Ghost Signal

Better hold onto the Trait Points for now.

The perks I couldn't select all came with Trait Point costs attached. Sitting on what I had and dumping the points into something I actually needed later seemed like the smarter play.

"You've been zoning out for a while. What are you doing?"

Lucia looked up at me.

"Just thinking for a second…"

A status window bloomed in front of my eyes.

Might as well try it.

The moment I decided, the effect kicked in.

So this is how it comes out.

A shame I couldn't see every ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠physical anomaly just because my Reason was too low. That said, a twelve-percent drop in frontal lobe function? The thing was surprisingly thorough.

She looked like a wreck the first time I saw her, but she's actually pretty easy on the eyes now.

"What?"

Lucia's voice rang in my ear.

"Huh?"

"What did you just say to me?"

"Say what? I didn't say anything."

Don't tell me that's a Ghost Signal effect. Hearing the target's inner thoughts, or something.

He's pretty sharp, too.

Lucia's inner voice came through again.

Guess I was right. How do I turn this off?

So it keeps running as long as it's on.

The moment Ghost Signal shut off, Lucia's voice vanished from my head. A function that could read someone's inner thoughts — that was going to be useful.

"Nnh. Maybe I shouldn't have told them you can make immunosuppressants."

Lucia was talking to herself.

"You were all excited about going into business with me a minute ago."

"I thought it over. Feels like I just dragged you into something dangerous."

"I actually like it, though?"

"Why? Don't tell me you think the Nemesis boys are going to take you with them when they climb back up to the Upper District."

"That'd be nice."

"Are you insane? They won't even treat us like people! We're just the drug suppliers. Let's not get in any deeper than that. I get paid, I'm done."

"Is money really that important?"

"…I'm in this mess because I don't have any, so yes, it is. What about you? Do you really have to go to the Upper District?"

"I want to go up there and develop a complete cure for Chrome Syndrome."

"Aigoo. Listen to that crazy talk."

"It's not crazy. And if Chrome Syndrome gets cured, Cyberpsychos disappear with it. The world gets better. Isn't that the point?"

"That's a real comfortable thought. You wipe out Cyberpsychos and they'll just show up in some other form."

Lucia was quiet for a moment, then spoke again.

"Still. It's a pretty cool reason to be making drugs. If it were me, I'd just dump them on the black market and get filthy rich."

"Easy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to say you'll develop it."

I huffed a laugh.

"Facilities, equipment — I'm going to need a lot of money too. That's why this deal with the Nemesis Gang matters."

"Get greedy and you'll split yourself in half. Take what's reasonable. The Nemesis boss hasn't been right in the head lately."

Lucia tucked a cigarette in her mouth and lit it.

"That's why I keep telling people to stop living with chrome bolted onto them."

"You know her?"

"Of course I know her. She's the one who kept showing up with cyberware, telling me to install it."

"'She'?"

Lucia blew out a stream of smoke.

"The former boss's little sister. Going on about avenging her brother, or whatever. Crazy bitch."

She told the story like it was a joke.

"She hauled military-grade hardware out of a junkyard and demanded I implant it. Said she'd kill me if I didn't, so I didn't have much of a choice…"

A bitter edge crept into her voice.

"That's probably what accelerated her Chrome Syndrome."

"What's her name?"

Lucia snorted.

"You're about to meet her anyway."

"Lucia! It's me! Lord Dumdum has arrived!"

"See? He hasn't even been gone thirty minutes. Fast."

"The boss wants to see you right now! You! Lucia, you're coming too!"

Dumdum jabbed a finger at me, then spun on his heel. We followed.

The moment we stepped into the abandoned factory, Nemesis Gang members swarmed the place. So this was where they'd set up shop.

If this is the kind of crew she runs, I don't even need to see the boss's face. It'll be all machine.

Every last one of them had a face like a machine. The former boss's little sister was going to be more of the same — I was sure of it.

Thud-thud!

Dumdum stopped at a door and pounded on it.

"Boss! I brought them!"

"Send them in."

A woman's voice.

We stepped inside. A black-haired beauty sat at a desk with her legs crossed.

"Hey, Suji. Long time no see."

Lucia offered a cute little greeting. Suji snorted and opened her eyes.

Okay, that's terrifying.

Black hair. Crimson eyes. At least she hadn't replaced her face with machinery. Small mercies, I supposed.

"The guy next to you is the pharmacist?"

"Pharmacist?"

The word slipped out of me before I could stop it. Then the woman in front of me vanished.

A samurai katana was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at my throat.

