A gigantic dragon-shaped hologram billboard swam ominously between the buildings.
It’s that time of day when the intense glow of the neon signs slowly starts to attack my eyes.
Using my sight interface, I manipulated the pre-linked shading switch.
Suddenly, a colorful light beam began to fill the space between the glass walls, which used to reflect the outside scenery.
Before long, the traces of the glass wall disappeared, leaving only patterns matching the surrounding walls.
Now, that’s better.
I scratched my nose and focused my gaze on the enormous TV screen.
The famous current affairs program from Neon City, “NCB At Midnight,” was in full swing.
The host, wearing an outrageously flashy outfit that made me want to pretend I didn’t see them if we crossed paths on the street, rambled on in a high-energy tone.
[Alright! Today we have the most famous monk in Neon City with us! Lastly, could you please share a message for our viewers, especially those paying subscribers?]
Slowly, someone on the sofa set on the stage raised their body.
I watched the religious figure reflected on the camera with a mild sense of curiosity.
Usually, when one says ‘monk,’ you imagine someone practicing diligently, distancing themselves from the secular world, and embracing a life of abstinence.
But the monk revealed in this broadcast had over half of their body covered with cyberware implants.
Whether it was intentional or not, the fact that they weren’t covered in synthetic skin made that disparity even more pronounced.
The cybernetic monk spread their arms wide.
[What I want to say is this: ultimately, all worries and concerns come from within ourselves.]
Their voice even had autotune on it.
[Let me give an example. The way we look at food in front of us differs between humans and animals. What is precious to one might be garbage to another.]
I leaned forward to listen closely to the monk’s words on the TV.
In fact, the monks often seen in Neon City are mostly fallen monks. In fact, there were a ton of cases where those fallen monks evolved into destruction-class monks.
So, out of mere curiosity, I was watching for some entertainment, but surprisingly, the content was intriguing.
[Form is void, and void is form. I hope you all living in Neon City do not obsess over material things and instead focus on correcting yourselves. Thank you.]
“…Ooh.”
I nodded in brief admiration.
I didn’t expect to receive such teachings from a show I casually tuned into.
…Yeah, right.
What does it matter? Everything’s futile anyway. Haha.
I cleared my mind like that.
“Did you pay attention?”
“…Hmm.”
“?”
That centered mind was about to escape me. Remembering what the monk said, I stubbornly turned away, not wanting to check how Eve looked.
The reason was clear.
As the monk said, just the mere sight of a ‘bunny girl suit’ would surely make my head spin.
Talk about being loaded with consequences.
…What the heck.
Why did she wear a bunny girl suit?
I don’t get it.
—
33. One person who doesn’t know the answer (1)
…I feel like I might know something.
A few days passed since then.
To be brief, one cycle was almost at an end.
And although the existence of the 14th floor suddenly emerged, my life didn’t change much.
Of course, it couldn’t be expected to change drastically.
Why? Because I wasn’t living on the 14th floor continuously.
Of course, it was a clear fact that the 14th floor was better for me than the 13th.
After all, there were no surveillance cameras observing my life, and the overall living facilities couldn’t be compared.
…But.
The fact that the entrance door had no handle made me feel uneasy (kinda scary too).
Another important reason was that lately, I felt ‘strange discomfort’.
To sum up my life over the past few days briefly, it would be something like this:
Eve in a bunny girl suit, Catherine appearing in a very short negligee, and the chairman or Andrea subtly provoking physical contact.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
Julia, who never took her eyes off the monitor whenever gaming; Maya unexpectedly bringing home-cooked meals from the fusion-Japanese restaurant; Natasha asking me to watch over because Smith didn’t show up for work even though, as a side note, Smith reportedly went in on time.
Yeah, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Let’s say it was reasonable up to this point.
The most suspicious instance happened recently.
Feeling an inexplicable sense of crisis, I took refuge on the 13th floor while everyone was “guarding” (or glaring) at me.
Meal time.
We were eating dishes brought by Eve, who hacked the secret recipes of the Monolith’s personal chef, and the recipes from a popular restaurant in the lower-class area (fusion-Japanese restaurant).
At that moment, I noticed a piece of food on Andrea’s cheek.
“Hey, you’ve got something on your cheek.”
“Where?”
“More to the side.”
“Here?”
“Lower… um.”
It was too tedious to express in words.
I momentarily stood up and wiped the food from Andrea’s cheek with my thumb.
Carelessly, I might add.
Just a heads up: it was a huge blunder.
Once I sat back down, I lifted my spoon, only to find rice stuck to my thumb, which I naturally brought to my mouth.
““……””
After everyone fell into silence, I realized my mistake.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Andrea, staring at me with a blank expression, suddenly stood up.
At the same time, Catherine and Eve, who were seated next to her, grabbed Andrea’s arm.
“No, this really has to be counted as touching─!”
“Hey, hey! Quiet!”
“……!!”
Andrea, whose mouth was zipped shut by Catherine and Eve, was dragged off somewhere deep in the corner.
Then, as if nothing had happened, everyone naturally returned to eating.
“……”
I stared blankly, watching the whole spectacle unfold.
…Something definitely feels off.
My long experience as a mercenary was screaming at me.
By the way.
This incident wasn’t the end.
“…Um.”
Just as I was about to question the others about the event I had just witnessed.
“Looks like Andrea’s been really tired lately.”
“There may have been several ads we’ve put in recently.”
“…That’s true!”
Natasha, the chairman, and Maya suddenly chimed in, and I felt as if they were providing excuses on behalf of someone.
What was going on?
I turned my head to look at Julia, who hadn’t said a word.
But Julia seemed to be in a weird state too.
Julia was silently speaking.
Specifically, it appeared she was moving her lips, trying to convey some sort of information to me.
…Three letters? Four letters?
Calmly, I interpreted her lip movements. And just so you know, Julia spoke in English, so that had to be taken into account.
An? Uns? Er… oh!
“Ah.”
Run away.
Telling me to escape─.
Then, Natasha and Maya grabbed Julia and disappeared into the distance.
“……”
Relatively small in stature, Julia dangled with her feet off the ground.
I couldn’t hide my bewilderment.
Ultimately, only the chairman and I remained at the table.
“…Um, Chairman?”
“You can call me by my name soon enough.”
I’ll put that aside for now.
“What on earth is going on?”
“Fufu, I don’t know either. Oh, this is delicious. I really like this dish.”
……
“…Um.”
“It’s impressive how the AI could recreate this chef’s taste so perfectly. It’s a specialty invited from USA City.”
“……”
“Here, try this.”
Something suspicious is definitely going on, but I can’t pinpoint what it is.
I accepted the food that the chairman handed me with a fork as I pondered.
There’s no way the chairman doesn’t know about all of this. That was certain. He must know something.
But as just a lowly mercenary, reading the emotions of a CEO from a megacorp is practically impossible.
I instinctively felt I wouldn’t be able to get the answers from the chairman.
…
I needed to find someone who could provide the answers.
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