My Companions
“What the hell happened.”
As we moved deeper into the base, the additional Nexus mechs we had found stood motionless, frozen in place with no sign of activity whatsoever.
They looked like some kind of colossal steel graveyard.
“The mechs are all intact… then what the hell happened?”
I didn’t let my guard down for a second.
Just in case some freak was hiding in a cockpit and would try to ambush us the moment we got close, my spine went cold.
The cockpit hatch is open?
I had only just noticed it after poking around for a while.
It looked like someone had either boarded or exited the mech.
Are they still asleep inside or something?
Curiosity won out. I climbed the nearest ladder and leaned into the open cockpit.
“Ugh! Fuck me…”
The moment I saw the rotten stench and the horrific sight, I cursed instinctively and furrowed my brow.
A man in a Nexus mercenary uniform lay slumped in the pilot seat, dead.
The damage was so gruesome I couldn’t bring myself to look closely, but his neck and heart had been precisely stabbed—clean, instant kill.
One strike.
Nothing sloppy about it.
“Haaah, damn it. Who the hell did this?”
So the other mercenaries in this squad hadn’t just been sitting ducks either? No, this wasn’t even a simple case of resistance.
Maybe they’d been forced into close-quarters combat outside?
The clues piled up fast.
Every single one of the mechs around us was in the same state.
Goosebumps crawled down my back as I realized it.
All the Nexus pilots in this sector had been slaughtered the same way.
That’s where the last location Detch mentioned was.
The building entrance was half-collapsed from the blast wave, and inside it was pitch black, lit by nothing.
A damp, heavy atmosphere hung in the air.
Gun drawn and pointed straight ahead, I stepped cautiously into the gloom.
Between the shattered walls and scattered debris, faint sounds drifted—could they be human moans or whispers?
I grabbed the door handle of the relatively intact inner room that I assumed was the target zone and kicked the door open roughly.
SHING-!
A silver flash streaked toward my face accompanied by a sharp whoosh.
“What the—?! Gah!”
I instinctively dropped my head. The throwing knife sliced through a few strands of my hair and slammed deep into the wall behind me with a heavy thud.
If I’d been even a second late or even an inch higher…
Before I could even straighten up, a figure leaped out of the shadows.
A woman?
Sharp-eyed woman with emerald-blue hair chopped short and swept back messily.
Her black sleeveless training suit clung to a body as tight and defined as any combat athlete, every inch of her arms and exposed skin covered in deep, old scars.
She dove straight into my arms in a blur, trying to pin me down.
The movement was fast, precise, the exact style of a trained assassin.
Caught off guard, I was shoved backward and slammed against the wall.
Only then did I manage to grab her wrists and fight back.
Damn it, how the hell can a woman have this much strength?!
The grip radiating from her wrists was stronger than anything I’d ever felt.
Her eyes were locked on my gun lying on the floor, and I knew she was thinking the same.
Zero room for error.
“Ma’am! Don’t! He’s here to save us!”
Familiar voice—Detch.
At his desperate shout, the woman’s furious movements froze for a split second.
I used the opening to shove her off and snatched up my gun, resetting my stance.
She shot me a dissatisfied glare, then turned her eyes to Detch and spoke.
“Detch, is that true? And I told you before—call me ‘hyung-nim,’ not ‘no-nim.’”
Her voice carried an attractive husky tone, but the strength in it matched any man’s.
The way she carried herself, the commanding presence in every gesture and word, made ‘hyung-nim’ feel completely natural.
“I-I’m sorry, hyung-nim.”
Detch answered in a voice like it was crawling out of his throat.
“So, this guy came to save us?”
She pointed at me with a chin jerk.
Only then did I see her ease her guard a little.
I relaxed and scanned the room.
It was a wreck.
Dead mercenaries and Nexus soldiers littered the floor.
While I’d been fighting outside, this ‘hyung-nim’ woman must have been fighting desperately inside.
The mechs outside… they were all in the same pitiful state.
