Rocket Delivery
Swoo, having barely managed to calm down Angela's declaration of murder and John's declaration of suicide, untied John before continuing their conversation.
However, the contents of their chat were entirely devoid of substance.
Swoo was simply thrilled by the transgressive thrill of socializing with a fixed-nick user from a community that strictly banned personal networking. She chattered away excitedly, without discussing anything of actual importance.
Consequently, John could only offer half-hearted responses.
At times, unable to say anything at all, he simply begged her to kill him.
It was terrifying to think how Noise knew his usernames, let alone how she had memorized his posting history in such vivid detail.
To know every single incident and drama that had occurred within the community—especially those involving John—she might as well be called the ghost of the forums.
What would have happened to him if he had ever written a post criticizing Noise?
He didn't even want to imagine it.
And then there was the other Noise.
The slightly larger Noise standing behind the smaller one was simply terrifying. The murderous intent radiating from behind her gentle voice exerted a constant, suffocating pressure on him.
Is it really because of my usernames...?
John knew his usernames were... embarrassing to show to others.
That was why he had completely changed his tone of voice to post on alt accounts, and why he had created a couple more in preparation for the occasional ban. He never expected to be exposed so thoroughly.
I used those accounts ages ago. How did she dig them up from the grave?
Even if she knew "Lepando," the other two—no, three—were usernames he hadn't used in forever.
Unless someone had scraped the very bottom of the community archives and manually investigated every single incident, those names should have been impossible to find.
So how did the Noise in front of him know them? The accounts weren't even registered under his real name; they were created using stolen identities...
"Ahem."
As their fear-laden conversation dragged on, the larger Noise cleared her throat from behind.
At the sound, the smaller Noise, Swoo, checked the time and abruptly cut herself off.
It was about time to head over to Serena.
Now that the chaos in the Hub had subsided, it was best to make a move.
"Hey, Mr. Reporter."
"...Yes?"
"You like getting attention, don't you?"
"W-well..."
"That's why you write those kinds of articles to draw attention."
John's mouth worked silently for a long moment.
Attention... He certainly liked it. But it wasn't for the thrill of being noticed; it was out of hope that the attention would lead to a contact from a real news agency.
But was it safe to admit that?
Everyone said not to trust strangers. In practice, people lived by that rule. They kept their personal stories to themselves and hid their weaknesses as much as possible.
"...I..."
What he was about to say could easily become a weakness. Even so, he decided to just speak.
After all, now that all his alt accounts had been exposed, what difference would it make if they had another hold on him?
"As you said, I do like getting attention. But the attention itself isn't the goal—"
"You want to be a real reporter, right?"
John's eyes widened.
"T-that's correct."
"I'll help you."
"You'll help me...?"
"From now on, you just have to write real articles."
"...A-articles? Do you mean the kind of articles I write for the community?"
"Not those cheap rags. Real news articles."
John's head drooped weakly.
It was true that they were cheap. He was writing absolute garbage. But hearing it laid bare like that still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"...Why are you doing this for someone like me?"
"There's a condition, of course."
"I-I don't have anything to offer—"
"Start a news agency. We'll handle the corporate registration and the Press Association registration on our end, so you just need to run a one-man news outlet. Don't reveal your identity, and don't hire any staff. Of course, we'll help you with all of that. You just have to investigate and write articles on your own. Easy, right?"
John's expression went blank.
Swoo spoke of it so casually, but corporate registration and joining the Press Association required an immense amount of time and money.
It made sense.
Setting aside corporate registration, the moment one was admitted to the Press Association, they gained the right to publish real articles on legitimate news portals.
In other words, once the association registration was complete, John would truly be a real reporter.
And Swoo was offering this as if it were nothing.
Did he feel reluctant?
Not in the slightest. He wanted to scream with joy right then and there.
If he could work alone under someone's protection, it meant he could finally write honest articles.
It was the life John wanted most, a dream he had nurtured since childhood.
Yet, he couldn't help but worry.
Why was Noise suddenly doing this for him? He had nothing to offer. If he hadn't met Noise, he would have gone to work tomorrow morning only to be showered in abuse.
"...A-aren't I just receiving everything? That... that can't really be called a deal..."
"Deals are made between people of equal weight classes."
Swoo's single sentence turned John's face pale once more. If it had been shame before, now it was sheer terror.
Even as he spoke, he realized how arrogant his words must have sounded.
Of course, Swoo hadn't meant it that way.
"So, you just need to grow that one-man news agency and build up your weight class. When the time comes, I'll come to collect the price for what I'm giving you now."
"...Why on earth are you doing this for a pathetic human like me?"
"Because we're friends."
John couldn't comprehend Swoo's words.
