Dirty Contracts and Digital Drugs
Ryu Hwi frowned as he finished reviewing the information and turned back to Wolya, who was grinning from ear to ear.
“How revolting. No wonder the game labyrinth ended up in such a sorry state.”
Even YggON put on an exaggerated imitation of a sigh, as if the whole thing were beneath contempt.
The information Wolya had handed over was the secret pact between Linzea Guild and Latia Soft. It wasn't mere rumor, either — there were supporting documents and critical pieces of evidence from who-knows-where to back it all up.
Linzea Guild would cooperate by dragging out its conquest of World of Phantasm for as long as possible, ensuring that Latia could keep raking in the profits. In exchange, Latia would look the other way on Linzea's… conveniences.
The contract was stuffed to the brim with the filthy details of a mutual back-scratching arrangement built on World of Phantasm. Depending on how it was used, Wolya's information could deal Linzea a devastating blow.
“So there are people even more of a mess than I am.”
It also became naturally clear where Wolya was aiming.
Latia Soft.
Wolya, owner of Jucheongwang, had set her sights on the very 'game company' that propped up the modern world — the corporation responsible for producing Yggdrasil's game labyrinths. Put another way, it was a company of a caliber that no one in this era dared to touch. There were even whispers that the only thing standing above it was Diamond itself.
“Those people are better off not existing.”
A cold emotion crept into Wolya's voice, which had been laughing just moments before.
“They may have once led the advancement of the game labyrinths, but now they've become vulgar monkeys who do nothing but hold the world back.”
Ryu Hwi could sympathize with the claim that Latia Soft was, in fact, stifling the development of the game labyrinths. He could even understand the fury over it — but Wolya's anger felt like it ran far deeper than that.
“You got some kind of grudge against Latia?”
Wolya said nothing. She simply tapped her own head. That alone was enough for him to grasp the general meaning.
“You're telling me what happened to you is connected to Latia Soft?”
“Nine out of ten, I'd wager.”
At that answer, Ryu Hwi gave a slow nod. If what Wolya said was true, then he understood perfectly well why she was targeting Latia.
“So striking Linzea Guild means Latia inevitably comes crawling out. Got it.”
He decided not to dig any deeper than that.
“I have the means to deal them a fatal blow. A way to bury those people in the industry for good. But to do that, Linzea Guild has to fall first. In other words, you could say our goals are practically the same.”
“Hmm.”
“Well? Can't say it's a bad deal for either of us, now can you?”
It certainly wasn't a bad deal. The information Wolya had provided could strike Linzea a heavy blow.
But accepting this proposal would force Ryu Hwi to drastically revise everything he'd been planning until now. And above all—
“You're planning to break World of Phantasm itself?”
“No need for it, is there? Such a half-baked game.”
Wolya fully intended to destroy the game labyrinth World of Phantasm itself. It was no exaggeration to say that nearly half of the resources currently needed to sustain the world were mined from World of Phantasm. If it collapsed, chaos would follow.
“It would be stranger if people *didn't* raise an uproar over one labyrinth out of countless others collapsing.”
Wolya drew the line in an instant — the situation itself was what was absurd.
“Latia is clinging to World of Phantasm, its one remaining success, like a patient on a respirator. The quality of the mined resources keeps degrading, everything's stagnating. No outstanding new labyrinth is coming out either — anything they produce turns out to be garbage. Things may be fine for now, but what happens five, ten years down the road?”
“Society would struggle to keep itself running. But there's still a chance Latia creates a new hit before then, isn't there?”
“Perhaps. But that would amount to nothing more than swapping in a fresh respirator — given the state of things, with Latia Soft holding a monopoly.”
Yeah, figures.
Ryu Hwi nodded along to Wolya's words. The Tower, the main content of World of Phantasm, had yet to be conquered. Now that he was a Gamer, he had intended to conquer it himself. But with this, the premise had changed.
So what I should be aiming for isn't clearing the game — it's the collapse of World of Phantasm?
He wasn't taking everything Wolya said at face value.
My original plan was to clear a labyrinth that Linzea had all but conquered before they could. But apparently there was another option on the table — smashing their entire game board to pieces.
The problem was… the direction Wolya proposed looked a whole lot more fun.
“The structure of that labyrinth is, admittedly, simple and crude. That such a thing is popular — I was appalled by the low caliber of humanity. Let us smash it, I say.”
Somehow, even the robot vacuum had joined the chorus of approval.
“Frankly, merely operating within that labyrinth makes me sick to the point of retching. Like insects swarming over a withered branch, huddled together sucking out honey.”
That bad, huh.
“I'll think about it.”
“Tsk. I was rather hoping you'd settle it right here and now…”
“It's not the kind of thing I can decide on the spot, is it? Anyway — shall we get on with my objective?”
“Urk.”
Wolya's smile stiffened slightly. Had she been planning to quietly gloss over it?
Ryu Hwi spread his palm with a wide grin.
“The mods. Hand them all over.”
The mods Wolya handed over numbered thirteen in all. None were as outrageous as Probability Manipulation, but they were all reasonably useful. YggON judged that three or four of them might be worth salvaging. Among those, Disguise Mode seemed like it could prove genuinely handy, provided it was properly implemented.
He'd obtained an effective means of blowing Linzea to pieces, along with an unexpected new strategy. It had given him something to mull over, sure — but there was no doubt it had been a profitable trade.
“I'd advise investigating this Wolya person separately. Trusting humans never leads to anything good.”
It was advice steeped head to toe in the robot vacuum's hatred of mankind.
Ryu Hwi, for his part, had discarded every trace of trust in others a long, long time ago.
