Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Contagious Resolve
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Jin's flinch came from a sense of déjà vu.
A sensation he'd felt once before.
It resembled the moment Rokan had unleashed his self-rotation technique to fell that monster—the intense aura from that day was emanating from the woman standing alone there.
But that lasted only a moment.
Jin instinctively realized she didn't measure up to Rokan.
Unlike Rokan, whose presence had been perfectly contained, evoking the term "return of the army in triumph," hers shone more openly around her. Yet its intensity fell short of the individual might Rokan had displayed.
With that, Jin relaxed.
You're not Rokan, huh?
His tensed shoulders loosened naturally, and his hand settled on his thigh instead of Gravis.
The other two, though, still needed time.
Eric's visor was plastered with question marks, and even Poh—who always greeted customers with a soft smile—was maintaining a brief silence this time.
In the end, it was Jin who responded to the woman.
"Yeah. Anecdote."
At that, gazes turned his way.
Eyes harboring white flame.
That sublime heat.
At the same moment, Jin's optic nerve reacted.
Crackle! Unbeknownst to him, a purple spark lightly danced around his face before vanishing. The woman, the only one to notice, wore a subtle expression.
Then, in a low voice, she asked,
"Are you the owner here?"
"Nah? Just a lowly employee."
"...What?"
A furrow creased her brow.
"Are you messing with me?"
"...In what way?"
This time, Jin tilted his head.
Messing with you? What?
The bartender behind me is the boss's right-hand man, and that helmet-head over there is a legit Level 4 Solo. No matter how ridiculous they look, you can't just ignore them.
As he grumbled internally and glanced at Eric, Jin spotted the screen filled with question marks and quietly averted his eyes.
Damn, why's he still doing that? Can't cover for me properly.
He himself had bedhead like a bird's nest, eye boogers to boot.
All because he'd rushed over without even washing up for breakfast.
The person in question, oblivious and brazen, opened his mouth toward the woman watching him silently.
"Anyway, it's not me. The owner's someone else."
"Then call your owner. I need to speak with him."
"Looking for me?"
Right on cue, a voice drifted from behind, accompanied by the characteristic sweet, smoky scent and the clack-clack of heels drawing near.
"Kalifa, manager of Anecdote. How can I help?"
At Kalifa's words, the woman's gaze slowly shifted to her.
"You're the Linker?"
"I live half my life that way. Want me to suit up?"
The two women's eyes met in midair.
In that silence, Jin slurped his milk.
It was that brief—the glass hadn't even hit the table before someone spoke.
Kalifa.
"...I didn't expect you'd come all the way here."
Her tone suggested she knew who it was.
And the reply that followed.
"Because you're dragging your feet."
The woman approached the table.
She sat on the backless round stool, and only then did her full outfit come into belated view—details he'd missed, captivated by those intense eyes.
Black straight hair reaching her lower back, a deeply pulled-down baseball cap and mask, white tee, blue jeans.
To Jin, it felt oddly familiar.
Back home, celebrities snapped in their private moments wore exactly that getup in massive tabloid photos.
Plain clothes, but the wearer made them stand out.
Pretty or handsome people pull off half-hiding their faces with a cap effortlessly.
But why does she keep glancing over?
As Jin pulled a face, the woman turned from him to Kalifa.
"Why no real updates? You said you caught the broker."
At that, a garish flash of red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet blinked in the corner of Jin's vision.
Ah, it's distracting.
Keep looking first, and it'll spoil me.
Even as he thought that, his eyes flicked over involuntarily. Sure enough, Eric was signaling with his face.
[→ → Client → →]
'I know.'
Jin mouthed back.
Who do you think I am?
The text flipped again.
[→ → Solrad → →]
Exactly as expected.
No wonder she'd overlapped with Rokan in his mind.
Those flame-filled eyes.
Jin knew little of white flame, but pair "flame" with "family," and only one name emerged.
'I got it.'
Having wrapped up this meaningful exchange of meaningful glances with his overly helpful senior, Jin refocused on the conversation.
Kalifa was just about to speak anyway.
"We nabbed him last evening. Not even a full day yet. Give it a little—"
"No."
The woman cut her off firmly.
"Walter's suffering right now. The moment I learned his situation, my sense of time diverged from yours. I've waited long enough. Don't test my patience further."
Jin narrowed his eyes at that.
Her words alone made it clear she wasn't Walter's enemy.
Family, then. Little sister, maybe?
[Daughter? Daughter?]
Ah, damn. Eyes keep twitching.
As Jin turned away from the human billboard with effort.
"So that patience lasts until this evening?"
Kalifa's question hung, and after a long silence, the woman spoke slowly.
"I'll come back before dark."
"It's always dark here."
"I know."
She wouldn't wait till evening.
With that, she rose and left without looking back, the bell's ding the only farewell in the silence.
