The Mechanic Boy
The jeep came to a stop on the side of the road with a loud screech.
“What should we do?”
Han Suchang, sitting in the driver’s seat, glanced back at me.
There was no need to think about it.
“Keep going.”
“Understood.”
The jeep rolled forward again along the unpaved road.
On both sides of the path, countless gun barrels swung toward the vehicle in unison.
“Team Leader Han Suchang, the Association does cover work-related injuries, right?”
“Of course they do.”
“I’ll protect you if they open fire, but you never know.”
“Should I hit the brakes right now?”
I let out a short chuckle, barely holding back a laugh.
Despite all the gun barrels pointed at the jeep, no actual shots came.
We advanced for a while longer.
A crudely built stone wall and iron gate blocked the road ahead.
“Are you ignoring me?”
The young voice that had stopped us earlier rang out again.
“Kid. Isn’t it polite to at least show your face when you greet someone?”
“K-kid?!”
With an indignant shout, a child popped up on top of the wall.
A boy with brown skin and slightly curly hair. His eyes were full of wariness.
Hmm. He did look a little like the Machine Monarch I remembered.
The boy glared at us with fierce eyes and immediately pointed an accusing finger.
“I told you I won’t cooperate with your gang! Get lost!”
“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding.”
The moment I opened the car door and stepped onto the roadside—
BANG!
A bullet slammed into the ground right in front of my toes.
“That was your only warning.”
“Sir Jinho!”
Han Suchang called out to me, his face turning deathly pale.
All this over a single bullet?
“Kid, aren’t you being too soft?”
“W-what?!”
“If I were really your enemy, I would’ve killed you before you even had the chance to fire a warning shot.”
Shhhht!
Polar Night surged up from beneath my feet and spread in every direction.
I shaped the ten branching strands into blades.
In an instant, every gun positioned along the roadside was destroyed.
“Or were you hoping I’d be the one in danger?”
“I won’t let you get away with this!”
Mechanic Control
Simultaneous Attack
RATATATATATA!!
The machine guns mounted on the wall, along with the few firearms I hadn’t destroyed, all opened fire at once.
“Nyx.”
“Leave this place to me.”
A curtain of black mist wrapped around the jeep.
I could leave that side to the goddess.
I covered my entire body in Metal Reflection Armor.
The reason modern weapons didn’t work on the monsters that poured out of gates was because of mana.
That was also why players held absolute power during Gate Breaks.
But firearms controlled by Mechanic ability users were a different story.
The bullets raining down on us were infused with mana. Whether against players or monsters, such attacks were genuinely threatening.
So the future Machine Monarch was already running wild like this, huh?
If things went south, I might as well get rid of him now and eliminate any future threats. Reformation could wait.
“Die, you hitman from the gang!”
“Who are you calling a hitman?”
I walked forward calmly, letting the barrage of bullets wash over me.
The boy’s eyes trembled violently.
“You’re completely fine after taking all those shots?!”
“Like I said, there seems to be a misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding my ass. I’d rather die than cooperate with your gang.”
Killing intent flashed in the boy’s eyes.
It looked like words wouldn’t work.
“If you have any more weapons prepared, you’d better bring them out now.”
I deliberately walked forward at a leisurely pace.
There was no point trying to talk to someone whose eyes had already rolled back in rage.
In that case, the only option was to crush him with overwhelming force.
Mechanic Control
Overload
Magnetic Web
The rate of fire increased dramatically, and several round metal discs spun wildly as they flew toward me from above.
Shhhht!
The Polar Night I manifested through Darkness Dominion sliced through the spinning metal discs.
It was a performance I could only pull off now that my Polar Night output had increased.
When I neutralized every attack without lifting a finger, the boy’s face darkened.
“If this is all you’ve prepared…”
Tap!
I didn’t even need to use a skill to leap onto the shoddily built wall.
The boy whipped his head around in panic.
But I was one step ahead.
“Calm down.”
WHAM!
I gave the back of his head a light smack—with just a little bit of personal feeling behind it.
The boy staggered.
The gun barrels that had been spitting fire nonstop finally drooped downward.
“Who do you think you’re hitting?!”
“That’s why I kept telling you there was a misunderstanding.”
Only after wrapping him in Polar Night did he finally settle down.
He glared up at me with resentful eyes, but I paid it no mind and spoke calmly.
“Name.”
“…Enrique Deltoro.”
“A bit short on the honorifics, aren’t we?”
“…sir.”
As expected.
To think I would meet the man who would one day be called the Machine Monarch like this. It felt strangely moving.
“Why did you start shooting the moment you saw us?”
“I warned you, but you didn’t back off!”
“Ah?”
“…sir.”
He really was a kid with a short tongue, just like Ping Lei.
Well, even back in the timeline before my regression, his pride had been enormous. Even when he was on the verge of death at my hands, he had kept his head held high.
While I was talking with Enrique on top of the wall—
“Excuse me!”
A middle-aged couple approached the wall with terrified expressions.
Enrique’s eyes widened in shock.
“Dad! Mom! I told you not to come out here!”
He screamed at the top of his lungs.
But instead of backing away, the couple came even closer.
“We’ll give the Santa Fe gang whatever they want! Just please spare our child’s life!”
…Santa Fe gang? As in the car gang?
“I’m not sure what you mean…”
When I answered in a slightly awkward tone, the couple looked confused and stared closely at my face.
A moment later—
“Are you perhaps the hero of the Spice Islands?”
At the couple’s words, Enrique looked up at me with an incredulous expression.
* * *
Santa Fe—Spanish for “holy faith.”
