Borderline Joke (1)
Vrooooom—!!!Screeeech…!! A sleekly designed sports car came roaring through the main gate of the lab, where digestion and data recovery operations were in full swing, executing a wild drift before slamming to a halt.
Someone eccentric enough to roll a tire car through a wasteland without a single proper road. Someone with the balls to barge right into prime mega corp territory while the higher-ups were seething with rage. If you couldn't read the situation even after seeing that, just take a look at the droids on hoverbikes guarding the sports car and the combat helicopters hovering imposingly overhead.
A VIP among VIPs had personally graced them with his presence—the ruling elite of Enama Corporation.
The on-site manager, who had been wearing a grave expression while overseeing the cleanup just moments ago, came sprinting over in a panic and bowed at a perfect ninety degrees to the young man roughly disembarking from the sports car.
"Mr. Amagi, there was absolutely no need for you to come out here in person…! We'll get things sorted right away!"
"……"
The man's eyebrow twitched as he scrutinized the manager's face. Then he took in the sight of the lab's exterior, charred black like a lump of coal, before asking in a calm voice.
"…You. Is this your first time seeing me?"
"Pardon…? Y-yes…! It is! This is my first time serving someone from the board of directors! It's truly an honor to behold your fa—"
"Enough."
"Gah?!"
The man called Amagi twice over grabbed the manager roughly by the hair and yanked his head up. Despite his youthful appearance, his sticky, shadowed eyes locked onto the manager's as he enunciated each word deliberately.
"…'First time,' you say? I'll let it slide this once… just this once. From now on, address me as Mr. Edamatsu. Calling me Amagi reminds me of my father. And…"
Edamatsu Amagi kindly maneuvered the manager's head by his skull, forcing him to look at the frozen employees mid-task and the ruined lab.
"Mobile suppression strike team dispatched due to suspected asset and research data leak: total annihilation. Additional Seekers and recovery team: also annihilated. Lab in a half-destroyed state. Really. Did I seriously need to come verify this myself? Huh?"
"I-I'm… so sorry…!! I misspoke!"
"Not sure I can overlook two slip-ups in a row."
He shoved the chattering manager aside and briskly moved to inspect the site himself, brushing off his hands. Shattered security robots and hovercraft, demolished turrets. Troops dead before even breaching the interior. Melted corpses in the breached barrier walls, topped off with the lost research data.
"……This is a shitshow."
Of all places, this happening in his Delta Sector…
In a bid to uncover even the slightest clue about the culprits, Edamatsu's mind pieced together the remnants. The enemy had been excessively thorough. It was only natural for those bold enough to invade and occupy a remote mega corp private estate, but going beyond wiping all surveillance footage to smashing every corporate soldier's head…
"……Impressive."
Edamatsu's lips twisted into a smirk. Brain-based human revival tech—still undisclosed to other mega corps. A top-secret service on the verge of completion. Only the tightly monitored research team and Enama's royal family knew of it.
Once revealed to the world, it'd rake in credits by the trillions, so a little internal gunfire over a bigger slice of that sweet pie beforehand? Inevitably predictable, perhaps.
Heh. Who among his siblings to test first…?
Even as paranoia-fueled delusions led him to wildly incorrect conclusions, the mad dog that had finally found an excuse to bare its teeth looked utterly, blissfully content.
"Uh… miss. Can you really promise no one's gonna come knocking at my door after I install this…? I still haven't paid off my loan from Paradise…!"
"……Keep refusing the procedure like this, and I can't make any guarantees."
"O-okay! Got it…!!"
Clank…Whiiiirrr…!!
The flustered old mechanic hurriedly manipulated the panel, and the shop equipment hummed to life with a somewhat worrisome noise. A mild anesthetic was administered, and mechanical arms loaded with laparoscopic tools approached her slender wrist, creating a tiny incision. A thin film etched with what looked like a barcode was injected, then sealed with a laser. In seconds, the futuristic easy-wallet implant was installed.
Beep…!
I paid using the freshly installed implant and slipped out of the shop, leaving the still-shaking old man behind. I got his concern. A dainty girl like me, without even basic implants that even three-year-olds had. He must've figured I was some runaway rich kid's whim… No need for hush money, then.
…Fucking jackpot. I didn't have a credit to my name right now otherwise.
"Phew……."
Not bad, considering I'd earned it in just one day since waking up. Hell, it was more than enough to cover food and shelter for the foreseeable future…
But there was one huge problem.
"Goddamn it…!!"
I glared at the horizon, packing it with resentment and injustice. The massive wall and skyscrapers sprawling wide and tall enough to fill my entire view. Factory smoke belching out in terrifying volumes. Neon lights twinkling like fireflies in the distance.
A majestic vista that hammered home just how powerless an individual was against an organization. And this wasn't even the biggest metropolis, Neo Haven—it was a neighboring city, Harvest Planet.
The Great War might've ravaged most of Earth and human civilization, but it sure as hell contributed massively to tech advancement.
Alright, question time. I'm staring at Harvest Planet—so where the hell am I?
Answer: the settlement on the city's outskirts!
So, what do I need to get into the city?
Citizenship, that's what!
And the going rate from a specialist broker to forge that? A cool one million credits. Cheap, for crafting a convincing backstory and deploying proxies.
…Of course, if I knew how to make one myself, I'd have tried already.
"110,000 credits……."
Muttering it didn't make it any easier. Most of my current funds had gone straight into guns scraped together from everywhere. The hovercraft, which should've been the priciest, got dumped cheap because the junk shop owner was too scared to touch mega corp gear… basically scrap value.
Should I go back and haggle for more…?
But if that pissed him off and he snitched to the corps, my hard-earned clean tail could get grabbed again.
"……"
Passersby kept side-eyeing me, this weirdo spacing out in broad daylight. Tempting thought: hack a thousand credits from each wallet and gather the Dragon Balls…
Clink…
But that devilish idea fizzled like foam at the sound of the canned goods jostling in my arms. Scamming corps or outlaws? Fair game. But swiping the lifeline from fellow refugees scraping by just to afford citizenship like me? No way.
Money was credits, credits were credit—your worth as a human. In a world where crops wouldn't grow without controlled environments, running dry meant starving right then and there.
When that dumbass android woke up… I wanted to face him with my head high.
Look, your master never lost her humanity—or your shine—even in the shittiest circumstances. Worship her with honor…!
"Pfft…!!"
The mere thought filled me with joy and surging energy. Gotta work to earn cash—straight-up theft? Maybe I was perfectly suited to this world.
Neo Haven the game was an open-world title centered on Neo Haven—Emerald City, but it had stories and quests tied to other metropolises too. The citizenship and broker info? Not from sketchy inquiring around the settlement—I knew it from the game. Retrace my steps right, and I'd find legit ways to rake in 110k credits quick.
Right… how had I, as level 1 Anastasia, covered those insane upgrade costs and gear setups?
"……Ah."
Fuck. Heat rushed to my face. My arms hugged my body on instinct. Imagining it was one thing, but actually doing it back then? Mortifying.
No… that body was better than my character back then, so I'd grinded that shady shit while going 'Ooh yeah!'
"!!"
The stares around me were twisting into all the wrong interpretations, so I bolted back into the shop and asked the old mechanic if he needed any help. Got turned down flat, of course.