Greenblood (2)
"Wouldn't it just be easier to leave it and sneak over the wall like a snake?"
"What kinda bullshit is that? If you don't wanna get your ass kicked, fuck off!"
Taylor scowled at the aggressive retort and backed away from the door.
"But you said it was a lesson?"
"Ugh... hold on a sec."
Groaning, Taylor pounded on the door much harder this time—hard enough that a little more force might've splintered it.
"Cheol-su! It's me, Taylor! It's only been five years; you haven't forgotten me already, have ya?"
Allen eyed the still-silent door and asked,
"Who's Cheol-su?"
"A diver in the Sea of All Things. You know what a diver is, right?"
"Someone who fishes out valuable info from the ocean of false knowledge or hacks through firewalls to steal stuff. Oh, is he an informant?"
"He messed with Breaker's firewall once and got caught by me. Forgave him in exchange for putting him to good use, but no response to the code means he's moved out."
"Put him to good use? No wonder he's pretending not to know you."
"Could be..."
Taylor accepted it surprisingly easily. Given his usual dodgy nature, this meant he had plenty of his own regrets nagging at him.
"Wait, though—I forgave the guy who could've gone to prison..."
"Should we try another informant, then?"
"Cheol-su had the best cost-performance ratio. Shame. Lost his personal number data too, so no choice."
As they left the apartment, Allen sidestepped to avoid someone entering the entrance—only for the man to follow and block his path.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Taylor wasn't one to stand idly by. He grabbed the man's collar with one hand and slammed him against the wall. The guy choked and wheezed but shot both hands up high.
"Wait, hold on! Allen!"
The familiar name made Taylor's fist pause, and Allen gave the man a long look.
Name: Yuta
Race: Beastman
Traits: Rabbit ears, help!
It was the explorer who'd taken a near-fatal hit from the knight's serrated greatsword back then. They'd handed him off to medics, and seeing him alive and well now felt like all that effort had paid off.
"You're alive. Good to see."
"I owe you big time. Uh, old-timer? Mind letting go now...? Can't... breathe..."
Once his feet touched the ground, Yuta let out a deep sigh of relief and tried to edge away from Taylor—only to get grabbed by the scruff again.
"Spit it out while you're like this."
"It's fine, let him go. He's not dangerous."
Taylor released him without protest. Calling someone "not dangerous" meant they couldn't harm you no matter what.
"Your bodyguard?"
"Nah. We're sticking together from now on."
"Where to? Oh, the labyrinth. Still exploring, huh? Lucky you."
"What about you, Yuta?"
Instead of answering, he pulled aside his wrinkled shirt to reveal his shoulder. The scar from that day was still dark and vivid.
"As you know, I went through some serious shit. Got scared, family opposed it too, so I quit."
"I get it."
Maybe Yuta was the wisest of the three standing there. An awkward silence passed, then Yuta cracked a faint smile.
"What brings you here? House-hunting? Can't recommend this place."
"Came for the diver, but no response—probably moved. Nice seeing you. Take care—"
"Hold up. Diver? My family's got one. Want an intro? Learned from grandpa, so she's skilled."
"Grandpa?"
Taylor reacted to the word, scrutinizing Yuta's face. Up close, he looked oddly familiar.
"You related to Cheol-su? Kinda got his face."
"Yeah, hear that a lot. Grandpa handed the workshop to his twin granddaughter and retired back home."
"But from what I know, Cheol-su's a snake beastman..."
"You even know that? Dad's a snake beastman too, but Mom's a rabbit. Sis takes after Dad, I take after Mom."
Back at the rusty door, Yuta turned around.
"Did you use the 'snake over the wall' code by any chance? Old one like that, she might've ignored it on purpose."
Yuta didn't need to call out a code. He pressed his palm to the door and peered into the entry lens; it slid open on its own.
The inside was a world apart from the outside. Unlike the trash-strewn hallway, it was packed with sleek, modern furniture—like a brand-new place.
"Hey! I knocked—knock before entering!"
A woman on the sofa—half black hair, half blonde—growled, then spotted Allen and Taylor and shut her mouth. She slyly removed her noise-canceling headphones.
"Was a guy's voice earlier."
"Probably modulated it."
"Guess I'm rusty after the long break."
Yuta ignored their chat and explained to his sister.
"The guy who saved that idiot's life? Younger than I thought."
She stepped forward and introduced herself properly.
"I'm Kirie. You get why I did that earlier, right?"
"Allen."
"Taylor here. Thought Cheol-su's granddaughter was named Sugi, though..."
"Call me Kirie. No Sugi here."
She winked with one eye and asked their business. Taylor mentioned the dispute and wanting Greenblood intel.
"Those brutes? Here's their location and hideout layout for starters."
Taylor and Kirie's eyes glowed simultaneously as data transferred.
