BCST 12

chapter 12

“Holy crap…”

“Hey! Flip that body over!”

“Wait, isn’t that Yabok? Yabok?”

The surroundings instantly erupted in chatter.

As expected of a fixer’s office—lots of sharp-eyed folks around.

Amid the commotion, Mia examined the unconscious Yabok from head to toe and spoke.

“Wow. You really caught this thing all by yourself?”

“…Wasn’t that the whole point of sending me?”

“Ah.”

…Ah?

My gaze narrowed, and Mia, flustered, awkwardly smiled as she pointed to Yabok’s leg.

“No, no. I mean, this looks like old, but still military-grade gear. The fact that you brought this in is crazy enough… but wasn’t this guy fast?”

Fast indeed.

At the start of the fight, I nearly got my head cut off just trying to get used to his speed.

I nodded, and Mia turned to shout toward the back.

“Sean! Come over here! Eddie brought in something insane!”

From behind the bar counter, the android Sean walked out slowly.

The same cold, mechanical face as always.

But despite his expression, his voice carried the tone of someone grumbling as he addressed Mia.

“Mia, how many times have I told you? Don’t call me like a puppy.”

“That’s not what’s important right now. Just look at this!”

Mia pointed to the collapsed Yabok.

“…This is.”

Sean’s eyes lit up as he came closer.

“This leg is a Kukang Tech ‘Nine Dragons 9-3X.’ Before Kukang went bankrupt, this was their last prototype—and one of their best-performing cyberwares.”

His voice came through the speakers with rare excitement.

“This here is a ‘Kabara Enhance’ with built-in jamming. This is the sub-computer ‘Simplex Hive.’ And he’s got cyberware crammed into every swappable slot. Honestly, it’s a miracle he didn’t turn into a cyber-psycho. But the real masterpiece is, of course…”

Sean crouched down and carefully stroked Yabok’s spider-hand, murmuring.

“…This one. The ‘Crow Claw.’”

The symbolic weapon of Yabok.

Sean inspected each finger of the spider-hand with obsessive detail as he continued.

“This is a masterpiece from Black Horn Industries. A treasure of battlefield hackers, combining digital infiltration with raw combat. To see such a rare thing in person… I must say, I’m extremely pleased today.”

When he finished, the crowd, who had been listening with bated breath, burst out in admiration.

“Damn, Yabok was a beast, huh? But wait—if that’s true, then what does that make the guy who beat him?”

“From what I can tell, with that kind of spec, Yabok had to be around level 3. You’re telling me that newbie beat a level 3 already? Doesn’t make sense.”

“Hey, level 3 ain’t kid stuff. What nonsense are you spouting? Yabok was listed as a level 2 hacker. Didn’t you read the request sheet?”

“No, look with your own eyes. You think all that gear adds up to just level 2? He’s weak as hell if that’s the case.”

“What was that? Say it again, you bastard!”

“Gladly. Let’s settle this right now!”

As people got louder, from one corner, Kin—already drunk—was grinning and bragging.

“See? Didn’t I say so? I told you, that’s the kid I brought in. Everyone knows, right? That’s thanks to me!”

“…Haa.”

Why exactly are you so proud, Kin?

Well, whatever. Business is business.

I turned back to Mia and spoke.

“If it’s really that valuable, then the payout will be big too, right?”

“Sean!”

Mia shot Sean a look, as if hoping he’d cover for her. But Sean calmly replied.

“Mia, a first deal must be built on trust.”

Despite the fact that admitting it might cost him, Sean explained evenly.

“Given the cyberware Yabok Boykov had installed, his actual specs must have been far higher than our report suggested. This was clearly our mistake. If it hadn’t been Eddie, our misallocation of resources might have cost someone their life.”

“T-that’s…”

Mia looked flustered, then quickly pulled herself together.

She turned to me and bowed her head.

“…I’m sorry! This was entirely our mistake. We should have given you clearer intel.”

As expected.

This is why I chose this office.

I suppressed the smile threatening to rise at Mia’s sincere apology.

She was younger than her in-game counterpart by a year—still a little green, but already promising.

While I was secretly pleased, Mia lifted her head, her tone still heavy.

“As an apology, we’ll add in our commission to your payout. We’ll renegotiate with the client and adjust the amount properly.”

Good.

A hefty offer.

That meant they’d walk away with no profit this time.

Instead, they chose to buy my trust.

And Mia didn’t stop there.

“Also, if you want any of these parts, let me know. With the contacts I know, I can guarantee you’ll get proper value. Much easier and more profitable than selling them off yourself.”

In front of the other fixers watching, she’d given both a sincere apology and fair compensation.

Obvious, maybe—but not an easy choice.

In the solemn atmosphere, I accepted her words, feeling the sincerity.

“Alright. Forget it this time. Just prepare the payment in cash.”

At that, Mia winced.

“Ah, that’s… cash is a lot in this case. Why not use this opportunity to set up an e-wallet?”

“That’s—”

I was about to say no when Sean held Mia’s hand to stop her.

“Mia.”

Surprised by his sudden gesture, Mia glanced at my neck, then quickly covered her reaction.

“R-right! Then how about coins? Physical coins that hold digital currency—you can use them like cash!”

Coins?

Oh yeah, those existed.

In the game, money was just numbers in the inventory, so I hadn’t thought much about it.

Physical coins—basically hardware wallets with cold storage.

