How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

122. ILJIN

Leonard’s Federal Bank consolidated account was centered in his field of vision and he put on a deliberately serious expression.

Leonard’s original 11,000 credits plus Bennington Holly’s share of 3,600 credits were ‘shortly’ deposited into his favorite account. The reason for this is because I immediately got out of the rain of debt.

“How many bullets did you shoot?”

Firearms and other equipment were refunded as a legitimate right of consumers, but the cost of already consumed bullets, grenades, and bombs exceeded 4,000 credits. There are many types that are not available on the market, and it was the result of the ‘smuggling’ premium.

In addition, implant repair costs, Blue Bee maintenance costs, Bennington Holly’s funeral expenses, Max’s pocket money, etc. were additionally subtracted, so the profit was cut in half.

“You still have 7,000 credits left, right?”

“Even a background investigation of a businessman and his wife is 7,000. The margins are bad.”

The rich man’s manly secret quest wasn’t a common one, but it wasn’t something he was just saying. Despite having passed through death several times, the profits were poor.

“There are good times and there are bad times. How do you make it easy every time?”

Either that or not, Max rubbed his nostrils and grumbled. I wasn’t interested because I only received 1,200 credits anyway.

Sigma put down something that smelled like coffee and sent me this month’s maintenance bill. Leonard frowned at the new numbers covering the account.

“What, why is the electricity bill so high?”

Due to the courtesy of the landlord, the monthly rent was waived until this month, but the maintenance fee was still charged. Among them, the largest portion was the electricity usage fee, which shows the tyranny of the company.

“The supply cost of 11th Street has risen.”

“Only our district? why?”

“Because the electricity was cut off in White Town.”

The cost of social infrastructure was also applied differently to the rich and the poor. I didn’t have to explain which side had the advantage, so I skipped it and focused more on the numbers.

“Anyway, 229 credits is too much, right? I’m not running any servers here…”

Leonard protested against a strict place and realized that it was not strict. Sigma put on the expression of a dog who was scolded for eating too much.

“Should I reduce the operating time…?”

Leonard was not fooled by an emotionless machine. But it wasn’t the emotional Max.

“The Sigma pays enough electricity, right? Without Sigma, someone prepares breakfast, runs the vacuum cleaner, and sings my lullaby!”

“Don’t use it for that! That’s why the electricity bill comes out a lot!”

“As long as Mr. Leonard pulls the lever less, there will be no problem!”

It wasn’t entirely wrong. Leonard stared at the people and robots, then grabbed his coat and got up. Max made a suspicious expression.

“No casino.”

“I’m not going.”

“lie.”

“I’m really not going.”

The promise was only half kept. I went through the stairs and went straight to Jack Turner’s gambling room on the second floor, but I didn’t sit down at the slot machine. It would be impressive if he had matured, but more than that, he had something to check.

“You look busy these days, right? Or is it so out of date that I don’t even have credits to play?”

“If you have to say, it’s the former, but if you give me a chip, I can give you some time.”

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Jack Turner snorted. Like a gang, the service was not good.

Leonard glanced around the gambling hall, where there was no distinction between day and night. It was all about a female customer who spent more time smoking than pulling a lever, and a nuisance customer who put electronic drugs and talked nonsense. I don’t know if Junk Town has a concept called Gyeonggi (景氣), but business didn’t seem to be going well.

“How was the last time?”

“Last time? The 11th-9th Avenue guys?”

It was a little strange that the solver was not interested in the post-processing. ‘Is it because it’s your house?’ Jack Turner sighed as he kicked the hesitant men out with a tray of cheap tea.

“That’s a gang too… Don’t you get a sense when you see that tail?”

“What went wrong?”

“No, that’s fine. Because of that, I took control of the 9th street and made friends with rich noblemen. I don’t know about the fixer hyung because he plays in the big water, but running errands is quite creditable. I like that the rich people in this town don’t show off their pomp, unlike the suits in White Town.”

“By the way?”

“But the game is not good.”

Leonard smiled. There was a word called game. Misunderstanding that expression, Jack Turner was furious.

“No matter what, my main income is slot machines. Saving women and selling medicine is money. There are a lot of things that need to be stabbed here and there.”

It is said that if you give a penny to a corporate public security, a penny to a huge gang, and a penny to a scavenger running on the field, there is little left, but Leonard didn’t know.

“Is it related to the electricity supply cut off this month?”

“this month? It is last month.”

Leonard tilted his head, but understood a little later. It seems that the matter was decided when I was indebted to the broker’s office.

“And the supply is not cut off. Because there is electricity drawn from the outskirts.”

“Then it’s federal electricity, right? It was expensive for a reason.”

Leonard just emptied his bitter-tasting tea and got up. Jack Turner asked me if I was really going to stop playing games, but I boldly ignored it. There was something more to find out.

Leonard went out into the street and walked around the mall. The broken scavengers in each shade of the building are still there, but the street vendors who work hard to make a living show that they have changed from before.