How could they be friends when he didn't even know Noise's true identity? In fact, John didn't even know if Noise was a human or an android. For all he knew, she might be one of those experimental subjects from Lui Chen rumored in urban legends.
Regardless of his confusion, Swoo handed over John's shard case, which she had kept in her pocket, and continued.
"There's an untappable private line registered inside this shard. First, send me the address of the place you'll use as an office and your personal ID for receiving payments. Obviously, a regular house won't work; it has to be a commercial complex. Otherwise, we can't register it as a business."
John's face remained blank.
A regular house couldn't be registered as a business? That was news to him. Besides, he didn't have the money to rent a new office. Would he have to give up his monthly rental room, take out a loan, and use his deposit to secure an office...?
Even as those thoughts raced through his mind, Swoo kept talking.
"Once the association registration is complete, I'll send you your registration certificate along with the topic of the first article you need to write. It'll be delivered via shard, and I'll include a VPN that you must keep running twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. Just route your IP through the VPN when you write."
Once he wrote that first article, she wouldn't care what else he chose to cover. However, she would occasionally send him topics to write about, and he had to prioritize those over everything else.
With that, Swoo took a step back.
"Don't let money blind you. Live like a human being. Well, bye. See you next time."
"...What do you mean by—"
John couldn't finish his sentence.
In the blink of an eye, Noise vanished.
There was no trace of anyone left in the warehouse where John had been held captive.
In the absolute silence that filled the space, John slowly chewed over Noise's words.
The word "friend" in particular bothered him.
"...F-friend?"
To John, the only friends he had were online friends. If he had money, he would have bought a Reina to make her his girlfriend, but penniless as he was, he only had his community friends.
Those "fixed-nick" users he felt a quiet, internal closeness to in a community that strictly banned networking...
And if he had to name the one he felt closest to...
It would be the self-proclaimed "Dragon from Earth 2" who showed up under every single post he wrote, spamming bizarre emoticons—in other words, a notorious troll.
"N-no way...?"
John recalled the post history of that troll and shook his head violently.
That bizarre entity and Noise were the same person...?
If that were true, it would be nothing short of cosmic horror.
So, John desperately denied his own hypothesis.
It was a realm of knowledge beyond human comprehension, and he felt a deep certainty that he should not approach the truth.
"Is our Swoo really trying to build a megacorporation?"
"Yep?"
"Looking at the roles of the people gathered around you, every single one of them is a vital component of a megacorp."
A famous fixer.
An ECPD officer soon to be promoted to chief of investigations.
A corporate CEO who, despite being a bullet shield, was undeniably competent.
A Lui Chen managing director who could attend board meetings.
The head of a fairly large law firm.
A mercenary willing to lay down his life to protect his beliefs.
The mercenary's lover and former team leader of Talos.
And now, as of today, a media outlet.
Plus, though not yet certain, the head of a secure transport company and an unidentified fixer.
From raw power to brains and wealth.
It was a network that covered all the bases.
Although all these connections seemed to have formed by chance, looking at it like this... it almost felt as if Swoo had gone out of her way to seek them out.
"I have no intention of doing that," Swoo softly denied.
"I hate ruling, and I hate being ruled. I don't need surveillance, and I don't need absolute standards. The same goes for good and evil, black and white."
Her light steps had a spring to them, and her expression was as lazy as ever.
"Since I don't like it, I have no intention of forcing it on others."
She whispered softly in that manner.
"People just need to live by leaning on other people. I hope they don't get swallowed by rigidity and lose their color."
Having said that, Swoo looked around.
Although the sun was still up and the neon signs were not yet lit, Swoo's eyes sparkled as if they were reflecting neon lights.
"That's all I want."
By the time she finished speaking, the two of them had arrived in front of the Lui Chen Westtown branch.
"Well, um... Swoo. For someone who says that..."
"Yep?"
"Don't you constantly provoke people and pit corporations against each other to make them act exactly as you want...?"
"Even the most beautiful gem needs polishing."
With a playful grin, Swoo walked into the building. Angela hacked the security cameras at the perfect moment to erase any recording of them, and Swoo snapped her fingers in sync.
"Kyaah!"
A shrill shriek erupted right in front of Swoo and Angela. It was only natural. Two people had suddenly materialized out of thin air, so it would have been stranger not to be startled.
However, considering who had let out that startled shriek, it was both strange and fascinating.
"Serena, I didn't know you could scream like that."
Serena, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, blinked in disbelief for a long moment before yelling at the top of her lungs.
"You scared... No, why did you suddenly... Ugh... I'm going to kill you! F-fuck!"
She seemed to have thrown in a curse at the end to sound threatening, but with her face flushed bright red, she just looked cute.