Coughing up Blood
Coughing up Blood
Addy, the informant, burst into the office without even knocking.
The young man, panting for breath, carefully closed the door behind him before looking at Emul.
"Hoo, hoo. Zen-nim, why are you here... You weren't at the hospital, so I wondered where you went. Did you come here right after waking up?"
"I had something to ask Rahul, and he said you went to get the answer."
Emul said this and looked at Rahul, who gestured with his chin as if telling Addy to explain.
"Th-that, hoo. Yes. I will tell you! First, according to the testimonies of the factory middle managers... hoo. The Cyber Psycho we encountered and the Cyber Psycho that belonged to the gang are different guys."
"...Different guys?"
Rahul snatched the question from Emul.
"Yeah. Addy and Setrang's testimonies conflicted with the factory managers'. They said it looked much more human. It wasn't dual-wielding either... Addy. What happened to the scene?"
"It's clean. All the bloodstains were wiped away. The security devices were broken too, so it didn't record who took it."
Rahul stroked his chin and nodded.
"The Scavengers must have taken the Cyber Psycho's prosthetic body. It's a shame we can't see his combat records... Zen. You look terrible. Didn't you discharge yourself too early?"
Emul, who had been listening to their conversation, was furrowing his brow deeply.
He hadn't used any magic for the final blow he delivered to the Cyber Psycho.
If the storage medium for the combat records was video, not only his face but even his strange abilities would have been recorded as they were.
There wouldn't be many heterogeneous beings who could simultaneously handle magic and Ki, cold and heat.
He didn't want to be exposed to the whole world the moment he finally obtained a dagger to hone.
He forced his expression to stiffen and spat out a reasonable excuse.
"...I'm fine. More than that, I'm interested in the combat records. I can learn what I was lacking."
Addy looked at him with a fed-up expression. Rahul, wearing a similar look, replied.
"There won't be such detailed data. They're guys who can barely be called human, so they probably used their own refined data. Even that would just be the distribution of damage the prosthetic took or how they utilized the installed software."
"Software, huh... Sounds like the guy called Cyber Psycho is a walking terminal."
"That's a hell of a way to put it. But, didn't you know? Unlike bio-machines, they're guys who've even abandoned their humanity."
"...It was a joke."
"Hah. For such an expression, your sense of humor is... Anyway, the problem is where that psycho bastard came from. It's certain he's not an ordinary guy."
Addy chimed in on Rahul's words.
"That's right. His movements were too clean. He handled Ki skillfully too... though it might have been an ability he originally possessed."
Having said that, Addy swung his empty hand as if mimicking the Cyber Psycho's swordsmanship.
Emul used the whoosh-whoosh sound coming from behind him as background music and spoke.
"Anyway, like Rahul said, it's important to know where that uninvited guest came from and what he was aiming for."
"Right. Since the interpretation depends on what the target was..."
Rahul trailed off, and his and Emul's gazes met.
"Are you saying he was aiming for me?"
"To be precise, a mage. I heard crimes targeting mages have increased recently. It's a reliable source, so you can trust it."
Emul inadvertently looked back on his recent actions.
He had only rooted out criminals wanted on the public network, so there shouldn't be a problem.
He had been searching for mages, but he hadn't found one, so it couldn't be referring to him.
"Now that you mention it..."
"Seems like you have an inkling."
The two brothers who had attacked Camellia, the mage. From what Emul had overheard at the scene, they seemed to have known her identity and tracked her.
Did some kind of conflict or grudge exist between mages? Harboring a brief thought, Emul glossed over the conversation.
"...I've heard a similar story."
"Is that so... I'll investigate this separately. Since it's interfering with the request our office took, I can't just let it slide."
He didn't know who was behind the Cyber Psycho, but if a figure like Rahul stepped in personally, he would at least get a lead.
He could worry less about that part. Emul concluded as much and pushed his body up from the wall.
"Are you leaving already?"
"I've taken care of my urgent business."
As he opened the door and walked out, a word reached him.
"Zen. I'll send the payment to your terminal. Get some rest."
Emul just gave a slight nod, passed by the mercenaries who were looking at him with curiosity, and quickly exited the container.
Because what he was about to do was something he didn't want others to see.
As soon as he entered the alleyway, he shook a pill bottle he'd taken from his pocket into his mouth with trembling fingers.
"Hoo."
The bitter and sour taste felt the same every time. Once the pain finally subsided, he glared at the corner beyond the shoulder where there were no people.
"...Mind your own business. It's just a regular painkiller."
Since he had been to the Sludge Factory, the word "drug addict" had flashed through his mind.
If they misunderstood and some bullshit rumor about him being a junkie started, it would be hard to take on requests.
It might be overthinking, but it never hurts to be sure.
Since he had just recovered from an injury, even if he took painkillers, there would be no room to imagine it connected to the deadly poison flowing through his body.
Having calmed his breathing, he walked toward his own quiet and cozy space.
