Chapter 64
Chapter 64
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Inside Out (11)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
***
“Yes, yes. Senior. It’s nothing. No, I’m not being threatened. Yes? The passphrase? I forgot—”
“[#*(&[email protected]&*()*$(!!!!!]”
“Aaah! I remember! I remember now! Rocket candy, right? How many times do I have to say I’m not being threatened? Yes? Team 3 has already dropped everything and finished prepping for deployment? Even loaded up the armaments?”
After the desperate efforts of Professor and his crew, Ezel—still clutching his swollen cheeks—stood up with a dazed look on his face. He struggled to make sense of the rapid-fire report spilling from Professor’s mouth about the current situation. Then, spotting the sun slowly sinking in the west, his face drained of color. He bolted to his suit, clinging to the built-in transceiver like a salaryman who’d just botched a contract, wailing for over ten minutes.
“Hey, Vex. What’s he saying? Can you hear?”
“Shh! It’s a bit far, so I can’t hear everything... Rocket—deployment—armaments? Something like that?”
“Fuck, that means they’re coming for us! Professor! We don’t have time for this! You guys pack your shit now! I’ll lay every trap we’ve got along the approach path!”
“If worst comes to worst, we take that bastard hostage. I tried a hostage stunt in Tobrun recently, and I think I’ve got a knack for it.”
“Shouldn’t have cut that rope earlier.”
“Didn’t think we’d need it again.”
Oblivious to the dark scheme brewing behind him from his three companions, Ezel was somehow managing to defuse the situation.
“Yes, yes. Aww, of course. A written apology? The Audit Division’s wall’s all peeling anyway—you always said it was an eyesore. Perfect timing. I’ll plaster it with apology letters this time. Don’t worry, go on in. Buy Team 3 drinks on the public tab. Ahah, yeah. Of course it’ll come out of my paycheck later. Yes, yes. I’ll head back right away. Yes, go on in~”
*Beep.*
Ezel set down the in-ear piece and let out a sigh of relief. There’d be more than a couple people he’d have to grovel to back home—foreheads to the floor, repeatedly—but for now, the immediate crisis seemed handled.
‘The Professor crew doesn’t seem to hold as much of a grudge against me as I thought.’
Anyway, if he could just get back safely like this, everything would work out, right? Settling a decades-old grudge with the head of BDSM via a stack of apology letters? That’d be a massive profit.
‘Yeah! This is actually an opportunity! With Professor and the Spice Merchant’s skills, BDSM’s bound to grow huge! If I leverage our friendship to pitch myself as a bridgehead between Dome and BDSM, not only will I dodge discipline—I might even get promoted!’
And if he nurtured that relationship carefully until BDSM got recruited by Dome, Professor would end up living in Dome too. A true win-win where everyone’s happy, right?
“You look way too pleased with yourself.”
“Eek!”
Ezel snapped out of his happy place, spotting Professor who’d snuck up beside him.
“Hm? Oh, uh. It all worked out.”
“It did?”
“Y-Yeah. I begged and pleaded, and they got it in the end. No way this blows back here.”
“Oh. That’s a relief. Hey, Vex! Put that down! No raid from Dome!”
“Huh?”
Ezel whipped his head around at Professor yelling behind him, only to see that old guy Vex—who’d gotten way too close, way too quietly—poised right behind his back with a sack of rice over his shoulder.
“No raid? So we don’t need to kidnap this guy?”
“K-Kidnap? Me?”
“Yeah. Luckily it ended well. What a relief, right? Gange?”
Ezel nodded frantically at Professor, who patted his shoulder with a beaming smile.
Professor was still his friend, sure—but a terrifying one. The old grudge seemed mostly laughed off from tying him up earlier, but there was one thing Professor didn’t know yet. A fresh grudge Ezel had cooked up last night in the Audit Division.
‘If that comes out, I might really end up as fertilizer in that greenhouse.’
Oblivious to Ezel’s fears, Professor looked genuinely bummed that an acquaintance he hadn’t seen in five years was already leaving.
“Ezel, you heading out right now?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, gotta go. I’m already way late reporting back—if I drag it out more, it won’t be Audit calling the shots, it’ll be Enforcement. Exo suits are Dome property.”
“Fair. Raptor’s not as capable as Dome, but they’ve got techs too. One whiff of a minor Exo knockoff, and it’s game over.”
“That’s why it’s rigged to self-destruct if the registered user’s heartbeat stops and no new registration happens within fifteen minutes.”
