episode_0033

After a quick test of the mech, I returned to Scarlet’s workshop.

“Scarlet. It’s perfect, isn’t it? It’s even better than I imagined.”

“I paid extra attention because it was for you.”

At my sincere compliment, Scarlet smiled proudly, her face streaked with grease, and shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s hard to believe it was based on a Bugbear,” Yuna said, admiringly looking up at the mech again.

“To completely replace all parts and rebuild it in such a short time… With this level of skill, you’re better than the engineers at Icarus.”

“If you want, I can upgrade your Silvera even further,” Scarlet said, winking and grinning at Yuna.

“I’d love to see it.”

“Really? You won’t go back on your word later, right?”

Scarlet clung to Yuna and linked arms.

Yuna frowned, looking at the large mass of flesh pressed against her arm.

Yuna wasn’t small, but next to Scarlet, she looked infinitely insignificant.

“Don’t stick so close.”

“Hehe, my bad.”

Scarlet quickly settled into the driver’s seat of her compact transport vehicle and gestured for us to get in quickly.

“It’s in the upper hangar of Terminus.”

“Let’s go! Hehe, wait for me. I’ll examine every single detail.”

Scarlet’s eyes gleamed brightly as she sped forward at full throttle.

Upon arriving at the hangar, Scarlet casually parked the car on the side of the road and quickly got out.

“Silvera! Silvera!”

Scarlet ran, exclaiming like a child.

“Streamlined armor! Even the blue lines that feel like energy flow! How can it be so sexy?”

As if enchanted, she circled around it several times, then pulled a portable lift closer and meticulously inspected Silvera’s upper and lower structures herself.

“How does it control inertia? Is this Icarus’s proprietary technology?”

She continuously burst out with exclamations, then pulled the cockpit hatch opening lever on Silvera.

“Wait! I never gave you permission to go inside!” Yuna shouted in a flustered voice, but Scarlet, as if she hadn’t heard, squeezed into the cockpit.

“Ohh!”

“Seriously…”

Yuna’s eyebrows furrowed, and I could immediately tell she wasn’t in a good mood.

“Leave her be. Just as you love alcohol, Scarlet loves mechanics.”

“Right. Hmm.” Yuna cleared her throat and quickly calmed down.

“Sorry, sorry, I got too excited.”

Scarlet’s cockpit exploration didn’t last long.

“Silvera is truly amazing. It’s the essence of Icarus technology. I’ve had a really valuable look today.”

“Now that you’re done looking, shall we head back? We can just grab a simple meal and chat.”

When I made the suggestion, Scarlet nodded as if pleased, but Yuna didn’t.

There was a hint of hesitation about her.

“What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”

“Sorry to ruin the mood, but an emergency recall order came down.”

“Recall? Why? Wasn’t the work wrapped up nicely?”

Surely Vance hadn’t escaped prison.

Yuna looked at my reaction and chuckled.

“Curious? But you’re an outsider now, so I can’t tell you, can I?” she said with a playful tone, the corners of her lips turning up.

“If you want to know, come join us anytime. The path is open.”

Saying that, Yuna got onto the boarding lift and waved her hand.

“See you again, Jinwoo.”

“Absolutely, Yuna.”

“What about me?!”

Yuna just waved to Scarlet without answering.

Soon, Silvera left the hangar door and flew far into the sky.

“Wow. She’s quite cold-blooded. No hesitation at all once the order came down,” Scarlet said, nodding as she watched Silvera disappear, then approached me.

“Shall we eat just the two of us?”

“Sounds good. My treat. There’s something I want to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Let’s talk about it while we eat.”

“Okay. Let’s go to my favorite restaurant. They sell pretty much everything there.”

“Good.”

I hitched a ride in Scarlet’s car, and we arrived directly at the restaurant.

It was a shabby-looking building, but it exuded the aura of a hidden gem. A flickering sign hinted at its long history.

“Jubi Ajumma!”

Scarlet walked in familiarly and called out, and a woman with a robust build inside the establishment nodded.

“Scarlet! Long time no see, huh? Haven’t seen you around lately. Are you buried in work again?”

“Yeah, I was fixing up this mech. It was a really fun job!”

Jubi looked me up and down, then nodded.

“Oh, hmm. I’ve lived long enough to see you bring a man here.”

“Ugh! What are you talking about?” Scarlet burst out laughing and sat down.

“What do you want to eat?”

“What do they sell?”

Jubi answered about the menu instead.

“We have everything except what we don’t! Meat if you want meat, seafood if you want seafood! But all the seafood is gone!”

“I wouldn’t recommend the seafood; it’s not fresh at all.” Scarlet drew a line across her throat and shook her head.

“The A-set here, which comes with steak, sausage, and beer, is the best.”

“Really? Then let’s have two of those.”

As I said that, I glanced at Scarlet sitting next to me.

Her jumpsuit top was unzipped, revealing prominent cleavage over a white tank top.

Usually, characters like her are heavy drinkers.

“Got it~ Two A-sets, and one drink changed to a chocolate shake, right?” Jubi Ajumma nodded and immediately went into the kitchen.

“Chocolate shake?”

“Jubi Ajumma’s chocolate shake is amazing. They don’t just use cocoa powder, they blend in a slice of chocolate cake! It’s so rich and delicious.”

“Does hot chocolate go with steak and sausage?”

