Yugiri Miko.
Despite the crude shotgun and her harsh curses, she was trembling violently.
It was impossible to tell whether the shotgun’s muzzle was aimed at her chin or her neck, such was her shaking.
‘Is she aiming for her head?’
It seemed she had mistaken Soo for someone else, making immediate subdual the best course of action.
If Miko were to die here, it would leave a bitter taste.
No, it would undoubtedly be a truly depressing outcome.
‘After all, Miko is the first NPC one encounters.’
Should a player perish early in the game, they would inevitably awaken here and come face to face with Miko.
Her dark red hair and a white, albeit worn, gown.
Beneath it, a black tank top and loose dolphin shorts created a strikingly intense impression.
Thanks to her peculiar attire, one’s gaze was naturally drawn to her, and few players disliked this character brimming with decadent charm, offering free treatment and whispering various explanations.
Her petite stature was another notable point.
Yet.
Players remained ignorant of Miko’s past.
Miko, the broker and illicit doctor.
Miko, skilled despite her laziness and idleness.
Miko, possessing an suspiciously vast collection of dubious implants.
The reason for Miko’s settlement in the wasteland remained unknown; her past was not recounted within the game’s narrative.
From the outset, she had no distinct storyline of her own.
After merely providing free treatment to the protagonist in the early stages, Miko would not offer her services even for a fee once the mid-game was reached.
For this reason, people had speculated her story might appear in DLC, yet even there, Miko’s narrative was absent.
She would even vanish entirely during the latter half of the story.
Though Miko remained shrouded in such mystery, a conversation with her would reveal a crucial fact.
Miko held no great attachment to life, and was a person who kept a potent poison hidden between her molars, ready to die at any moment.
Thus, she was tough enough to pull that shotgun’s trigger right now.
‘Subdue her.’
‘But how?’
The answer struck Soo the moment she saw Miko aiming the shotgun at her head.
Didn’t characters in movies often knock people out by striking the back of their neck?
Soo intended to try just that.
‘My strength and speed are sufficient.’
‘I just need to control them.’
“Don’t come any closer, you son of a b*tch!”
As if sensing Soo’s impending movement, a click echoed as Miko loaded a shell into the shotgun.
Apparently, it hadn’t been loaded until then.
Though always prepared for death, Miko was, paradoxically, someone who did not wish to die.
“Calm down.”
“Calm? Calm down?! You crazy b*tch, do I look like I’m in a state to calm down right now?! Even if you’re not one of Lu Qian’s hounds, you just ripped open my f*cking door and barged in, and you tell me to calm down?”
‘Lu Qian’s hound?’
So, Miko was being pursued by Lu Qian.
In that case, her choice to blow her brains out was understandable.
Even Lu Qian, formidable as they were, wouldn’t be able to extract information from a brain obliterated by a shotgun.
Incidentally, this was already the second person entangled with Lu Qian.
Soo, smiling with evident interest, raised both her hands.
“I am Soo. I am not one of Lu Qian’s hounds.”
“Then who are you? Zairek’s butcher? Ha! So now even Zairek has sunk to coveting my research results?”
‘Miko, Miko, why are you involved with so many factions?’
“No. I came to buy an ID chip.”
“And I’m supposed to believe that? If that’s the case, why did you tear down my door?”
“Because the sandstorm didn’t come.”
“…What?”
‘What in the hell is this crazy b*tch babbling about?’
Miko stared at Soo with a bewildered expression.
It was… a little difficult to comprehend.
Miko was a genius.
She knew herself to be a genius.
Yet, at this moment, she couldn’t grasp a single, simple sentence.
‘Why did you tear down the door?’
‘Because the sandstorm didn’t come.’
‘Does that mean if the sandstorm had arrived, she wouldn’t have torn down the door?’
‘What possible connection could a sandstorm have with—’
She could no longer pursue that line of thought.
Although a distance of twenty meters had clearly separated them moments ago, Soo was now suddenly right before her eyes.
Even if she’d been momentarily stunned and lost her focus, how could she have moved so incredibly fast?
“You—!”
Her thoughts ceased.
She had to destroy her brain, and quickly.
Miko’s finger moved onto the trigger.
She pressed down, and with a click, the trigger began to pull.
Before it could fire, however, a sharp thwack! Soo’s hand struck the back of Miko’s neck.
“Eek!”
“Oh.”
But she didn’t pass out.
‘In movies, they usually knock people out by hitting them like that.’
‘Wasn’t my posture and strength control perfect?’
“Lu Qian’s hound!! You’re trying to! Cut! Off my neck!!”
Miko shrieked, a desperate sound, and once again pressed the shotgun to her own head.
“Oh.”
It was quite a ruthless act, aiming to destroy her own brain rather than firing at Soo.
‘This is a sight I definitely never saw in the game.’
‘Incredible.’
Soo smiled brightly, extending her palm.
Click—the sound of the trigger being pulled again echoed.
Reassured that it wasn’t a ‘Tech Shotgun,’ Soo drew upon her mana.
Thwack—
The shotgun flew far away.
‘What should I do now?
