I Can't Believe It Myself (1)
I Can't Believe It Myself (1)
The next day.
I got a message from the Chairman.
Sender: 'Monolith, Taylor Blackstar'
- There's definitely a party at the end of this Dal, they say.
- I'll send you the time and place separately.
- I'll have a vehicle sent to you on the morning of the event.
- That should take care of things.
- ヽ( ⌒▽⌒)ﾉ ≡ヽ(⌒▽⌒ )ﾉ
.......
I didn't understand the emoticon either.
He could have sent it through a subordinate.
Yet he personally went out of his way to send it.
I felt a slight sense of pressure.
I closed the message window.
Okay. So I had a way into the party.
All that remained was to find clues to uncover Smile Zone's identity.
Jeonbungi, the information broker.
No. 7 had mentioned him.
He said there was going to be a party for high-level officials at a hotel in the Upper Layer around the end of this Dal.
Honestly, I had my doubts whether the real Smile Zone would actually attend that party.
In Neon City, a place overflowing with lies and fakes,
people spouting nonsense to earn credits was incredibly common.
Still, judging by the Chairman's message, it seemed true that a party for high-level officials was happening in the Upper Layer at the end of this Dal.
And I'd also looked into No. 7 in my own way.
I'd only heard rumors, but
so far, he hadn't spread any false information.
'Underdog', was it?
He was more famous than I thought.
Though at this point, he was a pitiful man who had lost every piece of electronic equipment he owned.
If I were to make an excuse, I'd acted emotionally without realizing it.
No, but seriously.
I really couldn't help it.
He talked so much,
it reminded me of an LA baseball player from the modern Korea I used to live in.
I wouldn't have minded if the content was informative.
But over 90% of it was useless TMI.
The fact that he got off as lightly as he did was only because it was me.
If it had been anyone else, he would already─
[I am moving.]
"Whoa, you startled me."
I almost cursed without thinking.
I looked at the small unmanned multicopter positioned in front of me—commonly known as a 'drone.'
Eight legs.
A somewhat blunt design.
The fluidly wriggling legs were creepy.
The robot that had appeared in No. 7's story.
I remembered its name was the Lone Spider.
I didn't know the exact model number.
That was it.
It was something I'd subconsciously picked up while raiding No. 7.
This might leave some room for misunderstanding.
But this was absolutely not an act of 'theft.'
Taking things from someone with money who does bad deeds isn't stealing, it's one form of legitimate means.
You could also call it 'looting' or 'farming.'
With that, I had finished rationalizing to myself.
I was also curious what kind of item was worth bragging about
to the extent of wasting my precious time explaining it.
Currently, Eve was controlling it.
Now that she'd gained a body (well, sort of), her movements seemed surprisingly energetic.
The way its legs wriggled was genuinely impressive.
It made me wonder if I should get her an artificial prosthesis,
but unfortunately,
that wasn't something you could buy just because you had the money.
What's more, I didn't even have the credits to buy one in the first place.
...Well, maybe I'd look into it later.
I thought as I watched Eve's drone, which seemed to be dancing.
I recalled a video I'd seen a long time ago.
It was a video of a spider moving by raising two legs as if dancing, and the synchronization rate was pretty good.
Sure..., as long as you're satisfied.
But something felt a little off.
Dancing aside, its movements seemed like it had something to say.
I waited for Eve to speak.
[I sincerely recommend checking this first.]
"What is it."
A screen appeared through my vision interface.
It was footage of the hallway in my apartment building, the Golden Smile Condominium.
So you hacked the surveillance camera again, Eve.
And then I was hit by a shock that nearly stopped my heart.
"......."
In the hallway footage in my vision,
Catherine and Julia were in a standoff, staring at each other.
"You've got to be shi—"
This time, I couldn't hold back the curse.
10. I Can't Believe It Either (1)
First, I needed to calm down.
It was something I should have expected.
In hindsight, it was obvious.
Catherine had moved in next door to me.
And although I'd been doing my best to ignore it,
Julia had also come to live on the same floor as me.
On the contrary, it was astonishing that they hadn't run into each other even once until now.
I slowly took a deep breath and calmed myself down.
Let's sort out the situation first.
It was clear that those two wouldn't know each other's faces.
No matter how much Catherine was the protagonist of the game,
there was no way she would have every piece of the NCPD's bounty data memorized.
And no matter how much Julia was a wanted criminal,
she wasn't the type to rampage for no reason like other Chrome Psychos.
I called out to Eve.
"......Eve."
[I await.]
"Can you get the audio on this?"
"Negative. The hallway surveillance camera does not have an audio module."
I see.