Still muttering to myself about the ruined corpses, she fixed me with a hard stare.
“What’s your name?”
Is he asking for introductions?
“If you’re going to introduce yourself, at least do it first yourself.”
I fired back without hesitation.
“Tsk, it’s Nyx.”
She clicked her tongue and answered shortly.
Nyx? I’ve never heard that name before.
Was it an NPC? Or some hidden named character?
“I’m Kang Jinwoo.”
“Kang Jinwoo… ha! The Nexus bastards were frantically searching for your name? Is that why we ended up in this mess?”
Nyx looked me up and down, arms crossed.
One wrong move and I expected the knife at her waist to fly toward my neck.
“Detch! You two seem to know each other. Explain the situation. What happened to the Nexus guys? And who is this guy?”
She jerked her chin at Detch.
“It started… like this, hyung-nim…”
Detch began to explain everything from the moment we first met, carefully gauging Nyx’s reaction.
Her expression grew darker and darker as the story unfolded.
When he finished, Nyx said coldly,
“So you took the job, then dragged your feet and tried to pull a stunt instead?”
“T-that’s not how it was, hyung-nim! I was only trying to increase the success rate…”
Nyx’s eyebrows twitched at Detch’s excuse.
“Haaah, you stupid little shit. I knew you were too greedy the moment you said you’d landed a good contract.”
Her hand had already moved back to her waist.
“N-no, hyung-nim! Talk to me, just talk!”
Detch shouted with a face full of terror.
Nyx ignored him completely and turned to me.
“So what next? Keep explaining. I get that you took the job under the mercenary squad’s name. But why were the Nexus bastards targeting us?”
She shot me a piercing glare that demanded an answer.
“While that was happening, I killed several of them.”
I answered concisely.
“You alone, you mean?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You were just the face of the job, weren’t you?”
Nyx’s tone stayed sharp as ever.
“I did it alone.”
“…You did everything alone?”
Nyx tilted her head in obvious disbelief, then her gaze shifted to Detch.
Detch jumped in panic and yelled,
“T-th-that’s right, hyung-nim! This crazy bastard charged in alone to finish everything! It’s not my fault!”
“I get the general idea.”
Nyx nodded. “The guy who shat the bed came to clean up the mess.”
“Detch asked me to accept the job under the mercenary squad’s name. If anyone’s to blame, it’s him.”
I pointed at Detch and Nyx answered dismissively,
“Yeah, right.”
BOOM!
Before I could finish, Nyx’s kick flew in and sent Detch tumbling across the floor.
“Kuek! Hyung-nim…”
“Shut the hell up.”
“The situation seems over, right?”
I offered her a handshake while speaking. The immediate crisis was over; we had to move to the next stage.
Nyx looked at the hand I offered and laughed.
“Sure, situation’s over. We can leave after you take the money we’re owed. That’s what you’re saying, right? That’s why low-quality mercenaries are all trash.”
She spat on the floor and glared.
“The kind of trash who’ll do anything for money. Where did I go wrong?”
“You’re still the squad leader, though.”
My teasing tone made her frown.
“I don’t stick around like a rat everywhere.”
“I don’t either. I know how to pick my battles.”
“Damn bastard won’t shut up with just one line.”
Nyx growled low.
I took a deep breath and changed the subject.
“All the pilots outside were killed inside their cockpits. Did you do that?”
“Yeah, I did. So?”
Nyx answered calmly.
At that moment Detch jumped in again.
“You’re really hyung-nim! Uwaah! You took a full-power punch to the face and still came out alive! I thought you were dead!”
“Shut your mouth.”
Detch fell silent at Nyx’s icy tone.
She lifted her foot slightly and he automatically crouched and backed away.
Nyx looked at me again.
“So, are you disappointed? Did you start feeling pity for the Nexus bastards?”
“No, not at all. I’ve had bad blood with those guys too. I just… they were impressive. They infiltrated with nothing but their bare hands and assassinated the pilots?”
Pure admiration slipped into my words.
