Ch.1414. Punk City and the Human Boy

Jimmy suddenly appeared after graduation.

Sonia was about to greet him with delight, but Amon stopped her.

She could have reacted that way because she knew nothing about Jimmy’s situation, but Amon was different.

He had been hearing about Jimmy’s activities through the Mother Superior.

‘That drug addict, why would he…’

After graduating from the orphanage, Jimmy had joined a gang.

He hadn’t studied, nor had he built any connections. All he knew how to do was bully others, and he had always shown admiration for gang life.

It was only natural that someone like him would end up in a gang.

Joining a gang, shooting guns every day, robbing people, and causing trouble while collecting “protection money” until being chased by police.

Then, after getting shot once, he wouldn’t be able to go to a hospital without insurance, and would naturally turn to drugs.

Drugs initially taken to forget the pain would eventually become his leisure activity, and soon a bottom-tier gangster would be complete—trembling in his left hand, gun in his right, swaggering around.

Amon knew well that Jimmy hadn’t strayed far from this path.

He didn’t feel sorry for him.

It was hard to blame the environment since Amon had changed the atmosphere of the orphanage, and Jimmy’s peers were now living relatively honest lives.

The excuse that he became a gangster because of his environment didn’t hold up.

Instead, Amon was wary of Jimmy.

The thought processes of drug addicts were incomprehensible to normal people, so there was no telling when he might suddenly go crazy and try to harm Amon.

And now that Jimmy had appeared before him.

He didn’t even try to hide his weapons, with his left pocket bulging, accompanied by several fellow drug-addicted low-level gang members.

It was clear his intentions weren’t good.

Sure enough, instead of greeting them, Jimmy started spouting nonsense.

“Give me my money back. You’re a bad guy. A damn bastard…”

Did he even know what he was saying?

The injection marks on his left hand that hadn’t yet faded answered that question with a likely “no.”

Amon quietly hid Sonia behind his back protectively.

Something about this gesture triggered Jimmy, who began to rage.

“Again! You always get all the good things! Why do you always get the good things! It’s a problem! That old hag of a Mother Superior..! She’s old but only interested in men! You must have sold yourself to her! You male prostitute!”

Amon’s brow furrowed at Jimmy’s grammatically and logically incoherent sentences.

Though difficult to understand, he could sense the deeply offensive insults within.

It was unpleasant enough to be falsely accused, but the way Jimmy insulted the Mother Superior was particularly offensive.

Sonia, standing beside Amon, seemed to understand the context as well, her gaze turning cold.

But the oblivious Jimmy continued his rant.

“You must be happy! Always being the favorite! Fucking bastard!”

Amon didn’t argue back.

He was well aware that he had been the Mother Superior’s favorite.

The Mother Superior was human too, so it was only natural.

Even the Goddess doesn’t show universal love to all humanity.

Amon thought that people capable of such impartiality were simply indifferent to humanity as a whole.

However, that didn’t mean the other orphans couldn’t feel relative deprivation due to this favoritism.

Because of this, Amon was conscious of being favored and always tried to live generously toward the other orphans.

Passing love downward.

While this might not absolve him completely, it at least gave him reason not to be criticized by someone like Jimmy, who only caused trouble for others.

But since there was nothing more pointless than arguing with a drug addict,

Amon decided to ignore Jimmy rather than continue the conversation.

However, whether it was pride that remained despite being drug-addled and living at rock bottom, or low self-esteem making him sensitive to minor slights,

Jimmy shouted at Amon, who was trying to ignore him, spittle flying from his mouth.

“You think you’re so great! I’m an adult now too! I have lots of friends, I make money… and… and… I shoot guns too!”

Jimmy pulled out a gun and aimed it at them.

With his finger on the trigger, Amon and Sonia automatically moved to dodge.

But he seemed unaware of what his actions meant, waving the gun around carelessly.

Judging further conversation to be dangerous, Amon decided to end this unfortunate connection here.

He happened to have a real sword that he had received as a memento when leaving the sword training hall.

But just as he quickly made the sign of the cross and was about to lunge toward Jimmy,

Sonia stopped him.

“I’ll handle this.”

Amon was puzzled by her statement.

“Why bother?”

She pointed at Amon and said:

“I said I would protect you. I’ll show you it wasn’t just empty words.”

With no time to argue in front of a drug-crazed man, Amon made a quick decision.

“Don’t get hurt.”

He trusted Sonia.

Sonia smiled happily at Amon’s concern, then grabbed the sword and charged toward Jimmy.

***

Combat time: 1 minute.

In that brief time, Jimmy and his companions were subdued by Sonia.

The group, who had been whistling and making obscene gestures until Sonia approached, were now unable to get up after being struck with the back of her blade.

The fact that they were dealt with in just one minute was partly due to their slow reactions from drug use, but the result wouldn’t have been much different even if they were sober.

After all, a gun without any special engravings was something that two people who had honed their sword skills for two years could easily handle.

The gap between Sonia and them was vast enough that she could deflect bullets and knock them unconscious with the back of her blade.

After subduing the gang, Sonia handed them over to the police.

Rationally speaking, it would have been better to finish them off to prevent future trouble.

