Chapter 112

“Hmm….”

I put away my weapon and close the distance while keeping my eyes on the opponent.

The title of guide isn’t something I feel overly familiar or comfortable with, but I do recall it being mentioned a few times in relation to black market quests.

If participants and clients are mercenaries or brokers wandering around the black market looking for jobs, then guides are community members employed by the market itself, earning a salary… In other words, they are like salaried employees.

They act as representatives of the market’s interests while smoothly connecting clients and contractors.

…Well, in this case, it seems I was dragged here because of an absence of intermediaries and a customer, whose identity I didn’t even know, calling for interested parties to choose from at their whim.

Of course, it can’t be ruled out that they picked up a title in haste… but seeing her look so distraught at the sight of the two men lying on the ground was just too authentic.

I was even more curious about how impressive this client must be to utilize the black market like a staffing agency.

Could it be that they have an overflow of credits? If that’s the case, I wish they would share some with me.

“Haah… I knew this would happen. Why are all these net hackers so prickly…?”

I muttered under my breath so quietly that I didn’t intend for it to be heard, but Zero’s sensors caught it without fail.

Now that I had been overheard, I definitely couldn’t stand pretending to be pitiful after having acted suspiciously beforehand.

“…Hey, guide? Can I ask why you’re building up blame all of a sudden…?”

“Uh?!”

With a sudden hand motion, she covered her mouth, but if her words could be gathered back, there might have been no crime in the long history of mankind.

My wide-open eyes and Zero’s twitching grasp.

I don’t know which of these elements contributed more, but catching on quickly that she needed to provide a grand explanation, the guide seemed to decide that since things had come to this, she might as well share the inner workings indiscriminately.

“No, no, I wasn’t trying to be rude to Miss Ivory! I’m currently guiding engineers and hackers who were referred and arrived, but this kind of violent confrontation occurs frequently during the process….”

“…So instead of suspiciously tailing people, wouldn’t it be better to just quietly check the black market ID without these muscle-bound types?”

I helped lift the two miserable specimens onto their feet and dismissed her shallow excuses.

It’s not about whether the chicken or the egg came first; it’s about addressing a cause that is painfully clear. Even though I have no particular sense of belonging to the hacker community, I could understandably feel quite bad about it…

“I wasn’t tailing anyone! I simply said I would get closer to confirm if it was the right person, but with so many individuals going into panic and trying to blow up plasma grenades or freaking out in a severe state of hyperventilation thinking their lives were at risk, it was only natural to increase the number of people to welcome them!”

“…Really?”

Preconceptions and unpleasant personal experiences lead to misunderstandings.

I had seen how severe net hackers can be in terms of their egos before. They would expose each other’s identities at any chance, and share suspicious codes, only to get into fights among themselves.

Recalling such memories and facing a weary salaried worker whose eyeliner was running made me think that perhaps… they weren’t pretending to be pitiful, but might genuinely be a miserable person, which made me want to let it go.

But then I remembered there was still one question left to pursue. So why was I the only one receiving special treatment?!

“…Miss Ivory is especially sensitive about safety, having even purchased a dedicated security robot, so she was instructed to approach with caution. And… I’m concerned about the unsettling rumors circulating in the industry….”

“Unsettling rumors??”

She hesitated, wondering if it was okay to share this with me personally, but reluctantly opened her mouth at my urging.

The explanation that followed was absurd.

It was said, “Their work is sure, but their temperament is something to be cautious of,” according to an anonymous mercenary who witnessed the yellow sector suppression operation and its aftermath.

Or, “While the assigned objective is achieved, predicting the route to that point is difficult,” evaluated during a Christmas shift where they escaped from the control room unceremoniously while receiving the highest bonuses.

Additionally, “Contrary to appearances, when they’re angry, they are extremely unforgiving and ruthless,” was recently added to the insights from an industry name.

…What the hell, why are you portraying me as some troublesome delinquent!? I had my own valid circumstances!!

Who even is behind this? Who packaged my image like a ticking time bomb with such fragmentary information…!

“It all sounds like complete nonsense. Yep, I don’t have the slightest clue.”

“…But just earlier, we had our junior mercenaries…”

“Ugh…!”

I cut her off sharply, forcing the conversation to an end.

It’s not that I ran out of things to say. I was trying to present a logical rebuttal, but it felt like it would just come off as a flimsy excuse… Gaining composure was just a necessity now.

In this exhilarating world of gunpowder and blades, where the basic structure is that the one who strikes first wins, I might have overreacted a bit.

