Ch.3737. Even in Cyberpunk, Truth Prevails.

“I… I’m back…”

Amon entered the house hesitantly.

The home he returned to after a week was dark and bleak.

Yet it had been so bright and cozy until the moment he left.

With the curtains drawn and lights off, the house was as dark as a dungeon despite it being morning.

Amon fumbled around for the light switch.

Click.

The lights came on inside.

In a physical sense, the illumination certainly increased.

But somehow, the house still felt dark.

Was it because the blackout curtains were too effective, or was this cursed city just dark?

Amon’s contemplation didn’t last long.

As soon as someone walked out of the room, he realized the true nature of this darkness.

‘Ah.’

Sonia approached Amon with sluggish steps, her straight hair hanging long in front of her face.

Honestly, if anyone was at fault, it was Amon.

He had said he’d be gone for just a day but returned after a week.

Of course, he had called to inform her about staying out overnight and received permission.

There were unavoidable circumstances—he was saving someone’s life.

But feeling disappointed was a separate matter.

“Um… Sonia?”

Sonia drew closer, her expression unreadable behind her hair.

Amon stood at the entrance, neither fleeing nor approaching, waiting for her.

Eventually, Sonia came within arm’s reach.

She spread her arms wide, which had been hanging limply at her sides.

“?”

Amon tried to interpret this gesture.

Then he heard her sulky voice.

“What are you doing?”

“Pardon?”

“Hug me.”

She lifted her head.

Sleepy eyes and pouting lips.

Only then did Amon realize her state.

“Were you sleeping?”

Nod, nod.

“There’s nothing to do at home without you.”

“So you’ve been like this the whole time I was gone?”

“Yeah. Without you, even the internet was boring.”

“Haha…”

Amon let out a dry laugh as he looked at Sonia in her pajamas.

Sonia’s sleepy eyes gazed at him suspiciously.

“Won’t you hug me?”

Instead of answering, Amon showed her the state of his clothes.

He was still wearing the explorer set he had on when he left a week ago.

He had borrowed clothes at the hospital and washed them, but it felt wrong to hug her in this outfit.

Especially since these clothes had been stained with blood and filth.

“I couldn’t wash properly at the hospital. Can I shower first?”

She brought her nose to Amon’s shirt and sniffed.

The sour rag smell assaulted her nose.

“Ugh.”

No matter how much she loved him, the stench was too much for even love to cover.

Amon smiled bitterly and stepped away from her.

“I’ll go wash up.”

When Amon returned to the living room after showering and changing clothes, Sonia was curled up on the sofa.

As soon as she saw the freshly showered Amon, Sonia ran over and buried her nose in his chest.

“Sniff, sniff.”

Approved.

She embraced him right there.

“I missed you…”

Amon silently patted her back.

Only after Sonia had absorbed enough of Amon’s essence could he ask what he wanted to ask.

“Aren’t you angry?”

“Me?”

Snicker.

She let out a laugh.

“About me staying out for a week?”

Nod.

“Why would I be angry? It’s not like you were cheating. You were saving someone’s life.”

She wrapped her arms around Amon’s neck.

Her eyes closed.

Smooch.

Their noses came close, then moved apart again.

Her golden pupils were filled with the sight of the lover she had missed.

Feeling much better, Sonia said with a bright smile:

“Did I seem like a narrow-minded woman who would get angry over something like that?”

Shake, shake.

Amon’s hand stroked her hair.

She didn’t reject his touch, nuzzling her face against it like a puppy.

Enjoying her cheeks and hair, Amon opened his mouth.

“So am I forgiven?”

“No. Forgiveness is a separate matter.”

“Then what do I need to do to be forgiven?”

Grin.

Her smile deepened.

The arms around his neck tightened slightly.

Her breasts pressed against his chest, and her cheek touched his.

As Amon’s lips curled up involuntarily at the cushiony feeling of her air-filled cheeks, Sonia spoke in a whiny tone:

“Make up for the time you weren’t here.”

Amon hugged her tightly.

“Gladly.”

***

Amon was released from the house after a week.

Sonia wouldn’t let him go, demanding he make up for his absence.

Whether watching TV, eating meals, or surfing the internet.

