Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Happy Halloween! (3)
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I realized we had arrived at the entrance to Harlem in an instant.
It was because Walker was standing there, radiating an overwhelming presence. He was dressed in a black suit.
That monochromatic figure of his looked truly...
Like something you shouldn't get too close to.
People hurried past him, giving him a wide berth.
"Senior."
I bowed my head in greeting beside Shu, who was waving her hand.
"Long time no see."
"Let's go."
Walker didn't exchange any pleasantries.
We silently entered a shadowy alley.
I could feel that we had entered a different zone. The smell wafting through the air was different. A faint fishy stench mixed with the smell of drugs. The odor of rusted metal and unpleasant garbage.
Near the walls, several people sat with glazed eyes, lost in their drugs.
We passed them indifferently and navigated the narrow alleys.
I obediently followed behind Shu and Walker. It grew progressively darker, and the drug smell intensified. Signs began lighting up with eye-straining colors. The flashing neon revealed the filthy floor. Laundry draped haphazardly over metal railings, trash rolling on the ground, empty syringes.
Pushing past such things, a glowing shop appeared at the end of the dark, narrow alley.
I blankly stared at the neon sign shining in blue and pink.
[Game Over : restart?]
What a unique name.
Walker was the first to approach the shop on the first floor and open the door.
"It's cramped."
Walker's gangster-like demeanor clashed horribly with the flashy game shop.
In any case, he hunched over and entered. Shu followed behind him, her face slightly flushed with excitement as she practically skipped in.
I completely understood her feelings. Standing in front of the game shop myself, my heart suddenly started pounding.
I had to buy that series, and grab a bunch of other games too.
I happily stepped inside.
A cramped space, so packed with all sorts of games it felt suffocating, unfolded before me. There was a counter in the center. The owner sat there in a topless state behind a transparent glass counter.
A skull tattoo was vividly inked on her left forearm.
The tattoo's owner freaked out upon seeing Walker.
"Why the hell are you back here?"
We all froze at the owner's words.
Walker, who had been staring her down, responded.
"Who are you to ask?"
"What does it matter to you? I'm just a local around here."
"What does it matter to you if you know why I came back."
The owner's jet-black bobbed hair framed a mouth that clamped shut.
That didn't erase the terror in her eyes, though. It seemed Walker was quite infamous in this neighborhood. They said he was a former renowned fixer from the back alleys.
In the narrow shop, the beeping game sound effects played rhythmically.
Shu completely ignored their conversation and approached the owner.
"Got any From Alphabet series?"
The owner, who had been hugging her body while wary of Walker, turned her head.
She narrowed her eyes at Shu.
"What series?"
"Games with 'From' in the title followed by a single alphabet letter. We came here because you have them."
"Oh, that."
The owner picked up a cigarette pack from the counter.
"Sold a few months ago."
"What?"
I couldn't help but blurt out loudly.
The owner didn't even flinch as she lit her cigarette. Her indifferent gaze rolled toward me.
"Sold."
"To who?"
"What does it matter to you lot..."
Crash!
An enormous crash, and the glass counter shattered into pieces.
I gaped at Walker, who had smashed the counter.
He loomed over the owner intimidatingly. No doubt he broke it to threaten her.
Is it okay to do this to a civilian?
"B-Black... Black Badger..."
"You said you're just a local."
The owner stammered while hugging herself tighter, but Walker didn't blink.
The massive man hunched down low.
The owner recoiled her upper body as far back as possible in panic. Anyone could see it looked like a thug threatening a shop owner in his turf.
Should I stop this or not?
As I wrestled with intense internal conflict, Walker whispered lowly.
"You've got street smarts, that's why you can run a nice game shop like this without trouble."
"What did I even do..."
"Simple."
He pulled a wad of cash from his inner pocket, held it out to the owner, and grinned sinisterly.
"This is for repairs."
The shop owner's eyes went wide.
Walker set the wad down in front of the gaping man and patted his shoulder.
"You've got the smarts for it."
The sold game was the title 'From A'.
Sold at the end of August. More precisely, August 30th at 8 PM.
We clustered around the CCTV footage the now-cheerful owner showed us after receiving more than enough for repairs. The From Alphabet games were rare on the market, with fewer than 30 copies per series, but they were popular among enthusiasts for their solid storylines.
There were five in the series total: A, E, I, R, K.
The rarest were A and E, with maybe 10 copies surviving each. This shop's owner had slapped an outrageous premium on 'From A'. So exorbitant that even hardcore fans would curse and walk away.
That's why it had sat unsold in the shop for a while.
But two months ago, it was bought by the mysterious figure caught on CCTV.