Yet it was hard to endure the slander regarding the pitiful newbie mercenary who got hit hard from their first request and ended up in a one-on-one negotiation with a Mega Cop executive.

…If I ever get the chance, I’ll have to go through the network and clear out these ridiculous rumors, or at least scrub the identity I use in the black market.

“Then, please excuse me for a moment… Registration number BMHA-7JWE7IOk Ivory, confirmed.”

The approaching guide gracefully scanned my wrist.

Although we had been talking a lot, we hadn’t actually confirmed each other’s identities yet, so there was a somewhat awkward silence, but thankfully, the verification was completed quickly.

I also confirmed her black market business card transmitted through cyberware, and that the fingertip and one eye lit up brightly with the implant for data mining, which made me feel relieved.

From this, it seems I could also use independent equipment that doesn’t affect the body like the communication implant I have in my shoulder.

However, in reality, most of them would be subpar compared to my capabilities, which was somewhat disappointing.

I really wanted at least some defensive means to use against superhumans as well.

“…As of now, Miss Ivory will be compensated by the hour in a temporary employment form, and you will be evaluated in terms of your skills as an ‘excellent net hacker’ by the client-side observer and our staff until you move to the testing grounds and the tests are completed. Do you have any questions…?”

“I have an absurd number of them.”

Except for the part about taking hourly pay, none of it made sense to me.

They gather basement-dwelling shut-ins to corral into a place and then take tests and evaluate them?

I could foresee an insane amount of noise and chaos already.

Wiiing….

Amid the commotion, a long limousine-like vehicle, presumed to have been called by her, stopped outside the alley.

The quietly opened door seemed to beckon us, and the guide began the escort.

“The worries you have are not as complicated as they seem. Simply put… at the moment you start the request, there is a 100-year confidentiality contract, and because it’s a task that proceeds in an isolated state until the mission is completed, we’re taking precautions to protect the hackers’ rights ahead of the main contract.”

The smoothly closing vertical door of the limousine, which would remain intact even with Zero on board, initiated its departure, gliding out of the commercial area.

Aside from the fact that it drove flawlessly to a score of 100 out of 10, the guide’s explanation… was dizzying just to listen to.

The information sorceress wasn’t joking when she hinted that there would be a significant case.

“…I’m really worried here, but how many people do you think decided to just turn around after hearing that guidance?”

“…About 30 people took a hallucinogen to disrupt their brainwaves, churned up their memories, and returned home.”

As she casually remarked while pulling out an orange pill bottle from her pocket, I declined, “Shall I offer one? Miss Ivory needs to clean up her robot’s memory, after all.”

– ……. –

Even with the blade half-extended out from Zero’s forearm sitting next to me, I steadied myself, while the spokesperson for the black market, her, didn’t flinch at all.

All the negotiation or service professionals I had encountered so far had been masters of poker faces, making things quite troublesome…

“What about the testing content…? Ah, since it’s a hacker evaluation, it can’t possibly include figuring that out too, right?”

I thought it was a quite plausible deduction, but she shook her head, indicating that there were no harsh tricks involved.

“To grant access to our database to numerous hackers whose exact skills we do not know would result in a calamity. Thus, we prepared tangible tasks that everyone can agree on the results.”

“Aha.”

Not a harsh scheme, but rather it seemed they were taking measures to prevent mayhem.

…At this point, I thought of asking about the grading criteria or what exactly that tangible task entailed, but before I knew it, we had arrived at our destination, and the previously locked door opened again.

The place I stepped into resembled a construction site that looked like it was halted mid-construction.

Exposed rebar and frameworks amplified the eerie atmosphere in Neo Haven, which is rarely seen.

Checking with the GPS on the carebot, it indicated to be in a delicate spot between corporate dispute zones and general zones, a neighborhood that police wouldn’t want to show their faces in no matter what.

“Then, Miss Ivory, if you go inside, you should find other participants who arrived before you waiting. After joining them, you’ll follow the staff for the examination… Good luck.”

As she bowed and said she had to go pick somebody else up, I looked at her.

Despite me leaving a rather rude impression, she never once deviated from her professionalism, which made me genuinely thankful, so I tossed a light-hearted joke.

“…You’re quite kind. It’s a competition for the examination, and guides are allowed to show favoritism?”

“No? It’s just that the more people who pass among those who’ve been explained to, the larger my month-end incentive grows.”

“…….”

The black market is… more of a truly black organization than its name suggests, came the too honest reply.

Somehow, there was no mention of the junior folks below getting wrecked. Were they seeing me as their precious source of income?