Ch.13Correction) Taking the Fall! (3)

#013

“My friend and debtor, Dexter Hughes. I never thought you’d leave without a word.”

At Elijah’s words, Dexter put his hands on his hips and said:

“Hey, what kind of friend sends debt collectors after me?”

“I heard you fled from your workplace, so I came to rescue you thinking you might be in danger. I certainly didn’t send debt collection droids because I doubted your abilities.”

Elijah shamelessly told this blatant lie.

The two knew each other.

More precisely, they were friends.

The kind of friends who would overlook and forgive each other’s insults and excessive behaviors to some extent.

Elijah made a bored expression and said:

“Hey. First, this. Robot? This human-looking thing. Let’s get rid of it and then talk.”

When Dexter pointed at the two half-destroyed men, hologram Elijah replied:

“Let’s do that.”

Immediately, the man projecting the hologram from his forehead picked up one man in each arm and threw them into the SUV.

He tossed them so roughly that Dexter worried the car might get damaged.

“Damn, that’s fast.”

Dexter said, holding up his partially destroyed arm while throwing it into the SUV.

“Come inside. I don’t plan on showing off someone with blue light coming from their head.”

Dexter said gruffly.

No matter how close they were as friends, this was the first life-threatening situation he’d experienced in a long time.

It couldn’t help but make the victim’s personality relatively pettier.

Once the two entered the house, Elijah spoke first:

“Why did you run away?”

“Run away? What do you mean?”

Dexter flatly denied Elijah’s suspicion.

“I already told you, didn’t I?”

“You said you were leaving your workplace to find batteries concentrated with Cyclops’ bioenergy, not that you were going to Earth.”

“That’s what I meant.”

“How? How does that translate to fleeing to Earth?”

Dexter stretched on the sofa and said:

“Ugh… I already found the related information and coordinates.”

“What does finding information have to do with returning to Earth?”

“I was going to tell you when you came like this. Hey, I’ve been away from home for 15 years. 15 years. Can’t I go home now?”

At Dexter’s words, Elijah replied incredulously:

“Do you remember when we first met?”

“What about it?”

“It was ten years ago. I went to the mercenary gathering in the back alley with my butler and said, ‘I’m looking for someone who will do any dirty job I ask, though I’ll only pay enough to get by.’ You were the only one who stepped forward, weren’t you?”

“Ah, that’s ancient history. Are you really going to bring up old stories like that?”

Dexter tried to gloss over his embarrassing past, but when Elijah glared at him, Dexter quietly averted his gaze.

“What’s the point of digging up the past? The future! We should look to the future!”

“You’re ruining your own future with your own hands, Dexter. My friend and debtor.”

When Elijah spoke in his characteristically greasy baritone, Dexter got goosebumps.

“Ugh. That unlucky voice without a head. So, what do you want?”

“What would a moneylender want?”

“Hey, don’t tell me. You want the money I borrowed?”

“530 million ducats. Ah, I should include the cost of the two debt collection droids you destroyed. That brings it to 630 million ducats total.”

At Elijah’s words, Dexter sneered:

“How can those pieces of junk cost 50 million ducats each? Weren’t you scammed?”

“Pieces of junk? Didn’t they give you a bit of trouble? They were worth every ducat.”

Dexter had nothing to say to that.

“Fine, whatever. But why are you making that deflating sound?”

“I heard it’s trendy to use such onomatopoeia on Earth. I was told it’s used in extremely cruel contexts, so I thought I’d try it.”

“Is there another Earth besides the one I live on? Why would that hissing sound be trendy?”

Dexter couldn’t understand what Elijah was talking about.

After bickering back and forth, Dexter and Elijah came to a conclusion.

“I don’t have 600 million. But I’ll provide you with information periodically instead.”

Elijah was impressed by Dexter’s straightforward offer.

“You once said you’d protect information even if it meant diving naked into a radiation zone. What changed?”

“Let me live in peace, okay? What’s the point of living under constant death threats?”

“You should have been more compliant. There are plenty of people in the universe waiting for you to weaken.”

Elijah chuckled at Dexter bringing up old matters.

“Ah, yes. If the information is good, I’m willing to reduce it by at least 50 million.”

“Can’t you do more? You’re rich.”

“That’s rich coming from someone who skipped out on a friend’s money.”

Dexter had no comeback for that, but he tried anyway.

“What do you mean ‘skipped out’? I’ve saved your life several times. Write off another half.”

“My, our friendship might break. What are you saying?”

“Our friendship was half-broken when you sent those fucking robots. Write off another half. In exchange, I’ll tell you something amazing. Huh?”

“Hmph, anyone watching would think you’re the one holding the knife.”

At Elijah’s sarcastic remark, Dexter said firmly:

“Just give me another half! Is this how friends treat each other?”

“You’re stubborn. Fine, I’ll make it 55 million.”

Elijah shook his head as if conceding.

However, Elijah would have given him a full 100 million, not just 50 million.

Even if Dexter had asked for 10 million more ducats off, he would have granted it.

Unaware of this, a grinning Dexter tried to whisper into hologram Elijah’s ear.

“So…”

“Are you a rookie? The audio receiver is in this body’s ear, not in the hologram.”

“I know that, man.”

Dexter cleared his throat, looked around, and said:

“…The Princess of Galatea Planet wears lace thong underwear, and her favorite color for underwear is purple.”

“What truly low-grade information.”

Elijah glared at Dexter.

“Listen to the end. And tell that to General Tullius of Pygmalion Planet.”

