I Became a Cyberpunk Tycoon

Playing with Fire (9)

"How... are you able to stand?"

The leader of Brown Hood looked at me with trembling eyes.

"Well. I wonder why."

I carried the fallen women to a safe place.

"Why do you think?"

"A person from Hansan... No way. That's impossible!"

It was true that the electronic interference bomb was a weapon difficult to use in proper corporations.

But it wasn't the kind of weapon that small groups like Brown Hood could carry around either. When hit by this attack in the game, it literally gave you a dizzy feeling.

Even players weren't exempt from 'this world's rules,' where one becomes stronger through implants and cutting-edge weapons.

The sensation of all the implants and weapons collected so far becoming useless in an instant made you feel like you'd gone back to when you first started the game.

"Why... I wonder. How on earth was I able to not be affected by your weapons?"

"Don't tell me, you too... haven't equipped a single implant?"

"You know already."

I answered her question with a slight smile.

"I'm no different from the others here. I haven't equipped any implants. That's... old-fashioned."

In Stella City, implants were practically everything to humans, no exaggeration.

Mercenaries wore expensive implants to increase their value and survival rate.

It wasn't just mercenaries who wore implants.

Poor people wore implants to digest 'food unfit for human consumption' in the slums.

Some people wore implants for self-defense or safety, and even manual laborers would equip appropriate implants once they saved a little money.

It was no different from graduating from a prestigious university and getting certifications to enter a good workplace.

Even if you had to go into debt, if you bought and equipped a transport function implant, you could do the same loading and unloading work much more easily and comfortably with larger quantities.

Once the proportion of people wearing implants increased beyond a certain point, those managing them had no choice but to assign work based on the labor capacity of 'people wearing implants'.

Office jobs were no different. If anything, it was worse.

The information processing ability and reliability of someone with a brain computer installed was incomparably different from someone without one.

When trying to enter a large corporation, someone who couldn't prove exceptional ability would be rejected at the document screening stage just for not having implants.

In the end, wearing implants was something you had to do to succeed. Those who couldn't have them were bound to be left behind.

All the Brown Hood members here were such people.

People who weren't treated as human were abandoned by this city and could do nothing but shoot guns.

"How could you!"

That fierce and rough electronic interference device was a privilege that could be used by such involuntary purists. It was the final strike that those who had gained nothing could use against those who had everything.

But ironically, I too, at the highest position in Hansan, was in a state without any mechanical implants.

"This is absurd..."

"I agree. This is certainly absurd."

In the game story, since Brown Hood and Hansan were never meant to fight head-on, I didn't know this would happen.

But I knew well what that electronic interference bomb meant.

It was a weapon like chains that allowed the abandoned ones to make their final resistance, pulling down those above in the sky to see eye to eye with them.

Their electronic interference bomb contained their screams.

"How can you not have implants? If you're from Hansan, you should definitely have them! Don't tell me, were we deceived? From the start, you had nothing to do with Hansan..."

"It's dangerous."

"Just having a computerized input device in your body can expose a person to threats."

Having a computer in your brain means it wouldn't be strange to die instantly if it overheats or goes haywire.

Recent implants have safety devices so such extreme situations won't occur. Needless to say for Hansan.

Someone wearing augmented reality implants affecting their eyes could have their implants hacked at any moment and see hallucinations.

"That's nonsense. It must be incredibly inconvenient."

"If there are people who can do my work for me, there's no problem."

Without implants, it's difficult to handle things easily and conveniently, whether it's banking or restaurant reservations. That's the kind of world it was.

But I had secretaries. People who could handle things I couldn't do directly at any time.

I didn't need stomach implants since I didn't have to eat inedible food, and I didn't need to use electronic certificates connected to implants for identity verification.

"For such, such reasons... That's impossible."

The extremely poor and the extremely wealthy 'me'. Ironically, they and I ended up sharing the commonality of 'not wearing implants'.

"Even if it's for safety, surely there's no need to go that far?"

"That's true too."

It's paranoid. No matter how much someone fears death, they don't think 'I should live in nature without building a house because I might die if an earthquake hits while living in a tall building.'

But Hansan faced clear threats.

Those who could launch irrational and absurd electronic attacks by accessing closed networks without any warning signs or substance.

Although more companies among the top corporations were unaware of their existence than aware, Hansan had known about them roughly for quite some time.

