## Chapter 150 – (2)
[You have arrived at your destination.]
“Oh?”
Lost in thought as I gazed at the transformed city and the cars speeding past, I arrived at my destination in the blink of an eye.
Looking around, I carefully opened the door.
Thankfully, the door handle was still the same.
“Whoa…”
What should I say about my first impression of seeing a cyberpunk city in person?
It felt like I was about to be swallowed by light.
Buildings, cars, streets.
Everything that made up this city seemed to emit light.
Even some people were glowing.
From the objects they carried or from the palms of their hands.
…Maybe they weren’t even people.
Some robots in novels were described as having the exact same appearance as humans.
But even so, could they really look that similar?
Perhaps they were people who had modified their bodies.
I heard that was a common sight in this era.
I cautiously entered the building closest to the vehicle.
Upon entering, I saw a large door and a small sensor next to it.
The firmly closed white door had no keyhole or digital lock.
There weren’t even any devices to try and use.
“…”
I wondered how to open it, so I slowly stood in front of it.
Clunk.
Suddenly, the door opened.
[Welcome, Reporter Seong Han.]
[A guest is currently visiting your office.]
This time, I heard a familiar, emotionless voice.
Is this also artificial intelligence?
It was a little scary.
The voice kindly informed me that a visitor was in my office.
“…Where is my office?”
[The largest room on the far right of the second floor.]
Thankfully, it answered my question politely.
A human would have wondered why I didn’t know where my own office was.
I went up the stairs to the room on the far right of the second floor.
My name was written next to the door.
[Seong Han, Reporter]
“A reporter…”
I chuckled softly.
It was a job I never imagined I would have.
I opened the door and stepped into the room.
The spacious room didn’t feel that different from modern times.
A bookshelf, a desk, and a large sofa with a table.
All made of luxurious wood.
Everything was perfectly normal, except for the woman’s attire sitting on the sofa.
I blankly stared at her.
“You’re late.”
A woman greeted me with a slightly arrogant attitude.
She seemed to be the woman who called me when I was in the car.
Her name was Sian, if I remember correctly.
“…That outfit…”
When I pointed out her attire, Sian looked down at her clothes and smiled awkwardly.
“I had to sneak out of the corporate sector, so I didn’t have a choice.”
“No, it’s just the first time I’ve seen it.”
“You don’t know this?”
Apparently, it was a recently released suit that enhanced physical abilities.
It looked hot, clinging tightly to the body, but it was supposedly cool on the inside, thanks to future technology.
Even if it was recently released, I wouldn’t know.
You can’t expect much from someone who came from the 2024s.
Sian crossed her arms and looked at me with a disapproving expression.
“You’re a reporter and you don’t even know this… Ugh, never mind, I’m not in a position to be picky right now.”
Sian sighed and slowly looked at me.
“Did you record the gang base well?”
“Ah, I recorded it in the car.”
“Really? That’s good… But—”
Sian glanced at me.
A slightly sharp look made me feel a sense of tension.
“Did you always speak informally?”
Oops, I spoke informally during the previous call because I thought we were close, but it seems I was wrong.
So, I made a suggestion.
“…We look about the same age.”
Let’s just speak informally from now on.
At my suggestion, Sian tossed her hair back.
Her flowing hair cascaded down her back.
“Hmph, interesting, do as you please.”
Is that okay?
It felt more like “Go ahead and try if you want,” but I didn’t refuse.
Suddenly switching back to formal speech after her bluster would have been a blow to my pride.
“First, let’s go to your car where the recordings are.”
“Okay.”
“…Geez, a reporter speaking informally.”
A reporter, huh.
It seemed like the perception of reporters wasn’t very good.
Or perhaps the high status of corporations had an influence.
According to the information I saw in the original work, corporations in this world were described as existing above the state and the law.
There were even people who would do anything, no matter how dirty, to get into a corporation.
Come to think of it, reporters weren’t treated very well in modern times either.
It seemed to have gotten worse as more and more reporters wrote sensational articles for scoops or wrote unreliable information.
“Is this the car?”
As I was thinking about those things, I quickly arrived at my car in front of the first-floor building.
