Ch.11002 Work Record – A Fitting Result (1)

The mercenary license came out the next day. Usually, only online licenses are provided, but perhaps because of my terrible condition—practically a pure human—a plastic card with an embedded chip also arrived.

At least now I wouldn’t need to give lengthy explanations about who I was. In today’s world, you needed to be employed by a company to prove your identity. Those without employment were non-existent people, counted only during population censuses.

With that chip-embedded card tucked in my wallet, I inspect my gun. Since it was purchased from Vola’s regular shop, there was no need to worry, but this had been my routine since middle school when I set my career path toward Belwether Corporation’s security team.

Is it strange to put a rifle in the hands of a middle schooler and call it career training? I’m not sure. If that’s strange, then what would a normal life look like?

The gun the arms dealer procured was definitely new. It was of such quality that it could be issued to security teams immediately.

With items like these flooding the black market, the ones who attacked the mercenary who was going to buy me a drink were probably armed with Belwether Corporation’s guns.

Why would someone from the supply department do this? Of course, Belwether doesn’t give all its employees enough money to swim in, but a Belwether salary was more than sufficient to live on.

Since Belwether occupied nearly half the city, employees could get discounts almost everywhere. In other words, you could receive an abundance of respect and preferential treatment that couldn’t be bought with money but was worth money.

Belwether would eventually identify the embezzler. Then they would certainly lose their privileges and considerations, and might not even have any credits left. It was a gamble with no reason to take.

So money wasn’t the objective. If not money, then… I couldn’t tell. Though Belwether was no longer my concern, it was important to this city, and many people I cared about still remained there.

If I discover anything, I’ll report it. Creating evidence the old-fashioned way might be good too. Looks like I’ll be doing detective work as well. Since I needed to dig up Jaina for revenge anyway, I decided to make it a side job.

As I was about to review the data on my phone, I heard someone knocking on the duty room door. At this hour, only the boss would be looking for me, so I put the gun back in its case before answering.

“You can come in.”

The door opened immediately after my first words. Unlike yesterday’s casual attire, today the boss was dressed in a neat suit and handed me a box with the Belwether Corporation logo.

Judging by the slight smile on her face, it wasn’t bad news. After handing me the box, she looked around and nodded twice.

“It’s much cleaner and better than when Valentina used it as a storage room. Feel free to use it as your quarters for a while. And, since I got this through Belwether connections, please open it. It’s also related to a task I’d like to entrust to you.”

Opening the box, I found a combat uniform in black and dark gray with chaotic yet systematic patterns of gray, a set of limb protectors, and a bulletproof mask with only eye and nose holes that resembled a skull.

“No hacker can hack you, Arthur. You don’t have any components to hack. Even if you put a communicator in your ear, radio detectors won’t notice anything unusual.”

“Those are designed to detect people with computational aids implanted in their heads, so they ignore smaller things. But does that make you weak? You’re someone wearing the body of wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

“Wolves in sheep’s clothing” was what they called Belwether’s security team assault division. The branch’s assault division would still be wearing Type III, so in terms of physical capability, I was wearing something better.

I picked up the bulletproof mask with translucent lenses that concealed even the eyes and tapped it with my finger. Following the boss’s gesture, I held it to my face and looked in the mirror she offered. It had a skeletal feel.

“What we’re dealing with aren’t corporate soldiers. They’re mercenary companies that harm public safety and Belwether has decided to eliminate, real gangs, and terrorists.”

Terrorists. Jaina. Hatred boiled within me. It would be directionless. That’s why the words that followed sounded even sweeter.

“Frighten them. Make hackers fear being cooped up in offices, and make drivers waiting in cars end up dead with their heads slumped over the steering wheel.”

Night Watch has four field operatives: Vola, Eve, the boss, and me. Before I arrived, there were three. Vola was the best mercenary in direct combat.

If she wore proper facial protection, small-caliber bullets wouldn’t even penetrate, and even if someone brought large-caliber firearms, they would likely be inferior to what Vola had.

But Vola was vulnerable to hacking. Her body could be hacked anywhere except her brain. Belwether alumni typically hate variables. To the boss, I was someone who could eliminate variables.

What I needed to do was succeed once, and let that success spread as a rumor.

All that was needed was for word to spread that while fighting Night Watch, a hacker was suddenly found dead, and no proximity alarms had gone off.

The black uniform and mask were merely theatrical props for that one rumor.

It was also the most useful thing I could do, since I couldn’t connect to the net without a computational aid implant. If I did my job well, it would be quite safe too.

“If their rear is attacked and morale drops, they’ll easily be crushed by Vola. The risk of being hacked will also decrease, so Vola can move much more freely.”

Fellow company alumni generally understood each other well. Fitts & Morrison alumni operated with almost complete autonomy, while Belwether alumni valued improvisation within a clear plan.

