How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

130. wreath

A slum alley where all kinds of filth rolls around.

A scavenger’s den where you can’t even live day by day.

If there were three passers-by on the street, one was a beggar, one was a gangster, and the remaining one was an outsider who had come to buy e-drugs.

It’s a stinking neighborhood where you can’t see any good words written in advance, such as dreams, hopes, and future, but there’s only one good thing about it, so the view is no less than the White Town’s high-rise penthouse.

“A hotel like this in a place like this! You are truly knowledgeable!”

“Eh? The other day, you cursed at me for being insane, didn’t you? Who leaves the house and sleeps in the gutter?”

“My, when did I do that? The little boss must have heard something wrong.”

“Little boss? Hee hee hee!”

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Junk Town 18-8th Street. A new three-story building was built on top of the so-called ‘Junk Hill’.

It’s not a very tall building even by Junk Town standards, but it’s on a rent, so you can see the downtown area from 17th Street to 21st Street at a glance. Leonard glanced at the group of scavengers who were fidgeting all day long and knocked on the wall.

“Isn’t it full of cement? Didn’t you put Styrofoam and just paint the outside?”

“Oh no? boss! what are you looking at me for? He is the only person in Sodom who works with conscience! Even high-ranking people who work in companies often find me alone!”

Leonard pushes against the wall with all his strength and smiles in satisfaction. Built with Leonard’s sweat, gangster’s blood and scavenger’s tears, the Junk Hill Hotel exceeded expectations.

If you go up the winding hill road and pass through the 19th century Victorian iron fence gate, you will find a spacious parking lot on both sides. Currently, it is cold and hard because it is cement, but when the interior work is completed, it will be decorated with reddish-brown wood.

“I’ll put the bar on this side, and I’ll lay out the tables from here to there.”

“How wide is this? Wouldn’t that be a waste of space?”

“Since it doubles as a lobby, it should be at this level.”

I had to think about the space carefully because I was planning to have about ten slot machines that reflected Leonard’s selfishness, two pool tables that I’d never played before but indispensable to classic movie enthusiasts, and a port equipment that could deep dive. .

“You have to think about credit rather than space.”

There was an evil villain who broke Leonard’s happy plans. Leonard’s, Max’s, and the construction manager’s eyes turned at the same time. And for different reasons, they couldn’t find their place.

“Uh… uh… did you have a daughter?”

“no.”

A one-piece girl of about 17 or 8 years old walked lightly. Height 156 cm. Three sizes that are neither excessive nor excessive. Smooth skin with no blemishes. It was a cyborg with implants that were neat enough to be mistaken for a living person if there were no thick wires connected to the cervical vertebrae.

“Not a cyborg, but an android.”

Leonard corrected the misunderstanding. But something unpleasant remained. He pointed to Max, who was gaping.

“That is not my son either.”

It didn’t matter. An Android worth 70,000 credits was in front of me.

In fact, the internal organs are removed and the body is less than the cost, but the software is replaced with the latest model, so the overall price will be 70,000 credits.

“I still can’t get used to it. Sigma is so pretty…”

“I think implants are pretty, not Sigma.”

“By the way, was Sigma a woman?”

“The default model is set to be a woman. It doesn’t mean anything because it’s a machine.”

Leonard crossed his arms with a confused expression. The implant body stolen from the puppet crew became Sigma’s dummy for outdoor activities.

In fact, it is meaningless to distinguish between the main body and the dummy, which is not a human being, but since Sigma himself claimed to be a dummy, he accepted it as a dummy.

It was poorly armed compared to the body in the fixer’s office, but it was pretty, light, and above all, it had two legs, so it was useful. When the hotel officially opened, I thought about entrusting it with the general manager.

“What about Noah?”

“I am the envoy to that nobleman.”

It was right that native fixers who did not know how to do anything other than knife should be banned from entering. The construction manager looked at the Sigma mk2 in awe and came to his senses after a while.

“I was wondering what you believe in and do business… It will work out. Ah yes Don’t go well.”

“That was not in the original plan.”

But thinking about it, I thought it would be okay to have at least one mascot. It’s an implant that costs 70,000 credits, but I had to use it when I could use it if I thought about it.

When Leonard looked at Sigma with an evil eye, the construction manager changed the subject to clearing his throat.

“Have you talked to the gang, by the way?”

“A gang?”

“Isn’t this the Volcano gang area?”

The construction manager put his index finger in a circle. It was a gesture of venerable ‘Zhyeon’.

“Give them credit?”

Although not statutory, it was necessary to pay a credit to the gang and obtain permission to do business on the gang grounds. At least in Junk Town it was.

In fact, it was a rule Leonard knew well, but he couldn’t relate it to himself. To Leonard, the gang was a customer giving credit or a target from which to extort credit, not a master to whom credit was given.

“Do you think you need some gang protection?”

“Oops! Of course you are not the boss. I often hear the president’s saga from time to time, even though I am far from the industry.”

‘That’s why I couldn’t even play with it,’ Max raised his eyes as the sajok attached to something.

“By the way! But you’re not a guest, are you? Who would come to a place where there are gangs and fights? No, it’s a good thing if you’re a guest. What about the residents here? It’s going to be hard to get a deal in this town.”

It could have been messing around outside the hotel premises where Leonard wasn’t involved, or it could have put pressure on the business to sabotage business. It was a dirty and despicable move, but it was possible because it was a gangster.

“They wouldn’t really want to blush with Junk Town’s best fixer either. I think you just have to give it a little bit of face, but seriously think about it.”