“Hah! Nothing good will come of showing me that much respect.”
Nyx smirked.
Detch jumped in without noticing.
“You really are hyung-nim! Just like a former soldier…”
BOOM!
“You’re the only one picking my least favorite topic, huh?”
Nyx’s kick slammed exactly into Detch’s side and he rolled across the floor with a “Kuek!”
Former soldier?
In this game world, the regular army had already fallen or its power had been drastically reduced.
Interplanetary power struggles and resource wars were run by the big corporations, and their private soldiers and mercenary squads held actual military might.
Icarus and Nexus were the prime examples.
My hand that had been offered for a handshake hung awkwardly in the air.
Hand’s gonna drop off. You not catching it?
“Haaah, yeah. At least we’re out of the woods now.”
Nyx reluctantly took my hand. The instant our palms met, her overwhelming strength pulled my body downward.
This bitch…!
CRASH!
I crashed to the floor and Nyx was already on top of me, grabbing my throat.
“But don’t get the wrong idea. You’re the one who brought this on. Don’t forget it. You’d better stop thinking about being friends. Got it?”
Her black eyes burned with killing intent.
“I get it, so let go of my throat and calm down. And… more than anything, you’re way too close.”
The tension in the air was heavy, but the weight of her firm chest pressing down on me made something strange stir in my chest.
No helping it.
“Fuck this.”
Nyx clicked her tongue, released my throat, and stood up.
“For now, there might still be Nexus leftovers. We’ll cooperate until then.”
“Good. Oh, and my friend prepared a transport ship. You riding it?”
The base was a mess; rebuilding here seemed impossible.
The only advantage I had over her right now was money.
And a ridiculous amount of it—thanks to the huge reward from Gideon at Icarus and all the other quests I’d cleared.
“Transport ship?”
Nyx looked conflicted for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
“……I’ll ask you to take us there.”
She accepted with visible reluctance.
Of course—trying to hold out here in this state was basically suicide.
Even thinking about the safety of the remaining mercenaries, I doubted she would turn down my offer.
“Good. Then let’s start cleaning up the area. There might still be Nexus trash left.”
Nyx and I, along with a few movable mercenaries, began searching the surroundings.
Fortunately, no more enemies turned up.
“Clean enough, I guess.”
Nyx wiped sweat from her forehead.
“Then we’ll wait at the transport ship location.”
I led the way.
Nyx instructed Detch to gather the remaining squad members and followed me closely.
All the way there she didn’t say a single word.
Before long we reached the place where the battered Asura stood.
Battle damage scarred every inch of the mech.
Nyx scanned the Asura’s condition for a moment, then smirked and mocked,
“This is your mech? It’s completely wrecked.”
“The same goes for your base, I guess.”
My retort made her eyebrows twitch, but she said nothing more and circled the Asura to inspect its status.
Then—
WOOOOOONG-!
A massive roar echoed. From far away, several transport ships and dozens of mechs—more than enough mechs—moved in formation, escorting them.
“T-that’s… is it Nexus support? Are they here already?”
Nyx’s face turned deathly pale.
Her hand instinctively went to the knife at her waist.
My own heart dropped.
If we fought a force of this size again…
Damn… it’s over.
Staring blankly at the sky, a desperate call suddenly rang out from my terminal.
It was Scarlet.
[Jinwoo! You’re safe, right? Please answer me!]
“Scarlet! What the hell did you do?!”
I yelled without meaning to.
[Haaah! Thank god! You’re alive!]
The moment Scarlet’s relieved voice cut off, the massive transport ships and mechs descended oppressively toward us.
They were coming straight for us.
“They’re not enemies. My companions.”
I told Nyx, trying to reassure her.
“What? You… who the hell are you?”
Nyx asked in obvious disbelief at the size of the force.
I grinned and answered,
“I’ll tell you when we’re friends.”
“Seriously…”
She looked annoyed, remembering the words I’d said earlier about not thinking of her as a friend.
But somewhere in that annoyed expression lurked a faint spark of curiosity.