The Silver Witch's Challenge
Her lips curved into a mysterious smile that grew even thicker from my conditional acceptance—or perhaps my provocative answer.
She glanced briefly at the tattered Bugbear behind me and her own radiant Silvera, then at the two mechs.
She checked the gap between them once more, as if calculating something.
The surrounding mercenaries held their breath, waiting for her next words.
After a short while, she spoke.
“Your reasoning is quite rational.”
She accepted it surprisingly candidly.
“I don’t want to have you fighting with a horribly damaged machine. There shouldn’t be any room for excuses either.”
She looked me straight in the eye and said.
In her silver eyes lay a strange sense of fairness alongside arrogance.
“Fine. I won’t waste your time. Time to repair and maintain the machine.”
She checked her wrist terminal and continued.
“Around dawn tomorrow. Meet me at the training ground of this base.”
Dawn tomorrow? This crazy woman.
The time was too tight, but asking for more now was impossible.
Moreover, the location was our own base’s training ground. At least that gave me the advantage of familiarity.
“Is that enough, Driller?”
She asked as if confirming.
I nodded my head. Of course.
“That’s sufficient.”
“Good.”
Yuna answered shortly, satisfied, then turned toward Bulldog, who was fidgeting beside her.
“Commander.”
She ordered like that.
“We’ll use the training ground tomorrow at dawn. Keep it empty.”
“Yes, yes! Of course, Lady Yuna! It must be left empty! If needed, our personnel support as well…”
Bulldog immediately reverted to his groveling sycophant self, bowing and scraping.
“No need.”
Yuna cut off his words coldly.
She climbed into the cockpit and, like when she had arrived, silently launched her machine and vanished from sight in an instant.
As if a storm had passed, the hangar erupted into explosive noise the moment Yuna left.
“Oh my god, did you see that? Yuna really did a mock battle with Cog 7!”
“Are you crazy? Fighting Silvera with that scrap pile?”
“Still, you bought some time! Who knows what we can do all night?”
“That rookie is no ordinary guy. He has the guts to act like that in front of the Silver Witch!”
“The training ground at dawn tomorrow is going to be quite the spectacle!”
The mercenaries each shouted in excitement.
Some mocking, some concerned, some with inexplicable hope. Their gazes all locked onto me.
At that moment, Bulldog blocked my path again.
“Cog 7, what the hell happened? Why is Yuna paying attention to you? Did you make some deal with Icarus? Tell me straight!”
He seemed to think that I might have suddenly become valuable.
His scheme was to control me somehow and gain an advantage in this situation.
But now I was no longer the old Cog 7.
I had 8,300 credits in my pocket.
That would allow me to survive for a while without his interference.
“It’s none of your business.”
I looked him straight in the eyes and answered coldly.
“And you should stay out of this. It’s a matter between me and her.”
I shoved his shoulder aside and mocked as I walked past.
Bulldog stood there blankly for a moment, at a loss for words.
I no longer bothered with him and headed toward my Bugbear. Time was tight, and there was a mountain of work ahead.
I opened the System window and activated the Shop function, purchasing the pre-selected parts without hesitation.
[ITEM: Small Reactor Booster (Grade C)] Purchase complete. -4500 CR
[ITEM: High-Performance Actuator Set (Grade D+)] Purchase complete. -1500 CR
[ITEM: Nano Composite Armor Plate (Medium) x5] Purchase complete. -1500 CR
[ITEM: Frame Reinforcement (Melee Focus)] Purchase complete. -500 CR
Total: 8,000 credits. Almost all of my entire fortune.
As I pressed the buy button, the space beneath my feet flickered slightly, and the ordered parts materialized one by one.
A faint glow from the booster, heavy actuators, thick armor plates.
I stood before my Bugbear, examining its pathetic state, when an old man in oil-stained work clothes approached.
He was the one known as Han Banjang, overseeing the maintenance garage of the Kronos Mercenary Group.
“Hoo, I hear the rumors, you little punk.”
Han Banjang folded his arms and scanned me from head to toe as he said.
His voice carried well even through the machine noise.
“I heard you said you’d flatten the Silver Witch’s nose. Are you so desperate to die that you’ve gone mad?”
I didn’t have time to respond to his sarcasm.
“Hoo!”
Suddenly Han Banjang’s eyes widened.
He couldn’t close his mouth at the sight of the reactor booster.
“Where the hell did all these precious items come from! Especially this booster… it’s Grade C! Something even a third-rate mercenary group like ours can’t even see! Did you steal it from some corporate transport ship?”
