Ch.239Work Record #034 – Look-alikes (3)

The likelihood of someone boldly attempting to assassinate Polaris within Los Angeles isn’t very high. Doing so would only result in losing T Entertainment’s trust.

No, actually, the opposite could be true. They might boldly send assassins precisely for that reason. Making T Entertainment lose credibility, destroying their stock value, and then appearing as a savior to solve the problem would be a strategic move.

That strategy becomes difficult to execute the moment Polaris knows who’s behind it. If they managed to eliminate Polaris, perhaps, but Polaris wasn’t someone who would die easily.

I comfort myself with the thought of learning directly from the entertainment industry’s assassins. Surpassing one’s master by devouring them is both bitter and sweet.

Around that time, the door opened, and Arthur-2 and Eve entered. Both were startled, almost simultaneously, to see Polaris standing there naturally removing her outer coat inside the house.

That’s the kind of person Polaris is. Someone whose face even Eve recognizes. Polaris greeted them like a small porcelain figurine decorating a music box. Every part of her body was utterly captivating.

“I’m Polaris, your guiding star shining in a lost world, in a lost age. I’ve hired Arthur Murphy for security during my LA performance, so I wanted to meet him in person.”

She briefly acted for the sake of courtesy. Whether she harbored romantic feelings for me or a sense of kinship, she clearly knew better than to display it in front of Eve.

Eve took a moment to choose her words. Half the people who saw this person who seemed born to be loved would feel shabby in comparison, but my Eve didn’t.

Someone who understands how much my occasionally frightening eyes and the words spoken with those frightening eyes yearn for something wouldn’t easily be swayed by Polaris’s abnormal charm. A smile rises to my lips.

She appeared not to be wary of Polaris at first glance. Like a cat finding its comfortable spot, she leaned against me while looking at Polaris and spoke. I should say she was pretending to be relaxed while remaining vigilant.

“I thought our Arthur had become quite an impressive freelance mercenary, but for him to be guarding Polaris, whom even I, a Creek escapee, recognize by face… it’s almost unbelievable. I’m Eve.”

At my Eve’s natural introduction, Polaris’s eyes began to sparkle again. Unlike her natural but broadcast-ready greeting earlier, she stepped forward smoothly toward Eve.

Hollowwood Creek escapees might leave Hollowwood Creek, but they never escape its shadow. Eve was different. She had experienced complete and total liberation.

Polaris had noticed this fact. With sparkling eyes, she willingly took both of Eve’s hands in hers and looked up at her with a face that appeared as innocent as a child’s.

“I thought no one had found a way to make a Creek escapee wear such a comfortable expression! The secret is… I don’t even need to ask, do I?”

Eve glanced at me once with slightly fierce eyes. She seemed to have realized that I had shown Polaris something similar to what I had shown her.

Still, she chose to be proud rather than jealous. She was the greatest among all things I loved. Eve herself knew best that this fact wouldn’t change.

“Thanks to someone who’s made an impressive impact even on T Entertainment’s superstar. When did you meet Polaris, Arthur? You’d better answer well. Seriously.”

It doesn’t sound like a lie. It almost sounds like an animal’s cry. But this time, Polaris lightly helped me through the crisis.

“In Detroit. I saw Arthur firmly holding the hand of someone who was terrified, afraid of responsibility, yet trying to hold their ground… and saving that person from every pit.”

Polaris skillfully made it sound like something that happened during a security job. It wasn’t a lie meant to create a secret between us, but rather to maintain her contract with H Entertainment.

Eve, somewhat satisfied with that answer, looked back at me. She turned her head, lightly adjusted her blue hair, and spoke while meeting my gaze. Had our home ever been such a rapturous space before?

“Seems like one security job led to another. I’m glad you’ve gained a reputation for more than just killing, Arthur. No matter how much I’ve accepted it… clean hands make for better sleep at night, right?”

I nodded lightly. It doesn’t matter how much blood of those better off dead stains my hands, but even a drop of innocent blood makes sleep elusive.

Misfortune punishes evil more severely than anything else, and insomnia punishes mistakes more harshly than anything else. I’ve experienced it before. Still, I didn’t want to lie anymore.

If I continued lying to Eve, I felt I would become completely tired of making excuses, both officially and superficially, pretending to know and not know things. I spoke honestly.

“Even though this job I’ve been hired for is to kill assassins targeting Polaris?”

Eve rolled her eyes as if deep in thought, then finally stood on her tiptoes and gently patted my head with her prosthetic hand. Truth helps eventually. Now is that eventually.

“That’s your reward for being honest. Since you told me that… why do you think they call you the Boogeyman? Because you specialize in dragging bad guys into the closet. Just don’t kill too many, Arthur. You know that, right?”

