Delivery Complete
“Mmm...”
From preparation to doorstep delivery, everything was complete. She had contacted Salvador, retrieved Victor—who was being 'protected' in Nosterica—and finished the final doorstep delivery.
After meeting Hugo and handing over Victor, she had received her magic.
Afterward, they shared a brief conversation regarding custody of Thompson, which led to a friendly chat between Swoo and Thompson himself.
With that, her work was done.
Now, all she had to do was go home, test out her new magic with Angela, and laze around for a couple of days. After that, she would meet Hugo again to receive the next spell, and deal with the two people scheduled to visit the office. That would wrap up her schedule for the month.
So, first things first: she had to get home.
“...Mmmgh.”
Swoo scratched her cheek, looking troubled.
Her current location was the easternmost edge of Nosterica, while her home was practically at the westernmost tip of Westtown.
To put it simply, they were on opposite ends of the city.
It meant they were very, very far apart.
Given Eden's diagonally elongated geography, it was a dauntingly vast distance.
To make matters worse, thanks to a certain heinous terrorist attack, all public transit in Eastheim was suspended, and the roads were naturally locked down.
If I just force my way through...
She would definitely be tracked. Doing something like that in this climate would probably have them chasing her to the ends of the earth.
If she took a car like an honest citizen, the relic in her bag would undoubtedly trigger the checkpoints.
She could manage it by chain-casting Space Shift, but she wasn't familiar enough with it yet to do so efficiently. She might end up foolishly exhausting herself, just like when she fought the Kimeras while raiding the Lui Chen lab with Enoch.
“The sky...”
Swoo looked up at the sky.
If the ground roads were locked down, the skyways were naturally restricted too.
Flying outside the designated lanes might work, but the sky offered zero cover. She would stand out like a sore thumb.
Swoo tightened the straps of her bag and looked down. ECPD cruisers patrolled with sirens blaring, alongside investigators from the three mega-corporations deployed just to keep up appearances.
If this were Eastheim, the security wouldn't be this tight. But this was Nosterica, the residential haven for Eden's ruling class. Strict control was inevitable.
She thought about calling Serena, but now that Thompson had confessed, the corporate executive would be swamped. Even if Swoo begged, Serena wouldn't be able to make it out here.
She couldn't call Angela either. To maintain her alibi of having stayed at the office, Angela's movements had to be kept to a minimum.
Salvador would probably turn back halfway complaining about his aching knees, and neither Yoo Sena nor Yoo Seung-ah would be of any help.
That left the Etherdams' residence.
Spending about three days there, receiving the magic from Hugo, and then asking him for a ride home seemed like a solid plan.
Hugo undoubtedly had connections within the ECPD, so smuggling Swoo out would be child's play for him.
Swoo sent a quick message to Angela and immediately called Iva. Since Iva, not Agner, was the true head of the household, it was a very wise decision.
“Hi, Iva.”
“Ah, Swoo. It's been a while...”
Once again, it was a video call routed through the private line Angela had set up. Naturally, Swoo's disheveled, dusty appearance was fully visible to Iva.
“S-Swoo? Why are you covered in dust...?”
“I'm in Nosterica. Can I sleep over at your place?”
“We have plenty of empty rooms, so that won't be a problem. In fact, Miss Frey is staying with us right now.”
“Ohh.”
Swoo's eyes widened at the familiar name.
Had Frey also gotten trapped here while looking for goods to sell?
As long as she wasn't hurt, it didn't really matter.
It was also welcome news that she could dump Lucy on Frey and rest in peace.
“By the way, Swoo, did you perhaps...”
“Yep.”
“This terror attack... was it your doing?”
“I don't know anything about it.”
“No matter what you did, you are still our family's savior. You are always welcome to rest at our home. So—”
“Yeah, I did it.”
A soft sigh came through the line. Iva offered a wry smile, nodded, and spoke.
“Where are you right now? I'll send a car to your location.”
“No, it's fine. I can get there on my own. I'll just ring the doorbell when I arrive.”
“Alright, if that's easier for you. We have toothbrushes, spare clothes, and underwear ready, so you don't need to bring anything.”
“Won't Lucy's clothes be too small for me?”
Actually, maybe they would fit? The hoodie Lucy wore last time would probably fit well enough. Besides, it wasn't like she strictly needed underwear. A thick hoodie would cover everything anyway. But that train of thought quickly became irrelevant.
“I bought them in advance just in case you visited. The size should be perfect.”
“Ohhh.”
A mother's foresight truly was something else. Swoo nodded vigorously and hung up.
She looked down once more. The investigators were busily scouring Nosterica, yet an invisible wall divided them. It made sense. In the process of breaking out Honoka, the former Talos captain, Swoo had provoked all four major factions. The bad blood from that incident would not wash away easily.