“It’s nice working with someone from the same company… no, even someone educated to enter the same company. It won’t be too difficult. Belwether’s enemies are our enemies, and soon the enemies of the people of this city. Though our affiliations differ, please think of it as serving the city, Arthur.”

This city had already become too accustomed to Belwether, perhaps becoming one with it, and that felt natural. The claims of some terrorists that bringing down Belwether would usher in a new era might not be entirely false.

Of course, with Belwether—which supported one pillar of the city—gone, a new era would dawn where everything only worsened and became cruder.

I joined Belwether Corporation because I wanted to protect what was natural.

I entered the security team training university because I believed in Belwether Corporation, which built schools and willingly took on unprofitable public security operations, allowing security teams to patrol the city.

As the boss said, only the leash had changed; a shepherd was still a shepherd.

I never had grand ambitions. I just wanted to live normally. Very normally. The reason I sought revenge against Jaina was because that normalcy had been taken away, never to be recovered.

Even if my faith betrayed me, I must not betray my faith. With that thought steadying my mind, I nodded firmly. The trustworthy rookie expression I used to practice now came more naturally.

“It might be difficult, but I’ll gladly take it on. Until now, I’ve just been swept along by unexpected events, but now I’ve become the unexpected event myself. So I should do what unexpected things do.”

“I feel very fortunate to have hired an employee like you. After your personal maintenance, I’ve prepared some training programs for you to look over. They’re Belwether standard. Oh, and…”

She trailed off momentarily. Her eyes always seemed to look at some distant place that those around her couldn’t see, but right now she had the expression of an ordinary colleague with a sense of camaraderie.

“You probably don’t know who they are, and you’ve never worked with them, but it was all provided by a Shepherd. There seems to have been some misunderstanding.”

Boss Yoon began. Her leisurely flowing voice was… pleasant to hear, in contrast to her earlier words about frightening terrorists.

“She simply could have said that training materials were being shared with Belwether’s official partner company, but she asked me to take good care of six Shepherds. It seems these six unknown Shepherds haven’t lived their lives wrongly either. Right?”

No matter how automated this city became, some things remained unautomated. I took a deep breath and nodded. I consciously suppressed my tear ducts.

I had already received too much money when I left, and now there was no way to repay it. Since I wasn’t Shepherd Six, I didn’t need to repay it and couldn’t—this fact rose as a creeping discomfort.

After that, I spent the time until work hours in training programs I hadn’t seen in a while. The security division’s role was mainly to buy time.

Their job was to hold their position until other employees could escape and the mobile or special operations divisions could chew up the intruders. For this new assignment, I would have to rely on things I’d learned by watching others, but not anymore.

I walked out of the room with a single virtual reality connector set up as a training room in one corner of the office, used the shower in the duty room, and it was already almost 8 o’clock.

Ms. Eve arrived early today as well. She greeted me briefly with just a nod of her chin. As she passed by, her dark blue, slightly wavy bob swaying, she paused slightly and turned to look at me.

“Yesterday you couldn’t join us because your license wasn’t out yet. How about today, Arthur?”

“It came this morning. I can go out on jobs now… but I won’t be a comrade fighting shoulder to shoulder with you, senior.”

At those words, Ms. Eve showed a slightly displeased expression before shaking her head. She tried to touch her forehead but pulled away her hand as if suddenly remembering it was a prosthetic.

It seemed to be a sore point for her. Her voice was a bit more agitated than her usual cold tone. Though she tried to forcibly suppress her emotions knowing I hadn’t intended it, they leaked through. It didn’t appear to be anger.

“I find it quite ridiculous to call people who kill together friends. Please don’t say such things. You… aren’t a bad person.”

There was a long silence after “you.” I decided not to guess what she had originally intended to say. It felt like picking at a scab that had just formed over a wound.

When a scraped knee scabs over, the bleeding stops and the wound doesn’t worsen. But beneath the scab, the wound still exists. It takes time to fully heal. She seemed like someone with a scraped wound.

Unable to find words, I simply nodded lightly. Eve sat in a chair in the corner of the office, put on an old-fashioned headset that wrapped around her head, and hugged her knees.

Shortly after, all the company members gathered again.

Vola, wearing a thick bulletproof coat unlike her usual one with no protruding spine, and a helmet that covered even the quarter of her face that would otherwise be visible; Kei with her peach-colored hair tied back in a single ponytail, not well-maintained but fluffy; and Valentina wearing proper prosthetic limbs rather than her usual lightweight ones. Everyone was ready to work.

As the boss briefly explained the role she was assigning to me, Vola said she liked it and lightly slapped my back with her metallic prosthetic hand. Despite my body tensing up, it hardly hurt.

Next was a review of yesterday’s job. It involved catching two convenience store robbers, which was handled easily with just the boss and Ms. Eve’s sniping to neutralize both of them without needing many personnel.

