I Will Be the One Who Makes Them Scream
The distance to Arcadia City, the meeting place with Valentine, was substantial, so I didn’t want to fly there myself. I had to find another way of getting there.
“Here we are.”
This was the place Scarlet had pointed out to me before we left, suggesting I take a personal large transport vessel.
After submitting my mercenary ID card, I easily obtained what I needed shortly afterward.
It cost quite a bit of credit to load Asura into the cargo hold, but it was pocket change for me now.
The interior of the transport vessel was more comfortable than I’d expected.
Asura was safely secured in the cargo hold, and I could catch a quick nap in the makeshift break room.
How much time had passed?
[Attention, all passengers. Our transport vessel will arrive at the Arcadia public cargo terminal in a moment.]
When I snapped to attention after the announcement, the sun had already set and the entire city was sparkling with dazzling lights.
“Wow, that’s amazing.”
The skyscrapers that pierced the sky.
The neon signs streaming from the massive holographic billboards that decorated the building exteriors glowed brightly.
When the transport vessel touched down at the enormous cargo terminal,
people who looked like staff were waiting out front.
“Mr. Kang Jinwoo? Please submit your ID card.”
“Here it is.”
The mercenary ID card issued by Kaien worked here as well.
It seemed to be a public one.
“Confirmed. For the mecha, use the designated public hangar or, if you have a private one, feel free to use that.”
“Understood.”
After parking Asura in the public hangar, I stepped out of the cockpit.
The meeting place Valentine had messaged me was the top-floor penthouse of a skyscraper in the city center.
When I tried to enter the building lobby, two security guards in suits stood in my way at the entrance.
“Excuse me, but what brings you here?”
Polite, but firm.
“I’m here to see Mr. Alexander Valentine. I have an appointment.”
“Proof of identity is required.”
I handed over the mercenary ID card without a word.
The guard scanned it, then had a brief exchange over the communication device clipped to his ear.
“Confirmed. Mr. Kang Jinwoo, I’ll escort you this way.”
I bowed politely and was guided into the building.
After boarding the guest elevator and reaching the top floor in an instant, a luxurious corridor appeared.
At the end of it stood a massive metal door, and in front of it were two more guards.
“Before entering, please follow the procedures.”
I obediently complied with their requests.
A metal detector swept over my body, and a sharp warning beep immediately sounded from my waist.
The energy pistol Scarlet had prepared for self-defense.
“This will be kept by us for a short time. We’ll return it when you leave.”
“Understood.”
After going through the strict procedures, I finally got to meet Valentine.
Considering his history of betrayal, he seemed to be putting extra effort into security.
The massive metal door opened silently to the side.
“Welcome, Mr. Kang Jinwoo.”
The one greeting me was a female android crafted with such precision it was hard to tell it apart from a human.
Wearing a maid outfit, she smiled gently but with an artificial edge as she led me inside.
“Mr. Valentine has been waiting for you. Follow me.”
After walking through a long corridor, we arrived at a grand living room overlooking the city at night.
Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, dazzling lights spread out far below, and on the luxurious sofas in front of them sat an old man with snowy white hair, leaning back deeply.
He was Alexander Valentine.
“You’ve come a long way, Mr. Kang Jinwoo. Sorry to make you walk here just because of my stubbornness.”
He patted the sofa as if inviting me to sit.
I took the hint and sat at the edge of one sofa.
“Alice, bring a cup of tea for the guest.”
“Understood, Mr. Valentine.”
As Alice, the android called by that name, quietly withdrew, Valentine stared silently at the night view outside the window for a while.
The space was wide and elegant, yet his appearance somehow looked shabby and lonely, like a single island in the vast ocean.
“It’s been a while since we first met, Mr. Valentine.”
I broke the silence first and greeted him.
He slowly turned his head and looked at me.
“I wanted to express my gratitude for completing the request, but…”
He trailed off with a sigh.
“The Nova Seed ended up being taken by the recovery team after all.”
It was what I’d expected, but hearing it directly from him made my stomach twist with unease.
The moment the transport vessel crashed back to mind.
“After investigating, it was the Warp Hounds, the pirate band under Red Veil. The recovery team was wiped out, and the Nova Seed ended up in their hands.”
He clenched his fist and continued.
“The worst part is that we got information that they dumped the Nova Seed at an illegal auction house.”
It matched what Kaien had said.
The Warp Hounds were known as vicious bastards who took on those kinds of jobs.
“An illegal auction house floating in the gray zone of interstellar routes. Volkov.”
‘Volkov…’
At his explanation, I narrowed my eyes.
Volkov, the place that had served as the background for infiltration and theft quests in the game as well.
I didn’t know exactly how valuable the Nova Seed was.
But corporate bigwigs and hidden corporate agents from the entire universe would swarm there like clouds.
“The auction is in three days.”
“You should give up on it, I think.”
Valentine let out a dry chuckle at my words.