I could also press the intercom button on my front door to listen to sounds outside,
but the sound of me moving might reach Catherine.
The game protagonist's absurd physical abilities made the impossible possible.
Even now, I was speaking very quietly.
Wasn't there a better way?
Just then, [I suggest a method: I can personally confirm using the drone.]
"Oh, really?"
[Affirmative.]
The legs of the mechanical drone that Eve was controlling—Eve herself, to be precise—began to slowly fold.
Then, parts that looked like propellers popped out from various parts of the body.
[Airframe name: Lone Spider, model K2N-7757. I am confident that an 'invisibility mode' is equipped for excellent infiltration performance.]
Fine, I'll trust you.
The Lone Spider slowly rose into the air.
No sound was audible during the process.
Also, even though it rose into the air via the rotation of the propellers, I didn't feel even the faintest whisper of wind.
[Invisibility system activated.]
That was when the body of the Lone Spider turned transparent.
If I looked really, really closely,
I felt like I could make out its form.
But unless it was in a very bright place, it seemed difficult to even notice its presence.
I had already lost track of where it went.
[I depart.]
Without a sound, the Lone Spider moved.
The window here doesn't even open.
How was it planning to get out?
"But how are you going to get out to the hallway?"
[I infiltrate, having ways for everything.]
I figured there had to be a good method I didn't know about.
In fact, no disaster occurred where the front door opened.
If it had quietly said it was infiltrating, then opened the front door and walked out, I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from shuddering.
I cautiously guessed that it probably slipped out through a ventilation shaft or an exhaust duct.
I waited quietly for Eve's report.
At the same time, I mentally prepared myself to rush out immediately if I sensed them starting a fight outside.
After a short while,
the voices of Catherine and Julia's conversation were relayed through Eve's connection.
[So, you're a neighbor living here?]
[......Yes.]
If someone heard that, they'd think it was a voice ready to shake someone down.
Fortunately, the situation didn't seem as serious as I'd thought.
[I didn't see you moving in.]
[...It's only been a few days since I moved in, too.]
Judging by the atmosphere,
Catherine must have sensed something suspicious and started the conversation with Julia first.
[Is your place over there?]
[......Yes, um. The person who originally lived there happened to move somewhere else.]
[......So that bastard finally disappeared.]
Catherine muttered under her breath.
I agreed with her on that part.
Because the place Julia moved into was where a weirdo sensitive to noise used to live.
He once came by in the middle of the night while I was quietly boiling Soy Noodles.
If my patience hadn't held up back then, I might have become a criminal myself.
He was a different kind of weirdo than 'Bill'.
Anyway, I calmly stared at the screen.
If we could just maintain this atmosphere, it would be fine.
And that thought lasted only a moment.
[So why were you standing in front of this place specifically?]
Catherine's tone sharpened.
Ten years.
That's how long I'd been observing Catherine.
In other words, from the perspective of a 'Catherine expert' like myself,
if Julia said even a single word wrong here, it wouldn't be strange for a fight to break out immediately.
Whether she knew that or not,
Julia answered in a calm voice.
[Well......, there's someone I know here.]
[?]
Catherine gave a puzzled look at Julia's answer.
[Inside this place?]
[......Yes.]
[You're not here as a bounty hunter, or something like that?]
She looked like a sharp house cat watching its prey.
Hadn't she personally erased my bounty in the first place?
For various reasons, Catherine seemed to have a lot of worries.
...Should I go out there soon?
The atmosphere felt disconcerting.
[If you have business with Si-un─, hold on.]
Catherine stopped mid-sentence.
[......I think I hear the sound of a drone coming from somewhere.]
The moment I heard Catherine say that, I immediately ran toward the front door.
"Huh? What a coincidence! What are you two doing here together?"
I spoke to them very naturally.
At the same time, I put on an expression as if I knew nothing.
"What the, why are you coming out all of a sudden?"
"...Ah, Si-un-nim."
Both of their gazes turned toward me.
I let out a short sigh.
That was close.
What was all that about the Lone Spider.
I continued speaking to them.
"......What are you both doing out in the hallway? If you have something to say, come in and talk."
I gestured to Catherine and Julia.
...First,
I needed to sort out the current situation.
* * *
"......So, you're saying the game you happened to stumble into wasn't actually a real game, but some kind of underworld network?"
"That's right."
"And with perfect timing, the person you happened to meet there was this wanted criminal, and by another coincidence, she helped you when you were under a bounty?"
"That's right."
"Finally, by yet another coincidence, she moved in next door, and now you're just neighbors playing games together and getting along all friendly?"
"That's right!"
"Hey, do you expect me to believe this?"
I couldn't believe it at first, either.