Wh-what the hell?

"I ask the questions. Shut your mouth. Got it?"

"Easy, Suji."

Lucia's voice was the only thing that made her pull the blade back.

Crazy bitch.

She looked delicate enough that I'd figured we could talk like people. Echoing the word pharmacist was apparently enough to get a katana in my neck. Lucia had said the current Nemesis boss wasn't right in the head. Looking at this, she'd been telling the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠truth.

"Where's the medicine? You brought it, right? Answer me."

Let's take a look.

Do it.

Yeah, that's bad.

Ninety-two percent. She was a time bomb with no clock on it. And a one-hundred-percent chance of going Cyberpsycho within three days? Leave her like this and she was as good as dead.

I-I'm scared. I'm going to turn into a Cyberpsycho like this. I never should've had that military-grade chrome installed. At this rate I won't even get to avenge my brother. Hh—hhk.

The ice-cold face was a lie. Inside, Suji was coming apart.

"I don't have the medicine."

"What? You think this is a game?!"

Suji grabbed me by the collar, hard.

"If I've got the materials, I can make it right now. Dumdum said you've got a lab here."

"I need the drugs now!"

Her hands were shaking.

My hand's shaking on its own. It's a Cyberpsycho conversion symptom. Dammit! Dammit! I don't want to die, I don't want to die!

Suji let go of my collar, hid the trembling hand behind her back, and took a step away.

"Suji. It's okay. The drugs will be ready today. Trust me."

Lucia tried to talk her down. It only made Suji bristle harder.

"Trust some bastard I just met? Why?"

"Jinwoo's someone you can trust. He really is."

Suji looked me up and down, then looked back at Lucia.

If Lucia says so… Yeah. She is trustworthy. She's careful like that.

"Fine. Then make the drugs. I'll be watching. Got it?"

"Got it. Show me the lab."

Suji sheathed the katana and led the way.

We took the stairs down, and a wall of steam rolled up to meet us on a cheap pulse of EDM. So this was where they cooked.

"Boss! You're here?! Perfect timing — I just finished a new immunosuppressant!"

Some guy killed the music, hurried over, and held a syringe out to Suji. She studied it for a long moment, then passed it to me.

"How's it stack up against yours?"

"Let's see."

"Garbage. You used good materials and the purity's still trash."

I handed the immunosuppressant back to Suji.

"Dumdum said what I made was better than anything coming out of here."

"I already got that report."

"The setup's better here, the materials are better — I should be able to cook something actually worth a damn."

"You serious? You make it, and I'll give you whatever you want."

She shut down every station in the room.

"Make it. I'll wait as long as it takes."

"Won't take long. I'm going to recycle that."

Suji looked down at the syringe in her hand.

"Recycle this?"

"Yeah. It just needs a little work."

"That's a lie! There's no way that works!"

The guy who'd made the immunosuppressant had been holding his tongue. He couldn't anymore.

"Recycle it?! You can't recycle a drug that's already been processed! Boss, he's lying! Just give me a little more time and I'll make you a real immunosuppressant—"

"Shut up. Before I kill you."

"Y-yes, ma'am."

Honestly, I have my doubts. But right now, this guy's the only one I can trust…

Ice on the outside, and that on the inside. It was a little pitiable. A defense mechanism, basically.

"Wait here. I'll have it ready soon."

I pulled on a cleanroom suit whose hygiene left a lot to be desired and got to work.

Following the guide that floated at the edge of my vision, I broke down the Botched Immunosuppressant and pulled the key compounds.

With the extracted compounds, I combined the valid materials nearby and started building the drug.

Familiar, and completely foreign.

It was close to the research I'd done at the pharmaceutical company, and nothing like it at all. If I had to put a name on it, it felt a little like cooking street drugs.

Anyway. A little over ten minutes of process later, it was done.

Not some vague word like "significantly" or "slightly" — a clean percentage. And the suppressant I'd cooked in Lucia's closet had carried a single plus. This one had three.

"Check it."

Suji snatched the immunosuppressant and drove it into her forearm on the spot.

Thunk—! Fsssh—!

…The tremor in my hand died down? And some of the defects in my chrome are gone, too.

Suji stared at me like she'd been slapped.

Ghost Signal. Was this perk even legal?

"H-hm. Weaker than I expected. Still, this is decent work. Fine. Make some more."

Watching the gap between her face and her insides was entertainment all by itself. Not that I planned to keep cooking like some sucker.

"I can't make any more for free."

Something in, something out. That was how this worked.