The Upper District Merchant

A peaceful stretch of days had settled over us.

Mornings I shut myself in the workshop, churning out drugs to supply Suzy and her gang. Afternoons, she taught me marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat. And as the sun went down, I would head back to Lucia's place, knock back a cold beer, and call it a day.

Suzy smelled of peaches. Lucia smelled of roses. A life spent shuttling between two beauties whose personalities and perfumes were polar opposites—compared to my days wasting away in overtime back then, it was nothing short of a different world.

I wanted this peaceful current to just keep flowing. But of course, the world rarely bends to your wishes.

"We're out of supplies."

I swallowed a hollow laugh as I stared at the empty storage locker. Days of nonstop drug production had scraped the basic ingredients of the Lower District right down to the bottom of the barrel.

Well, that's a problem.

Suzy currently had exactly ten immunosuppressants on hand. Enough to use the Chrono Drive ten times. And since the ingredient quality was so abysmally low, no matter how high my Reason stat climbed, a twenty percent mitigation of Chrome Syndrome progression was the hard ceiling.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

To make anything better, I didn't need the garbage the Lower District offered—I needed the real thing from above.

The moment I turned to go report ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the situation to Suzy—

"Whoa! You scared the hell out of me."

My heart nearly dropped out of my chest. Suzy was standing right in front of my nose, and I had no idea when she'd arrived.

She wasn't in her usual light attire, either. A leather coat with built-in ballistic protection, a samurai sword strapped to a thigh holster—she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was geared up for full combat. I took an involuntary step back, and she smirked.

"Getting startled by this? You have a cute side after all."

"Anyone jumps out of nowhere without a sound, they're going to startle someone."

These days, Suzy and I were close enough to trade this kind of petty banter. She tilted her head back and forth, visibly entertained by my flustered face.

"Supplies are out, right?"

"Yeah. Great timing, actually. No ingredients, so I can't make any more."

"Then we go get some."

"What? How?"

In answer to my question, Suzy pointed behind her. There stood Doomdoom, arms crossed, looking immensely pleased with himself.

"Doomdoom's been putting in some work since the last incident."

The last incident—meaning the night we wiped out the Blood Bone Gang to a man. Just before he died, the boss, Blood, had muttered something about connecting us with an Upper District merchant.

"We used to buy our goods at inflated prices from the Blood Bone crew, but Doomdoom ripped out their ledgers and comm records wholesale."

Doomdoom, standing beside her, sniffed loudly.

"Now we can meet the Upper District merchant directly. Not only will you buy cheap—if you need premium goods, they'll be easy to get your hands on."

"All thanks to Doomdoom-nim, of course!"

Doomdoom threw his shoulders back and bellowed with full bravado.

"Shut up, Doomdoom."

"Yes, boss! Very sorry, boss."

One jab from Suzy and his tail was instantly between his legs. She turned back to me and got to the point.

"Anyway, today it's you and me. The two of us are going to meet the Upper District merchant."

"Boss! Why take that guy and not me?!"

Doomdoom wailed as if he'd been gravely wronged. Suzy looked at him with mild contempt and answered.

"Jinwoo has an eye for goods, doesn't he?"

Doomdoom thought about that for a moment, then nodded, apparently satisfied.

"That's true."

What a simple creature.

"Okay, I get all that. But why are we walking into a merchant meeting armed to the teeth? I thought this was just a trade."

Suzy smirked and looked me up and down.

"You can synthesize drugs, and you know nothing about how the world works, huh?"

It was a fact, so I had no comeback. The common sense of this world was nothing like the one I'd known.

"Upper District merchants are extremely cautious. Getting involved in the Lower District at all means risking their own necks. Their security is no joke—one wrong word and you'll end up with a bullet hole before you can blink."

She nodded at the revolver holstered on my belt—the Saint .45.

"Anyway, keep your gun ready and follow me. We leave now."

"Yeah. Got it."

It felt like the peaceful routine had just come to an end.

