Chapter 188 – Cyberpunk: Edgerunner (3)
“… “I hate it now.”
Pure white room.
There was a silver-haired girl on the bed, her head buried in her knees.
The girl’s name is Lucy or Lucy Kushina.
Abbreviated name, ‘Lucy’.
“Lucy. Are you okay?”
“… It’s not okay.”
Maria approached.
She was a girl who lived as an orphan like her and was taken in by Arasaka.
“Fuck! Fuck! Damn you guys!”
Thump!
On one side of the wall, a large boy repeatedly hit the wall.
The skinny boy who was watching the scene muttered.
“… “Now there are only five people left.”
Originally there were 13 people.
They all connected to the Old Net under Arasaka’s orders, and only five people survived.
The shock of losing those who had gone through hardships and hardships during the harsh net-learning training and who had become more than just friends and were now like family was too much for the child to endure.
“What are you going to do?”
“… Everyone, make a decision now. “Escape or not.”
Escape.
It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time.
But it’s not easy. The number of security department employees currently in this facility is over 100.
It was too much for five young boys and girls who were only good at net learning to escape.
“Wouldn’t it be too dangerous?”
“But if we stay still, we’ll all die. Even if the odds are very slim, I have to give it a try.”
“… I agree. “I will do anything to escape this hell.”
Lucy said.
A strong determination appeared in her eyes.
The other children also nodded one by one.
“The final decision is during the next deep dive. Let’s hack the employees and escape.”
It was a time when we were planning a plan to escape.
Why!!
The siren rang.
The children looked at each other blankly. Could it be that their plan was discovered?
The speakers and camera must have been hacked and replaced with dummies…
Suddenly, anxiety came over me.
“Dae, what on earth is going on?”
“There’s no way we would know even if you asked!”
“Damn it!”
They stamped their feet.
What should I do? Should I escape now?
At that time when I was thinking,
Toda da da da!!
A gunshot was heard outside.
“A gunshot?”
“Has there been an intruder?”
It looks like something happened.
The decision was quick.
“I don’t know what happened, but this is a golden opportunity! Let’s take advantage of the commotion and escape!”
They immediately used hacking to open the locked door.
When I looked outside, I saw security staff firing their guns like crazy at the end of the hallway.
They quietly left the facility, avoiding the gaze of security staff.
Gil had already memorized the map inside the facility through hacking, and the camera was also replaced with a dummy video after only a few seconds.
No matter how many children they were, they were netrunners selected and trained by Arasaka.
“This way.”
Todadadada-
Wow!
Monster!
Why!
All kinds of noises were heard.
The children moved as secretly as possible without letting go of their tension.
Let’s move like that for about ten minutes.
The children who were avoiding the cooking suddenly felt something strange.
“… Guys. “Don’t you think it’s suddenly become too quiet?”
That’s right.
All the noises that had been heard just a moment ago suddenly stopped.
That time when we looked at each other, rolling our eyes at the unknown situation───.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of heavy footsteps rang out.
It was coming from the direction the children were trying to go.
“Oh, what should I do!”
A hallway with nowhere to hide.
On the other hand, we have already come too far to go back.
Lucy muttered as she watched the children stamping their feet.
“──I will handle it.”
The children looked at each other and nodded.
Lucy concentrated and waited with bated breath for the other person to appear.
The moment your appearance is revealed.
Burn your opponent’s brain through hacking.
***
“What! What on earth is this?”
Arasaka’s security team leader.
Kinji Tanaka did not understand the current situation.
An ordinary day like any other day.
Coming to work, drinking coffee, and eating my favorite gyudon for lunch—such an ordinary daily life suddenly became hell.
“Aaaaah!”
“Asleep! “Die!”
“Crazy monster!”
The security guards gave their all.
However,
Ting ting!
The intruder leisurely escaped through the hail of bullets and narrowed the distance.
When the distance is narrowed like that,
Suddenly-!
Just cut to death.
More than fifty people had already been reduced to pieces of meat, and various drones and combat robots were also split in half, exposing their internal circuits.
“──Not a person.”
