Once upon a time,
when I suddenly regained consciousness in the game, my surroundings were filled with garbage.
Mountains of trash piled up so high that I couldn’t see the end, making it impossible to figure out what was around me.
The stinky smell that tickled my nose was something I’d never encountered in my life before.
It felt like every imaginable scent was mixed together, sucking the soul out of me.
‘Where on earth am I?’
Even after muttering to myself, there wasn’t a single soul to listen.
Thinking it might be a dream, I slapped my own face, but the sharp pain only made the reality more vivid.
‘Is anyone there?’
The voice coming from my throat wasn’t my real voice.
It was a child’s voice I had never heard before.
My hands had become tiny.
My lowered line of sight was hard to adjust.
Every time I took a step, jagged pieces of trash sliced into my soles.
But I didn’t have time to worry about that kind of pain.
I wandered around in a daze, completely oblivious to my sore feet, searching for something, anything.
Even now, I don’t know what I was looking for.
I was so flustered that no thoughts came to my mind.
I just wanted to find someone, anyone.
So, I stumbled through the garbage dump for a while.
Eventually, I spotted a few people rummaging through the trash halfway up the pile.
I ran straight towards them.
“Hey! Over here!”
And just like that, I got kicked.
The pain jolted me awake, causing me to reflexively clutch my stomach.
My head, which had fallen, didn’t think about lifting back up.
Before I knew it, my knees were on the ground.
Because of that, I don’t really remember what they said.
Wow, who’s this? Doesn’t look like they have anything. Just kick them away.
Amid the pain, I could faintly hear those words.
A little while later, I was kicked again and rolled down deeper into the ocean of trash.
Lying on the ground and looking up, a sky filled with clouds entered my view—a gloomy gray that contrasted sharply with my situation.
I gritted my teeth.
I had to find out where I was.
So, I began to climb the mountain of trash.
I must have been about ten years old.
The difficulty of moving around due to my tender body made it tough.
But I thought that if I could reach the top, I might figure out where I was.
“…This is so damn hard.”
Finally, after much struggle, I reached the summit of the trash mountain and encountered a ‘little one.’
With messy, matted hair, I couldn’t tell if it was a boy or girl, let alone see their face.
But the piercing golden light in their eyes remained etched in my memory.
The little one glanced at me.
I instinctively hunched my shoulders to defend myself, afraid of getting kicked again.
The height difference was on a completely different level.
If I tumbled down again, I might actually die.
At that moment, the little one opened their mouth.
“What are you staring at? Want to die?”
“……”
That’s how it was back then.
Somehow, I ended up becoming friends with that little one.
Even though this was a world inside a game, over the course of about ten years, that was the only person I got close to.
And today,
I lowered my head towards the ‘woman’ whom I could no longer call a ‘little one.’
“I’m sorry for not contacting you! But what can I do? The game is just so fun!”
“Ugh, just go die!”
1. Living in the Game
Known as Shooting Star, it’s a nickname given in the mercenary world for suddenly appearing like a star falling from the sky.
Only those in the know understand that the entire city of Neon City nearly faced a nuclear disaster (the main storyline of the game) and I, the living legend, was the key to putting it all right.
The true protagonist of the cyberpunk game I played.
And my long-time friend.
Her name is Catherine Lee.
I didn’t lift my bowed head.
When it comes to apologies, attitude is everything.
I tried hard to placate her feelings.
“I really didn’t mean to not contact you. I had unavoidable circumstances.”
Of course, there were no real circumstances.
“What’s that?”
Would saying I was playing a game count as an excuse?
I have no idea how I ended up growing up to be such a violent kid.
…Thinking back, maybe I was always like this.
“There was something.”
“…Want to die for real?”
“Really, just this once! If you let me off this time, I won’t do it again.”
“Is this the how many times now you’ve said that without contacting me?”
Typical man trait.
I don’t remember such things very well.
[The database records it as three times, I testify.]
…Shut up.
I’m glad Eve’s comments didn’t reach Catherine; if they did, it would have taken longer to calm her down.
“I’m really sorry. There will be no more times I don’t contact you like this.”
“…Really?”
“Really.”
[I learned that the saying “You lie without even wetting your lips” is what one uses in situations like this.]
I shouldn’t learn such things.
Of course, I still don’t think I did anything wrong.
I also think that there’s bound to be situations where I won’t contact her again.
But what if I were to say that honestly?
I wanted to walk home on my two feet today.
I was just forced to lie for survival.
Even with a close friend, a lousy personality is still a lousy personality.
…But.
Thinking back to the times we wandered around the garbage dump together, she seemed to have grown up without any sharp edges.
Is this what it feels like to be a parent?
“…Hah. For real, if you ignore my calls again, just know I’ll find a way to take care of it.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Ma’am? You better go get kicked!”
Well, that went by smoothly.
Of course, I could easily imagine my future self getting scolded again for the same reason.
That was a problem for my future self to deal with.
For now, escaping this situation was far more important.
Finally, I lifted my head that I had bowed for too long.
Her golden eyes stared right at me.
“So?”
“Hmm?”
Wasn’t it already over?
Catherine stretched her legs and placed her feet on the chic ceramic table.
Her neatly tied golden hair swayed lightly.
I almost found myself drawn to her black stockings.
But I held back with superhuman patience.