Addy, who had left the container, returned to the office with a complicated expression and sat on the sofa.
His gaze was more serious than ever.
Click-.
He was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice someone entering.
Rahul, unable to wait for him, spoke first.
"Setrang. What happened to Addy?"
"Beats me. Acting all cool."
Even so, Addy remained motionless, his mouth shut tight.
Rahul, who had ruffled the back of his head, asked Setrang first.
"Is he reliable?"
"Yes."
A prompt answer that came without hesitation, to the point of being disheartening.
Rahul, with a faint hint of a smile, cast his gaze toward the sofa.
Addy looked down at his calloused palms and replied.
"Honestly, it's creepy. Maybe he gained some enlightenment the day he fought the Cyber Psycho... Originally, he was leaking magic power little by little, but now I can't even feel it."
"No way. No genius can change like that in a day. You have to assume he built a secret mental image. I don't know what his purpose for approaching our office was."
Addy, who had lifted his head to meet Rahul's eyes, said.
"...However. It doesn't feel like everything is a facade. If you ask me if he's reliable, I can only answer yes."
Rahul also didn't find the mage named Zen untrustworthy.
Rather, the curiosity that kept wagging its tail was the problem.
A newcomer who doesn't easily trust others was asserting it.
It wasn't as if he was inexperienced; even Setrang, who was quite seasoned, hadn't hesitated to affirm it.
And outside the office, in the noisy lobby, that name was being bandied about repeatedly.
"Is that guy from earlier Zen? His appearance and personality are completely different..."
"His style is just like a mage, but he's secretly..."
"Just what tier..."
He usually blocked out the noise intentionally because it interfered with work.
Rahul, stroking his chin, said to Setrang.
"The lobby is noisy. What happened outside?"
At that, Setrang looked at Addy once, then looked at his own empty arm.
"...As soon as Zen visited the office, Addy asked if he was alive. Then he said he'd find a decent prosthetic arm for me... It might be my misunderstanding, but he didn't look like he was in good shape either."
"I see... It probably wasn't a misunderstanding. That cautious and cold mage wouldn't have been grimacing just because he couldn't stand simple pain. It must be an injury with long-lasting aftereffects."
A bleak era where high technology has erased human warmth.
Affection, heart. Words that have become relics of a bygone era, worth less than a mere piece of data.
This shabby mercenary office was built to protect those useless things in its own way.
The mage, who was called a weirdo or a nutjob, was instead exuding the musty scent of those days.
Even excluding that, there were one or two things that didn't sit right, but the core was separate.
Rahul had told Zen a lie.
He had already grasped the identity of that uninvited guest, the Cyber Psycho, to some extent.
'The guy is one of the strategic weapons of a private military company.'
A disaster brought about by a messy power struggle between the parent companies of the factory.
If he had left it alone, all the Sludge Factories in the area would have become piles of scrap metal, and someone would have reaped huge windfall profits from those ashes.
Since they wouldn't care about the lives of the workers, it was natural that flesh and blood would be mixed into the ashes.
Who was the one who crudely grabbed those blood-stained bundles of money?
'It's not hard to pinpoint.'
The companies that profit in this game can be counted on one hand.
The problem was that the strategic weapon was not an opponent that a mage who had just learned magic could defeat.
Especially in the midst of a chaotic battle where he could barely take care of his own body, with two wounded people in tow.
'Really, I wonder where that mage popped out from. I'm curious, but.'
Aside from curiosity, there was something that had to be done.
Rahul tapped his terminal and sent twice the promised payment to Zen.
It was a ridiculously cheap amount for the price of a life, but what that mage wanted wasn't money, but the information about Academy City that Rahul held.
Originally, he was only going to pass on such facts, but he had to repay him for saving the few employees in his office.
"...Let's finish the request first."
He muttered and put on the leather coat hanging on the wall.
After confirming that there were plenty of cigarettes in his pocket, he declared to the two mercenaries who were just standing there blankly.
"I'll be gone for a while, so keep that in mind. I'll leave the acting duties to Shun like last time."
Whether the military company targeted the mage or not didn't matter.
The sign hanging on the shabby container wasn't just for decoration.
The moment he put his name on it, it meant Rahul was responsible for every request.
That was why he put on his pitch-black leather gloves and left the office.
"...Going to get some exercise for the first time in a while."
Woo-ung-.
The terminal he had left on the box vibrated, brightly illuminating the dark room.
Woo-ung-.
A second notification came in, but Emul had no room to pay attention to trivial things.
Hu-du-du-duk.
A sticky lump of blood that had risen from within, as if vomited out.
Dark, black blood flowed down between the palms he had instinctively clamped over his lips.
"Cough!"
Only after retching several times did his throat clear.
Kneeling on the floor, he faced the pool of blood with blurred vision.
The one who had created that tragedy was none other than himself.
He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and muttered.
"I can't... use magic..."