Now I was becoming somewhat accustomed to Night Watch’s tempo. Arrive at 8, do some personal maintenance, review past assignments, and by 11, prepare to receive work assignments.

Grabbing jobs was Kei’s role, but reviewing the job list was everyone’s responsibility.

Kei set up a hologram display device in the middle of the office and started nervously refreshing the still-empty job list column from two minutes before eleven o’clock.

After 10:59, she pulled the window so it would refresh automatically when she released her finger, and used a stopwatch to time the refresh. The timing was perfect. The wall of jobs came into view.

As soon as it hit 11, the list filled with over 200 jobs. All of them required at least one or two deaths to complete. This meant there were over 200 tasks to handle in this city in a single day.

The Greater Los Angeles area was quite large, but to think there were this many jobs for mercenaries alone. Kei spread all those requests out.

As we scanned them, jobs taken by companies with higher bidding priority were automatically removed from the list. Ms. Eve touched one from the list and slid it toward the boss.

After examining the request, the boss bid on it, and the bidding was completed when Night Watch’s logo was stamped on the holographic request form. I couldn’t tell how to pick good jobs as I was overwhelmed just looking through them.

A logo depicting a knight with a shield and pistol appeared above the hologram screen. Photos of a building, its location on a map, and the faces of six people also appeared. It looked like another mercenary company.

And there was another map. It showed a wasteland road outside the Greater Los Angeles area.

It was a road used by megacorporations for transportation, with only a few criminal organization hideouts in the vast, open space around it. It looked like a place a mercenary company might go for a job.

The briefing began. This was the first job. I clenched my fists in my black and gray combat uniform, quietly steeling my resolve.

“Today’s task is elimination. Osgard Company, an official partner mercenary company of Belwether Corporation, has lost even the minimum qualifications of an official partner by collecting protection fees from merchants around their headquarters independently of Belwether’s guidelines, deliberately driving out shops in good commercial areas, and allowing stores that paid them brokerage fees to move in. Therefore, they have become targets for elimination in the name of Belwether Corporation.”

Violence without justification only leads to demoralization. Explaining the justification in detail was the simplest way to improve work efficiency, and it was also effective.

The next photo showed Osgard Company employees guarding only certain nearby stores while a gang looted others. It looked like a drone photo.

This was the justification. Citizens sprawled on the ground, reaching out to Osgard’s mercenaries, with even the few bills they hastily tried to offer stolen by gang members.

Osgard Company, which made it difficult to deal with these gangs by tacitly dividing territories with them, would also be eliminated tonight. The nights in Los Angeles quite often smelled of gunpowder.

“Today, Osgard Company was scheduled to perform a job outside the Greater Los Angeles area in the wasteland, as arranged by Belwether Corporation. We plan to wait until they complete their job, contact Belwether to revoke their official partner status, and then eliminate Osgard Company, which will no longer be under the corporation’s protection.”

The wasteland map I saw earlier was apparently where Osgard Company would be working. If Osgard Company couldn’t complete their job today and was eliminated, Belwether Corporation would lose another company.

“Since there are no hills or obstacles in the area and the surrounding terrain is lower than the road, the van will be sufficient as a sniping point. After identifying where they park their van, Vola and Sniper #1 will ambush from the side. Arthur, please approach their van and deal with any office staff remaining in it and… if there are any, mercenaries guarding the area. Any questions?”

Not Ms. Eve, but Sniper #1. Despite the subtle consideration and clean task allocation, I didn’t feel any areas of concern, so I remained silent. Vola was the first to speak.

“If those meat bags are tasked with eliminating a gang based in the wasteland, and they hide in the gang’s hideout to resist, what do we do?”

“It would be best to attack after they’ve clearly left the hideout and distanced themselves, but if the situation doesn’t allow for that, we’ll use Vola’s grenade launcher. Since you’ll need to get closer to use grenades, there will be a 50% premium on the life allowance in that case. Any additional questions?”

Boss Yoon quietly looked around at the silence. Only then did she nod with satisfaction and speak one last time to boost morale.

“Osgard Company had their first chance. They had the opportunity to be content with their position as an official partner, receive stable work, and develop into a successful mercenary company. But they rejected that opportunity. We’re not acting. We’re reacting. We’re just delivering the appropriate consequences for their actions. Good. Everyone board the van.”

Vola responded mechanically, Ms. Eve coldly, Kei halfheartedly, Valentina leisurely… Mr. Enzo somewhat anxiously, and I calmly before heading down the stairs. We boarded the armored van. The van departed.

The lights of LEDs and neon, along with their afterglow, filled the city with a brilliant sparkle like a drug addict’s hallucination. Due to the massive billboards and electronic displays, the downtown area was almost as bright as day.

Beneath it all, I wore a black bulletproof mask, the opposite of the city’s colors. Due to the lenses over the eye area, the city’s brilliant lights appeared dimmed. The dark night, previously hidden by the light, was twice as vivid.