As long as they were portable, secure, and spendable like cash, I didn’t care.

“That’ll do. How much?”

“The original fee was 300,000 credits, but with adjustments and if we sell those parts properly…”

Mia paused to calculate, then continued.

“…About 3 million credits?”

Not bad.

Add the cash stash back at the Pixel Dream Motel, and I’d be sitting on about 3.25 million credits.

“Give me 500,000 in cash, the rest in 100,000-credit coins.”

“Got it. And just so you know, once you’re done with a coin, return it to the bank and you’ll get a 500-credit deposit back.”

“I’ll bring the cash right away.”

That much would keep me set for a while.

I could buy supplies, maybe even indulge a little.

Strange how even here, the thought of spending money lifted my mood.

Maybe that showed on my face, because Mia studied me closely, then smiled in relief.

“Well, now that you’ve made some money, Eddie—got any plans?”

Plans…

“I’ll rest for a few days first.”

Catching Yabok had taken a lot out of me.

Especially near the end…

No. Don’t think about it.

I cut off unnecessary thoughts and summoned my system window.

Flash!

[Quest – Fixer of Edge Line]

You’ve met Mia Dunleavy, owner of the fixer’s office Edge Line.

To join the office, you must earn her recognition.

Reward – 6 Ability Points, Slight Trust from Mia Dunleavy (Completed).

Spending those points would take some time.

At least three or four days of rest sounded good.

Then another thought struck me, and I turned to Mia.

“By the way, Mia. I do have one request.”

“Hm? What is it?”

I finally voiced something I’d been thinking about for a while.

* * *

After Eddie left, Mia stepped alone into her office.

Even Sean, her assistant, wasn’t allowed inside.

Grabbing her comms device, she shouted furiously.

“No, I’m telling you, the intel you gave us was wrong! What? You’re saying it’s not your fault because we cross-checked it? Don’t give me that crap! You provide the job info! We cross-check just in case!”

A calm voice replied on the other end.

[Wrong, you say? I asked you to catch Boykov and offered the proper reward. Looks like the mission was completed. So what’s the problem?]

Mia slammed the table.

“Of course it’s a problem! You said Yabok was at the level of a mid-tier level 2 fixer. But when we got there? He had high-grade military cyberware and even a custom defense net!”

[That’s called unforeseen variables. We can’t possibly know everything in advance. The risks are something contractors must accept—]

Grinding her teeth, Mia cut him off.

“My kid risked his life out there! He had to deal with extra risks because of your lack of intel. That clearly warrants additional compensation. Am I wrong?”

Silence.

Then, after a pause:

[…With a record like this, I’m safe from accountability. Fine. Let’s discuss additional payment.]

So businesslike, jumping topics as if nothing happened.

Mia rubbed her aching forehead.

God, corporations…

“Fine. Give me your compensation proposal, based on your own investigation. And it better make sense, or I’ll crunch the numbers myself.”

She knew the type. Once things got to this stage, they weren’t stingy. After all, it wasn’t their own money—it was the company’s.

[We had an entire mercenary platoon wiped out by Yabok. They could’ve handled upper-level 2s with ease. Most combat data was lost, but what records remain suggest Boykov’s estimated level was…]

The words that followed made Mia’s jaw drop.

“…Wait, Yabok was level 3?”

[Upper-level 3. Including the defensive net established specifically for this job.]

Even then—that was absurdly high.

Far above the mid-level 2 they had been told.

This wasn’t a mistake. This was nearly a catastrophe.

A bead of cold sweat ran down Mia’s back.

How the hell did Eddie beat him?

She thought of Eddie’s face earlier—tired, more than usual.

She had guessed Yabok was stronger than expected from his equipment.

But this much?

A level 2 beating a level 3.

And not just any—an upper-level 3.

That almost never happened.

In fact, it hadn’t happened in years.

The only comparison would be the legend of Arkham City…

The voice cut into her thoughts.

[Therefore, considering the capture of an upper-level 3 and our own fault, we’ll add 500% of the original fee. Do you agree?]

Wait.

Five hundred percent?

Running the numbers in her head, Mia realized they were actually being generous.

That meant Eddie would walk away with about 4.5 million credits.

An unbelievable amount for someone who had just passed the entrance test.

“…Fine. That’s acceptable. But listen—this can’t happen again. Reporting an upper-level 3 as a level 2? If that was intentional, you’d be in court right now.”

Sounded like the intel had only been updated after Eddie had already gone in.

[We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.]

Good. Better to press the issue now than later.

After that, Mia handled a flood of smaller work calls.

“Ugh… I’m exhausted.”

She slumped into her chair, closing her eyes.

The constant tug-of-war with clients was always draining.

But she couldn’t rest long.

Especially now that Eddie had passed the entrance exam.

If possible, she wanted to line up decent jobs for him.

There’s gotta be something good…

Just as she thought that, the phone rang again.

Mia opened her eyes with a tired expression and answered.

“Yes, Edge Line—Mia Dunleavy speaking. Oh, a bodyguard request? Uh-huh. I see… huh?”

At first, she sounded half-asleep.

But as the conversation went on, her eyes lit up.

“Ahh, a fixer who can work as a bodyguard without standing out? Of course, we’ve got one. Who? …Just a sec.”

Mia’s face grew flush with excitement.

One name came to her mind as the perfect candidate for this request.