Irina
Irina didn't say a word until her cigarette had burned halfway down.
Swoo didn't know if she had nothing to say or if she was just organizing her thoughts. She didn't bother trying to find out, either. Swoo simply waited in silence for Irina to speak.
After finishing that first cigarette, throwing away a second one halfway through, and lighting a third, Irina finally opened her mouth.
"How did you know?"
"Actually, I came from another world. In the world I lived in, this place was a game. So I know the general lore and the plot—"
"Cut the bullshit and tell me the truth."
"But it's true."
Once again, Swoo wore an expression of ultimate grievance.
She really was aggrieved.
Whether it was Angela, Frey, or Irina.
She told them the absolute truth, yet not a single one believed her. It was bound to feel unfair.
Was this why protagonists in novels with possession, reincarnation, or regression tags kept their secrets to themselves?
In those stories, people eventually believed the protagonist near the end. Would the people around her ever do the same?
I doubt it.
In a world where science and technology had developed to their absolute limits, no one would believe such a far-fetched, fictional tale.
Swoo was certain of it.
She completely failed to realize that the real reason they didn't believe her was because of all the outrageous stunts she had pulled so far.
"Seriously... what... no, I'm asking you in all earnestness. How on earth did you find out? I even hid my last name... and it's from a completely different nationality. How did you manage it?"
The head of Aegis System was named Lucian de Croix. It was a French name, entirely different from a blatantly Russian name like Irina Tish Morozova.
Officially, he was known to be in his early to mid-thirties and unmarried.
But Swoo, who had seen the game's ending dozens of times, knew the truth. Lucian was well over sixty, and he had obviously married long ago.
Yet, she hadn't recalled that name right away.
Even across dozens of playthroughs, Lucian's story was nothing more than a fleeting whisper.
It wasn't even part of the main canon.
His story was merely described in brief on a discarded shard you could pick up during a specific quest.
He had so little presence that no players bothered to compile his lore. There were simply too many attractive, compelling characters in Cyberpunk: Eden to waste time summarizing his life.
Since he never gave quests, never showed his face, and committed suicide once the final chapter began, Swoo hadn't paid much attention to him either.
She had been slightly curious, but as mentioned, there was no reason to care about an old man who gave the player nothing and killed himself for the sake of his honor.
So she had forgotten about him for a long time.
But when she went to rummage through the junkyard with Frey, seeing the Aegis System headquarters building brought it all back.
The shard containing Lucian de Croix's past message logs. And the name of a certain woman recorded inside it.
Anastasia Tish Morozova.
Her nicknames were Stacy and Asha.
At the very least, Lucian had called her Asha.
That was how she figured out Irina's identity.
Honestly, if she hadn't given Irina any thought, she would have just passed by the Aegis System headquarters without a second glance.
But to Swoo, Irina's existence had been suspiciously peculiar.
The way she was a connector in South Peak yet completely indifferent to money; the way she was more fearless than Serena, an executive of Lui Chen; the way she called ordinary beer "cheap swill"; her weary attitude toward human relationships; and her remarkably refined tastes for a citizen of Eden.
All of it had lodged itself in Swoo's mind and refused to leave.
Swoo was someone who had to do what she wanted and find out what she was curious about. She had never forgotten about Irina's anomalies, and seeing the Aegis headquarters finally allowed her to connect the dots.
"Anastasia Tish Morozova."
"...How do you know that name?"
"Her nicknames are Stacy. And Asha?"
Calling Anastasia "Stacy" was common enough. There were probably at least a dozen people in Eden who went by that nickname.
But Asha was rare.
Only Lucian called her that.
That was why Irina was certain. Swoo truly knew Lucian's secret.
If so, there was only one way she could have found out.
"...You found it in the Abyss."
The Abyss. Swoo must have dug through the deepest parts of cyberspace. There was no other way. Lucian had erased all information about himself, so that had to be it.
"Did Angela help you? What the hell is that Netwatcher's deal that she can pull that kind of data? Is she even human? Is she actually an Abyss AI trapped in a prosthetic body?"
"Think whatever makes you comfortable, Irina."
"Fuck's sake."
She hadn't even taken a single puff of her third cigarette.
Irina threw away the cigarette, leaving only the filter, and crouched down on the spot.
Wearing a shirt and a black skirt, scowling deeply and spitting on the ground, she looked exactly like a delinquent high school girl.
Of course, she was far too old to be a high schooler, but that was the vibe she gave off.
"What do you want?"
"What do I want?"
"You wouldn't bring up my father's name unless you wanted something from me. Let's not waste time with pointless blackmail. Just spit it out. What do you want?"
When you had a delinquent beauty smoking in a back alley cornered by her weakness, there was only one thing to say.
"Let me feel your breasts."
Irina's face contorted into a bizarre expression.
Swoo corrected herself with her usual expressionless face.
"Just kidding."
