How To Live as a Cyberpunk Solver

83. Idol

It was easy to distinguish between true and false.

Compared to distinguishing between good and evil.

Leonard Walker knew that Harrison Pitt was telling the truth. But I did not believe that he was a good man.

“Wait. Is what he said for real?”

“yes.”

“How do you know?”

The first reason was timing.

If there is a good reason to kill Harrison Pitt, why is it now that the inheritance problem has been raised after 10 years? It was strange that he had not even been interested in whether he was alive or dead until now, but when he had an inheritance, he hired a solver in a hurry to find the whereabouts and dispatched mercenaries.

The second reason was necessity.

Chijeong wasn’t something to brag about, but it was more wholesome than murder. There was no reason for the client who decided to kill the contract to hide the truth, nor for the target of the contract to claim a lie.

The third rationale was Harrison Pitt’s brain chip.

Autonomic nervous system changes occurred when humans lied. Body temperature increased or hormones such as catecholamines were secreted. Such responses could also be transmitted to BrainChip for viewing. Of course, the information that can be obtained by hacking is meager at the level of a 20th century lie detector, but when combined with the above conditions, it became a basis for reference.

Leonard was worried about how to explain these symptoms, but he was too lazy to summarize them in one word.

“It’s a feeling.”

“What is it?”

Back to the beginning, Harrison Pitt was a chagrin. He was a victim who was falsely accused and kicked out. Now her life is threatened because of her inherited property. But being unfair did not mean being good.

“Please kill her.”

If you’re truly good, you won’t put in a contract request. Max made a puzzled expression.

“Hey, we’re fixers, not killers, right?”

“Isn’t it similar anyway?”

“…not similar.”

Not only did Leonard not take contracts, but double contracts were not moral. Reputation was greatly reduced as much as the client was openly received through an intermediary. I don’t know if he’ll pay enough to end his life as a solver, but looking at him, it seems difficult to get the ten boxes of energy bars promised to the scavenger.

“The request we received is to determine whether or not you are alive and whereabouts. I have no intention of giving up on this. I will report it to the client as it is.”

“This…it…!”

As I have said over and over again, the weak were not innocent and the victims were not good. Harrison Pitt pushed forward the pipe gun he had hidden behind his back. Without a second’s hesitation, he pulled the hammer and pressed the trigger. No, I was trying to press it.

Leonard casually took out a lollipop and asked. It was a cheap implant from Junk Town on a brain chip that hadn’t been updated with security. I had enough time to hack, so I could have blues and headbanging at the same time if I wanted to. Controlling a few fingers wasn’t even a job.

“Why, why don’t you move!”

Harrison Pitt looked at Leonard in horror. It was only when he looked into Leonard’s eyes that he realized he was an implant hacker. When the fixer, hacker, and duo came together, there was one name that came to mind.

“Leonard Walker…”

“Wow! and! Were you going to shoot now?”

Max made a fuss a beat late. It was an intentional fuss.

“Because our Mr. Leonard is Mr. Harrison’s benefactor? Mr. Harrison, because you’ve cleared out all the Hitman you’re trying to kill? No, I know the relationship between the two in an honest way, but if you take a sneak peek and bring it to the client, wouldn’t you give them several times the commission fee as a thank you? But still, I’m looking after you right now, right?”

“…Our Mr. Leonard gives me goosebumps, isn’t it?”

“Hey, how is it between us?”

After 10 years of rolling in Junk Town, it was impossible not to know Leonard Walker – one of the best fixers. All kinds of vicious gangsters were also unstoppable opponents. The clumsy half scavenger couldn’t win.

Leonard pulled the pipegun out of Harrison Pete’s stiff grip. It was the kind of gun you would buy on the street for just 30 credits. I opened the breech type barrel and took out the shotgun ammo wrapped in recycled synthetic resin.

“You have two choices. One is leaving Junk Town tonight. I recommend A-040 City, and I can introduce you to a guide if you want.”

Leonard recalled Noah Lucas, ‘skinhead’ Kruger, and the wasteland fixer Bennington Holly. It would be safe to answer only one of the three.

“Leave this city?”

“If you don’t like that, go to White Town.”

I flinched as if it sounded like a voice telling me to go to the tiger’s den.

“Conflicts in Junk Town are resolved by resolvers, but conflicts in White Town are handled by lawyers.”

“It doesn’t even block bullets.”

“If you are uneasy, hire a mercenary as well.”

“I don’t have credits…”

“They say they will give you three times the market value if you receive the inheritance safely. There should be a corporate mercenary willing to do that.”

It meant fighting, not avoiding. Harrison Pitt parted his lips in serious thought.

“Mr. Leonard, I want to hire you.”

“I have already been hired by Mrs. Alice.”

It seems that trust was formed with light hacking and a few words of advice. I was very sorry.

“Instead, I’ll introduce you to the other fixer I mentioned earlier.”

“It’s credit to sell parents and siblings, so who can you trust?”

The words of someone who had gone through the darkness of both White Town and Junk Town had credibility. A skilled and trustworthy solver like Leonard was truly rare. It just wasn’t one of the best.

“Can you trust Noah Lucas or Ryan Bourne?”

If you knew Leonard Walker, it was only natural that the other two knew too. The regret melted away from Harrison Pitt’s expression. I was just embarrassed.

“It’s just an introduction… I’m not saying it’s a must… Doesn’t that make you feel bad?”