When I nodded, Sian opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat.
How did she open it?
I had no idea how it worked.
Anyway, we sat side by side in the driver’s seat and passenger seat.
Could you even call it a driver’s seat?
It drives itself.
I briefly thought that, but I moved on.
“Haru, show me the list of recorded locations.”
[The recorded locations are: Home, Office, and Temporarily Saved Location.]
“Show me the temporarily saved location.”
Sian began to handle Haru, the artificial intelligence, much more skillfully than I, the car’s owner.
The gang’s location, which was saved earlier, was displayed on the car’s windshield like a map.
Looking at the location, Sian clicked her tongue.
“Those bug-like bastards.”
It was a rough expression, filled with hatred.
Sian glared at the location marked on the map, grinding her teeth.
I didn’t know what kind of story she had, but it didn’t feel strange that she hated the gang.
They must have done something to deserve it.
I stared at Sian.
Sian cleared her throat and composed herself.
“There’s definitely a ledger inside that building. Steal it for me. Then I’ll pay you a reward.”
“…Is there any point in stealing the gang’s ledger?”
That was my question.
Their ledger would definitely be a mess.
They would have received bad money and used it badly.
In my mind, it would have been stranger if the gang hadn’t spent their money that way.
Understanding my question, Sian explained it in an easy-to-understand way.
“The ledger you’re looking for isn’t a normal ledger. It’s a ledger that contains records of Hornet, the gang’s right-hand man, embezzling money from the boss without his knowledge.”
After explaining that, Sian smiled slyly.
“There will be a bloodbath within the gang.”
It seemed like she was aiming for discord between the gang boss and his right-hand man.
I stroked my chin and pondered.
I also preferred to take down the gang.
The existence of gangs was unpleasant, and my Justice Implementation skill would level up.
However, getting paid as a reward wasn’t very appealing.
“Besides the reward, is there any other compensation?”
“…Okay, then how about this?”
As if she had anticipated my reaction, Sian pulled out a card from her pocket.
At first, I thought it was a credit card, but its size and shape were slightly different.
Five large letters were written on the card.
“Temporary Pass?”
“It’s a card for entering the corporate sector that you reporters are so curious about.”
A corporate sector entry card.
Did I need this to enter the corporate sector?
When I reached out for the card, Sian suddenly pulled her hand back slightly and warned me.
“…But you’re forbidden from saying that you received this pass from me.”
“Got it.”
I chuckled and snatched the card from her hand.
Her hand was so fast that she stared blankly at her hand after the card was taken.
“Do you really have to keep it?”
“I said I got it.”
Judging by her reaction, it seemed like she gave me this pass after a lot of consideration.
With this, there was no place I couldn’t go, whether it was the gang or the corporate sector.
“Then I’ll take that as a yes.”
Sian said that and got out of the car.
Then she started walking away quickly.
Was it called a suit that enhances physical abilities?
It certainly seemed to have an effect.
Her pace gradually quickened, and at some point, she became a dot in the distance.
“I want to buy one if they have it in men’s sizes.”
One line was added to the list of things to buy in this world.
“Corporations…”
The goal of this quest was to expose the ledgers of the gang or the corporation as a righteous reporter.
And in the process, I had to capture the women.
There was a high probability that Sian was the woman I had to capture on the corporate side.
In fact, as soon as I saw her, I used Emotion to check her wall.
[Wall: Rough men, violent men, gangs]
She clearly seemed to hate gangs based on her earlier appearance, but her wall was the exact opposite.
Her outside and inside were so different.
Judging by Sian’s wall alone, it wasn’t a difficult wall to capture.
If I understood the quest correctly, it couldn’t be this easy.
There must be a hidden quest.
Like becoming a real gang member and capturing Sian.
Or obtaining both the gang and corporate ledgers and exposing them in an article.
Something like that.
“I’m curious about the woman on the gang side.”
Now it was time to check the woman I had to capture on the gang side.
To do that—
“Haru, take me to the temporarily saved location.”
[Yes. It will take approximately 36 minutes.]
I had no choice but to go and confront them directly.