But for the residents living near Puerto Iguazu, the name brought to mind a gang long before it reminded them of its original meaning.
It was one of the top-ranking gangs in Puerto Iguazu.
“I thought you were talking about cars.”
“Cars?”
“There’s a thing like that.”
“Anyway, you’re saying you’re not with the Santa Fe gang?”
“If I were part of that gang, would I be standing here having this conversation?”
Enrique stared at me with suspicious eyes for a moment, then slowly raised both hands in surrender.
“Fine. I lost, so do whatever you want.”
“I thought I told you to watch your tone.”
“…sir.”
“Why is the gang after you?”
“Because my ability is used to create weapons.”
Mechanic.
The ability allowed the user to communicate with various mechanical devices and even infuse weapons with mana.
Just like the guns installed along the roadside and on the wall.
They were weapons useful against both players and monsters.
Because firearms had clear limitations, this talent hadn’t stood out much in the current era.
But in a place like Argentina, where public safety was unstable, the story was completely different.
“I can’t tolerate my creations being used to hurt people!”
“But it’s fine to shoot at people the moment you think they’re gang members?”
“That’s because I thought you were from the gang.”
Enrique looked dejected.
He really was a bit different now compared to how he would be in the future.
“I have a proposal.”
“What is it all of a sudden?”
“Join my guild.”
Enrique stared at me for a moment, then turned his head sharply.
“I don’t like bowing my head to others, so I’ll have to decline.”
This kid.
Even at this age, his arrogant nature was still the same.
Well, I had expected him to reject my offer anyway.
That’s why I had prepared something in advance for this exact situation.
I opened the Tower of Babel app and called for the merchant Mors.
Woooong!
The phone screen flashed, and a fist-sized mineral popped out.
◈ Type: Engine
◈ Durability: 99/100
◈ A powerful mana engine crafted from ancient pink diamonds. Can be used for weapon production, magic circle cores, and more. Performance has slightly decreased due to minor damage during processing, but it is still fully functional.
“There’s a tiny scratch, but I’m willing to compensate you with CP if you’d like.”
“It’s fine. You can’t expect to be full after just one bite.”
“Ah! Thank you, customer-nim!”
“Next time, try to finish it a little faster.”
“Of course, customer-nim!”
He was overjoyed just because I didn’t ask for CP.
Ancient pink diamonds were extremely difficult to process.
He must have engraved the magic circle on the outside and used mana projection to work on the inside.
Considering the mana amplification properties of pink diamonds, carving the internal mana circuits must have been quite the challenge.
I casually held out the finished Ancient Mana Core to Enrique.
“Do you know what this is?”
“It’s a powerful mana engine.”
Gulp.
Enrique swallowed hard.
As expected of the Mechanic who had once stood at the very peak of all players worldwide when it came to weapon crafting—he recognized the Ancient Mana Core immediately.
“If you made weapons with this, they’d be pretty useful, right?”
“Useful? That’s not even close to describing how incredible this thing is!”
Enrique’s eyes sparkled as he reached out toward the Ancient Mana Engine.
Perfect. It was even more effective than I had anticipated.
Hiding my smile, I handed the mana engine over to him.
“The amplification rate is at least 3.27… no, even higher than that.”
Enrique stared at the mana engine with rapt fascination.
“Hey, kid.”
“If I connect ten machine guns to this… no, that would be too wasteful.”
He was completely ignoring me, muttering to himself.
Was the effect too good? Now I was starting to worry.
I tapped him on the shoulder, and only then did he look at me.
“Do you want it?”
“Hmph. It’s not like I need it or anything.”
Even as he said that, his eyes never left the Ancient Mana Core.
What an honest kid.
“I have one question.”
“What is it?”
“Why won’t you cooperate with the gang?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I hate the idea of the weapons I create being used to hurt people.”
Wow. It felt incredibly strange hearing those words from the guy who had once sided with the Old Gods and betrayed humanity.
But Enrique’s answer pleased me greatly.
“If you join my guild, you’ll be able to create as many of those things as you want.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. And if necessary, I’ll even give you this as a signing bonus.”
“But you’re Korean. Doesn’t joining a guild mean I’d have to immigrate?”
“That’s right. If you decide to come, we’ll take care of all the paperwork.”
Since Team Leader Han Suchang was here with us, there wouldn’t be any problems.
Enrique’s eyes darted back and forth rapidly.
This should be enough to tempt him, right?
“I have a condition.”
“What is it?”
“My parents have to come too.”
I glanced at Han Suchang.
“That much is possible.”
“You heard him.”
Enrique’s face lit up with joy.
The middle-aged couple bowed deeply.
“Thank you. We were hoping at least our child could be saved.”
“To think you’d take care of our entire family…”
“You’ve raised a fine son.”
I meant it.
According to what I remembered, the reason Enrique had gone down the wrong path was because of his parents’ deaths.
It was probably connected to the gang I had heard about earlier.
It would be far better to bring his parents to safe, stable Korea and have them live together.
“But what about the people in the village?”
“They already left. They said I was scary.”
No wonder the village had felt so empty.
“Then please pack your things.”
“Where are you going without us?”
Enrique immediately switched to polite speech.
His senses were sharp.
“I received a request from the Argentine government. I need to take care of that first.”
“I understand.”
Enrique nodded obediently.
“Goddess, would you stay here?”
“You wish for me to protect this family, yes?”
“I’ll give you a slice of cake.”
“Then the contract is sealed.”
Nyx’s combat ability was a step above even Enrique’s.
That should be more than enough to handle any unexpected situations.
“Team Leader, let’s head to our destination.”
“Understood.”
Our party, now reduced to two, headed toward Iguazu Falls.