"I'll dive for the rest. Oh, free service this time."
Kirie headed to a side room, and the two sat on the sofa, scanning the info. Light from Taylor's eyes projected an image on the table.
"Industrial zone. Hideout's a converted warehouse."
"Bombs here and here would bring it down easy."
"...?"
Taylor stared blankly, so Allen elaborated.
"Melting it with heavy firepower works, but for efficiency, use the building's own weight. Knock out a few central pillars, and the concrete and rebar become their tomb..."
"Hold up. You're blind in fields you don't care about. How do you know this shit so well?"
"Tried it once but scrapped it for lack of materials."
Allen had Nobak Clinic in mind, but Taylor took it differently.
"You into fire and destruction? Do that in Maze City, you're fucked."
"It's a gang building anyway."
"Yeah. Stick to that. Promise me? We're agreeing here."
The conversation felt oddly off-kilter.
They finished reviewing Kirie's prelim intel. Now it was up to her to dredge something useful from the data seas.
Allen glanced around. Diver's place, or maybe the twins' hobby—tons of gadgets everywhere.
Guard golem, mind-interference jammer, optical camouflage...
Lots of security stuff, fitting for informants. Valuable gear casually displayed in the living room; her workshop must be insane.
Yuta tidied the messy space and sat across from Allen.
"We don't usually let guests this far in for security. Ended up like this anyway."
"How do you normally do it?"
"Open temp spaces in the Sea of All Things for jobs, or drop letters at drop points for pickup. You two got in thanks to grandpa."
"Hm..."
Taylor stared, so Yuta added,
"Not sarcasm or blame. If you hadn't covered for Grandpa's recklessness, he'd still be in prison or couldn't have retired safely."
"That guy's got balls of steel; worked out fine all around."
"Didn't expect him to touch Breaker's servers. This job tied to them...?"
"Nah. I'm retired too."
"Impressive. Almost nobody leaves this biz in one piece. Let alone coming back."
Taylor shrugged at Allen to Yuta's words. Frog in a well, he'd said—clearly already forgotten the wheelchair days.
With common ground on Cheol-su, their chat flowed, leaving Allen sidelined to look elsewhere.
A puppy golem lay near an outlet, tail-plug charging itself.
Fossil fuels, nuclear, wood—modern society ran on all, but mana dominated.
Mana from plants or captured got converted to lightning-type, piped via wires to homes and factories.
Hence the new saying:
'Don't fight lightning mages near power poles.'
Every city spot had wires. Don't get cocky; swallow pride and keep distance from lightning casters.
The puppy's camera eyes finished charging, scanned around, spotted Allen, jumped up, and scampered over, rubbing against his calf.
"Happy! Here. Don't bother the guest."
"It's fine. Gave me some inspiration, actually."
"Yeah? If it's not rude, mind sharing...?"
"Hey! Don't ask guests that!"
Kirie shoved Yuta aside from the workshop and plopped on the sofa. Eye contact with Taylor flashed blue—data transfer done.
Brain-link cut hours of talk to seconds. Handy.
Allen envied it but had lived without, so no real itch. Taylor's training boosted brain efficiency sans gear anyway, so he let it go.
With new connections made, Allen and Taylor headed home. On public transit, Taylor sorted intel and projected a screen from his artificial eye.
"This is their crew. All orc bastards. Boss is 'Dali.' Got about forty goons."
Minus the Greenblood baldness and scalp tats, Dali was a textbook orc. Scars covered his face and body.
"That's him, huh. Why 'about' for the numbers?"
"Gangs drop like flies, recruit who-knows-who. Numbers shift real-time. Anyway, Dali wears reinforced exosuit, charges like a berserker."
"Orc-like."
"His grunts too. Use magitech, but basic tactic's dogpile. Dumb, but orcs' toughness makes it work scary good."
Dali's pic vanished; a four-split vid played. Dark vans came and went from the warehouse.
"Kirie hacked nearby cams. Nothing weird, right?"
"Traffic mostly nights and dawns."
Moon up, crime spiked worldwide. Maze City too—no exception. Normal parents kept kids indoors.
Downtown differed, but even there, folks avoided alleys.
"Kidnapping, plain as day."
Next vids from city cams—donated one way, stolen the other.
"Spots from that van vid. And this."
Missing persons posters popped left-side. Eerily near van sightings.
"Key part: check under posters. See the pattern?"
"All magitech engineers."
"Not targeting you specifically. Random grabs, followed you to the secret passage factory. Old man on death's door and kid engineer? Prime prey."
"Wouldn't running into that combo in the labyrinth seem more suspicious? Makes more sense they'd judge it natural..."
"Orcs don't think that deep. And crooks' brains ain't wired like ours. Crime's their daily bread—eat, sleep, break laws."
Throat dry, Taylor cracked a beer and chugged.
Just like old times—