Chapter 5 Part 5: First Day

“Hey, Haran.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve been wondering since a while ago, there are fewer CCTVs around here than I thought. Do you know why?”

I asked Haran what I was curious about as I moved my feet.

If I remember correctly, the CCTV penetration rate in this country should have been incredibly high.

No matter how much I looked around, I couldn’t see that many CCTVs.

There were some around the area where the association was located, but as soon as I left that neighborhood, the number of security devices sharply decreased like a ghost.

As I approached the neighborhood where Haran lived, there were almost no security devices at all.

There may be fewer security devices in places with poor security, but I was curious as to why the ones that were originally there had disappeared.

“It’s because of the gates. When a gate appears, the surrounding electronic products easily break down due to the high purity mana.”

“Gate? I didn’t have any problems when I came here?”

“Huh? Wait, come to think of it, Ella’s body is…”

“It’s a full body prosthesis. You can think of it as an elaborate machine.”

“That’s strange…”

I don’t know exactly what mana is, but it was certain that it was a component that had not been found in the original world or the world beyond the gate.

But if electronic devices break down because of that mana, why could my body move without breaking down?

Such a question arose, but there was no way for me to find out right now.

Perhaps a body with numerous technologies such as EMP countermeasure technology integrated in it is causing some action to prevent breakdown.

I decided to think so.

“…Let’s think about that later. Then is there a formula for the location where the gates appear? There were quite a lot of security devices around the association.”

“That’s not it. …However, people who live in that area have money to fix things even if they break down. We don’t have that here.”

Haran sighed as she lowered her head with a bitter expression.

The city is always like that. It seemed that this place was not that different either.

People who don’t blink an eye even if guys without money die, rush at them if even a small scratch appears on the bodies of people with money.

It is said that everyone is equal, but in fact the world was more unfair than anyone else.

“Doesn’t the state help?”

“You can see it if you look around, right? We already have a shortage of budget, and most of the money that is thrown away to show off goes into the pockets of high-ranking people. As a result, it’s in this shape.”

“Well, that’s how high-ranking people are.”

“That’s what I’m saying. …Hey, Ella.”

“Why?”

“Shouldn’t we go home soon?”

Haran didn’t seem to understand why I was lingering around her house.

Haran, who had an expression as if she wanted to ask why she was going back and forth in front of her house after saying that she was going to find an office, clearly wanted to go inside her house first.

“No.”

“T, to be honest, I’m so anxious being here that I’m going crazy. That happened last night, right? If we spend time here like this, those guys will soon…”

“I found them! They’re over there!”

“Hiiiik! They’re here!”

Contrary to Haran, who looked at those guys and screamed in a shrill voice, I showed a welcoming smile towards them.

Why are you so late? I was waiting.

It had already been an hour since I had been pacifying Haran, who kept complaining about whether we could go somewhere else, and wandering around here.

They were so slow for guys who came to find me for beating up some of their organization members.

As if they were guys who had fallen to the bottom of their lives and were extorting people, the information gathering was too slow.

I thought they were of a certain size because they had taken over this area.

I lowered my evaluation of those guys in my mind.

“I’ve been waiting for you to come, friends.”

“What?! Did you make those people come on purpose?!”

“Of course. I said I was going to find an office. I’m going to borrow those guys’ house.”

The fact that there were no security devices in this area was confirmed by cutting off the surrounding CCTVs and confirming them to avoid tracking.

That is, no one knows what happens here.

In Neo City, the eyes of surveillance followed wherever I went, so I was busy blocking them, but I liked that the troublesome procedure was omitted.

“Friends? I have something to do at your house, so… Can you tell me the location?”

“Wh, when did you…!”

“CHEF.”

“Kkyyaaaaaak!”

Puduk.

Along with a chilling sound, the right arm of the guy who was threatening with an iron pipe was instantly bent in the opposite direction.

…By the way, they’re really weak to the point of being bland compared to the guys I met at the association.

I’ve already taken care of these guys more than a double digit number of times.

If it was just one or two, I would have thought that they were unusually weak guys, but now I had no choice but to accept the fact that the skills of these trash who were said to be in charge of this area were only this much.

It felt like I could sweep them all away with just one of the bodyguards of that rich young master, but it seemed that this place was also quite corrupt.

It seems that the people around here aren’t even thought of as citizens.

If the public power hadn’t been corrupted, this neighborhood wouldn’t have turned out like this.

…The vested interests are always the same.

Well, it was good for me.

It was a perfect situation for earning a living like in the old days.

“Let me ask you again, friend. Where is the boss of your organization?”

“Kkeueueu… My, my arm…! S, sibaal!”

“Are my words not worth listening to?”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaak!”

Instead of answering, I crushed the legs of the guy who was holding his arm and rolling on the floor.

Since I had broken one of the limbs of the guy who was already wailing in pain so that he couldn’t use it at all, this guy wouldn’t be able to say anything because of the pain now.