*Whirr—clunk.*
Straddling his Exo suit for a final goodbye to Professor’s crew, Ezel decided to ask one last burning question.
“Professor. Mind if I ask one thing?”
“Hm? Shoot.”
“Sector 45. How the hell did you know to prep for it?”
Dome had informants in Sector 45 and kept eyes on Raptor disputes, so they caught wind early and mobilized. They pulled blueprints for the underground bunker from database records on past building owners, prepped personnel with gear suited for a drawn-out messy brawl, and dispatched. But Professor had been scraping by in GG just two days before the Sector 45 clash escalated. How’d he know?
“Oh, that? Nothing special. On the way to Sector 43 to return this, I met a little guy here who said there was some huge treasure in 45, so it seemed more profitable. Picked up the big fella inside.”
“Uh... so it wasn’t some meticulously planned op? You just teamed up with some randos you bumped into on the way and waltzed in and out?”
“Uh... yeah, that sums it up?”
“Keheheh! Didn’t expect to meet a customer in that shitshow. And not just any customer—a refund-seeker, no less.”
*Rumble-rumble-rumble—*
Ezel shuddered anew in terror, pointing at the shotgun in Professor’s hand as they cackled. Just passing by and looted it. That hellhole where Dome and Raptor had torn into each other tooth-and-nail—they’d looted it like a casual neighborhood stroll.
“Hm? Ezel, why’re you sweating buckets again? Oh, right, you mentioned hyperhidrosis earlier?”
“Y-Yeah! R-Right!”
“Phew. Lucky you live in Sector 47. Water shortage’d kill you quick otherwise. Here, take this and hydrate.”
*Whoosh!*
Ezel barely caught the canteen Professor tossed him, flashing an awkward smile and a wave.
“W-Well, I’m really off then?”
“Oh, wait. Lemme ask one thing too.”
*Thunk!*
Ezel swore his heart just plummeted to his kidney. What now? Did he figure it out? My name change?
Professor scratched his head as he approached, then spoke in a subdued tone.
“You said you’re twenty-two now, so five years ago you were seventeen? What were you up to then?”
“Huh? School, obviously? Dome tries to give citizens a pre-war-ish setup. Subjects are different, but they’ve got elementary, middle, high.”
“Huh. Guess that rules out any connection then. Got it. Safe travels. Swing by if you’re ever passing through. Oh! If you can, spread only good word about our ‘Big Dream Caravan.’”
“Y-Yeah! N-No problem! Catch you in the chat room!”
*Whirr—whirr—*
The endless minute of agony finally ended. Out of Professor’s crew’s sight at last, Ezel floored it back to Dome.
‘Teamed up with a few passersby like tourists with zero intel, slipped into a sealed zone between the wasteland’s top war machines Dome and Raptor, handled their business, and strolled out without a single casualty? That’s not human! We’ve been underestimating them. No clue how they pulled it off, but HIV is way stronger than Dome thinks!’
And last night, Ezel had lit a fire under that monster’s tail. The instant Professor’s caravan started external ops, his screw-up would be laid bare.
‘Karma’s a bitch. All sins come back like boomerangs, huh? And I’ve racked up so many...’
Ezel arrived at the Audit Division armory, face still puffy, tears of remorse streaming. He shoved aside Kimi demanding answers and hammered out a report. Soon, he finished his heartfelt masterpiece and submitted it straight to the chief.
The report, boldly stamped [BDSM Caravan Threat Reassessment & Response Manual Proposal], brimmed with warnings: how powerful this group was, and how treating them like a normal caravan would bring massive damage to Dome.
***
“Weird guy.”
“Weird guy for sure.”
“Let him be. That’s just how he is.”
After the chaos settled, while Vex and Ian tidied the mess, Professor approached Corduro’s drone and flipped its voice device back on.
*Ding-ding-ding—*
“Phew! Thought I’d suffocate, Master! If I could’ve spoken, I’d have cleared up that silly misunderstanding in a snap!”
“You’d have cleared the small one while brewing a massive one. I can see it now, you idiot. Go make food.”
“Fiiine.”
Grumbling, Corduro whipped up a feast from the last meat, garden potatoes, carrots, and edible greens, setting it on the table.
“Whoa, feast fit for a king? Professor, you eat like this every day?”
“First time in five years since Mom passed. Gotta save power for the fridge, so meat gets eaten on arrival. This fancy spread ends today. Tomorrow it’s potato-and-greens calorie bars.”