Irina couldn't tell if she was joking or serious. Still, she decided to assume it was a joke... Honestly, if Swoo wanted to touch breasts, didn't she have access to something much larger, softer, and more monstrous?
If Swoo asked, that busty monster would probably gladly give her permission.
"Stop messing around and just answer me."
"I don't really want anything."
"Don't play coy."
"I'm serious. I just wanted to see if my guess was right."
"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"
"I don't get why you think that's a weakness in the first place."
She genuinely didn't understand.
The fact that Irina was the daughter of the Aegis System's head? That didn't matter. Swoo had simply enjoyed the thrill of her doubts turning into certainty.
So she had no idea why Irina's secret birthright would be considered a weakness.
"Don't you know about the Abyss War?"
"I do."
"...Are you really going to make me say it?"
Swoo blinked rapidly.
At that, Irina's face twisted even more miserably. She knew Swoo had twisted tastes, but she hadn't expected her to be like this to someone she supposedly considered an ally.
A faint sense of betrayal and disappointment washed over her.
Harboring those emotions, Irina spoke.
"Anastasia Tish Morozova. My mother is the mastermind who started the Abyss War."
"Oh."
Swoo's eyes widened.
She chewed on Irina's words for a moment, and then her round eyes stretched to their absolute limits.
"Wait, what...?"
"W-what is it?"
Irina was startled in turn by Swoo's reaction.
It was the first time she had ever seen Swoo react with such genuine shock.
In truth, it was the first time Swoo had been this surprised, too.
Usually, she either already knew everything or found things mildly interesting, so there was never a reason to be this stunned.
"...Is that true?"
"You didn't even know that?"
"Wasn't the Abyss War started when Aglia Iliev brought the AIs out of the Abyss?"
"How could a mere Netwatcher pull out an AI trapped in the Abyss? She had an accomplice. And besides, what could a lowly Netwatcher even do with a rogue AI? Someone with deep knowledge of those systems seduced Aglia."
"And that was your mother?"
"...For now, yes."
"For now?"
"I suspect there was at least one other person... But wait, did you really not know?"
"Yeah, I had no idea."
Only now did Irina's overreaction make sense.
Knowing Irina's family relations meant digging into Lucian's past, and that past would have contained information about Anastasia, which would be more than enough to hold as leverage over Irina...
Connecting those dots, Irina had glared at Swoo with a face that seemed to curse the entire world.
"Then why... why did you bring up my father's name? Was it really just because you wanted to see if your guess was right?"
"Yep."
Though it had been closer to a certainty than a guess.
Regardless, Swoo had only brought it up because she was curious about Irina's story.
"Goddammit... I ended up spilling things I didn't even need to say. Forget it."
"I'm not a machine, so I can't forget."
"At least say you'll forget out of politeness."
"I'll try to forget out of politeness."
"Fuck."
A pale sigh escaped Irina's lips.
She must have lit her fourth cigarette without Swoo noticing.
Swoo was so shocked she hadn't even registered it. She had seen the game's ending so many times, yet she had never heard this story. This confirmed it: the game had never revealed the identity of the mastermind behind the Abyss War.
"But why did you leave home, Irina?"
"Because my father was the one who handed my mother over to Eden, and then personally executed her."
"Did you support the Abyss War?"
"I was too young to even wipe my own ass back then. How could I support anything?"
Was she not even forty yet?
She certainly didn't look it.
At most, she looked to be in her early thirties.
"But how did you find out about that?"
"...Every time I help him with a job, he gives me a piece of information about my mother. That's when... he told me. That he was the one who handed her over."
"Talk about a dysfunctional family."
"Yeah, a goddamn dysfunctional family."
"Who was the other accomplice besides your mother?"
Another puff of pale smoke drifted from Irina's mouth.
"Why should I tell you?"
"We're friends."
"Only when it's convenient for you. Cheeky brat."
"If you tell me, I'll tell you one of my secrets."
"Come to think of it, didn't you promise to tell me your secret? You go first."
"I'm Noise."
"I figured that out ages ago."
Swoo's eyes went round.
"You knew, but you never asked?"
"I figured you'd tell me when the time was right. Anyway, tell me another secret. That one doesn't balance the scales."
"I already knew your secret when I asked, so doesn't this balance things out?"
"You didn't know my mother was the mastermind behind the Abyss War, did you?"
"Well, yeah..."
Irina wasn't wrong.
Swoo had played the game for so long and seen dozens of endings, yet she had never known who started the Abyss War.
After pondering for a moment, Swoo spoke.
"You might regret hearing this."
"Truths with that kind of warning usually turn out to be jack shit. Just say it."
Swoo had thought about telling her when the time was right, but she figured now wasn't a bad time either.
She knew plenty of information that could help Irina, but this particular piece of news was likely what she needed most right now.
"Anastasia Tish Morozova."
Swoo whispered with an amused smile.
"She's still alive."
The face of Irina, who had just confidently declared it would be jack shit, went completely blank.