We walked for a long time. Our destination was the very edge of the Lower District—or more precisely, the area near the exact spot where I'd first fallen into this world, clawing my way out through piles of corpses and polluted runoff. A vicious stench stabbed at my nose.

Disgustingly high.

When I craned my neck back far enough to nearly snap it, I could see the underside of the Upper District, spearing up through the clouds. A colossal metal bulkhead bore down on the Lower District like a god's rampart, sealing this place off completely from the real world above.

"It's high, isn't it?"

Suzy gazed up at the sky and asked, her voice tinged with loneliness.

"It is. Insanely high."

Lucia had fallen from that dizzying height, after all. She, too, had lost her sister and plummeted into this hell.

I stole a glance at Suzy.

She's probably not so different.

Her brother had died up top, and the Nemesis Gang had been shoved down into the Lower District. No—more likely they'd been given a choice: die, or crawl down here. They'd picked the latter. She never explained it, but I could piece it together well enough.

"Let's go. It's this way."

Suzy took the lead, and a massive drainage tunnel opened up beneath the bulkhead—a passageway choked with abandoned pipes and rusted scrap metal all jumbled together.

Whirr—!

A drone suddenly shot out of the dark tunnel and halted in front of us. Its red lens glinted as it scanned us, and a machine voice poured out.

Suzy's expression crumpled in an instant. A crease formed between her brows, and her hand drifted instinctively toward her sword hilt.

"The hell? You know me?"

"How could I not? You used plenty of our goods back in the Upper District. Anyway, follow me."

The drone began drifting deeper into the tunnel. Suzy barely kept her composure and released the hilt, but her clenched fist was still trembling. I followed her in silence.

At the end of the tunnel, a man towering well over two meters blocked our path. His entire body bristled with menacing cyber parts, and he raked a wary gaze over the two of us.

"Suzy... and this one doesn't even register in any database. Who are you?"

He jammed the heavy muzzle of a shotgun against my chest. I felt the cold bite of metal through my protective suit.

Then a young girl's voice rang through the tunnel.

"Alex. Let them through."

"...Understood, boss."

Alex blew an annoyed huff through his nose, then nodded and walked ahead.

"Follow me."

Alex stopped at a door. It looked like a control room for the drainage system, but unlike every other Lower District building, it bore unmistakable signs of heavy reinforcement. He opened the door, and inside, a girl exuding a strange aura sat waiting in a chair.

Maybe 140 centimeters tall? She wore a red qipao.

Looks like someone who does daily stretching exercises hoping to grow taller.

Her appearance was childlike, but her presence—and the gemstones ringed on every finger—were enough to make you forget this was the Lower District at all.

"Welcome to Ryusaki's shop."

Ryusaki said with a smirk.

"When word came that that idiot Blood had died, I was worried. I never imagined you'd come in person, Suzy. So you swallowed the Blood Bone Gang whole after all?"

When Ryusaki looked at her, Suzy wrinkled her nose in displeasure and answered.

"That's right. There's no more Blood Bone. If you want to do business with Nemesis from now on, start with some respect."

"Hahaha! Fine, fine—I can give you all the respect you want. Anyone who makes me money is welcome here."

Ryusaki's gaze slid past Suzy and settled on me.

"So, who's this guy who doesn't even show up in the databases? Your pet?"

Pet? I didn't like the flavor of that one bit. I met her gaze without flinching and opened my mouth to answer—

"He's a pharmacist. A very capable one, at that."

But Suzy stepped in front of me and said it flatly.

"Ha! A pharmacist? Lower District product is all the same garbage. Isn't that exactly why you've come to trade with Ryusaki's shop?"

Ryusaki sneered and gave a flick of her chin. At the signal, Alex heaved a heavy munitions crate onto the table with a resounding thud and flipped the lid open.

Inside, syringes packed with drugs were arranged in perfect order. The craftsmanship was on a different level from the shoddy vials I'd seen in the Lower District markets—the difference was visible at a glance.

