Chapter 8: Meeting Refrigerator
“Now, wait a moment!”
As Diesel thrust the gun barrel forward, the man shouted in a desperate voice.
“Double! I’ll pay double the reward those bastards put up……!”
There was no reply.
Then the man began to stammer.
“Th-then three times. N-no, five! I’ll give five times! I can pay it right now! Just wait a second!”
The man, muttering incoherent nonsense, suddenly pulled an industrial laser blade from his bosom.
“Die! You dog-like bastard!”
The high-output beam of the cutter scattered sparks as it sliced through the air.
But before that, Diesel’s automatic revolver spat fire.
A nail-sized hole was pierced into the bastard’s forehead, and the malice-filled eyes lost their strength.
Unable to leave behind even a brief dying scream, the man collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud.
“Whew…….”
A human who had kidnapped and trafficked dozens of children.
Diesel had merely taken out the trash.
In place of a state enforcement agency that did not function properly.
Thinking that way, he brushed aside his thoughts.
That was the meaning of the bounty system in this world.
When criminals grew so numerous that they could not be handled, this country ultimately handed over even the authority to carry out punishments to the private sector.
‘It’s a crazy world.’
What made him click his tongue was not the system of bounties itself.
It was the despair that there were so many utterly heinous humans that bounties had to be placed on them.
How many had it been already?
For the past few weeks, Diesel had been cleaning up the city’s back alleys.
After roughly reaching double digits, he had consciously stopped counting.
[Is the job finished?]
Boss Kim’s voice sounded in his ear.
“Yes.”
[Good. Then can you come over here right away?]
“I haven’t recovered the body yet.”
[Just come. I’ll just wire the payment for this one.]
The Dwarf continued in a slightly more serious tone.
[The ‘big job’ you were looking for came in.]
Hunting bounty-listed criminals as a Ghostcatcher could be compared to eating junk food.
It was easy to get and tasted decent enough, but did absolutely nothing for long-term health.
If one only considered income efficiency, bounty hunting was not that bad.
However, with just this kind of work, Diesel could never reach the picture he wanted.
His goal was not to settle down in this city and scrape by.
The worst possible outcome for Diesel right now was being branded a ‘bounty hunter.’
It was a somewhat derogatory term used to refer to Ghostcatchers who lived by targeting only wanted criminals.
In the underworld, where rumors and reputation mattered more than anything, being saddled with such a label was extremely fatal.
[Will you come?]
“Yes.”
He stepped outside, passing the fallen corpse.
Only quiet silence remained in the room where the commotion had just taken place.
The now-familiar nameless dumpling shop.
Diesel passed Wangbo pounding artificial meat with a hammer and grabbed the handle of the refrigerator he always entered.
“This time it’s over here.”
The opposite refrigerator door flew open as Boss Kim stuck his head out.
Following him into the new refrigerator, a wide space appeared with a large table in the center.
“Sorry for calling you in such a hurry. One of the original members suddenly dropped out.”
In crude terms, was this a patch job?
It was not a particularly pleasant start.
Sensing that mood from Diesel, Boss Kim added,
“You’ve experienced things for a while now, so you know, but it’s rare for newcomers to be accepted into big jobs like this. Everyone looks only for proven Ghostcatchers. In a way, this time you’re very lucky.”
It was not hard to understand this line of work’s preference for experienced hands.
No one would want to risk their life on a job alongside an unverified rookie.
“What kind of job is it?”
When Diesel asked bluntly, Boss Kim handed him a briefing chip.
Then he turned his gaze toward the refrigerator entrance.
“Wait just a moment. Soon…….”
Before he could finish speaking, the door flew open and two people entered.
One was a woman wearing a tight-fitting orange tracksuit, as if she had just come back from working out.
The other was a man who looked to be at least two meters tall, and peculiarly, only the right side of his body was a chrome-plated prosthetic.
Because it was dim inside the refrigerator, he could not see their faces clearly, but none of them seemed to be in a particularly good mood.
“So this is the guy you hurriedly picked up?”