The buyer wore a hood pulled low, a mask, and crouched like a cat. Didn't speak. Typed on their phone and showed it to the owner to communicate.
Suspicious.
"Probably a woman? Had long hair."
"Build looks male..."
"Gender doesn't matter."
Walker cut off the owner and Shu's mutterings sharply.
He narrowed his eyes at the screen, then straightened his hunched back.
"Can't identify from this. Just note the hair. We can pick them out on sight."
"Ah, thank you."
I hadn't expected him to care about the game.
I thought we'd just browse and move on to the main topic.
We hadn't even properly explained why we came to the game shop. Shu said she never told Walker about the From Alphabet games. He didn't know why they were special.
So why go as far as smashing the counter and paying out of pocket to help track it down?
In any case, I bowed and expressed my gratitude, and Walker rolled his eyes to look down at me.
I met his gaze and added an explanation.
"I didn't expect you to go to such lengths for something so trivial."
"It's important enough."
Walker countered in a low voice.
The light in his deep-set eyes gleamed sharply.
"To you."
"Ah, yes. Well, I love games and want to collect this series... But Senior, why did you call me here?"
Seeing him help like this, I couldn't hold back the question. Shu, who had been watching the CCTV, turned to look at us too.
The shop owner was humming a tune a few steps away, sweeping up the glass shards.
Walker kept a brief silence before speaking.
"The Old Spider knows you."
The shop owner dropped her broom and dustpan.
But Shu and I didn't understand Walker's words.
"Spider?"
"Weird nickname."
"That info broker?"
The shop owner explained in a raspy voice instead.
Her eyes widened in shock, frozen in the pose where she had dropped the broom and dustpan.
"That legendary info broker from the tales is still alive?"
"The Old Spider is an info broker?"
Shu asked in the same tone she'd use to inquire about the company lunch menu.
"Why would a famous back-alley info broker know my junior?"
Exactly.
I was touched that Shu called me 'my junior,' but blinked amid the flood of questions. From the owner's reaction, it seemed like a famous figure.
No one came to mind. Maybe because it was a nickname, not a real name.
Walker observed my expression closely.
"Is the Old Spider looking for me?"
I asked, facing the inscrutable gaze of the former fixer.
"I have no idea who that is..."
"You'll find out when you meet."
There was a strange metallic ring in the senior's low voice.
"Since we can't find the game right now, today we'll go to the Old Spider..."
Thud.
A bizarre sound rang out.
Everyone in the shop turned their heads. The bulletproof glass window illuminating the eerie, filthy alley.
Blood and flesh were splattered on the glass.
Eyeballs and organs too.
"What the..."
I stammered, staring at the corpse shattered like it had taken a grenade blast.
"What is this... What... No special sound or anything..."
"Creature?"
Shu shot up from her chair.
But Walker and the shop owner didn't flinch.
They didn't even move. They just calmly looked at the window. Surprisingly, the owner's eyes were apathetic as she gazed at the chunks of corpse plastered to the glass.
The shop owner spat curses at the eyeball stuck to one side of the glass, the shredded skin, blood, bits of organ.
"Half-assed bastards."
"Unofficial Enhanced Body possessors."
Walker explained bluntly.
"Sometimes the body can't handle the Enhanced Body and bursts like a balloon."
Ah.
So this was the sound of the illegal procedures Log had mentioned on the first day.
I stared blankly at the window with remnants sliding down.
The corpse was gruesome. Stepping out the shop door would hit me with a protein stench.
Even now, the fishy scent of death seeped in.
With side effects this severe, why do people seek illegal procedures? I couldn't help furrowing my brow at the corpse. Clearly, both the ones performing and receiving them weren't thinking straight.
Later, I should ask Yoon or Ami about this.
And about the back-alley info broker too...
The moment I thought that, heavy footsteps shook the shop.
Thud thud thud thud thud!
A crowd of people crossed the dark alley.
The frantic footsteps pounded my ears. I saw terrified people fleeing past the game shop into the alleys, scattering in all directions.
All wearing the same clothes.
Pale-faced, running from something.
What the hell is this now?
Doesn't look like a Halloween event from their expressions or outfits.
And why are the footsteps so heavy?
Before the panicked group vanished from sight, Walker moved first.
A sleek motion like a black panther.
"Illegal Enhanced Body possessors."
The senior flung open the shop door and headed into the alley.
Shu hurriedly chased after him toward the door.
"Catch them all. Before they kill civilians as bait."
Walker vanished before my eyes.
Hearing his last words laced with that metallic tone, I bolted out of the game shop, questions forgotten.