Catherine’s gaze shifted out the window.
The bright neon lights flickered in a regular rhythm.
Was it the outside lights? A slight blush appeared on her cheeks.
On the second floor, since it was a private booth, there were no sounds around.
Being a place to receive missions and avoid people’s gaze, it was well-soundproofed.
I blankly stared at the suddenly quiet Catherine, waiting for her to speak.
What now?
“……So.”
“So?”
Our Gyeomjok.
What’s the matter now?
“…Where did you move to?”
“……Huh? All of a sudden?”
As soon as I replied with a meaningless answer, Catherine swiftly leaned in closer.
Instinctively, I pulled away and pressed my back to the chair.
I was surprised by how close her face was.
“What’s with the suddenness? Where do you think you’re living without even saying a word?”
“……Haha. Well, I was trying to keep my distance because it felt a bit burdensome.”
Saying that out loud wouldn’t go over well, would it?
“It’s not like I moved somewhere nearby. Everyone else also says they don’t know… If something really happened and I couldn’t contact you, I’d need to be able to find you.”
“…Hmm. That’s true.”
Well, my home address shouldn’t be that big of a deal, right?
There’s no reason not to let her know.
After a brief moment of thought, I sent Catherine a message with my home address.
“Phew.”
Catherine smiled briefly as she checked the message.
The way she went from angry to calm in an instant, typical Gyeomjok.
With her anger subsided, it was my turn to speak.
“So why was I being looked for?”
I was curious about the reason behind the flood of messages I had received over the week.
At first, I thought it might have been an important mission that had come up. But that didn’t seem to be the case.
If it were, there would have been something about a mission in the message.
“At first, I just wanted to see your face.”
“Okay.”
“And then I got angry because someone didn’t respond for a week.”
“Ah.”
I didn’t have to ask that, did I?
I quickly nodded my head, hoping to change the subject.
“Well, you had every right to worry.”
“Tch. Just needed to know that.”
Sure, I had never been this slack in checking in before.
No later than once every two days at least.
This time, there was an unavoidable reason (I got too immersed in the game).
I asked Catherine with a more relaxed tone.
“So can I go home now?”
“?”
Oops.
Was it still not that kind of atmosphere?
I bowed my head once more.
*
“…Phew. Did I get through?”
[Why am I saying something that makes no sense? I question.]
“…It was just a K-joke.”
The sorrow of a prophet whose jokes weren’t understood.
After promising to make sure to contact her next time, I finally got released from Catherine.
Naturally, the outside was already night.
The night of Neon City is deeper than other regions.
Particularly in the lower class areas.
The shadows of tall buildings and bright neon signs create a backdrop for the dark ecology of the city.
The brighter the upper and middle classes are, the darker the lower class becomes.
It was only natural.
The chilly night air brushed against my skin.
I walked slowly down a quiet street.
Maybe because it was late, the shadows of people were fewer than during dinner time.
Though I could feel the gazes of vagabonds sizing me up from the alley, I wasn’t drunk or staggering.
So, the chances of being harassed or attacked were low.
“Hey, you there!”
“Hey, come here for a second!”
Low was the key word.
Not nonexistent.
Sigh.
Why couldn’t they just let me go home peacefully?
I scratched my head roughly.
I had little time left to get home and play the game.
I glanced towards the alley where the voices were coming from.
“……Aren’t they the ones from the elevator?”
[I agree.]
There stood two mercenary men who had been talking behind my back earlier, leaning casually against the wall.
The strange color of smoke they exhaled was bizarre.
Red and blue mixed, but didn’t seem to blend in a strange way.
It looked incredibly unhealthy.
I approached them in the alley.
“What do you want?”
Instead of answering, they just puffed smoke at me.
I could hear the purification filter in the mask activating.
“We just wanted to be friends.”
“Yeah, right. You called me over to get friendly, huh?”
“Really?”
[Executing voice assessment module. The probability of lying is over 90%, I assess.]
I didn’t need to be told that.
The way one hand was hidden behind their back, the mocking expressions on their faces, and their earlier gossiping about me—it all added up.
Was it not 100% already?
Good grief.
I could already feel my patience wearing thin.
I unconsciously began to stir the Mana in the air.
Even a cyberpunk wizard uses magic.
Polluted mana is still mana.
That was one of the perks of being a wizard.
There were so few wizards, so no one would notice you secretly preparing spells.
That didn’t mean I was careless about the risks, either.
It’s one of the benefits of being in an under-the-radar profession.
“Didn’t you say I was a nasty piece of work back in the elevator?”
“…Huh? You heard that—”
“Yeah, and it’s true.”
Right after that,
I detonated the mana I had gathered underneath their feet all at once.
Boom!
““Whoaahhh!!””
A gust of wind suddenly swept through the alley.
The resulting whirlwind shook the entire alley.
The neon lights around us flickered off in an instant, and trash spiraled around, flying everywhere.
As an extra bonus, the two of them soared up into the sky.
“Good luck surviving!”
[A beautiful view, I appreciate it.]
I almost wasted time on something pointless.
I needed to hurry home.
‘When I get home this time, I should probably not come out for a month….’
That was my resolution.
*
The next day, someone knocked on my door.
Standing there was Catherine.
“Hey, I found out. The house next door is empty. So I moved in here.”
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