Leonard seriously wondered if this guy had been seduced by the gang. But overall, there was a point. Seeing as they didn’t interfere during the construction period, it didn’t seem like they had any intention of becoming enemies. Or you may have thought that you could take out the credit only after the construction was over, but I decided not to doubt that.

“The Volcano Gang…”

Leonard muttered, rubbing his chin, and Max loaded his shotgun. Seeing him like that, I felt like I should meet him first.

@Leonard and Max visited the 17th-7th street Volcano gang hideout they had visited before,

The street scene did not change much. A few of the faces fighting over the fire changed, but it wasn’t a big deal due to the nature of Junk Town. It was not uncommon to be stabbed by a scavenger drunk on electronic drugs, to run away to the wasteland in the light of gambling, or to be executed as an example for tampering with ‘public money’.

“Leonard! Leonard Walker!”

It was fortunate that I still had a face to recognize. The cumbersome process of introducing oneself and explaining the reason for the visit was largely omitted.

“I want to meet the boss.”

“What? why? Why are you looking for our representative!”

No, not one thing. It was not necessary to reveal the identity, but the purpose needed to be clarified. The Volcano gangs of the homeless Koraji bristle like deprived hoes. A fixer isn’t a welcome job anywhere, but this is a bit excessive.

“I came to talk to you about the hotel up there. I don’t really want to meet you, but I can’t tell you to come or go to someone who is busy with construction, so I’m being polite like this. Will you put away that gun? Should I blow your head off with it?”

When one of Leonard’s pupils turned into a hexagon, the gang freaked out and threw the pipegun on the floor. Unsurprisingly, it was a gang-down weapon. I’ve only dealt with guys with a lot of credit lately, and I’m unfamiliar with Junk Town’s weapons.

“Why are you so scared?”

Max asked, fiddling with the handle of his shotgun. It wasn’t like this the other day, but it seems that there were new rumors in the meantime.

I was able to confirm the identity of the rumor by meeting Mr. Owen, who is said to be the second-in-command of the Volcano Gang.

“Is it true that you killed the yakuza Enzo?”

Owen Osten, a Volcano executive, asked with his hands clasped on the table. A blue-striped suit with a bit of an old-fashioned parted hair made him more suitable for a corporate office job than a gang leader.

“I didn’t kill him. I don’t even know if he’s really dead.”

“There are rumors that he was imprisoned in Orange Prison, but that means he died.”

But a gang was a gang. Even in front of the notorious Hexagon hacker, he did not blink an eye. There may be some belief in the subordinates who lined up behind him, but there is no ‘absolute’ in hacking technology, so the distribution was considerable. As an expert in handling electronic chips, there must be a reason why he is well versed in hackers.

“I’ve heard the story that the fixer bought an empty factory on 18th Street a long time ago, but to be honest, I’m a bit perplexed.”

“This bottom is also a red ocean, so we have to find a way to live in many ways. Accommodation in a place with a nice view is not bad.”

“Leonard Walker runs a hotel business? It’s fun. Fun.”

Owen giggled. It was a high pitched voice that made me wonder if it was originally a woman, even though it is a man now. As I patted my subordinates on the back of the sofa, the subordinates also forced themselves to smile.

“But what brought you here? Do you want me to send you a wreath to celebrate the opening?”

“You have to give and receive, but not for that reason…”

Leonard briefly thought of the celebration wreath. The price of fresh flower noodles was in the basic three digits. I cautiously entered into negotiations, thinking that I might be able to make up for the repayment to some extent.

“Repayment?”

Owen’s expression was strange.

“You don’t get that?”

“what?”

Leonard was dumbfounded and asked back. However, the absurdity was the same for the second-in-command of the gang.

“What do you do with a few pennies? Twins and Blest seem to take care of each other, but that’s their business.”

Leonard looked at Owen’s assholes who were making awkward faces. It’s not the gang’s policy, but it seems that the subordinates ‘take care of themselves’. However, the fixer, Leonard Walker, would not have dared to open it. It was misleading from an outsider’s point of view. Leonard struggled with how to tell this, but put it off until later.

“Then, can I just do business on 18th Street?”

“Oh, not just.”

After all, there was no way Gang could do anything good for others. Leonard thought he had come for no reason, but decided to see the end at this point.

“We make about 90% of our income.”

“I know.”

The reason why Volcano, which has a small area and is small in scale, is treated as a giant gang is electronic drugs. Experts are essential in this field, so other gangs famous for their guns and knives couldn’t carelessly touch them.

Owen, an electronics chip expert, unraveled the pod and made a serious business proposal.

“We’ll attach a dealer to you, so deal with him.”

“You want me to sell e-drugs?”

Leonard’s expression hardened. Owen hurriedly shook his hands.

“No, no, we do the deal. You say it’s a hotel that opens this time? Then, aren’t there some customers who are looking for medicine? Of course there will be! Because this is junk town. Then I want you to introduce us to our dealer.”

Leonard released the artificial muscles in his face. Even if Leonard didn’t introduce them, the electronic drug dealers were all over the streets of Junk Hill, so he could have done that without a twinge of conscience.

“Is that all? Any other requests?”

“That’s enough. Oh, do you want to join the Junk Hill Chamber of Commerce? It is a meeting that contributes to regional development and takes care of members’ congratulations and condolences at 10 o’clock, but if you pay a small membership fee, you can always…”

Leonard and Max had to take time to seriously consider what a gang is. Other than that, it wasn’t a bad day. And the opening of the hotel is just around the corner.