@

Max climbed into the pickup truck and fiddled with the pipe gun. The basic structure was similar to that of a double barrel shotgun, except for the crude iron pipe, iron nail, and spring trigger.

When he was a back alley bad boy, he would have carried it for self-defense, but now, as a fixer, it was a weak weapon that would not be useful even if given away. threw it into the back seat and asked Leonard.

“According to the movie cliché, you help the innocent victim and fight the lying client, right?”

Leonard munched the remaining stick of candy and spat it out of the car.

“Reality is not a movie. If you have a reputation on this side, how will you continue to work after beating a client for betrayal?”

“Well, are you the type who cares about that?”

Seeing how he clings to his reputation as the best in Junk Town, he wrote a lot. So even though the fixers died in groups 7 years ago, they survived until now.

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I have to go to the client. Because I have to pay for the request.”

Leonard didn’t start the engine while saying that. When Max looked at him incredulously, he pressed his hood down deeply.

“A little later. Aren’t you in a hurry?”

I saw Harrison Pitt and his family pack up and leave in a hurry. The corners of Max’s mouth went up slightly.

“I can’t be honest.”

Two hours should be enough to meet the broker and hire the fixer. So after an hour or so, I decided to contact the client. I hoped that the aftermath would be resolved gently with the family. But the world wasn’t as kind to Leonard.

@

Leonard and Max returned to 15-9 Avenue exactly an hour later to meet with the client.

I parked the pickup truck, turned off the engine, and lowered my feet under the flashing lights. I was confused as to whether the light bulb had reached the end of its life or if the building’s power supply was unstable.

“After all, it’s not as good as our house.”

“I like the word ‘we’ strangely, but it’s ‘my’ house.”

Leonard slams the car door! shut it audibly The sound of metal echoed for a long time.

Because I don’t often meet with brokers, and when I do meet them, people who don’t want to come visit me, so 15th to 9th Street is a bit unfamiliar to me. So it was possible that it was just a sense of déjà vu.

‘It can’t be.’

Leonard let out a small sigh. The market is right next to it, but it couldn’t be this quiet. Even though it was late in the evening, it was strange that the parking lot was empty. And above all, two elevators were waiting side by side. All of that became a polite ‘gut feeling’ and whispered.

“Max.”

“Yes?”

My non-cyborg co-workers felt uncomfortable in this situation. I couldn’t use brain chip communication, so the explanation was annoying. So I just got into the action. I turned around, covered Max, and shoved him into the back seat. It was the very next moment when the impact, like being beaten with a club, hit hard.

Deed Deed Dede Deuk-!

Two elevators opened simultaneously and a corporate mercenary with a submachine gun appeared. The fashion sunglasses that did not suit the dark parking lot were impressive. A mercenary with a tactical shotgun appeared from behind a pillar in the parking lot, and a sedan came up blocking the road from the parking lot entrance.

“Damn it… I was determined and waited.”

Leonard covered his face with his sleeve and opened the driver’s door. A bulletproof plate was built into the body to provide cover.

“Mom! It’s a shameful surprise!”

Max slumped on the floor in the back seat and hurriedly grabbed his weapon. Both the sniper rifle and the shotgun were loaded, but it was difficult to respond because the player was taken away.

The corporate mercenary’s weapon is an ordinary 9mm submachine gun from Big Ground, but the vehicle’s bulletproof plate is pierced as if it uses anti-cyborg bullets. Expensive silicon carbide bulletproof coats were also occasionally punctured, resulting in implant errors. Considering the price of armor-piercing bullets for cyborgs, it was at the level of materializing and spraying credits.

“You don’t know how to save.”

Leonard checked the position of the mercenary through his side mirror, which was broken and dangling from the gunfire. It was a good location to send radio waves. When the hacking file was uploaded through the backdoor, the mercenary, who had been shooting non-stop, trembled as if he had been electrocuted.

“It’s a hack!”

Corporate mercenaries reinforced BrainChip’s firewall. However, Leonard’s weapon was not a Hexagon hacking module. When the shooting slowed down due to manipulating the brain chip, he did not miss the opportunity and fired the revolver. This, too, was an armor-piercing bullet that did not spare credit. A corporate mercenary who took a chance and approached closely took a bad part and collapsed.

Max crawled out of the back seat and settled under the car. Since I am small, the place was perfect for me. I put my sniper rifle ‘Winterfield’ out of the car and pulled the trigger. bang-!

The mercenary’s head, which was honeycombing Leonard’s coat, snapped back. It seemed that there was no way to return to the place on its own.

“It’s only two guys!”

There were two of Leonard’s party, but there were ten more corporate mercenaries besides the three incapacitated. It was a very unfavorable situation.

“Why are we two?”

At that time, someone other than Max came to like ‘us’. Leonard grabbed the car door with his heavy arms and looked for the owner of the voice.

“Walkers, did you know this and brought me in?”

The position of the voice has changed. It was the entrance to the parking lot earlier, but now it was behind the pillar. The lights moved in the blink of an eye. Even if it wasn’t a frivolous voice, I could guess the identity.

“I didn’t expect you to come this soon.”

A memory-curved blade emerged from behind a pillar. The head of the mercenary pulling the shotgun pump splintered beautifully. Max shouted like an avid fan who saw an idol he coveted.

“Noah Lucas!”