The woman in the tracksuit tossed out the words with irritation.
Then the tall man slightly bent his waist and stared intently at Diesel.
“I don’t recognize that face.”
At their behavior, which seemed to lack even a shred of courtesy, Boss Kim hurriedly spoke.
“H-hey, what’s with you two. Let’s at least start with some greetings, like civilized people.”
“Forget greetings and finish this as fast as possible. Just breathing the same air as this freak makes me sick.”
“That’s a bit hurtful, Kali.”
The man suddenly sniffed the air.
Then, abruptly, the flesh-made left shoulder began to squirm.
‘What the hell is that.’
It felt as if something that had been in a liquid state was turning solid.
Gradually taking shape, it was none other than a human ‘head.’
The other head that had formed on the man began to speak.
“That hurts. Right, Jo?”
“Who told you to come out, Zal?”
The two heads casually conversed with each other.
“This is insane…….”
The woman called Kali spat out a curse without hiding her displeasure.
“These bastards look disgusting enough, and every time we work they keep chattering nonstop right next to me…….”
“I don’t like that nickname.”
“It’s not a nickname, that’s your name, you idiot.”
“My name is ‘Jo,’ though.”
“But, well, my name is ‘Zal.’”
“Calm down a bit. Acting like this in front of a new face?”
Boss Kim waved his small hands back and forth as he tried to calm the Ghostcatchers, but it had little effect.
“New face, my ass. Don’t you know I don’t work with this big idiot to begin with? Why did you put together a team like this?”
“More importantly. That rookie—has he been verified?”
“Right, right, rookies do need verification.”
“Hey now, you people. Didn’t you all come here knowing this? That it’s an urgent job. That’s why the pay is higher.”
At the Fixer’s words, silence flowed through the refrigerator.
Whether the reward had been negotiated enough beforehand to endure a situation like this, everyone chose silence that seemed to carry a positive meaning.
Everyone except one—Diesel.
“I’m out.”
“What?”
At his bomb-like declaration, Boss Kim turned toward Diesel with a startled expression.
The other three faces also spoke with similar expressions.
“What are you talking about now?”
“Hmm……. That’s surprising.”
“Hm……. It really is surprising.”
This was a kind of move Diesel had decided on after skimming through the briefing chip he had just received from Boss Kim.
‘The core of this job is a mage.’
A job that required a mage—specifically, a spellcaster who could directly project spells.
But the team had been hastily assembled.
In Diesel’s judgment, if he were to drop out, this job would not come together at all.
Boss Kim, who had been watching the situation from the side, seemed to notice Diesel’s intent and spoke while looking at the others.
“If this guy drops out, we should consider this job sunk.”
“No, Boss Kim. What do you mean by that?”
“Can’t we just find another spellcaster?”
“We could find one.”
“Do you think finding a mage is as easy as hailing a taxi in front of a station? You all know that, so why act like this? Besides, this guy isn’t just some green rookie mage.”
The Dwarf said, putting force into his voice.
“He’s the spellcaster who single-handedly neutralized Gale Consortium’s AT-71.”
“…….”
The Megacorporation’s multi-legged combat vehicle, AT-71, that Diesel had faced at the convenience store before.
Perhaps the rumor had already spread a little, because the looks in everyone’s eyes as they stared at Diesel changed slightly.
“That was this man……?”
“Mm, he doesn’t look like it.”
“Mm, it’s hard to believe.”
With the one line Diesel brought out, the atmosphere shifted, and with Boss Kim’s added comment, they seized the advantageous position.
If so, then all that remained was to drive the nail in for good.
“Half of the amount after commission. If you can’t give that, I’m out.”
At Diesel’s words, the woman frowned deeply.
“What? Half?”
“I don’t care.”
“I don’t really care either.”
The man with two faces seemed not to care much about how much he was paid.
But the woman agonized to the very end, letting out a low groan.
“Ha……. Fine.”
Then she walked up to Diesel and held out her hand.
“I’m Kali. A melee mage. What was your name again?”
Hearing her position, it made sense why her body had been flowing with such neatly ordered mana all this time.