"Well then, Suzy! What do you want?"

Instead of answering, Suzy glanced sideways at me. I reached for the crate—and instantly, the shotgun's muzzle swung up beside my head with a metallic click.

Christ, this is intense.

Sweat should have been running down my back, but I hardened my expression and picked up a single syringe. Let's see. Just how good is Upper District product?

"So? What's the verdict?"

Suzy asked in a low voice. I shook my head without a word.

"Pff! What eye for goods could he possibly have? All that pretend-knowing."

Ryusaki giggled. I ignored the mockery, looked her dead in the eye, and asked.

"How much for this?"

"You think you can afford it if I tell you? Twenty million credits."

Twenty million credits for THIS?

It was absurd. I'd expected the Lower District premium to inflate the price, but this was beyond excessive. The performance was worse than what I brewed in my back room, yet the price was astronomical.

"Selling scraps of premium ingredients at a filthy price like this."

The moment the words left my mouth, Ryusaki's eyebrows twitched violently.

"...Excuse me?"

"I said scraps. The purity control is a mess, and the base solvent is barely inside its shelf life."

I dropped the syringe back into the crate like tossing away trash.

"You're asking twenty million credits for this garbage?"

The air in the room froze solid in an instant. Alex's finger twitched against the shotgun trigger, and Ryusaki's eyes filled with killing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠intent.

"Do you have any idea whose face you're running your mouth in front of?"

Ryusaki shot to her feet.

Even her temper is cute when she's that short.

I took one step closer, bent down to her eye level, and said,

"Business should be done with the real thing. Am I wrong? Not this garbage—the genuine article."

I pulled an immunosuppressant from inside my coat and set it on the table.

"...And what is this?"

Ryusaki snorted, then drew a monocle-like cyber part from her sleeve and fitted it over her eye. A precision analysis scanner, by the look of it.

Zip, crackle—.

A red laser swept over the drug I'd made through the monocle's lens.

About a minute passed. Then Ryusaki's lips began to tremble, just slightly. After a long silence, she lowered the monocle and muttered in a shaking voice.

"Impossible... You pulled this level of performance out of low-grade ingredients? Purity of ninety-eight percent? That's insane—higher than genuine imports straight from the Upper District corporations."

Ryusaki stared at me with a look blending awe and naked greed.

"What ARE you? A chief researcher on the run from one of the corporations?"

I smirked and answered.

"Keep me supplied with good ingredients, and I'll make you something that blows this out of the water. How about it?"

Her eyes spun into overdrive. A merchant like her couldn't possibly miss the value of that offer.

"Deal! Whatever you want, I'll get it for you."

Ryusaki slammed her palm on the table and shouted.

"BUT! Those drugs—you trade them with me and no one else. Understood?"

"That depends on the quality of the ingredients."

I leaned back in my chair and replied with easy confidence. With good ingredients, the path to the Upper District would open that much sooner. I'd managed this much with Lower District garbage—even I was curious what I'd produce once I got my hands on the real thing.

Because I wanted out of the Lower District as fast as possible. I wanted to climb up top, set up a proper lab, and research a cure for cyberpsychosis.

"Alex! Whatever he wants, give it to him!"

Ryusaki's attitude flipped one-eighty, and she fluttered around fussing.

"Right here, boss."

Alex respectfully opened another munitions crate. Inside were ingredients you couldn't even lay eyes on in the Lower District.

"Consider this a gift for our first deal. I'll look forward to our next meeting."

Ryusaki said with a sly grin. She meant for me to bring her drugs next time, presumably.

"Sounds good."

Though naturally, my plan was to suck out every last bit of the good stuff for myself and hand over nothing but dregs. I wasn't built to be the one getting played.

"Your name?"

"Yoo Jinwoo."

"Yoo Jinwoo, hm... I'll remember that."

Ryusaki smirked and crossed her legs. Like a little kid trying to act sexy—it was genuinely funny.