Episode 6
Episode 6
A leisurely afternoon. Crossing the automatic door, Emul sat on one of the three waiting chairs. It was his first time looking around the interior with any leisure.
The smell of disinfectant and oil. And something else layered beneath it. It was hard to pinpoint, but various medicinal scents drifted by.
The robots lined up in one corner were showing off their different sizes.
The humanoid holding surgical tools instead of a nurse was strange yet interesting.
Just as he turned his gaze to the thick bundles of wires exposed on the ceiling, a loud noise came from the closed door.
"No, why the hell not!"
"Customer. I already explained that earlier. Your body has already undergone significant mechanization, so the recovery speed is bound to be slow..."
A squabble commonly heard even on the streets. Just as Emul was about to close his eyes.
Bang!
A man burst through the door, stomping out while panting. He snapped at Marvin, who had followed him out, as if issuing a warning.
"Fuck. You think I'm gonna pay for this shitty service?"
"Heh heh... It's problematic if you act like this after receiving treatment."
Click.
The man pulled out a modified pistol and aimed it menacingly, as if he would shoot at any moment.
"Just 'cause you're a body expert doesn't mean you can't die! Right, old man?"
Marvin, lips pressed tight, raised both hands and nodded.
Just as Emul, who had been silently condoning the whole process, was finally about to rise from his chair.
Marvin muttered lowly.
"Do you know how many years I've rolled around in the Undeveloped Area."
"You senile old bastard. What are you mumbling about? Speak up! Want me to rip out your implants?"
The man's finger entered the trigger guard. Kkirik, the trigger, pulled to its limit, groaned.
Even with a gun about to fire right in front of his nose, Marvin continued his cryptic talk confidently.
"A whopping 46 years. You little shit."
"46 years is a big dea—"
Pishuk-.
The man's body collapsed along with the muffled gunshot. Since it pierced his forehead, he must have died instantly.
Chwararak.
Marvin's split palm meshed together as if alive. The metal chamber that had been exposed through the gap slid back in, and artificial skin covered it, sealing it shut.
Before he knew it, a humanoid that had been stuck to the wall skillfully hoisted the corpse and disappeared somewhere.
A robot vacuum appeared as if to take its shift, spraying an unknown solution and wiping the bloodstains clean.
'Even the cleanup is clean.'
It didn't look like a skill he'd practiced for just a day or two.
Soon, a faint metallic smell and the scent of cold alcohol spread thinly. Marvin, discovering Emul, was startled and asked.
"Oh, when did you arrive?"
"Just now."
Emul approached the desk naturally, rummaged through the drawer to take out painkillers, and asked a question as if tossing it aside.
"Why didn't you use the gun on me?"
Then Marvin approached hurriedly and said.
"How many years have I been working as a body expert? I can distinguish between a guy who gets bullets lodged in him and one who doesn't..."
Emul tilted his head slightly at the incomprehensible answer.
When he first visited the hospital, let alone mana, he hadn't even been holding a single gun.
All he had was a folding knife in his pocket.
'He saw something with those eyes.'
Marvin's mechanical eyes, indistinguishable from human eyes, reflected Emul.
What had this body expert figured out about him?
"Can I see the results of the physical exam from back then?"
"Of course. I'll print it right away."
As Marvin stared at the paper, red light shot from his eyes, drawing black lines.
"Here it is. If there are any parts you don't understand, please let me know."
Emul, having received the instantly printed test paper, scanned the contents, then folded the paper and put it inside his coat.
"Seems like you're hiding something."
"...That is. Heh heh."
Marvin, brushing back his sparse hair, handed over a bundle of documents with trembling hands.
[ Drug Composition Report (Analysis Pending) ]
At the title clearly written at the top, Emul's eyebrows furrowed on their own.
"This is completely different from what you said last time."
"Th-that, as you said back then, the Nepellosa neurotoxin was the base, but the mixed drugs aren't ones that are generally circulated, so that's why. Also, the tiny amount of mixed mana is adding to the confusion, which is giving me trouble."
"Then does that mean you can't make an antidote?"
"Even if I don't know the product, if I can at least figure out the components, I should be able to make an antidote. However, since the analysis difficulty has increased, it will cost more."
The painkillers alleviate the occasional seizures, but once tolerance builds up, even that will be difficult. It's a problem that can only be solved by neutralizing the poison, the root cause.
"Then that's fine. The important thing is whether you can make the antidote."
Emul stood up, shrugging his shoulders.
"The increased analysis fee and the painkillers. How much is it in total? As I always say, I'm the type to be thorough with calculations."
"That's fine, as I've already deducted it in advance."
Marvin hurriedly took a terminal out of his pocket, turned it halfway, and held it out.
500,000 chips clearly displayed on the screen.
Had he prepared it as a tribute out of fear born from a misunderstanding? As Emul was having such silly thoughts, Marvin said proudly.
"It's an item I got from a reliable broker, so you don't need to worry about being tracked. Ah. I deducted that cost too, so I absolutely didn't skim any off the top. Really!"
A conversation that seemed slightly off.
Emul, looking back and forth between the terminal and Marvin, sat back down on the chair.
"...I want to hear an explanation. In detail."
*
"Take care, Emul-nim!"
Emul left the hospital after receiving Marvin's polite greeting.
He hadn't planned on telling anyone his name. But since they had to be business partners in the future, shouldn't they at least introduce themselves?