Instead of answering his fuss, I pulled out a 200-credit chip from the remaining 300 and handed it to him.
“I need to install this on my machine. If you help, it’s yours. How about it?”
Han Banjang alternated between the credit chip, my face, and the latest parts on the floor.
“Tsk… a fearless young man. I don’t need the credits, but I’ll say this: just bolting it on won’t turn your scrap heap into Silvera. Go ahead and listen to your crying tomorrow morning.”
And so began our all-night work session.
He grumbled as he fetched the necessary tools with expert skill, helping me install parts or offering advice.
“This booster is small, but the output is quite strong. Be careful when connecting the energy. One mistake and your cockpit will be turned into soup.”
“Actuators—switching to these is the best move. The old ones had already reached their limit. The frame is also severely twisted on this side. You’ll need to focus the reinforcements and welding here. Are you still planning to swing that crazy drill around?”
“This armor plate… it’s pretty thick, but it’s basically just paper in front of Silvera’s beam rifle. Better to avoid head-on fights.”
He nagged nonstop, yet whenever my hands faltered, he instinctively knew and took care of everything.
His experience and know-how were definitely helpful.
“Banjang-ssi, do you know much about Yuna?”
I watched the welding flame and asked casually.
“The Silver Witch?”
Han Banjang answered while turning a wrench.
“If you don’t know her at the bottom of the mercenary world, you’re a spy. She’s Icarus’s greatest ace. Beautiful, but they say she’s cruel. There aren’t just a few mercenary groups she’s torn apart with her hands. But why would such a massive figure pay attention to a little punk like you?”
“Yeah…”
I answered shortly.
“Hmph. There must be something.”
Han Banjang muttered meaningfully.
“Anyway, my advice to you, little punk, is simple: don’t fight to win. That’s suicide. Just endure somehow. Even if you leave a scar, you might become a hero. Of course, the probability of dying will be much higher.”
His words were cold but realistic.
I myself had no thoughts of victory.
My realistic goal was the additional reward condition of the System quest: survive 3 minutes and deliver an effective hit.
As the night deepened and the eastern sky faintly brightened, finally all work was complete.
“It’s done.”
Han Banjang wiped his greasy hands on his work clothes as he said.
His face showed clear fatigue, but somehow it looked satisfied.
“Now it’s up to you. Don’t go dying too fast. If even a rumor spreads that my skills are useless, it’ll be a problem.”
He spoke gruffly, but there seemed to be a faint encouragement in it.
I smiled faintly and nodded to him.
“Thanks for helping me out, Banjang-ssi.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and stood before the machine.
The training ground already had bright lights on. It was the promised time. I climbed into the Bugbear’s cockpit.
[System online. All devices operating normally. Reactor output stable. Booster system online.]
Along with the familiar machine sounds, the instrument panel lit up.
A much more stable and powerful energy flow than before was felt.
I gripped the control stick and took a deep breath.
It was time to go.
While Kang Jinwoo devoted the entire night to upgrading the Bugbear, Yuna was alone inside Silvera’s cockpit, writing a report on her holographic terminal.
Even in her familiar solitude, she confirmed her own reason for existence most clearly.
Discovering the smallest possibility that would benefit Icarus, no matter how insignificant, and persistently verifying it to contribute even a fragment to the corporation’s strength.
Just like breathing, something that could never stop even if your heart stopped.
If Icarus had not taken in the young girl who had lost everything and was starving and terrified in the cold void of space without a name, then the Silver Witch Yuna, or rather Yuna as an individual, would not exist now.
Icarus had given her life, a name, power, and most of all a reason to live.
Therefore, devoting herself to the corporation and proving its infinite power at the front lines was the only way she could feel that she was alive and that she was valuable.
Her fingers gently brushed over the holographic keyboard.
[Target: Driller, ID Code Cog 7. Affiliated with Kronos Mercenary Group machine. Status: extremely poor.]
[Pilot’s combat style is unconventional, but instantaneous judgment and latent potential have sufficient room for review. Continuous observation and data collection required.]
While writing the report, she recalled the face of the Driller who had stared at her directly in the hangar earlier, with a somewhat arrogant gaze.
His face stained with dust and oil, but the light in his eyes.
“It wasn’t simple bravado or recklessness. That gaze… he was certain of something.”
The sensation from that brief encounter had been quite clear.
Something that could not be quantified in numbers or analyzed by data.
Instinctively, she sensed that it might benefit Icarus or, conversely, be a fatal threat.
Whichever it was, she could not ignore it.
She stared into empty space for a moment as if lost in thought, then immediately closed the small report window on the screen.