But Sonia was still too young to methodically stab each of the incapacitated men to confirm their deaths.

So she couldn’t bring herself to dispose of them and wanted to hand them over to the police instead.

Amon respected Sonia’s decision.

‘Reality isn’t a game.’

There’s a world of difference between killing someone in a game and committing murder in reality.

Given how heavily guilt weighs on the human mind, Amon didn’t want Sonia to bear such a burden.

It might be a soft choice in this world, but sometimes such purity was necessary.

That’s why Amon also decided to spare Jimmy’s group.

However, even while sparing them, he had something to say.

“If you run into me within a kilometer of the orphanage, you die. If you run into me outside this city, you also die.”

The message was clear: stay quiet and live your life in this city.

It might seem like an excessive declaration, but considering it was the condition for sparing someone who had pulled a gun on them, it was quite merciful.

Jimmy knew Amon’s character well.

Amon was good, but not naive.

He fundamentally pursued goodness but never hesitated to execute what he believed was right.

Having been beaten countless times, almost to death, by Amon’s decisiveness, Jimmy knew that Amon would definitely keep his word.

Therefore, Jimmy couldn’t take Amon’s grim warning lightly.

He accepted Amon’s warning, saying he would remember it, and was handed over to the police who had responded to the call.

After handing over Jimmy and his group, Amon and Sonia headed back to the orphanage.

In the place they left, Jimmy’s group was loaded into police cars and taken away.

Inside the car, they hung their heads quietly, handcuffed.

In the silent car,

Jimmy gritted his teeth.

Remorse?

Such a concept didn’t exist in a drug addict’s vocabulary.

His mind was filled only with thoughts of revenge.

Of course, to get revenge, he would first need to escape the police and avoid prison, but he had something he was counting on.

‘That businessman…!’

He recalled the businessman who had given him this job.

Clean suit, slicked-back hair.

The face seemed familiar, but his drug-addled brain couldn’t place it.

All he could remember was that the businessman had instigated this attack and promised more drugs and a payment of $10,000 in return.

It had been a chance to get back at Amon and get Sonia, but he had failed this time.

‘It’s okay. If I can just get that $10,000…’

With that money, he could get better enhancements and take revenge on Amon.

As he was thinking this, smiling to himself in the quiet police car,

A familiar voice came from the passenger seat.

“I’ve confirmed the results of the request, Mr. Jimmy. Thanks to you, we now know who possesses Mystic Power.”

Jimmy was startled and looked toward the passenger seat.

There sat the businessman who had hired him, manipulating something on a tablet as he spoke.

Upon seeing the businessman, Jimmy brightened up and tried to act familiar.

Though Jimmy couldn’t see it from the back, the businessman made no effort to hide his displeasure as he acknowledged Jimmy.

Jimmy took this as a positive sign.

“Hurry up with the payment and the powder… and get these handcuffs off me!”

Seeing Jimmy’s confidence that he would be leaving this place,

The businessman didn’t hide his contempt at all.

“This is why using low-class drug addicts is so tiresome…”

The businessman shook his head and lamented.

In agreement, the police officer in the driver’s seat grumbled.

“That’s why they’re cheap, isn’t it?”

“True enough.”

Jimmy couldn’t follow their conversation.

It was only when the police cars, which should have been heading to the police station, arrived at the docks that Jimmy noticed something was wrong.

Eventually, Jimmy and his companions were dragged out of each police car.

By this point, even Jimmy could understand his situation.

The situation was clear enough for even a drug-addled fool to grasp.

Thinking more deeply, Jimmy had violated the first rule of the cyberpunk world.

Money doesn’t lie.

The cost of giving $10,000 to each common drug-addicted gangster with no insurance or family, versus the price of 12 lead bullets to shoot them in the head.

The two couldn’t be compared.

A rational person would have noticed something was off from the moment the offer came.

But Jimmy had overestimated his own worth, and the combination of his inflated ego, the temptation of drugs offered as payment, and his lust for Sonia had prevented him from being suspicious.

“Please spare me…”

Jimmy begged and cried.

But neither the police officers nor the businessman showed any interest in his tears.

They pulled the trigger without hesitation, aiming at the heads of Jimmy’s companions.

And the remaining officers efficiently threw the limp bodies into the sea.

There was no emotion in their efficient division of labor.

For them, it was just routine, just business.

As Jimmy’s companions became water ghosts one by one, Jimmy’s turn approached.

The last thing Jimmy recalled as he faced the approaching gun barrel,

Was the taste of salty french fries he couldn’t remember when he had eaten.

***

After disposing of the twelve bodies, the businessman got into his car and headed somewhere else, escorted by the police.

“Yes. Yes. I handled it thoroughly.”

The businessman muttered toward the air.

Nodding his head, he spoke respectfully to whoever was on the other end of what seemed like a one-sided conversation.

“I’m certain. There’s no way Mystic Power that emerges during life-or-death combat could be concealed.”

The businessman spoke with confident eyes toward the empty air.

“Yes. It’s the girl. It’s definitely her.”

As the businessman crossed the night city with a police escort,

The Higgjen Group logo on his vehicle reflected the red neon lights.