"Total brat. That's rich kids for ya..."
Kalifa sighed at the closed door.
Then, as usual, she fetched a bottle from the display. While she prepared her drink, Eric rose from the sofa and plopped onto a table chair.
Jin, breakfast long finished, stayed put.
They hadn't said a word, but both were eagerly awaiting the gossip. Kalifa, who'd started her day-drinking early, just smiled faintly.
"Looks like our Solos are full of questions."
Jin shrugged lightly in response, while Eric displayed an ECG graph on his visor. Naturally, Kalifa continued.
"You probably guessed, but our client's a big shot. Or rather, a budding one, if you wanna nitpick?"
"Who?"
Poh answered Jin's question.
"Eanna Solrad. The late family head's late-blooming daughter. Never imagined she'd visit in person."
Jin's eyes widened—not at the staggering background, but because his guess missed the mark.
What? Not family with Walter?
Not family, not enemy, then...
Ignoring the accelerating beep-beep-beep from right beside him, Jin spoke.
"...No way?"
"No idea what you're thinking, but yeah, they're lovers."
At the casual reply, Jin startled and ventured cautiously,
"Th-then isn't that a problem? Same bloodline?"
"Jin. What do you take the Seven Families' history for? Conservatively, a millennium."
"Oh, right."
Jin looked sheepish.
Back home, 518 years after Joseon fell—over a century—the Jeonju Lee clan numbered 2.6 million. Skip two maternal generations, and folks lived like strangers. Same-clan marriages were banned anyway, so he'd overreacted.
Sure, the Seven Families' branches weren't in the millions, but time being time, their numbers weren't trivial.
So the issue here wasn't clan taboos, but direct-line and branch love.
A woman upholding history and tradition, and a lowly mercenary cast out by the family.
"Walter awakened his bloodline years ago, and his parents entrusted their young son to the family. He spent his childhood there."
Talent emerges even in diluted blood, Kalifa said—this was the one way the family embraced branches.
Jin framed it in wuxia terms.
Even old sects gathered gifted kids, dubbing them nth-generation disciples, feeding, teaching, housing them.
The standouts caught elders' eyes, learned supreme arts, flipped their lives overnight.
The duds spent years polishing ancestors' plaques.
Walter leaned toward the latter.
No major growth over time—just sweeping autumn leaves, winter snow while others advanced.
Overstated, of course. Walter had real talent but couldn't cross the final hurdle.
Then he locked eyes with the late head's youngest daughter. True winner?
Jin stifled a yawn.
Predictable. Walter got booted, Eanna never forgot, they nurtured secret love outside the family, etc.
Jin stabbed banality in the eye.
"The late head didn't kidnap Walter, right?"
"...Wouldn't crushing him outright be quicker?"
"Just spitballing."
Jin waved it off dismissively, and Kalifa wrapped up.
"Client's demand is simple: hand over Walter's kidnap location. Wrecking the place is on her."
Jin eyed Poh.
"Didn't you say you got something from Baldy? That it?"
"Yes. The lab's location."
"...What? Then it's done. Why not tell her earlier? Holding out to tell me first?"
Poh shook his head helplessly at Jin's words.
"That could've been a reason, but this case is different. Feels like a trap."
"Trap?"
As Jin blinked in confusion, Kalifa nodded slowly and spoke.
"Gut feeling. The cyberbrain had layers of security, but determined folks could crack it. And the info inside? Perfectly what we needed."
"Coincidental, huh?"
Kalifa nodded at Jin.
"Exactly. Can't rule out possibilities."
Eric cleared the ECG and displayed a long single line, no repeats for once.
[Whatever happens, it's on that woman]
"Right. I just hand over info, done. That's the deal. But I don't want one-offs that fizzle out."
[Keep good ties after?]
"Yeah. Hooking up with Solrad's a big deal. Wanted solid, verified info—no loose ends. Buy time to double-check. But our client can't wait?"
Kalifa said that, then sipped her glass.
Downing it in one go, Jin thought as he watched.
Lives get so complicated.
Is that Linker life?
Patience wasn't Jin's forte—he'd storm the place the second Poh spilled the location.
No wonder "procrastination leads to blunders."
In Jin's view, Walter dying would hit the client harder, but then his eyes met Kalifa's. She spoke as if reading his mind.
"What're you thinking?"
"'Controlling variables is personal skill,' some Linker said?"
"You little..."
The Linker chuckled. She glanced between Jin and Eric, face settling, then spoke.
"Here's the plan. She could trash the lab solo, but unknowns lurk. You two block those variables."
「(Omen!)(Changed!) Contagious Resolve(?)」
Search for Walter alongside the client.
*Fails if Eanna Solrad dies.
*Reward: Perk XP 10,000
Wait, hold up.
Why more XP?