Sonia wouldn’t separate from him, treating him like an attachment doll.

She would sit on Amon’s lap, use his knees as a pillow, or lean on his shoulder.

She wouldn’t let him go.

Of course, she wasn’t with Amon 24/7 since she had to attend university.

But with her threat that she’d be angry if he wasn’t there when she returned, going out was impossible except for grocery shopping.

Eventually, she even demanded they sleep together as compensation.

Originally, though they lived under the same roof, they weren’t the type to share a blanket.

So Amon was noticeably flustered by her request.

“Won’t the bed be too narrow?”

“You can just hold me while we sleep.”

Amon tried to refuse, embarrassed.

“No… that… this is a bit…”

“Don’t you like me?”

He couldn’t beat that cheat key.

In the end, Amon went to bed holding Sonia at night.

The first day, Amon could hardly sleep because of his pounding heart.

But humans are adaptable creatures, and from the second day on, he slept just fine. Now he acted like sharing a blanket was natural.

After a week, Amon finally resumed his mercenary work.

“Hehehe.”

On his way to the Explorer’s Guild.

Laughter escaped him involuntarily.

No matter what world he was in or how old he got.

The excitement of getting a new weapon was unavoidable.

‘They’re all dead.’

Itching to test his triple jump, he wiggled his feet as he headed to the guild.

On the way, he called someone on his phone.

“Hey, Kathy. How have you been?”

It was Kathy, a friend he hadn’t seen in a while.

They started with bad blood when he began his mercenary life, but now she was his junior, disciple, and colleague.

Originally, when Amon was actively taking mercenary requests, she worked alongside him as his colleague.

Then, before heading to the dungeon for skill improvement, they parted temporarily so Amon could experience the dungeon first and teach her.

‘We would have reunited after a few days normally.’

But he got entangled with the Scavengers and was held captive by Sonia for another week.

During that time, Amon had told Kathy to do other things, but they hadn’t been in constant contact, so he didn’t know how she was doing.

Fortunately, she was doing well as a solo mercenary.

“Oh, really? That’s good. The agency manager must be taking good care of you.”

Her bright voice came through the receiver.

[So. When are you taking me to the dungeon?]

“Sorry. I’ve only been there once myself. I’ll take you after I go a couple more times. Just wait two days.”

[And then it’ll take two weeks or a month again?]

“Come on. This time was really special.”

[Speaking of which, your incident is quite famous.]

“Huh? It shouldn’t have been on the news?”

In this rotten world, news about Scavengers harvesting explorers’ organs isn’t newsworthy.

Unless the explorer is a superstar.

Not just organ harvesting by Scavengers, but gang murders, traffic accidents, industrial accidents, etc., are just everyday occurrences.

So even though Amon’s incident was somewhat rare, it wasn’t newsworthy.

But what Kathy wanted to talk about wasn’t news.

[Of course not the news. Just rumors that you’re rich are spreading.]

“Rich? What… my nose is three feet… oh.”

Amon finally understood.

The D4C he called at the dungeon entrance.

It was VIP treatment that ordinary explorers couldn’t even dream of.

While not newsworthy, it was enough for gossip among explorers.

“Ah… really.”

At the time, he was in such a hurry that he called the best medical service he could think of.

He hadn’t considered the aftermath at all.

“They won’t try to harm me, will they?”

For mercenaries living day to day, Amon’s wealth was enough to provoke envy.

Fortunately, according to Kathy, there was no such indication.

[They just accepted it because of your equipment and combat power.]

Without needing explanation, the mercenaries made their own assumptions about Amon’s background.

With top-tier equipment, ability to annihilate Scavengers, and most importantly, calling D4C to save a colleague, they guessed he was a retired ninja or security team leader.

[Even I, as your former colleague, am being avoided.]

In the mercenary world, there’s an unwritten rule that it’s best not to get involved with former corporate employees.

So naturally, Kathy was being ostracized too.

“I’m sorry…”

[If you’re sorry, take me to the dungeon soon.]

“Alright. I’ll take you after I go a few more times.”

[Okay. Take care.]

Amon ended the call.

He had already reached the Explorer’s Guild entrance.

Slap!

He patted both cheeks and opened the door.