“Give up? If that’s the case, I shouldn’t have started in the first place.”
“Then are you going to storm Volkov anyway? The second you get there, you’ll be a bee’s nest.”
“I’m not that stupid.”
Valentine touched his wrinkled forehead.
“Then what’s the reason you wanted to meet me? The Nova Seed has been taken. There’s nothing more I can do for you. The request has already been completed.”
“The tea has arrived, Mr. Kang Jinwoo.”
“Ah, thank you.”
After Alice placed the teacup, she bowed and withdrew.
A subtle, luxurious fragrance rose from the teacup.
“I wanted to meet you directly once, because pilots like you are rare in this underworld.”
He gestured as if asking me to drink tea and picked up his own cup.
“It smells good. Please drink.”
“Is that really what you meant?”
I wanted to figure out his true intention more than anything.
Had he simply invited me for small talk?
Valentine set the cup down and said,
“Mind if I tell you a bit about my past?”
“By all means.”
“I used to be one of the top executives at the giant corporation Solaris Industries. I thought I had everything—wealth, honor, a beautiful family.”
His voice trembled slightly.
“But when my beliefs and greed began to clash, everything collapsed in an instant. My colleague’s betrayal, everything snatched away in a day. And my daughter and wife as well.”
‘Oh no…’
It was like I wanted to complain. To an android, no less.
“The Nova Seed was just a stepping stone for revenge. That’s all it was.”
Valentine looked at me again and bowed his head.
“The reason I wanted to meet you directly was to leave a good impression on you. I have a mountain of requests I want to assign to you going forward.”
He pulled a credit chip from his pocket and handed it to me.
The completion fee, and it was probably three times the amount promised from the start.
“I added a little extra as a gesture that I’ll trust you going forward.”
“Thank you, Mr. Valentine.”
Valentine smiled faintly and shared his holographic screen.
Faces from the enemies I’d faced appeared there.
‘Detch.’
The burly Detch from the Steel Fangs mercenary unit.
This old bastard, even though he was pretending, still seemed to hate them deeply.
If they’d started the mission properly and safely, we could have obtained the Nova Seed without incident.
“What’s your intention?”
“Do you know those faces? I just showed them to you.”
His smooth reply and sharp gaze sent a chill down my spine.
‘A fox pretending to be a bear. Was he trying to probe me?’
It might have been his plan to test my relationship with Detch or whether I harbored any grudge against them.
“Now that you mention it, I haven’t properly explained. Why I participated in this mission using the Steel Fangs mercenary unit’s name instead of my own.”
I took the initiative, having figured out his intention.
His mouth curled up as if he’d been waiting.
“I’m curious.”
I briefly recounted the confrontation with the Steel Fangs mercenaries in Scarlet’s workshop and how Detch had transferred the request to me.
When my story ended, Valentine seemed lost in thought for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
“I had no idea such a thing had happened… Sorry. As a result, you got caught up in something even more dangerous.”
“Not at all.”
“Hehe!”
Suddenly he burst out laughing.
‘Is he senile or bipolar or what?’
“Good skills, but you don’t seem to know the dirty side of this world very well.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You stirred the Nesis Corporation, right? Do you think they’ll just let it slide? That’s nonsense. The bastards who get touched by them will definitely be found and pay the price.”
I tensed for a moment at his words.
I’d expected one to slip through, but Valentine’s warning seemed to imply more.
“The bright side is that, according to this request’s record, your information is listed under the Steel Fangs mercenary unit. You might benefit from that.”
He raised his teacup and continued.
“They might already be moving. The Steel Fangs might already be in a mess. Well, they grew because of the new leader, but the fundamentals are three.”
He clicked his tongue and looked at me.
“You’ve really come by your luck. But next time, if you’re going to touch corporate bastards, it’d be better to finish them off for good.”
“Thank you for the advice.”
The short tea time with Valentine ended, and he said to contact him if I needed another request and saw me off.
What he’d wanted to meet me for was probably just to learn about my relationship with the Steel Fangs and get to know me.
It was only a guess on my part, but his intention was too deep to be certain.
I retrieved the pistol from the guard and left the building.
“Preferring the old-fashioned way in a world like this.”
Still, the hefty completion fee made me in a good mood despite the unease.
[+100,000 CR]
Smiling at the amount that appeared at the end of the mission, I had just turned when the communication chime of an unwelcome visitor rang out.
‘Detch.’
Thinking back to Valentine’s words from earlier, I answered the call.
[You bastard! What the hell were you doing? Why are the Nesis bastards storming in?]
Gunshots and heavy metallic impacts echoed through the communication.
“I don’t know?”
[Know my ass! That bastard…]
Detch cursed behind him, but since the communication cut off, I couldn’t hear the rest.
To cover my tracks in case Nesis tried to trace it, I deleted everything and blocked the channel.
“I feel oddly good about it.”
I didn’t even realize my mouth had curved into a smile.