Topher's Lifedebt
Topher blinked at Soo's languid voice and peculiar way of speaking as he shed his gas-sealing suit. There was no question mark at the end. It wasn't a question of whether he was okay.
"...Pardon?"
"It's okay. I saved you. You're safe now."
Topher rolled his eyes in confusion before bowing deeply at the waist.
"Thank you...!"
Topher was thirty-eight. Soo's age? She looked at least twenty years younger, no matter how you sliced it. And yet, he spoke formally to her, avoiding her gaze. He'd seen with his own two eyes how this girl half his daughter's age had smashed fifteen hounds to pieces. His eyes naturally lowered in deference.
She'd endured the thick gas clouds bare-skinned, hadn't she? And that tiny, slender hand of hers—when it grabbed a hound's head, it crumpled like paper. A strike to the snout caved it in. One swing of her fist shattered bodies to bits, and something hidden under that ragged cloak whipped out to cleave them in half.
The scariest, most horrifying part was how she'd sweetly called out "Chunsik" while pulverizing them mercilessly.
And when they were leaving the lab. Topher couldn't walk properly, and Lucci had passed out, blocking the entrance. What did she do? The girl tore the door apart. Literally—grabbed it with both hands and ripped it open.
To treat a monster like her casually? That would make even the Zailek Tech butchers, who called him crazy, bow politely.
And then... Topher realized how that lab door had opened in the first place. It was her. Whether she'd entered from outside or escaped from within didn't matter—she'd definitely pried it open.
No way she came from inside. Even with top-grade lungs and filters, no one could live breathing that toxic gas. It corroded not just human flesh but implants too.
"Scavenger?"
Topher, sizing up the girl's origins, nodded vigorously.
"Yes! Topher of the Topher Family!"
"The boss?"
"That's right!"
"Nice to meet you. I'm Soo."
Topher worked his barely functional legs and dropped to his knees in greeting.
"Big Sis Soo! Nice to meet you!"
"...Sis?"
"Yes! Oh, no, I don't mean you're older. Just... uhahaha! You're way stronger than me, so that's why!"
Soo's face soured for some reason.
"Big Bro."
"Ah, aha... You don't have to call yourself—"
"Call me Big Bro, not Sis."
Soo had lived as a man until recently. A proud son of Korea, fully discharged from the military! Suddenly being called "Sis"? That was reason enough to feel offended...
Sis sounds weak.
It wasn't that. She just picked "Big Bro" because "Sis" sounded weak. Plus, scavengers called everyone Big Bro regardless of gender—it fit their culture.
"Th-then... Yes. I'll serve you as Big Bro!"
"Good."
Soo nodded in satisfaction, meticulously brushing the dust off Topher's clothes. Then she helped him up with a beaming smile.
"I saved you, right?"
"Yes!"
"I saved that bald guy too."
"Lucci owes you his life several times over! Of course!"
Lucci, currently passed out, was no different—he owed Soo his life. Watching her crush hounds barehanded had knocked him out from sheer shock, and he'd nearly been mauled multiple times, only for Soo to save him each time. And she'd even dragged his 200kg cybernetically enhanced body out.
"Hm?"
Topher's gaze snapped back to the present as Soo extended her hand.
"Life debt."
"...Pardon?"
"Credit chips can't be exchanged. Gold."
"Uh..."
"Don't wanna?"
Topher's legs went weak at Soo's head tilt—the same one she'd done before smashing a charging hound.
"We'll handle the transport of the hounds for your life debt, of course!"
"Transport?"
Now she tilted her head the other way.
"Why transport them?"
Topher tilted his own head. Not cutely like Soo—just creepy for a grown man.
"You're... not selling the hounds?"
"Selling? Them? Can you?"
"...Of course? They're prime scrap."
"Whoa."
This wasn't in the game. Even a 6,298-hour veteran like her didn't know everything. Soo felt oddly slighted, but her heart raced too.
It's different from the game. This was the game world, but made real—things had changed. And more changes would come.
Soo's eyes sparkled as she stepped forward.
"I'll handle transport. You sell them for me."