“I know very well. The path back shouldn’t be so bloody that it stains the welcome mat. Right?”

I naturally support her waist as she stands unsteadily on her tiptoes. After nodding while comfortably leaning against me, Eve soon buried her face comfortably in my neck.

For now, I decided to enjoy the subtle jealousy in Polaris’s gaze instead of Eve’s. It’s an exceedingly rare expression.

And so, the introduction to my work duties and Eve and Polaris’s first meeting… I was barely able to end it in the direction I wanted. I had no intention of wavering, and I didn’t. If anything, I did some of the swaying.

“Well, now I need to go discuss work. To be honest, I didn’t expect there would be assassins targeting Polaris in Los Angeles, so we need to talk about several things. Eve…”

I trailed off, but she was already poking at Arthur-2’s sulky cheeks, who was upset about being left out of the conversation. Arthur-2 almost growled in displeasure, but couldn’t resist.

With his arms already covered in strength-assist devices, he couldn’t resist Eve. Using oversized weapons despite his small frame meant he couldn’t control his strength well.

After tousling Arthur-2’s hair once more as he failed to resist, she entered my room where Chance’s server computer waited. She closed the door. It was time to work again.

Although Polaris’s performance was still a long way off, my job had essentially begun the moment she returned to Los Angeles. Once again, I emerged wearing black clothes and a display helmet.

Small Evil was, as always, at my waist, and after grabbing my properly matte black carbine, my armament was complete. I also carried a disassembled sniper rifle like a briefcase. Armament is always the same.

Should I try to get better weapons? This was enough to handle targets. I thought improving my own skills was more important anyway.

Perhaps my outfit resembled Gardner’s. I tried not to mind Polaris tilting her head as if trying to overlap Gardner’s appearance with mine. Right now, I’m just Arthur Murphy.

After naturally inviting Polaris into the room, I activated the noise cancellation field generator worn on the inside of my wrist to absorb surrounding sounds. I started by stating what I could infer so far.

“First, since your arrival in LA was practically public knowledge, Red Shark Sana, other mercenary companies… basically, a huge number of armed personnel have entered LA. They’ve hidden the tree in the forest, right?”

Polaris nodded lightly. Then she showed me information I could guess but couldn’t confirm. It was the access records of T Entertainment’s security team.

While Polaris had her dedicated security team, an enormous number of security personnel and legal assassination teams had entered Los Angeles beyond that. Even more than I had expected.

And they came with the entertainment industry’s patent department’s copyright division. Did they bring the most skilled assassins simply to prevent assassination? Following my gaze, Polaris quietly spoke.

“Three copyright division members came in total, but only two were assigned to counter my assassination. One was assigned to other duties somehow, but I have no way to verify that.”

So we need to include that one copyright division member as a potential threat. I decided to think that the feeling of fighting all the monsters of this high-speed era wasn’t unfounded.

Although I had fought Belwether’s special operations division through ambush that prevented them from arming themselves, now I was preparing to face the entertainment industry’s patent department, well-versed in assassination wars.

“Of course, the copyright division won’t move easily. Using that level of force triggers backlash. Internal politics get stirred up, and management disputes become official.”

Clearly, making T Entertainment lose trust and then appearing as a savior could be a strategy, but it’s too dangerous to implement. A management takeover would require a smoother approach.

In such a situation, they wouldn’t use the copyright division, a last resort among last resorts, so early. Nevertheless, after dealing with other assassins, we would have to face the copyright division too.

There’s no ambiguity. Polaris will survive and return after her performance. The assassination plan will fail, whether they use the copyright division or whatever else. We must ensure that.

I continued naturally. Polaris probably doesn’t have enough information to identify external contractors right now. Fortunately, I was already familiar with Los Angeles’s underworld.

“I’ll find the external contractors. While I don’t have exceptional intelligence capabilities, I can at least find the one who’s worst at hiding.”

“And when you find that one?”

Polaris’s face looked so innocent as she naturally asked that question that I felt guilty about my next words.

It felt like telling an innocent child that I would shoot someone dead, but Polaris was more accustomed to this violence and scheming than I was.

“We need to make an example of that one to send a message to the external contractors. The message that ‘someone is eliminating contractors hired to assassinate Polaris, and you might be next.'”

If that example doesn’t work, I’ll take the perpetrator’s brain to Panacea MediTech. Panacea MediTech, not wanting to ruin the performance, will gladly open up the gray matter and provide internal information.

The house always wins in this game too. And right now, all the houses in this gambling game were on my side. The feeling of strength coursing through my body like a warm-up exercise was immensely enjoyable.