For ordinary people it might not matter, but for Hansan's people, the 'possibility of hacking' was a weakness that couldn't be ignored.

Although they didn't know their purpose or whether hostility existed, Hansan had been preparing to fight against them for a long time.

"But this is reality."

To her, I could only say that she had bad luck.

"Well, nothing changes."

She drew her gun after barely regaining consciousness.

"Although it's a bit surprising that we're on equal terms, you're still from Hansan, and that hasn't changed, nor has the fact that you're alone."

"Hmm, I'd rather not fight if possible. I'd like you to reconsider."

"No way!"

Her gun spat fire.

From the start, she wasn't someone I could talk with. No, perhaps it's shameless of me to use Hansan's name and talk with her now.

All those Brown Hood members wouldn't have tried to kill corporations from the start with hatred and malice.

They must have begged. Crying out for someone to please hear their voices, they must have done everything they could to convey those voices.

The people before my eyes were those who had gathered after setting aside all futures of living as humans when all those methods failed.

But I couldn't die for them.

The bullets she fired couldn't pierce my skin.

And I was sitting right next to her, twisting her gun barrel.

Even if Hansan's upper echelons gave up implants, they couldn't live with ordinary human durability and brains.

What they chose was body enhancement. Installing genetic manipulation and organic engineering implants made of organic materials.

Though not as fast and efficient as mechanical implants, being Hansan's products made with money and technology poured into them, they weren't weak.

"Body acceleration device... you shouldn't have implants! How!"

With the gun barrel twisted, she couldn't threaten me or the other mercenaries with that gun anymore.

"Shoot, shoot! You're just a human—"

I moved instantly to where the other members were and twisted each of their gun barrels.

"Body acceleration device... well, something similar."

Only after speaking did I remember that my words wouldn't be heard by her.

More precisely, she would hear them, but they'd be too fast to understand properly.

It was thanks to my ability that I could see Doris moving while using the body acceleration device.

More precisely, just when a 'body acceleration device' activates nearby, my speed of perceiving things increases. Everything around appears to move slowly, like in slow motion.

Then, when I activate the ability to accelerate not just my pupils and brain but also my arm and leg muscles, I gain speed comparable to the body acceleration device.

"I'm sorry."

This too wouldn't have been heard. Just as Hansan didn't hear their voices.

Shooting wouldn't pierce me. The suit I wore could deflect mediocre bullets, and my muscles were incomparably tougher and harder than that.

They never had a chance from the start.

"I'll definitely change things..."

Though they're just a weak organization now, Brown Hood's potential is by no means small.

They were a force strong enough to appear as a hidden boss when the player chose to cooperate with Hansan.

Although their actions were rough and extreme, knowing all their circumstances, I couldn't bring myself to kill them lightly.

But I couldn't comply with their wishes.

The world they would change would be just as dangerous and rough.

Revolutionaries shine brightest when resisting. When it comes time to reward achievements and create a new world, they'll have to pay the price for the violence they committed, not the corporations.

Even in the aftermath of that route, they were an organization that couldn't be fully controlled even with the player's fame and overwhelming power.

They would lose that brilliance, and in a world where the corporations that were clearly evil have disappeared, they would have to bear new responsibilities.

So I am right.

Corporations need to change. Even if it's not justice for Hansan to continue existing under Hansan's name, it's the path where the most people can live happily.

I will create a world different from the Stella City I knew.

A city where a good protagonist wouldn't feel the need to change it, and if an evil protagonist tried to conquer it, everyone else would fight for me.

"Are you toying with us! Damn it, just kill us instead! If you're going to do this!"

I couldn't shoot non-lethal suppression bullets. Bullets that incapacitate targets by reacting to implants wouldn't work at all on these people.

Not one of them ran away. Even with broken gun barrels, they picked up knives and clubs, and occasionally threw rocks at my afterimages when they appeared.

"Let's end this here. I didn't want to use this..."

But there were limits to that too.

Though their eyes still burned with fighting spirit, no one was imagining victory.

After deactivating the body acceleration device, I walked step by step and grabbed her neck.

"It's all over."

Silence fell over the place that had been noisy just moments ago.

-------

To support the story, you can read advance chapters @https://stellarrealm.net/series/i-became-a-cyberpunk-tycoon