But I didn’t care. Anyway, this guy is an example.

It was enough if one person told me the location of the office that I would use in the future.

Leaving the guy who had fainted from shock or no longer moved, I looked at his colleague.

Then that guy was terrified and shouted at me while aiming something at me from his arms.

“F, f*ck! Don’t move! The moment you move, I’ll put a hole in your head!”

“Oh?”

Is it a gun?

I smiled as I looked at the welcome looking weapon in the guy’s hand.

They’re trash, but they have some taste.

“Hey, our tastes are a bit similar. That’s a revolver, right?”

“F*ck! I told you not to move! Stay there! Do you want to die!”

‘The caliber looks a bit small… but I like revolvers. Cheap, sturdy. You can use it anywhere, you can get it anywhere.’

“I told you to shut up!”

Taang.

As if the words that he would put a hole in my head were not a lie, the guy shot at my head without hesitation.

However, the bullet that tore through the air and flew towards my head bounced off without causing any damage to me.

As expected, should I call it the culmination of Irmin’s biotechnology?

I was newly impressed by the skin that even these small-caliber pistols could not make a big scratch on.

“Wh, wh, what…!”

“

I prefer guns with good technology, but I can’t understand them. Because those guns break down easily. Whenever it’s dangerous, everyone
survived by relying on one revolver.”

There were times when things that automatically aimed at organic matter or guns with built-in AI that automatically reloaded were very popular… but I didn’t really like those things.

I tried using it because it was amazing, but it broke down too often.

Because there were so many delicate parts, there were too many cases where I couldn’t use expensive things if they fell into muddy water.

It would be fortunate if it was just something that didn’t fire because it broke down.

I thought I was really going to die when the gun that automatically aimed at me aimed at my head.

It was a new product, so I poured in the money I had worked hard to save for two months, but it broke down in one day, so I was so annoyed.

It’s also a memory now that I gifted a bullet to the head of the employee who was strutting around, saying that refunds and exchanges were impossible, citing a regulation that was not even visible when I went to get a refund.

I never looked at such things again after that.

…It’s a bit funny that I, who is the culmination of technology, am saying this, but the most important thing about a gun is that it is sturdy rather than having special technology.

Does it make sense that something you have to rely on when it’s important breaks down easily?

Of course, it was also possible to make it sturdy even if you put in various technologies.

If that was impossible, I wouldn’t have been able to put these and those parts into my full body prosthesis.

However, in order to make such a gun, you have to literally put in expensive parts that are worth whatever you call them.

Then the price skyrockets, it becomes too heavy, and it becomes difficult to carry because the size increases to put in the parts.

At that moment, you can’t call it a gun.

In the first place, it was a loss to make it because the cost was too high, so there were no companies that made such crazy things.

It was only natural that I became a revolver enthusiast.

The acquaintances I sometimes meet would say this.

If reliability is the problem, isn’t the weapon built into your body as sturdy as a revolver?

Of course, what they said was not wrong, but my body, which is literally a killing machine, was not without its disadvantages.

When I do rough work, there are inevitably situations where I have to threaten others, and it’s really uncomfortable at that time.

Perhaps because it was a body that high-ranking people were planning to use, it was not a suitable appearance for threatening others.

So I carried a revolver.

“Can I borrow this, friend?”

“H, hiiik… M, monster…!”

“You hurt me when you say that. Is it okay to try the thing I just borrowed?”

Even if there is a strong weapon asleep in their body, those who don’t know it can’t be threatened.

At times like that, even if I just put one revolver to their head, everyone will follow my wishes.

Because the gun is equal to everyone.

Even if a child shoots it, even if a muscular man shoots it, it boasts the same destructive power.

“N, n, no…!”

“That’s a relief. I didn’t want to lose a friend either.”

“Ha, haha, hahahaha…”

“Then, would it be okay to go to your house for a while to strengthen our friendship?”

“Th, that’s…”

Oh-ho.

I put my arm around the guy’s shoulder and shook the revolver I had just stolen.

To make him imagine what would happen if he didn’t tell me.

Even if he didn’t tell me, it didn’t really matter.

It’s not like there are only these guys in the organization, and I can just get another guy.

It would be a little annoying, but it was faster than holding on to a guy who refused to speak and wasting time.

“Why? You don’t want to be in a worse shape than that friend, do you?”

“O, of course not!”

“Then guide me.”

“I understand!”

The guy started to lead the way while sweating profusely.

Perhaps because he had seen the sight of his colleague’s arms and legs being destroyed without any hesitation, he thought that I could really shoot his head without any hesitation.

As expected, people need to be shown an example.

I felt good because things seemed to be going smoothly.

“Follow me, Haran.”

“Ah, yes…”

I decided not to care about the gaze with which Haran was looking at me as if she was looking at a dangerous person.

We’re already on the same boat anyway.

She’ll have no choice but to be with me even if she doesn’t like it.