The Incomprehensible (3)
The Incomprehensible (3)
Since ancient times, it was said that humans could not overcome natural disasters.
Ah, but I live in a world where saying just "humans" can get you arrested for species-discriminatory speech.
Let me rephrase.
Since ancient times, it was said that humans (and all other species) could not overcome natural disasters.
It was the same in the past.
Typhoons, droughts, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis.
Nature's power stripped away everything humans (and all other species) had built in an instant.
Of course, that wasn't the case in Neon City.
Even the periodically arriving typhoons laced with deadly toxic gas couldn't breach Neon City's sturdy outer walls. Only the people living in the garbage dumps outside died off.
But Neon City was the anomaly; under normal circumstances, failing to overcome natural disasters was the norm.
In other words, getting swept up by a natural disaster wasn't strange at all.
I was just one ordinary citizen unlucky enough to go through exactly that.
'There's a saying—don't be afraid of failure.'
I thought to myself as I stared at the wildly fluctuating graph.
Although a single natural disaster (corporate war) had wiped out nearly all my credits, a second chance had come to me.
Thank you, Eve!
I'll definitely earn it all back and repay you!
Humans are animals that learn from failure.
This time it really was different.
More safely, I increased the ratio of diversified investments and focused mainly on companies with high growth potential.
I had reduced the risk and increased the return.
I had unwavering faith and confidence in myself.
"......."
P-COLA Company (-17.2%)
LAD Corporation (-47.2%)
Blue Rapid Corporation (-22.4%)
Black Transport Association (-13.0%)
.
.
Right on cue, the Bogdanoff who appeared in my imagination picked up his phone.
'He bought.'
'Dump it.'
Did this even make any sense?
I could do nothing but stare blankly at my vision interface.
3. Incomprehensible Matters (3)
[As of this moment, I have decided to completely prohibit the human 'Lee Si-woon' from all stock trading activities.]
My self-esteem as a human being plummeted to rock bottom.
I wanted to make some kind of excuse, but—
It was true that a substantial amount of credits had vanished.
I had no excuse to offer.
"...I haven't sold them yet, so if I wait a little, won't they go back up?"
[Information: This AI has already sold the stocks, I inform you.]
"......."
[I assess that the human 'Lee Si-woon' has absolutely no talent for stocks.]
"Urghk."
It felt like being stabbed right in the solar plexus.
I swallowed my groan under the heavy assault of facts.
The news channel I had opened out of boredom was also flooding with breaking news about the matter.
I zoomed in on the interface slightly.
《Introducing! A new product announced by Koozaka! Rainbow Tasty Cola with seven flavors and colors! On special discount now!》
Beep.
《Stock prices of many companies are falling due to Koozaka's aggressive corporate activities. Some argue that restrictions should be placed on the activities of mega-corporations—.》
Beep
《We are currently in front of a building owned by Koozaka in Neon City. As many citizens are gathering here and staging an illegal assembly, the NCPD is—.》
And then I closed the vision interface.
Hmm.
"The city's even more of a shitshow than usual today."
[I concur.]
These Koozaka bastards apparently had some kind of vendetta against me.
Now that I thought about it, the corporate war waged by Koozaka was also the reason the stocks I bought last time had been completely destroyed.
I couldn't understand why, at this exact moment, they were only attacking the companies whose stocks I had bought.
It genuinely felt like the heavens were shouting at me to stop trading stocks.
There's bad luck, and then there's this.
I just couldn't take it anymore.
I needed to find some comfort by looking at people similar to me.
I naturally launched Net Space.
Koozaka's site... here it is.
【Koozaka Corporation コオザカ 社】
《Anything, Everything!》
Upon connecting to the site, the company name and what appeared to be its motto appeared prominently on the screen.
Koozaka.
Here in the cyberpunk world, a veritable megacorporation (Megacorps) that proudly boasted the second-highest market capitalization in the entire world.
Moreover, it was also an absolutely insane company.
For one thing, the company's Chairman was a character.
They called it a mascot character: a cute and adorable design of a mouse.
It reminded me of a certain mouse character from a company in my past life that was notoriously strict about copyright.
But then again, even that company in my past life never made that mouse character its Chairman.
If you asked me how a character could hold the position of Chairman, I honestly didn't know.
...A corporate Chairman who was a mouse VTuber?
Whose idea was this? It was truly unique.
The name was Mr. Pit Mac (Mr. Pete Mac).
Maybe because the design was cute, it was also popular among children.
Kids who liked it collected related toys and called it by affectionate titles like Mr. Pit Mac.
On the surface, it also ran toy and amusement park businesses and had numerous subsidiaries in various fields.
But in the underworld—the back alleys of the mercenary industry—its reputation was bad in a different way.
They would do anything if it made money, and there was no place they wouldn't stick their nose into if it was profitable.
It was also a military-industrial complex (ArmaCorps), ranking among the top globally in weapon exports and private mercenary services.