Cutting through greasy food with something sweet? Oh my god.

Usually, don’t people go for soda, beer, or even wine?

“It’s good, though? Want to try some?”

“No… I’ll pass. On a day like this, I need to drink beer.”

“Anyway, what did you want to talk about?” Scarlet asked, tilting her head.

“I wanted to discuss additional parts that could be added to the Bugbear you customized.”

“Additional parts, huh? The load capacity is already exceeded, so it’s currently optimized as is.”

“I mean for weapons.”

“Hmm, are you rich? I don’t know where you got that Pile Bunker, but it cost a whopping 250,000 credits, didn’t it? Oh, right, Yuna lent you that.”

“I paid it back.”

“What? You paid it back? Why? No, how?”

“Well, it’s a complicated story. It would take too long to explain.”

“Hmm.” Scarlet’s eyes narrowed, then she nodded slightly.

“I get the general idea. I keep my ears open while working, after all.”

She chuckled as if she had guessed.

“Intrigue within the Icarus Corporation! Something like that, wasn’t it? Were you caught up in it too?”

“You could say that.”

“So you earned money from that? Seriously, I’m speechless. What did you do?”

While she muttered in question, Jubi Ajumma brought out the food.

It was steak, but how did it come out so fast? Was this technology?

The food looked delicious to anyone.

“Looks tasty.”

“Thanks for the meal!”

Scarlet truly bit into a large chunk of meat and gulped down the chocolate shake.

It was a type of eating habit I couldn’t understand.

If it were salty food like french fries, maybe.

“Ah! This is the taste!”

“You don’t drink alcohol?”

“I can’t drink alcohol.”

“Can’t drink, or don’t drink?” I wanted to make a clear distinction.

“Can’t drink. I get drunk on just one beer.”

“Oh, really?”

My knowledge expanded.

One of the women I’ve encountered is a heavy drinker, and the other can’t drink at all.

“So, you want to buy a weapon with that money?”

“It would be good to have one because there will definitely be a need for it.”

While I could always buy it using the shop system, I wanted to hear her opinion as an expert.

“Hmm.” She fell into thought, pondering for a moment.

“First, my priority when modifying your mech was to create an environment where the Pile Bunker could be effectively used.”

She said, slicing the sausage with her knife.

“Let’s say the recoil is resolved with the gravity dampener. Then, isn’t booster performance and instantaneous acceleration important?”

“That’s right. You handled it perfectly even without me mentioning it.”

“Of course! What do you take me for!” She finished slicing the sausage and jabbed it with a fork.

“The only additional things you can attach to your mech right now are an energy shield or interceptor missiles.” She said, chewing her food.

“A rifle is standard, a shotgun is overkill when you have a Pile Bunker, and a bazooka exceeds the load capacity.”

She shook her head from side to side in thought.

“Wouldn’t a rifle be the best?”

“Really?” I replied, resting my chin on my hand, and Scarlet pointed the knife at me.

“You’re thinking something crazy again, aren’t you? That’s what it seems like.”

She caught me. She’s really quick-witted.

“How about a sniper rifle?”

“A sniper rifle? You’re insane! Seriously. Why are you so obsessed with a single shot?”

A vein twitched subtly on her forehead.

“Okay, so in theory. You neutralize them with a sniper shot, then approach with the Pile Bunker and finish them off?”

“That’s similar to what I’m thinking. That’s right.”

“If that worked, everyone would do it like you,” Scarlet said, sounding troubled.

“Well, the choice is yours. But I recommend a rifle.”

“Okay, thanks for the input.”

She mumbled, looking into my eyes.

“You’re just a confirmation-bias freak.”

She chugged the remaining chocolate shake and stood up.

“Jubi Ajumma, check!”

“I said I’d pay!”

“Yeah, go pay. Ugh, I have a mountain of pending work because I prioritized your request.”

Scarlet checked her terminal and grumbled.

“They’re acting up again. I told them to wait a little longer.”

“Who is it?”

After paying, we went out of the restaurant.

“It’s a mercenary group called Steel Fang. They keep complaining that I’m not doing their work fast enough. They said the hangar fees alone amounted to several thousand credits and want me to pay it back or something.”

“Wait. So, you delayed their work because you took my request first?”

“Well, something like that.”

“Isn’t that your fault?”

“No, it’s not. It’s your fault. This is your fault, got it?”

I couldn’t refute Scarlet’s audacious words.

“Well… If it’s my fault, then it’s my fault?”

Even after mulling it over, it was indeed Scarlet’s fault, but if I argued further, I felt like I’d just get yelled at.

That’s because she was frantically tapping on her terminal and cursing.

“Ugh, so annoying! Those damn guys are getting too big for their britches these days, aren’t they? Back in the day, they didn’t even have the money to hire me, they were groveling!”

Scarlet quickly got into the car.

“They’re saying they’re coming to my workshop now?”

The words, *I’d be pissed off too if my work was delayed*, rose to my throat, but I held them back.

“Let’s go together.”

The furious mercenaries would obviously do one of two things.

Either they’d cause a ruckus, or they’d find out why their work was delayed and harm someone.

My mech is in danger.

As soon as I got in the car, Scarlet stepped on the accelerator.

And as if she had read my mind, she said, “Don’t worry. There’s someone who looks out for my workshop. Those guys won’t dare to pull any stunts.”

“Okay, thank you…”