely heeded others’ words.
“I doubt they’re particularly valuable.”
“I think they are.”
“Even if I were mistaken, such landscapes cannot exist in reality. Even in the distant past, nature never possessed that level of grandeur. Their value is diminished.”
“Which is precisely what makes them more magnificent.”
“Rather than observing paintings that don’t even appear particularly well-executed, wouldn’t it be preferable to actually experience such vistas through a Neural Dive (TL Note: A full-dive virtual reality system allowing users to experience virtual worlds with all five senses, including touch and smell.)?”
“Some things, by their very nature, are more magnificent precisely because they cannot be touched or fully perceived.”
“Is that so?”
Enoch, who had been silently observing Soo, let out a soft chuckle as he resumed walking.
“While I concede your point, it seems your inclinations are entirely distinct from my own.”
“They say if people are too alike, they often quarrel.”
Soo, too, averted her gaze from the paintings and continued onward.
They did not need to walk far.
Just as the novelty of the paintings began to wane, the hollow corridor reached its end.
This time, he did not hesitate.
Perhaps the conversation with Soo had eased his tension, for Enoch unhesitatingly turned the doorknob.
“I am merely sorry for painting such cheap pictures.”
A crisp, unyielding voice echoed through the office.
Enoch and Soo’s gazes simultaneously fixed upon the source.
The gray office was splattered with a riot of paints.
There were no discernible guards or security personnel.
At the heart of the office, a woman with unkempt, dull white hair sat alone, engrossed in painting.
Though not yet fully complete, the subject was instantly recognizable.
The woman was painting a landscape.
“Indeed, in a world equipped with Neural Dive, why do I bother painting such trashy pictures?”
Icy blue eyes turned to Enoch.
“I am Irina Tish Morozova.”
Next, her gaze settled on Soo.
While her gaze towards Enoch had felt like a piercing knife, when it rested on Soo, it was as serene as a clear lake.
“Hello, I’m Soo.”
“Greetings, Soo. Did my painting please you?”
“Yes. It’s magnificent.”
“Magnificent precisely because it cannot be touched or fully perceived… Heh, thank you for those insightful words.”
Irina casually tossed her brush and palette aside before rising from her seat. Her gray apron was stained with an array of paints, yet even these smudges seemed to evoke the rustic charm of a countryside landscape.
“Is that Hakon?”
“…Yes.”
Enoch, who had been needlessly gauging her reaction, lowered the golf bag slung over his back.
“He appears remarkably docile, suggesting he’s still unconscious… But was the subjugation truly clean?”
“I broke his limbs.”
“In that case, I can rest assured.”
As Enoch unzipped the golf bag, he subtly surveyed his surroundings.
“Do you not employ separate security?”
“What part of humanity would I trust enough to employ security?”
“You must be confident in your abilities.”
“Setting aside skill, I simply do not engage in actions that invite enmity. My commissions are exclusively safe ones. Even if a mercenary makes an idiotic mistake, the assignments I take on are only for targets so utterly pathetic that those pieces of trash couldn’t possibly lay a hand on me.”
As the zipper fully opened, Hakon, bloodied and limp, flopped unceremoniously onto the floor.
There was no sense that the office had been defiled.
Indeed, the scattered droplets of blood seemed to blend seamlessly into the office’s landscape of carelessly flung paint, almost enhancing it.
Only the faint, blue wisps of smoke emanating from Hakon’s body struck an alien note.
Irina, observing it with a detached gaze, let out a hollow laugh and lit a cigarette.
“However, I can no longer make such claims. We are, quite frankly, utterly fucked.”
Hazy plumes of smoke and a pungent aroma filled the air.
In a world where eighty percent of cigarettes had transitioned to liquid e-cigarettes, this was a truly rare and costly, authentic tobacco stick.
“Do you smoke?”
As Enoch nodded, Irina casually flicked a single tobacco stick his way. That one stick alone held the value of Enoch’s monthly food allowance.
Enoch deliberated whether to light the tobacco stick or not, ultimately deciding to do so. The words ‘rookie mercenary,’ uttered by Irina just before their entrance, still echoed in his mind…
“Soo, as for you…”
Next, Irina’s gaze fell upon Soo, and her lips parted slightly before she began rummaging through her pocket.
“Do you prefer caramel, or candy?”
“I’ll take both.”
“Oh, how clever of you.”
A handful of caramels and candies.
Soo casually stuffed them into her pocket, then began daintily chewing on a caramel.
“Well now… we are all in the same boat.”
To say such a thing while offering Enoch tobacco and Soo something sweet lent a slightly peculiar air to her words.
“And what’s more, it’s a cheap, damned sailboat that could sink at any moment…”
Soo once recalled reading an article somewhere that suggested people smoked cigarettes merely to observe their own sighs.
While that article had, of course, been penned for comedic effect, observing Irina now, Soo couldn’t help but feel there was a kernel of truth to it.
“f*ck, seeing that blue smoke, it’s perfectly clear… I’ll get straight to the point.”
A heavy sigh escaped Irina’s lips.
“We have become embroiled in the childish power struggle between Zairex and Lu Qian.”
No sigh escaped Enoch’s lips.
He seemed to have forgotten even how to sigh.
Omnomnom—
In the office, only the sound of Soo diligently chewing her caramel resonated.