“Ptoo! Can’t live on that crap. We’ve got cash now—let’s buy meat.”
“Yeah, exactly. I ain’t a broke scavenger anymore. Can afford ham and joe meat sides easy.”
Professor scooped cube steak from the big pan onto his plate and asked Vex.
“Oh yeah, that key’s still up on the exchange, right?”
*Gulp* “Yeah. Price keeps climbing, so holding. Joe, pass the carrots?”
*Clack—*
“Here. So, how high’s it gone now?”
“Gotta check. Uh... Corduro? Remote access possible?”
“Yessir, new Master! Time dilation means players in pods can’t input GG data, but viewing existing data’s fine! Log in under your name?”
“Yeah. ‘Unemployed.’”
Vex entered the nickname, did his bio-pattern scan, accessed the exchange, and turned the screen to Professor.
“Here. Shot up a ton while we weren’t looking.”
*Chew-chew* “Let’s see if it’s enough for meat sides—”
[Auction: Sector 45 Underground Bunker Security Key 1/2 (Left) - Starting Bid (1,000k /sil) / Highest Bid (10,320k / sil)]
“Pffft—!”
“Gah!”
“Damn it, Professor! Hogging the food?!”
“Wh-What the hell...”
Ian cursing behind him? Vex griping? Professor heard nothing. 10,320k. What’s k stand for? Thousand marker, right? Heh, no way. That booger-sized key worth over ten million sil? Impossible.
“K-K for Korean, right? New currency popped up—Korean sil. Right, Vex? That’s one thousand three hundred twenty Korean sil?”
“What kinda crazy talk is that? Nations died out ages ago.”
Professor grabbed Vex’s arm—mid-complaint about food splatter—as he dished veggies and meat onto his own plate.
“Th-Then that’s really thirteen million sil?”
“Y-Yeah...?”
*Slide—*
*Thud!*
Professor’s legs gave out, and he collapsed.
“Keheheh. I nearly passed out when Vex showed me that top-listed auction, saying we’d use public funds. Man, true wasteland survivor scavengers got the eye for valuables.”
Amid their grins, Professor’s brain spun like a motor.
‘Expected max 5 mil. How’d it hit that? Only Dome and Raptor can drive bids that high. Situation changed? Butterfly effect from recent events?’
Recalling big recent incidents, a conclusion clicked in Professor’s head.
“Arms race... It’s not just the facility price, huh?”
“Hah, head on that guy’s unstoppable. We debated three days straight—what takes you one minute.”
“Kehe! That’s how he makes his living.”
Ian and Vex’s banter showed agreement. Professor voiced his conclusion in a shaky tone.
“Too good for Dome. As you know, Dome’s only got unfair combat projection near their city—where Exos can refuel and repair. Step out, and Raptor stomps them. So Dome builds cities, Raptor stops ’em—life or death stakes.”
His voice shifted from panicked tremble to excited quiver. Grasping this insane opportunity via analysis made it sink in.
“Then Dome and Raptor clash in 45, leading to this weird stalemate. Surface pushback? No bunker access. Entering makes you a rat in a trap.”
“Yep. Cut ventilation, light a fire topside, and it’s a tomb.”
“So Raptor just needs that key to halt Dome expansion. Dome sees it as victory must-have, and with their cash piles, auction win’s a given. Shove out Raptor troops, scavengers massacred and cleared out—no rads, solid city skeleton left—and they take Sector 45 easy!”
Ten million sil? Pocket change. It’s basically the key to the gate of a new city in 45. Plenty room for more climb.
“Vex, you’re insanely rich now...”
“Heh heh. Don’t leave me out—we’re using that for settling here and caravan ops. Public funds.”
Yeah, and the leftovers’d cover daily meat easy.
Tearing up at Vex’s cackle, Professor thought as he watched them lost in happy fantasies of the windfall.
‘Outside stuff’s wrapped up near-perfect. Time to head back and fix my problem.’
Big Dream launched successfully. Planted a solid impression with Dome; Gange said he’d put in good words, so decent treatment likely. Living with Vex and Ian ups external safety. Raptor beef? No biggie unless leaving 47.
‘Loose ends tied. Time for the big one.’
[Hee hee. You call me?]
‘Yeah, you. You.’
Hyde. Another soul rooted in his head. Cancer-like, growing to devour his mind someday. Faint hope for a cure? GG, where it spawned.
“Time to restart the game of chicken, Hyde.”
Professor grinned savagely at the login pod.
***