“Why… Ah! That’s quite clever!”

Elijah smiled, lifting just one corner of his mouth.

“About the Cyclops matter, I’ll send you the coordinates in a message later, so check it out. The last time I confirmed was three months ago, so it should still be there if nothing’s changed.”

“Thank you for the information. Since it’s been a while since our last deal, I’ll give you two pieces of information as well.”

“What are they?”

In contrast to Dexter’s casual question, Elijah put on a serious expression and said:

“First, while you were on the run after borrowing money, 15 debt collectors were actively searching for you, and I bought all their claims. From now on, all your debts belong to me. The second thing… Yes. Recently, someone was looking for you at an information agency. I believe her name was Aisha.”

“W-what?”

Dexter was visibly flustered.

Seeing this, Elijah smiled slightly.

“Don’t worry, I’m keeping the fact that you’re on Earth well hidden, hahaha! Well, see you later.”

The light on the forehead of the man serving as the hologram receiver flickered and then the aperture on his forehead closed.

Seeing this, Dexter put his hands on his hips and said:

“This guy just says what he wants and leaves?”

When the hologram receiver man shuffled awkwardly, Dexter gestured for him to leave the house.

“Go, man. Go.”

“If you have no further business, I’ll take my leave.”

“Why would I have any business with you?”

After the man left in the SUV, Dexter heaved a deep sigh.

“Why is she looking for me… Ah, geez.”

Somehow, his head seemed to throb every time he got off work.

“I need to handle the urgent matters first.”

The priority was downloading the preset for the body correction device to test on Jesse.

Dexter turned on his computer to download the preset.

“I hope Blueburg listens.”

* * *

Arriving at the infirmary for work today, Dexter saw Jesse staring at him and said:

“…”

“There’s that look again. Don’t make that face. I can see right through it.”

“I’ll ask nicely. Would you please just go away?”

Jesse’s voice sounded muffled because of the closed hospital room door.

Dexter looked at Jesse with his hands behind his back, putting on a very serious expression, and said:

“No, I won’t.”

Of course, it had no effect.

“Aaaah… I really hate this…”

Seeing Jesse’s frustration, Dexter snickered with his hands in his pockets.

“Oh, Mr. Hughes. You’re here?”

“Yes, good morning.”

Rose, who had briefly stepped away, greeted Dexter, and seeing this, Jesse glared at Dexter and said:

“I’m not having a good morning at all.”

“Nobody asked you.”

When Dexter coolly ignored Jesse, Jesse started trembling.

She wanted to knock on the door to express her anger, but with both hands in casts, it was impossibly frustrating.

‘Hmm.’

Seeing this, Dexter said nothing and turned around.

He left the front of the hospital room and sat in a chair in front of the infirmary reception desk.

Rose began preparing for her morning duties, and Dexter had come to talk with her.

The reason was simple: Jesse’s reactions were different when he talked to Rose.

Rose initiated the conversation:

“Oh, right. I watched the movie you recommended yesterday. It was fun.”

Dexter nodded at Rose’s words and said:

“Right? It’s a classic masterpiece. When people think of comedy movies, they often think of bathroom humor, but this is qualitatively different, isn’t it?”

“Yes, my husband…”

Meanwhile, as the two started talking, Jesse felt a strange emotion watching them.

‘Why, why are you two talking together?’

Jesse was surprised by her own sincere thought.

At the same time, she felt an inexplicable sense of liberation, as this was the emotion she had been feeling toward Dexter all along.

In fact, Jesse already knew that Dexter had given her a chance to become friendly.

‘Because of my damn pride…’

She could have honestly said she was sorry about the incident a few days ago, that she just wanted to show off in front of the other inmates.

But she couldn’t.

When Jesse first saw Dexter, she thought he was just a good-looking correctional officer with a terrible personality.

‘Because that’s normal.’

Even back when Jesse was in Iowa, all such men were taken.

Some men even pretended to be taken when they weren’t.

It was because they didn’t like Jesse.

‘No. They would never like me in the first place.’

That’s why she acted tough on the outside.

She had tried that with other inmates too and got beaten up badly enough to be covered in bruises.

“…”

Jesse looked at her ankle exposed below her pant leg.

It looked like a skeleton from a science lab with just skin stretched over it.

Her arms, legs, ribs, and joints were so thin they protruded sharply.

Who would like a woman with such meager breasts and hips?

‘A correctional officer like him probably lived his whole life with confidence.’

Jesse’s heart was filled with envy and jealousy, while her self-esteem was buried deep down.

Moreover, being unable to use her hands now, Jesse felt dominated by a sense of helplessness.

The only place where she felt needed and her abilities were recognized was in street racing.

Doing maintenance was fun, and she didn’t have to think about anything.

There were many pleasures, and she made friends.

Even after being incarcerated, she had friends who visited her more often than her family.

But when those friends didn’t come.

When she was among the harsh and frightening inmates.

These moments when she felt her own weakness were difficult.

Jesse was watching Dexter and Rose talking happily across the iron door.

“…?”

Dexter caught Jesse’s gaze.

While talking to Rose, Dexter gave her a slight smile.

Someone’s words came to mind.

‘Hughes? Him? Well, he doesn’t talk much about himself. He did mention that his parents died when he was young, so he had a tough childhood.’

That was what a correctional officer had told Jesse when she asked about Dexter while at vocational training.

Dexter wasn’t a perfect person either.

Yet Dexter was almost always smiling.

“I envy you.”

Jesse hung her head low.

“I envy you so much.”