Of course, the upper echelon would figure out who the real culprit was, but they had no reason to make it public. In fact, doing so would only hurt them. Keeping them suspicious and spying on one another, just like they were doing now, set the perfect stage for the elites to plot their next moves. It would also help smoke out any unidentified double agents.
Realizing that this situation actually benefited the ruling class made her briefly consider stirring the pot to make it more entertaining, but Swoo held back and turned away. This was enough for now. It would be much more fun to jump in when things became a bigger, messier disaster later on.
Just as she was about to pull up her map to find a route—
“Oh.”
She spotted a familiar head of blue hair in the distance. Swoo immediately shot a message to Iva saying she would be a bit late, then set off. She could tolerate many things, but she couldn't pass this up.
“Fuck.”
Working as a connector was emotionally draining. It was an occupational hazard when your livelihood depended on talking to people. She had known this when she started. She had simply been convinced that dealing with clients and mercenaries would be easier on her sanity than the people she used to associate with. And she had been right. They were stupid, slow-witted, and idiotic—every last one of them.
Of course, climbing the ranks as a connector would mean dealing with a different class of people, but she had no intention of doing so. Just keep it moderate. Do just enough to get by and maintain this comfortable, average lifestyle.
That was why her days always followed the same routine: dealing with idiots, drawing in her spare time, closing up the office right on time, and heading home. Once home, she would run a bath while drinking cheap canned beer spiked with whiskey, strip off her suffocating suit and sports bra, enjoy a long soak, and then replenish her alcohol levels once the buzz started to fade.
She had no desire to date men. She had no desire to meet anyone at all. Just like this—working alone, drinking alone, enjoying herself alone—was the absolute best. For someone who was thoroughly sick of humanity, this was the only way to live.
“Fucking hell.”
And yet, a call had come out of the blue in the middle of the night. It was an order from the bastard who called himself her father, telling her to investigate the incident in Nosterica. No matter how many times she left home, cut off all contact, and changed her ID, he always found a way to reach her. She knew she couldn't escape him that easily. She was just making a point—a silent declaration that she hated her family and wanted them to leave her the fuck alone.
Of course, he wasn't the type to listen. Until the day she died, she would probably have to listen to him spout that bullshit about blood being thicker than water.
“Why can't another missile just drop out of the sky?”
It would be perfect if one landed right on the headquarters. As she was indulging in that thought—
“Want me to deliver one for you?”
A familiar voice drifted down from above. It was languid, drawn-out, and completely devoid of energy, yet overflowing with playfulness.
“...Haaaaah.”
Why did these trials always find her? If she had just stayed home, she could have been having a peaceful, happy time. Brushing back her wind-blown blue hair, she looked up at the railing above. A familiar, yet highly unwelcome girl was standing there.
“What are you doing here?”
“Hi, Irina.”
“No, let me rephrase that. This missile attack—was it your doing?”
“I didn't do anything like that.”
“Then why are you so filthy, and why does the smell of gunpowder cling to you?”
“I was doing a part-time delivery job.”
“Are you talking about a missile delivery?”
“Hehe.”
“...Why aren't you answering me?”
“What were you doing here, Irina?”
Swoo's deflection sent a chill down Irina's spine. Was it true? Was this lunatic really the mastermind behind the attack? Was she the one who detonated a missile over Neonic's headquarters and slammed another into Lui Chen's Second Branch?
“...Are you completely insane? What were you thinking, causing a disaster like this?”
“It's fine since I didn't get caught.”
“What if they step on your tail?”
“I keep my tail well hidden under my clothes.”
“Do I look like I'm in the mood for wordplay?”
“It's not wordplay, it's the truth.”
Swoo looked genuinely offended. To an outsider, she would look like someone who actually had a tail to hide. Irina let out a dry laugh and shook her head.
“...Whatever. Just tell me why you came over here.”
“I saw you, so I came over. It's been a while.”
“You've seen me, so leave.”
“What were you doing, Irina?”
“Just handling some business. If you want to work as a connector, you have to stay on top of this kind of information.”
“Did you really work hard enough to come all the way from South Peak to Nosterica?”
Irina stared at Swoo without a word. Swoo stared back into Irina's eyes. After a brief silence, Swoo hopped down from the second-floor railing and smiled brightly.
“If you tell me a secret, I'll tell you one too. Even if it's a secret I already know. For example—”
She whispered with a grin.
“Like the secret that the chairman of Aegis System is actually Irina's dad?”
“Ah, for fuck's sake...”
Irina threw all pretense out the window and bit down on a cigarette.