‘Second exploration!’

With determination to make this exploration successful, he stepped into the guild.

***

Inside the guild, Amon headed to the reception desk amid people’s stares.

With help from the kind receptionist from before, he sought a party to join.

But—

“Sorry. We’re not on the same level as you.”

Most rejected Amon.

The stated reason was that their levels didn’t match, but the real reason was different.

‘We don’t want to get involved with a retired corporate ninja.’

If he had retired normally, that would be fine.

But most ninjas’ “retirement” wasn’t the healthy kind.

They might get caught up with pursuit teams sent by corporations.

Parties desperate enough to accept such ninjas wouldn’t be interested in the entrance course Amon wanted.

They’d be playing in the deep courses.

So Amon couldn’t find a party.

‘Should I just go in alone?’

The thought crossed his mind briefly, but he quickly dismissed it.

That would be suicide.

A swordsman could never replace a rifleman or mage, and one person couldn’t handle every situation.

That year’s statistics spoke clearly.

Of 100 people who enter dungeons solo, 99 never return. The remaining one usually just got lucky that year and would die the next.

People who survived solo for years were extremely rare—about one in 10,000.

Amon was wise and cautious. Though experienced, he wasn’t arrogant.

The self-aware young man folded up the idea of entering the dungeon alone and threw it far away.

He sipped a drink at the guild lobby bar, waiting for a party.

A guild member who watched him sympathetically made a suggestion.

“Mr. Amon. There are people who haven’t found parties for each position. How about forming a party with them? If you agree, I’ll ask them too.”

Amon considered her proposal.

‘People who were rejected?’

Not having found a party meant there was some problem with them.

Would a party made of such people function properly?

So Amon declined the guild member’s suggestion.

He absolutely refused a trash-tier party.

The employee understood his thinking, and the suggestion was forgotten.

After an hour.

Finally, a party willing to accept Amon appeared.

They would only go to the entrance, and they needed an agile vanguard.

Hearing the party’s conditions, Amon immediately headed to table 13.

The party seemed decent.

They originally had a vanguard, but his leg was digested by a slime, so they were urgently looking for another vanguard.

The party leader looked a bit sketchy, but that was average for cyberpunk, so it wasn’t particularly unusual.

After all, the yellow-haired Even from the previous party didn’t look very diligent either.

There were no other peculiarities.

“We’re beginners. Please take care of us.”

Amon nodded.

He was a beginner too, after all.

For a beginner party, their equipment was quite good.

Usually, beginners compromise on weapons to save money, but this party’s weapons seemed mid-tier.

‘Not bad.’

Amon nodded and headed to the dungeon with the party.

As they passed the entrance and moved deeper, one party member stood out.

A female mage who seemed quite timid, startling at the slightest thing.

Moreover, her illumination and detection spells had too short a duration and too long a casting time, delaying exploration.

‘The mage is… not reliable.’

The difference was stark compared to Paul from the previous party.

Of course, it was unfair to compare her with Paul, a veteran among veterans, but Paul was the only other mage Amon had met.

The party members seemed to be her friends, constantly comforting her, but that didn’t improve her performance.

‘How frustrating.’

Watching her, Amon suddenly recalled a saying from the Great Sage of his previous life:

– [When five people gather, there’s always one piece of trash.]

Remembering those words, Amon couldn’t help but accept the situation.

‘Is it you again, Sensei?’

Even in a different world, the truth remained the same.

Recalling this truth made the situation acceptable.

‘Can’t be helped.’

In social life, one can’t always meet only good people.

If anything, the previous party was unusually ideal.

Amon understood the mage’s mistakes with a warm gaze.

But Amon’s understanding didn’t last long.

“Hahaha! Let’s see who can take down more!”

A tank who abandoned the rear guard and charged into enemy lines.

“Dodge on your own!”

A machine gunner who fired full auto with allies in the line of fire.

“You’re rich anyway. How about sharing with us?”

Meanwhile, the party leader trying to reduce Amon’s share.

And finally.

“Wawawa. Sorry, Amon.”

The mage who turned out to be the queen bee.

Looking at these fantastic four, Amon thought:

‘Fuck. Great Sage, sir. Can’t it be just one person?’

This is hell.