A melee mage was a frontline combat mage who augmented their physical strength with enhancement magic and fought in close combat.
“Diesel.”
“Good, Diesel. I’ll be watching to see if you’ve got skills to match that big mouth.”
They finished a handshake with a strange tension flowing between them.
Then the big idiot who had been blankly watching their exchange from the side opened his mouth.
“I am…….”
“Those guys are Jo and Zal.”
“Uh…….”
“The bastard who owns the original body, Jo, is a gunner, and the bastard head attached next to him, Zal, is a magic user.”
“Magic user? He’s got a position name too—‘tech magician.’”
“Why are you the one saying that? I should say it, Jo.”
“Kali said it for you, Zal.”
“Ugh! Please shut up!”
Kali shouted sharply, then looked back at Diesel.
“I’m the leader for this job. You’ll know the details if you check the chip, and if you’ve got questions, contact me here.”
She handed over a plastic business card and headed straight out of the refrigerator.
“Hey, Kali. Let’s go together.”
“Yeah, let’s go together. Kali.”
“If you follow me, I’ll kill you.”
After the briefly noisy exit.
Boss Kim walked up to Diesel and patted his back.
“Once the job actually starts, it’ll be fine. The two—no, all three of them are Ghostcatchers whose skills are well recognized.”
Diesel first secured a place to live with the money he had gathered from bounty hunting.
Strangely enough, even after more than a hundred years had passed, the residential patterns of this land had not changed much.
Many people were still living in mold-infested semi-basements, or rooftop rooms without proper heating or cooling.
And Diesel was one of them.
‘Well, it’s just a place to stay for a while…….’
He opened the door to a rooftop room that overlooked Seoul at a glance.
Since it was a place chosen with safety as the top priority, there was no need to stay as on edge as he did outside.
From experience, the higher the income level of an area, the higher the level of public security as well.
Diesel squeezed and squeezed the money he had saved and barely managed to find a shabby rooftop room located at the edge of a wealthy neighborhood.
Thanks to that, if he shifted his gaze just a little out the window, he could see the flashy high-rise buildings—a separate paradise for the rich.
‘At least the view is nice.’
When Diesel took off his coat, Ar, who had been tucked inside, flew around the room in circles.
“Don’t get too attached. I’m going to move.”
〈Ar doesn’t particularly like this place either.〉
The spirit drifted toward the outlet that had now become its designated seat, then licked the electricity with its tongue as if drinking water.
“Feels like about half of what I earn goes into you.”
〈Master, that’s an exaggeration.〉
Diesel sat down on a chair for a moment and waited for Ar to fill its belly.
“All right, if you’re done eating, it’s time to work.”
He tapped the desk lightly and called Ar.
The spirit fluttered over and gently settled down in front of him.
Once he became able to connect to the Electrosphere through the port plug procedure, Diesel realized an astonishing fact.
Normally, to connect to the Electrosphere, a medium like a computer was required.
And to engage in specialized activities like hacking, one needed not an ordinary computer but an expensive supercomputer—a thing called a ‘cyberdeck.’
〈Master, attempting Electrosphere connection.〉
But Diesel’s case was different.
〈The medium is…… Ar.〉
He could connect to the Electrosphere through Ar.
He searched for information, wondering if others could do the same, but operating an Electrosphere spirit like a cyberdeck was unprecedented.
He could not tell exactly how it was possible.
What he did suspect, however, was his own ability.
‘If hacking also falls within the realm of the surreal…….’
The absurd power he possessed called ‘Surreal Awakening.’
The ability to see and handle all surreal phenomena.
If hacking within the Electrosphere was also surreal, then he should be able to wield that power freely as well.
Still, it was not yet certain.
Other powers like miracles or magic could be used naturally from the very beginning, but hacking was different.
‘Maybe it’s because I’m not familiar with the Electrosphere yet.’
Diesel leaned back in his chair as if lying down and closed his eyes.
〈Connecting.〉
Then, together with Ar, he sank deep into the infinite space of information.