No matter how powerful cyberware is, it will not be possible to perform such an art.
But what’s even more surprising is,
“How can a human without any cyberware do something like that?”
The truth is that the intruder did not use any body-enhancing cyberware.
However, it runs at a speed of over 100 kilometers per hour, blocks or dodges flying bullets, and cuts down both people and robots just by swinging its knife.
A skill that ordinary humans can never perform.
Haha. Okay. This is a dream.”
Yes, it’s a dream.
It is clear that he is having this nightmare because he fell asleep while watching a terrible underworld BD.
We must wake up quickly from this nightmare.
Suddenly-!
The head of the security team flew into the sky.
A falling body.
Seojun said while looking at it.
“You were mumbling something earlier, it made me feel bad.”
Damn.
After shaking off the blood and fat, he looked at the scenery he had created.
Pieces of meat and broken fragments scattered here and there.
The many security guards and machines no longer moved.
“Nothing more is coming.”
He showed his spirit.
Nothing came to him anymore.
It seems like everyone ran away.
It’s a pity that we couldn’t kill all the Arasaka babies in the facility, but that was a secondary goal.
Now it’s time to achieve the top priority.
“Let’s see.”
Seojun expanded his spirit further.
In an instant, things with a radius of hundreds of meters were detected.
“I found it.”
He found the presence of children and took a step forward.
A wall or door was blocking the path, but it was cut with a single cut of a knife to open the way.
A few minutes to move forward like that.
Eventually, Seojun was able to face his children.
“Die!”
──But I didn’t know they would attack right away.
Something intangible rushed towards Seojun. Seojun quickly realized what it was because he was spreading his energy.
Radio waves.
Young Lucy was trying to hack him.
‘It’s fun.’
Radio waves are visible.
I can feel the radio waves.
If so, you can do it.
Hissing.
He swung his sword.
The radio wave was cut off.
‘This is it.’
I think I can have more fun playing this way.
“—Huh?”
Lucy’s eyes widened.
He clearly attempted hacking. But when the man in front of him swung his sword, it suddenly stopped.
She was still young and couldn’t understand what had happened.
“Lucy! It’s dangerous!”
“Eight!”
The other kids used hacking to hold back the embarrassed Lucy.
Four radio waves approached Seojun.
But nothing could reach Seojun. That’s because it was all cut right before.
Only then did the other children realize why Lucy was embarrassed.
“Uh huh.”
“… Hi!”
The children stepped back in fear.
Seojun saw that and smiled bitterly.
‘Even though it’s like this, I’m here to help you…’ …’
However, he did not show it.
Rather, he smiled brightly.
“Calm down. I didn’t come to harm you. Rather, I came to save you.”
“… “You came to save me?”
“Okay.”
He pointed back with his thumb.
“It looks like he escaped while I was making a fuss. Then, let’s get out of here.”
“…”
The children looked at each other for a moment.
Seojun’s words didn’t feel like lies.
No, I actually had faith.
It was all because of the pheromones that Seojun sprayed, but thanks to that, the children easily trusted Seojun.
“I will lead the way, so please follow me.”
He moved first.
The children followed hesitantly.
A few minutes later.
“Ah.”
“Bah, it’s outside!”
I finally came out.
The blue sky and sunlight welcomed the children as if they were blessings.
“Huh!”
“Wow!”
“It’s finally out!”
When one person cried, the children burst into tears as if it had spread.
Well, I knew what happened inside, so I completely understood that reaction.
‘In the anime, only Lucy survived.’
In Edge Runner, the children except Lucy are shot to death while trying to escape.
However, five people survived due to his intervention.
Seojun watched the children until they stopped crying on their own.
I didn’t think much of it when I watched the animation, but seeing the children crying like this made me feel sorry for them.
‘Originally, I was planning to save her and tell her to live on her own.’
I think we need to give them some help, so they can become independent.
Well, a little help doesn’t mean there will be a big setback to the plan… It’s beneficial because you can win Lucy’s favor.
“Then shall we go?”
The children stopped crying, and Seojun took them out of Arasaka’s facility.
Lucy (20s)