“In any case, the record of the incident Wolya spoke of does indeed exist. Shall I bring up the records?”
He nodded, and information on the Flight 707 Bombing Incident floated up into his view.
A single survivor. An accident where even one person making it out alive was counted as a miracle.
The problem was that no articles about that survivor existed. Stories covering the tragedy of Flight 707 surfaced from time to time, but never a word about what had become of the person who lived through it.
A miserable state of affairs, through and through.
“There is no proof that Wolya is truly the survivor of this incident.”
“Once you start doubting, there's no end to it. Whatever — I got some useful mods out of it, and she's good to make use of.”
They arrived at a manhole cover in the sewer. According to the map data Wolya had provided, going up this way would lead out into another part of the Entertainment District.
“The hotel district, I see. Quite some distance from Jucheongwang.”
After confirming the area was safe, he opened the manhole and climbed out into the open air. It was an alley behind a hotel, where — whether by some flaw in the urban design — a vacant patch of space about the size of a single room caught his eye.
“?!”
The moment he stepped outside, he saw a man slumped on the ground.
Ryu Hwi warily assessed the man's condition. He'd thought it might be a corpse, but the man was still breathing. Wondering if he was simply drunk, Ryu Hwi studied him quietly — then his face twisted in open disgust.
“Damn it.”
He'd seen something unpleasant.
Having checked the man's condition, YggON grasped at once why Ryu Hwi had reacted this way.
“Narcotics, is it?”
“Yeah. Digital narcotics.”
Data-based drugs. Drugs that acted directly on the SEED implant inside the body.
“Never thought I'd see *this* in the Entertainment District. Or… no, I suppose that's exactly why it's thriving here, isn't it?”
This drug, which had been spreading for who knew how long, inflicted a fatally addictive high. A treatment had been established thanks to someone developing a 'neutralizer,' but nothing could stop the drug's spread itself. And because it existed as pure data, he'd heard it was all the harder to control.
“Shall I report it?”
“I don't want to stir up a commotion, but I can't exactly just leave—”
Just then, he sensed someone's presence.
Damn it all — what's with this area where people never show up? Wolya, that cursed—!
Ryu Hwi hastily hid himself. A short while later, men in suits came into view. Like the ones he'd seen in Wolya's footage, they bore the mark 'IB' emblazoned across their chests.
“Iron Blood, sir.”
Did I walk into a trap?
He'd exited along the route Wolya gave him, only for Iron Blood to appear. Was that really coincidence?
Holding his breath so he could react in an instant, he gripped his knife. Just then, one of the Iron Blood members approached the drug-addled man and checked his face.
“Found him!”
A man emerged from among the Iron Blood crowd. From here, Ryu Hwi could only see his back. But the way the others bowed their heads to him suggested he held a high rank in the organization.
The man bent down and met the eyes of the narcotics-addled man.
“Did you really think you could skim off our product and run? Hmm?”
Tap, tap. He lightly slapped the man's cheeks.
“Completely out of his mind. Idiot. I'll give you credit for making it this far in that state. Take him away.”
The Iron Blood members sprang into motion at the order. Watching them go, the man drew a cigarette from his breast pocket, and a subordinate hurriedly produced a lighter and lit it for him.
“So. You lost track of the target, did you?”
“F-forgive me!”
At those words, one of the subordinates froze stiff. He was one of the men who had been surveilling Ryu Hwi.
“Well, I didn't expect much anyway. Wolya — that human is meticulous to a fault. And the client did say to stick to 'surveillance' for the time being.”
The man exhaled a plume of cigarette smoke.
“Keep watching Jucheongwang for the time being. It seems true that the target frequents Wolya's shop.”
“Understood!”
“Yes, yes. Work hard, why don't you.”
He dropped the cigarette to the ground, crushed it underfoot, and patted his subordinate on the shoulder as if offering encouragement.
“At least while you're still able to put in the effort. You understand what I mean, don't you?”
“Hk—!”
The subordinate's face went pale.
He patted the man's shoulder once more, then started walking toward the glittering streets of the Entertainment District.
“Hm…?”
Then, as if sensing something, he stopped mid-stride and looked back.
In the never-sleeping Entertainment District, there was a dark alley the light never reached. He studied it for a moment, muttered, “Must be my imagination,” and set off toward the street again. His subordinates followed after him.
Only after confirming they were all gone did Ryu Hwi peer out, scanning his surroundings, from the deserted alley where not a single soul was in sight.
“It appears Wolya did not lay a trap after all. It seems Master simply had terrible luck.”
“Shut up.”
He'd come out into a place with no people, and of all things, nearly crossed paths with Iron Blood there. Bad luck could only stretch so far.
“A bunch of thugs who do nothing but strike poses.”
“Is that not what gangsters are, by definition?”
“No idea. Don't care.”
As long as they didn't touch Ryu Hwi, he'd have no reason to interfere with them. Being surveilled was a nuisance, sure, but he had no desire to stir up pointless trouble.
The matter of the drug addict nagged at him a little, but the words of people who dealt with such organizations were predictable, after all. He'd seen it play out countless times before.
“I shall guide you along routes with as few people as possible.”
Ryu Hwi walked carefully, taking pains not to run into anyone else. He slipped out of the Entertainment District and into a dark alley — just a few steps' difference, yet the atmosphere changed completely.
He arrived at his lodgings. A small inn not far from the Entertainment District. Fortunately, he hadn't crossed paths with anyone.
But standing in front of his door, he felt a strange sense of wrongness.
Someone is inside the room.
Cautiously, he opened the door.