'A bounty hunter, huh.'
He didn't know what train of thought had made him into a reclusive bounty hunter.
Emul decided to use Marvin's misunderstanding this time as well.
If he searched the wanted list on the public network and took care of them, the body expert with a solid identity could collect the reward on his behalf.
Since they had already built trust once, there was no need to go through a broker, take tests, and pay commissions.
If he had to find a downside, it was that he couldn't participate in the big jobs that were secretly traded among brokers.
Considering the astronomical amount needed for the antidote production, it might be a shame, but.
'If you only aim for one place, your vision is bound to narrow.'
For some reason, the past Emul was obsessed with money.
He didn't waste the chips he collected with his flashy hand skills and tried to achieve one goal.
He didn't know what dream he had wished for while even starving himself, but the result was miserable.
Death by poisoning.
The personality of the 'Emul' that was there before must have died. At least, that was the conclusion Emul reached.
No matter how much money you have, it's meaningless if you don't have the power to protect it.
The world he woke up in is that kind of place.
Reflecting on the past, Emul felt his surroundings gradually getting darker.
Even the flickering streetlights disappeared, and as he walked into the deepening darkness, he knocked on the door of a shop.
'Marvin definitely said it was here.'
When there was no response even after time passed, Emul raised his mana.
Pajik, pajijik.
The moment the sparks that spread from his fingertips to his feet pulled up the power of his body.
Kkiik-.
The door opened, making a hinge sound that didn't fit the era.
Inside, a hard alloy capable of stopping bullets was in place instead of wallpaper.
Emul walked straight in and stopped in front of an opaque glass pane.
"I want to request the disposal of stolen goods."
Jijik-.
Along with noise, a voice whose gender was hard to guess was heard.
"Show me. If you pull out something cheap, you know what happens, right?"
Was it coming from the camera on the ceiling? This guy was quite wary.
'Since they only deal with expensive stolen goods, I guess that's understandable.'
Finishing his short assessment, he held out the hair tie he had taken out to the camera as if to show it off.
"Ayy, it's a jewel. The type, the type... You. Where did you get that?"
"I didn't steal it. Some mage..."
"No. No. No. Don't answer. I don't know. I'll pretend I didn't see it. Go back. Hurry!"
Jiing-.
The camera looked at the door as if issuing an eviction order.
Emul mocked while looking at the camera.
"And here I heard you dealt with the most valuable stolen goods in the Undeveloped Area. Was it all just nonsense?"
"......"
Perhaps not wanting to get involved any further, they stopped talking altogether.
With no other choice, Emul left the shop. He stared blankly at the bright red hair tie in his hand.
A small precious metal embedded in the center of the flower decoration. What on earth was this jewel, which didn't even have a trace of mana, that made the owner make such a fuss?
Feeling uneasy, Emul curled his hand around the hair tie.
An empty street. Looking at it, he took a step forward.
Pajijijijik——!
His body, stretching out like lightning, threw a punch.
Kkigigigik.
The strangely bent steel plate groaned and collapsed.
Thud!
Shadows scattered like cockroaches at the vibration shaking the asphalt.
The sewers or the area near the hospital where he stayed weren't at least this kind of atmosphere.
They might fight openly on the street, but they lived while keeping a minimum line.
Compared to that, here, hyenas that would bite if you showed even the slightest opening lurked everywhere.
Well, that was to be expected, as this place was a kind of back alley called a slum even within the Undeveloped Area.
'Dead Zone.'
Like its nickname, it's a street where you can die at any time.
There were two main reasons why Emul went out of his way to visit the dangerous area.
To have the fence appraise the hair tie.
He had intended to test them face-to-face to judge how much value it held.
'To think they'd respond non-face-to-face.'
And for some reason, the owner reacted excessively when seeing the jewel.
Seeing as they remained silent to the provocative remarks he threw on purpose, he shouldn't consider them a fool.
In the first place, to survive as a fence in the Dead Zone, one must be able to deal with all sorts of difficulties.
Perhaps they reacted excessively on purpose to indirectly pass on information and try to win the favor of Emul, a mage.
'No. Let's stop with the hasty assumptions.'
People are bound to think in a direction advantageous to themselves.
Emul, cutting off his wild guesses, checked the 'terminal' worn on his wrist.
'Those brothers said it was a Calculation Auxiliary Device.'
As he flowed a little mana into it, light began to surge from the display.
It wasn't just magic that he ripped off from the brothers who were chasing the invisible man.
It was an item that was completely unnecessary when Emul cast magic, but this time it was different.
He walked through the Dead Zone thoroughly, showing off the Calculation Auxiliary Device.
'Are they finally taking the bait?'
When he entered the vicinity of an abandoned building with its skeleton clearly exposed, facing the cold night air.
Emul started running fast at the approaching heterogeneous biological reaction.
Tadadak!
Even though he ran with mana wrapped around his whole body, the distance didn't widen but rather narrowed.
Finally, the moment it got close to the limit.
Emul, who lightly climbed onto a rusted H-beam, stared alternately at the paper and beyond it.
The second reason he had come to the dangerous Dead Zone.
"Are you the Dregs Collector?"
A criminal who hunts those who failed to become mages in the Dead Zone, deep in the Undeveloped Area.
It was to hunt the so-called 'Dregs Collector'.