Should I force her mouth open and extract her molars?
Miko does have potent poison between them.’
With that thought, Soo reached out her hand.
“Magic…?”
Soo froze, taken aback by Miko’s reaction.
“…You, just now, no, you, no, no. S-Soo-nim (TL Note: A Korean honorific used to show respect, similar to ‘Master’ or ‘Madam’). Was that magic just now?!”
Soo’s eyes widened considerably.
Only for a moment.
Delighted by Miko’s interest in magic, Soo smiled brightly and replied.
“Yes. Isn’t it magnificent?”
“Gasp!”
Miko threw her arms around Soo’s feet.
She looked as though she might even lick Soo’s toes.
****
“Ahem, I apologize. I got a little carried away…”
“It’s fine.”
Miko, her face flushed red like her hair, brought out coffee, looking utterly exhausted.
“…It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Yugiri Miko, a doctor who operates as both a broker and an illegal clinic in the wasteland.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Soo.”
Soo took Miko’s outstretched hand, shook it gently up and down, and offered a small smile.
“You can smoke.”
“…How could I, with Soo-nim right in front of me?”
‘She used to smoke perfectly fine in the game, though.’
It seemed to be because Soo appeared considerably younger.
Still, it was strange.
The air in the wasteland was far more harmful than cigarette smoke.
In this cyberpunk world, cigarette smoke could hardly be considered a carcinogen.
The smoke produced was merely water vapor, not from actual tobacco leaves.
In this world, real tobacco had become the sole preserve of the truly wealthy.
“It’s really fine to smoke.”
“Hmm, well then… I won’t refuse any further.”
Miko, taking a cigarette from the pack on the table and putting it to her lips, briefly turned on a fan before lighting a match and exhaling a plume of smoke.
“Soo-nim.”
The wispy cigarette smoke was carried away by the breeze, vanishing.
“That was magic, wasn’t it? What you did just now.”
“Yes.”
“…Magic.”
Miko’s intense gaze fixed upon the shotgun.
Soo had intended to pick it up, but Miko had almost convulsed, pleading for it to be left exactly where it was… and so it remained abandoned there.
“Do you know about magic too, Miko?”
“I—”
Miko, having spoken that far, clamped her mouth shut.
Many thoughts raced through her mind in that brief moment.
‘Should I speak, or not?’
‘What would happen afterward?’
‘Regarding Soo’s true identity.’
‘Hadn’t she said she wasn’t Lu Qian’s hound?’
Indeed, that seemed unlikely.
From afar, it was imperceptible, but up close, it became clear.
She didn’t carry the distinct chemical scent of a test subject.
All that emanated from her was the smell of the wasteland and a strangely comforting scent of warm flesh.
Nor was she Zairek’s butcher.
How could she be, when she had no implants at all?
If she were Zairek’s butcher, she would already be half-human in appearance.
‘A Neonic?’
The possibility of her being a Neonic was also slim.
Because Neonics… they didn’t walk around looking so disheveled.
‘Then what was she?’
‘Magic…’
It was perfect.
Soo’s magic was flawlessly perfect, beyond reproach.
Although she didn’t possess extensive knowledge of magic, Miko, having been part of Lu Qian’s relic exploration department until a year prior, could recognize its mastery.
For this very reason, Soo was an enigmatic presence.
She wielded magic flawlessly, a power that even the three major corporations leading Eden had failed to perfect despite their research.
“…You truly have no affiliation, do you?”
“Yes.”
“This is… important.
Though it might seem absurd to confirm it verbally, for me, it’s a matter of immense significance, more crucial than my own life.”
If Soo were a corporate agent, Miko would already be dead.
She asked, despite knowing this fact.
So desperate was she.
Instead of answering, Soo slightly lifted her rear.
Before hearing Miko’s secret, she decided to reveal her own first.
Of course, it wasn’t much of a secret at all.
Why would she keep this magnificent tail a secret?
Soo hugged her splendid tail and smiled.
“My secret.”
“Eh?”
“Oh.”
‘A uniquely Japanese reaction!’
‘To hear it in person!
Indeed, the pronunciation and expression of a native speaker were incomparable to any imitation.’
“I am a dragon.”
As Soo beamed, the tail nestled in her arms swayed cutely.
“W-wait.
Wait, wait… Eh?”
“And I am also the master of the magic spread throughout this world.”
“Eh? Really? Eh?”
“My goal is to gather all magic.”
“Eh?”
“I don’t know why, but you’re also looking for magic, aren’t you, Miko?”
“Ehh?”
“We have the same goal.”
As Soo extended her hand, her tail also stretched forward, following her hand.
Miko alternately stared at Soo’s small, fern-like hand and her plump tail, before her nose began to bleed profusely.
“C-can I just touch it once, no, smell it, no, no… can I just, just lick it once?”
“I haven’t showered.”
“That’s fine!”
“You’re being quite perverted right now. It’s unpleasant.”
Soo pushed Miko away with magic.
“Gasp…”
Miko, who had been vulgarly rubbing her cheek against the magic, now gushed even more blood from her nose.
