BCST 02

chapter 2

[Tutorial – ???]

A bizarre corpse, not seeming like it was made by humans, has been discovered.
Investigate the cause behind the incident and eliminate the mastermind.
Reward – 4 Ability Points

Seeing the system window appear before my eyes, an indescribable emotion welled up inside me.

I came here expecting something like this to show up, but actually seeing it in front of me filled me with a complex mixture of feelings I couldn’t quite put into words.

But…

Right. If someone just left a person lying around like this, it’s only natural that this would pop up.

I reached out with my hand to interact with the system window.

Bang!

A gunshot rang from the alley ahead.

Reflexively, I closed the system window.

The shot had come from not far away.

Gunfire often echoed here during the day, but at night, it carried an entirely different feel.

Drier, more threatening, perhaps.

A nighttime sensitivity I hadn’t even been aware of back when I lived in South Korea.

Anyway, it seems the system window can be manipulated by sheer will, just as I had heard.

I turned it off and on a few times while surveying the surroundings.

Fluorescent graffiti, a corpse and a brain lying on the floor.

And me, standing in front of that corpse at the dead-end alley.

This.

If someone happened to pass by, I would undoubtedly look like a murderer.

The thought made me nervous about the outside of the alley.

Normally, I would have left the moment a tutorial popped up, but this time, even that wasn’t easy.

Because even I, who knew all the tutorial types, had never seen one like this.

[Tutorial – ???]

A title so irresponsible I’d never encountered it before.

The tutorial even demands that I deal with the mastermind who created this corpse—a likely reckless individual.

Because, as far as I knew, a monster that could make a corpse like this would never appear at the tutorial level.

The difficulty was absurdly abnormal.

…Could it be because I’m carrying a second-run exclusive trait?

Anyway, to find the culprit, I need to gather as much information here as possible.

From on-site evidence to nearby inquiries.

The feeling of returning to being a complete newbie after so long even made my heart race.

Still, when had this corpse ended up here?

What would have happened if I hadn’t come to the tutorial area?

I was lost in such thoughts when…

Thud.

Someone approached from behind.

Startled by the sudden footsteps, I turned my head reflexively.

At the end of the narrow alley, covered in trash and adult flyers like snow, a tall man stood under a flickering streetlight.

He stood at the alley’s edge, pushing up his sunglasses with the back of his hand.

A pistol was in that hand, its muzzle aimed at me.

Ziiing…

Reflexively, I cast a shield spell.

Slow-motion, the man pulling the trigger filled my vision.

I reflected within the slowed time.

What if I had used an offensive spell instead of a shield?

I might have subdued him before he fired.

Even with the shield spell, I wasn’t confident I could stop all the bullets fired consecutively.

I braced myself for the impending pain.

“…….”

“…….”

No gunshot.

An eerie silence settled between us.

“…Not shooting?”

“Me?”

The man had lowered his gun-hand comfortably.

He strode forward, parting the adult flyers with long legs.

For a moment, I thought about casting a spell first, but a sense of familiarity stopped me.

The closer he came, the more his appearance was revealed by the light.

A long metal coat, belt carrying magazines and a dagger.

The vivid smell of gunpowder clung to him like freshly brewed espresso.

As I suspected, he was a character I knew.

‘Kin Next.’

That made it even more puzzling.

To my knowledge, he would have lightly pulled the trigger just by making eye contact during a mission.

While I was stunned that he hadn’t fired, Kin’s gaze shifted to the corpse at his feet.

“Wizard, this isn’t your doing, right?”

“…Right.”

“Good. I don’t want to fight a competent wizard unnecessarily.”

Competent?

I might be a veteran in this game, but right now, I could only cast basic spells.

Yet Kin Next is a veteran, officially recognized as a Level 2 problem solver.

His eyes surely weren’t untrustworthy.

“Hm….”

Then he must have a reasonable basis for his judgment.

Kin, having surveyed the surroundings in that brief time, approached me and stared.

Small letters rapidly scrolling over the green pupils behind his sunglasses.

Even his eyes were cyberware.

“So, Wizard. If you didn’t do this, what business do you have here?”

I raised my head slightly and took in the surroundings again.

The corpse started as a tutorial.

But the culprit is a formidable entity, far beyond my current level.