"Y-you trust us? We're just... scavengers?"
"Yeah."
No ID chip made trading hard, but if they handled it, a little skimming was forgivable. That's why she'd entered the lab. Left alone, Topher felt his chest tighten with rare emotion. Trust like he got as a merc—even as a scavenger.
Just 20%... no, 7.5% skim.
Of course, separate from survival.
*****
"You've worked hard! I'll bring something drinkable—rest easy!"
"Yeah."
She'd hoped to see other scavengers on the way in, but they were all out. Just Topher and Lucci. Lucci passed out again seeing Soo drag fifteen hounds, so really just Topher.
Soo smacked her lips in disappointment and sank into the worn sofa. It cradled her butt nicely—high quality for scavengers. Spacious too; her tail fit aside without issue.
"How many in the Topher Family?"
"Ten including me and Lucci."
Topher answered proudly while brewing coffee, back turned.
"Small."
"Yes. Better elite few than useless numbers... haha."
"That's why the base is clean?"
Scavenger bases were usually filthy. Hoarding junk, sometimes trafficking people. But Topher Family's was spotless. Dirty compared to Eden, sure, but pristine for the Wasteland.
"Ah... Partly numbers, but I've only been in the Wasteland a year. And... I pick jobs carefully, looks notwithstanding."
Looks notwithstanding? Soo stared at Topher's broad back, then got it. He looked like a 30-year vet. But she knew he was ex-merc. That mantis arm blade rolling on the floor proved it.
High-end implant scavengers couldn't dream of. His red blade was top-tier among mantis arms.
So he'd been a name in merc circles. Now a scavenger. Soo's eyes curved prettily.
"Wanted to be Eden's legend?"
Topher turned with coffee and water, eyes meeting hers. His pupils shook wildly.
"Uh..."
Her vertically slit pupils froze his tongue. Her smile was breathtakingly beautiful. The question with it was terrifying. Her tail thumping the sofa was shocking.
"...Yeah."
What implant makes pupils like that? How pretty can a person be? How'd she know I was a merc? That tail—an implant? Really?
Questions swirled, but no answers. Unanswerable ones.
"I showed a secret, so answer, Topher. Which corp job?"
Soo asked, uncapping the water.
What? Crush my skull like the bottle if I don't? Topher sat awkwardly opposite, scanning the room despite knowing it was private. Habit of those chased by corps—eyes and ears everywhere.
"Haa..."
Topher shuddered, as if the memory chilled him.
"Simple Wasteland survey. Rich folks wanting lost items. Went smoothly. But bad luck that day—tangled with Luthien..."
"Oh."
Soo's silver-gray eyes sparkled. Not in the game. No sub-quest revealed Topher's backstory. Her heart thumped. Chance to learn what happened beyond the protagonist's reach. A merc seeking legend status, fallen—like cyberpunk incarnate!
"Simple job? Doubt it."
Jobs tying to corps weren't simple. High risk, high pay, high fame. Like assassinating in warzones, infiltrating secures for intel/items. Or diverting goods/info. Betraying connectors still built rep—merc factions split. Enemy of one faction's ally to another. Assassination attempts were routine.
So what did Topher do to cross a corp? Her gray eyes gleamed brighter.
Topher's mouth dried facing her. He knew what she could do—her eyes felt predatory. Her blunt questions cut too sharp. No info given, yet she asked like she knew.
Corp spy? No. Luthien assassins would've killed him. Not info extraction—Luthien read brains. Not safe either.
Luck's turned sour...
Topher gulped the lukewarm water from Wasteland heat before speaking.
"The job... investigating ancient ruins that popped up across the Wasteland a year ago."
"...Ancient ruins?"
"Yes. Overheard while fleeing—mana? Magic...? Heh... absurd stuff...?"
Topher trailed off, staring oddly at Soo bolting up. Her half-lidded eyes were now wide as saucers.
"...B-Big Bro? What's wrong?"
"What'd you say?"
"Ancient ruins... traces of mana or magic, that absurd—"
"That's mine...?"
The corp's digging my mod?
"Thieves!"