The Silver-Haired Hacker
Am I going to die here...?
In this damned cyberpunk world where only meritocracy rules everything.
There was a place called the Underworld.
People called it by different names and many lived there for various reasons, but in short, it was just a slum.
It was where people who lacked the money to live in the city center resided.
'And it's also quite a dangerous place...'
Unlike the city, mostly inhabited by normal people whose emotions had been suppressed, this place was dominated by Mutants.
That made sense. While emotional mutations often depended on innate luck, they could also be caused by external factors.
Many parents here couldn't afford artificial insemination capsules for their children.
Without the help of machines, mutations naturally increased over generations.
And among the Underworld residents, the back alleys were where those who had turned to crime lived.
Most had given up on ever reaching the city center no matter how hard they worked, so they lived recklessly.
'Looking at it this way, emotions do seem like a double-edged sword...'
Still, I preferred a world with emotions. At least it wasn't a rigid society.
That was how I arrived at the meeting spot.
In the outer area of the promised back alley, I waited for the hacking master.
"...Why is this person like this?"
Did I get stuck with a constellation that died without ever dating?
...Alright, I can definitely tell she's insane.
'Well, love barely exists in this world, so I can't say I don't understand...'
Even so, reacting that strongly felt a bit much. More than anything, it was incredibly annoying having it constantly echo in my head.
"No, you don't have to go that far."
Maybe it was because I was wearing decent clothes, even if not a full suit. I could feel the gazes of people passing through the back alleys.
"...I don't know either."
I answered the constellation asking about my safety along with the worried emoticon.
I'd only ever heard stories about the back alleys. This was my first time actually stepping inside. Compared to the people here, my family was relatively well-off, and I'd been working properly at a large corporation.
Most people here blew through their earnings day by day. To their eyes, my presence could only be irritating.
"No way..."
Even so, I didn't think they'd go as far as harvesting organs. It wasn't that I trusted people's humanity. There simply wasn't much use for real organs anymore.
Organ transplants? Everything could be replaced with machines.
They were even cheap enough that people living here could buy one after saving for a few months.
Since clinical trials were handled through advanced simulations, there wasn't much worry about being harvested for experimental organs either.
...Of course, that was assuming no one was desperate enough to save that kind of money, or if some unscrupulous corporations got involved.
Still, I didn't think something that unlucky would happen to me specifically.
"Haa..."
How long had I been waiting for my contact?
-Tap tap
Feeling someone tap my shoulder, I turned my head.
"...Hey."
A voice came at the same time.
When I turned, a silver-haired girl who looked several heads shorter than me was looking up at me.
'...Have you lost your mind?'
This person was really going too far.
Even so, there were lines people shouldn't cross. Not all girls were good. Mature women were good.
'......Why am I even thinking about this in the first place?'
Maybe I'd been tainted from constantly talking with these weird constellations. Ugh, I should just pretend I didn't hear anything.
Well, anyway.
Leaving the comedy show playing in my head behind, I asked the child.
"Little girl? Where's your mom?"
"...Huh?"
The girl looked at me with an incredulous expression.
"I don't have a mom."
"...Then your dad...?"
"Don't have one either."
The girl's expression soured for a moment before a smile bloomed on her face, as if she'd found something amusing.
...What? That was clearly a dad joke, yet she's laughing. Is this what kids these days call next-level trolling?
The moment I thought that—
"Hearing such a novel line come out first, you must be GM, right?"
"...What?"
'...Huh?'
At the girl's words, a thought flashed through my mind.
GM. The nickname I used on the gallery.
If she wasn't a gallery user, there was no way she'd know that name. In other words, this person knew about the gallery's existence and that I'd be coming here...
Hard to believe, but in this situation, there was only one such person.
'No way...'
This kid was the hacking master?
No, this wasn't some manga about a superpowered loli girl.
She didn't look like a short adult. She genuinely looked like a young child. At best, a high schooler?
Even that was being generous. Based on height alone, she could pass for an elementary or middle schooler.
"Uh, by any chance..."
"Yeah, I'm the hacking master. You're here to trade for a computer, right?"
"Ah, yeah... I mean, yes."
...I don't know.
In an era where most things could be done with machines and hacking, there had to be something going on. Or maybe she was just a stand-in sent by the real person.
...But if so, didn't that make the hacking master someone who made a child commit crimes?
Well, from my perspective, as long as I got the computer, it didn't really matter.
Even if that were the case, what sin did this child commit? She was just coming out briefly on behalf of the original owner to receive payment for the transaction. For someone from the back alleys, and even for someone from the capital, it was a pretty good deal.
So, let's just think that good is good.
"Come on, follow me for now."
"...Huh?"
"You weren't planning to trade something like that out in the open, were you?"
At those words, I looked around and realized something.
Unlike before, no one was openly staring, but people were still watching us from between buildings and alleyways.
'This is definitely going to be troublesome.'
Even in the back alleys where crime was practically routine, they couldn't openly conduct black market deals like this.
Seeing how thorough she was, she probably wasn't an ordinary child.
"I've prepared everything else, so just bring yourself. Leave it all to me."
"...Yes, let's go."
...I'm not about to get kidnapped, am I?
Hearing that suddenly made me feel uneasy.
The way she said it made it sound like she was only interested in my body.
It was embarrassing to say, but because I took good care of myself, the contents (?) were in pretty good condition too.
To the point where, beyond being clean, there were no parts replaced with machines at all.
'Well, that's also because I have the mindset of someone from the 21st century...'
Honestly, I wasn't sick or anything. I didn't feel the need to replace perfectly fine organs with machines.
For some reason, they just felt too artificial.
That's why I usually kept my brain chip turned off unless necessary and did most things manually.
What if I got hacked?
Living completely without any implants was impossible since the chip was tied to company work, so I had no choice.
Anyway, because of that, my body was perfect for observing the results of the experiment.
"...We're going pretty deep."
"Huh? Well, yeah. It's not exactly a simple item."
The deeper I followed the girl, the darker it became, and with the flickering neon signs, anxiety crept over me.
...I trust you, Constellation-nim.
In my entire life, I'd never thought a constellation could seem this reliable.