【Hi! I'm Mr. Pit Mac! Nice to meet you!】
The Pit Mac character waved its hand on the front page of the site.
I clicked around here and there wondering if there was some kind of interactivity, but there was no reaction.
It was just decoration.
I hadn't come here to admire the character like a kid anyway.
I tuned out the character.
My purpose for visiting this site was to check the 'opinion bulletin board,' and just as I expected, the bulletin board was blazing furiously.
[Upvote if you're here sightseeing because you don't trade stocks]
Starting with me
└ Upvoted while wailing lmao
└ Lol came here because I heard there are suckers who trade stocks even though they know it's a game rigged by the corporations.
[A Vicious Corporation Attacking Other Companies]
I'm a good citizen living day by day...
I started investing in stocks with the sole determination to escape the lower layer.
I woke up today and my world has collapsed...
We request Koozaka to officially apologize and compensate ordinary citizens.
└ Yesterday my world collapsed or whatever
└ Did an old boomer sucker who still trades stocks without buying megacorp stocks show up?
└ Take your denture implants out before you come in here
[Lmaoooo see what happens]
If everyone had bought Koozaka stocks like me, we'd all live in a happy world.
Why didn't you buy them?
Did anyone threaten you with a gun not to buy them?
If you were salty, you should've bought them lolololololo.
My Koozaka stocks I bought the day before yesterday are so deep in the red I can't even look at them kehehe.
Dinner tonight is real chicken!
└ How many credits did you earn if you can afford real chicken instead of cultured meat;;
└ Are you a genius? After seeing this post I went all-in on Koozaka
ㄴ After seeing this, I sold all of mine.
└ I've already been starving for 3 days as of today. Please just send me money for food to the account below. The account is—.
"Oh."
That was actually pretty convincing.
Now that I thought about it, it was true.
Every single stock I'd bought so far had been crushed by Koozaka showing up to destroy its price.
Conversely, it meant that if I bought Koozaka stocks, I could sit comfortably and securely.
[Not allowed.]
"What's not."
[I predict the human 'Lee Si-woon's' actions. I ask whether you are considering purchasing stock in Koozaka Corporation.]
"...There's no way I'd do that."
Was she reading my innermost thoughts now?
I lied with a dry cough.
[I explain that the human 'Lee Si-woon's' stock trading activities are prohibited. I strike—if you continue stock trading activities, this AI can no longer provide the credits earned from streaming.]
That was something I absolutely couldn't let happen.
A life dominated by an artificial intelligence.
How miserable and sad it was.
I will never forget this grudge.
Mr. Pit Mac...!
I absolutely did not lose credits because I was bad at stocks.
I was simply swept up by a natural disaster called Koozaka.
With that, I finished rationalizing.
Phew, thinking like this made me feel a bit better.
- Ding-dong.
Just then, someone pressed my doorbell.
Who was it?
I quietly moved my feet and walked over to the intercom.
If it was those lunatics living nearby (Old Man Bill, weirdos sensitive to sound), I planned to pretend no one was home.
A familiar voice came through the intercom.
[It's me, open the door.]
"Ah."
It was Catherine.
Well, she was my next-door neighbor now.
So she'd be visiting often.
For now, I opened the door for her.
Truthfully, I did have a small urge to pretend I wasn't home.
But considering her exceptional physical abilities, the answer was already decided.
She could easily listen and confirm whether someone was inside the door or not.
Resigning myself and opening the door—like splitting my own stomach open—was better for my well-being than pretending not to be home and getting scolded later.
In fact, I had been caught pretending not to be home once before.
Those were my immature days.
"What's going on?"
"Do I need something going on to come over?"
...Wasn't that obvious?
Of course people came over because something was going on.
But if I honestly blurted those words out, I wouldn't be able to handle the backlash that followed.
"I guess not."
I felt the sorrow of being unable to call a father father, and unable to call a correct statement a correct statement.
Catherine's golden pupils were fixed on me.
Had my inner thoughts somehow leaked out?
Her sudden gaze made me afraid.
Many people in Neon City favored the color gold, so many had their eye implants dyed gold as a fashion statement.
But her eyes were different.
Ever since I first met her on the garbage landfill, her pupils had always been a gold that shone brighter than anyone else's.
Maybe because she was the main character.
It was getting to the point where her gaze was starting to feel burdensome.
"You've got nothing to do, right?"
Of course I had plenty to do.
I had to keep exploring Net Space, I had to watch Eve's replay videos again, and I had to enjoy the backlog of new games.
And I had to finish leveling up in the MMO RPG I was playing.
...Hmm.
The only problem was that none of these counted as legitimate 'things to do' that would work on Catherine.
"...So where are we going?"
I gave up quickly.
Given how things turned out, my strategy was to play along quickly and then return home quickly.
Well, I figured it'd just be browsing a gun shop like last time anyway.
"A concert."
"Huh?"
Why would I go there?
I couldn't understand it.
In the end, it didn't take long before I was grabbed by Catherine's hand and dragged out the door.