And now a character from the original work appears at the perfect timing.

Kin Next had been a troubleshooter for the manpower office I frequently visited in the game.

Eccentric, but fundamentally a good-aligned character.

These facts quickly formed a pattern in my mind.

“…A request. We need to eliminate the monster that did this to him.”

“Monster? Right. Definitely not something a human could do.”

Kin quickly agreed with my statement.

Seeing that confirmed my judgment.

Kin Next would be my ally for this tutorial.

This was an issue too large to solve alone.

Therefore, he likely had objectives aligning with mine.

I asked, “What business do you have here?”

Kin scratched the back of his head with his gun, looking awkward.

“I came on a protection request.”

“A protection request?”

But who needed protecting here…?

My gaze fell to the corpse with its exposed brain.

No way, right?

Seeing my distrustful eyes, Kin averted his gaze and said,

“No… I got the date wrong. I forgot, but by the time I arrived, it was already like this.”

Is he crazy? Really?

No wonder he didn’t shoot immediately.

The moment he entered the alley, he saw his client was already dead.

Noticing my astonishment, Kin briefly looked embarrassed before speaking again.

“…Anyway, if you’re going after the ones who did this to your client, I want to come along. I’d like to bring my excuses with me too.”

Though I was suspicious of him, I had no reason to refuse.

I nodded and asked,

“If you accepted the request, you must have some info, right?”

I could guess the monstrous culprit, but not its location or circumstances.

As an ally, he should have the necessary information.

Kin pointed to the graffiti around the corpse.

“Yes. This is the symbol of the gang that threatened your client. And your client was a member. See the pattern?”

Right, predictable.

A gang member who had obtained something valuable—money or information—ran but was eventually killed in revenge.

Hence the corpse was displayed with warning graffiti.

At that level of presentation, it was bound to make the news once discovered.

“So, the gang’s name?”

Kin glanced at the fluorescent butterfly wings and replied simply,

“‘Neon Wings.’”

A bottom-tier street gang.

Abandoned Factory in Industrial Zone 56

On the second-floor office, a large metal table was cluttered with cyberware parts.

The parts were tangled with flesh and nerve bundles, appearing roughly torn off.

The Neon Wings’ boss, Jace Jenkins, frowned while slowly sipping whiskey.

The sensors in his eyes glowed red.

“Is this all? How are we supposed to handle this every time? It’s time we played bigger.”

The surrounding lieutenants’ eyes darted nervously.

Finally, one stepped forward.

“But… ah, controlling this monster isn’t easy. And if outsiders find out, we’d all be in danger. The situations we can deploy it are limited.”

“Ha? You son of a—”

The glass in Jenkins’ hand flew at the speaking lieutenant’s face.

Crash!

The glass shattered against the copper-like front of his face, caramel-colored liquid dripping down.

“Then just unleash it on the Shutter Hands’ hideout. Even if they all die, no one cares. Then we take over their business.”

The atmosphere turned icy.

Jenkins glared at the bowed lieutenants.

“Am I the only one losing my head here? If our stakes change, shouldn’t our minds adjust too?”

He sighed.

“Damn it… starting a new business with these idiots is a headache. Do we need a purge?”

The lieutenants’ faces twisted, but Jenkins, not looking at them, shook his head.

“Back in my day…”

Bang!

The door suddenly burst open.

“An, an attack!”

The office froze in tension.

The junior member who had entered hesitated under the sharp gazes of the lieutenants.

“…Not good. Where are they from? Did the Shutter Hands come first?”

“Uh, well…”

Struggling to hold back frustration, Jenkins’ reaction made the member shout blindly.

“Two unidentified individuals!”

The atmosphere sank further.

Jenkins closed his eyes and pinched his brow.

“…Consider yourself lucky nothing is in my hand right now, kid.”

“Yes, sir!”

Jenkins waved his hand, signaling them to deal with it.

“The ones inside? Go out and handle them. You can kill, but if you capture anyone, hold them at the processing site. Go.”

“But, um…”

“Huh?”

The junior hesitated again. Jenkins, furious, was about to shoot when the junior spoke, startling him into pause.

“They… already bypassed the external electric barrier and security robots and are inside!”

“How?”

Jenkins’ mouth fell open.