“You don’t do business here either?”

It’s a junk town that says it’s bad like a habit, but this year was particularly bad. There were only six major incidents involving Leonard. It was strange when business was good.

“…Look! Kick out the 11th Street residents and create a White Town! If we kick out the residents of 29th Street and build a dome! Where’s next? wake up! Do you think downtown will be okay?”

The scruffy scavenger shouted in the middle of the street. It was not a new sight, as there were many people who had gone mad from e-drugs and deep diving. The ending was also easy to guess. You will be caught by corporate police and taken to a detention center, or you will be beaten in the back of the head by a street bully and your implants stolen.

‘It’s such a mess that I have no idea how messed up it is…’

For 300 out of 365 days, Leonard looked up at the sky with a frown. It was a day when I felt like something was going to happen, whether it was because of my mood, the weather, or my bank account.

“Hey, mister, don’t cause noise pollution and come down.”

It seems that Leonard’s intuition has finally reached its peak. A nasty trio attached to the demagogue who just passed by. He was not a scavenger, but a gangster in a black suit. Due to the nature of the gang, which values individuality, it was not difficult to find out who he belonged to.

‘Tiger claw?’

Two of the three had long long swords. There was no other gang obsessed with knives like that.

“People have the right to know the truth! I have a duty to tell the truth! Get rid of the corporate dirty dogs!”

“I have a knife to cut through your stomach. Shut up and come down quickly. I will give you to live.”

He seems to have said it was humor, but no one laughed. Well, if the guy with the knife was talking and laughing, there was a mental problem.

Leonard took a step back and watched how it turned. If it goes according to the classic novel, a righteous passer-by will stand up for a powerless agitator, and a documentary that is faithful to reality will die lonely in indifference after being brutally trampled on by violence. However, the reality at the end of the century was a little different. The agitator ignored the gangsters and started muttering something.

“What is this madman talking about?”

“Are you out of your mind? Shall we just clean it up here?”

Leonard agreed at first. However, a strange signal was caught in the Hexagon module. He wasn’t muttering to himself, he was communicating with someone. Well, I don’t think it’s because I have great citizenship and call the public security, and I suddenly had an ominous feeling.

‘no way…’

Leonard’s eyes turned into hexagons. The hacking was done immediately because it was a scavenger chip that was not installed on commercially available implants. As soon as the communication was intercepted, a voice was heard.

-…will be remembered.

It did not seem to mean storing it on a memory chip. Leonard opened his mouth to warn the gang, but no sound came through. This is because a large wave pushed the air out.

Kwagwagwagwagwang-!

It wasn’t a big explosion. The bomb materials that the scavenger could obtain were primitive, and it was natural that he couldn’t afford to buy even that in bulk. So, all I had to do was break the bodies of three gangsters close by and throw Leonard, who was a little away, about 5 or 6 meters away.

‘There’s no such thing as a corporate dog or something…’

Leonard surrendered himself to the darkening consciousness. The opportunity to reboot came after a long time.

@

The hospitality of Junk Town could not be called ‘good’ no matter how exaggerated it was. It means that there is no such thing as falling down on the street and waking up looking at the hospital ceiling. If the limbs were still attached, that was luck.

“Shit…”

Fortunately, the loss of consciousness was short-lived. 2-3 minutes at most? The evidence was that the fragmented corpse was still there and that there were still people laughing.

‘Anti-corporate terrorism?’

Leonard forced himself to stand up, clearing the part of the gangster that was pressing on his pelvis. It was not good to stay for a long time because the lazy public security was also quick when it was business-related, and the cautious gang leader did not care when he retaliated.

‘Jake will laugh when he hears it.’

Leonard limped off the scene. A few scavengers worthy of the name sent sad glances, but there was nothing to be rescued anyway. Gangs who manage nearby shopping malls came and drove out the scavengers who took out implants. They are tough cleaners, but after splitting their heads with Japanese blades, they backed off surprisingly easily.

Leonard caught his breath at the corner of the alley and played the last voice he had picked up.

-…will be remembered.

There is one organization that comes to mind when thinking of anti-corporate terrorists, but it was not their voice. It was difficult to find relevance as the method of terrorism was also outdated. In the first place, there is not only one terrorist organization, so it will have to be seen that a new lunatic has debuted.

‘Is it violent?’

Leonard took one look at the gang clearing the scene from a distance and turned around. It’s embarrassing to be scolded for consuming a lot of electricity, but I had to have Sigma inspect it. However, this work did not end with Iljin. It didn’t take half a day for gangsters with knives to come and take over the office.

“…so I need expert help.”

Leonard looked at the middle-aged man with white hair who called himself ‘Yakuza’ and made a complicated expression. After receiving a series of gang requests, I thought that a corporate request would be better.

“I’ll forget all the bad relationships and pay you 20,000 credits upfront.”

Thinking about it again, the gang quest didn’t seem too bad.