episode_0067

Their butts were so tempting I wanted to roughly spank them, but I decided to hold back for now.

“Wow~ It came out pretty. It’s troublesome, but I might be happy if I get a lot of fans?”

“I didn’t expect my face to be so exposed like this…”

The two of them, watching the live broadcast video Johann brought, pretended to be troubled while secretly enjoying it.

This was even more so because they were already getting explosive reactions online.

Indeed, an era had arrived where plastic surgery wasn’t even considered a surgery, yet they possessed a rare beauty and cuteness.

It also helped that their appearance, technically coordinating and swiftly maneuvering among such fierce-looking individuals like Ricardo, whose face was a cybernetic one, or Bearhand, who had the typical rough uncle-like appearance, stood out even more.

“This is a headache…”

On the other hand, Luna, who was simultaneously receiving the same tremendous barrage of cheers, sighed deeply with a disgusted expression.

Indeed, what else could one expect from online reactions other than excessive sexual harassment or doxxing?

‘Until things quiet down, please put some effort into protecting my personal data for a while.’

‘567 data exfiltration attempts have already been detected and retaliatory attacks initiated over 6 hours and 13 minutes.’

‘What happened to the ones who were counterattacked?’

‘By reverse-engineering the code and interfering with their neural socket circuits, they were deprived of the right to use social infrastructure.’

‘The performance is solid.’

It seems their social code has been shattered, which virtually makes them socially dead unless they pay a hefty sum of credits.

If left alone, they might think it’s fine and do strange things for no reason, so such countermeasures must be clear.

Since most who mess with mercenaries experience physical death, wouldn’t this even be considered lenient treatment?

“Well… for now, I’ll have to stay quietly holed up at home until the reactions die down.”

People recognizing me is bothersome, but it’s not a big problem.

Since information is so overflowing, it gets swept away and buried quickly after a little time passes.

“Then I’ll also take it as a vacation and play a lot with Jun~”

“Hmm… it’s a simple command… I can issue it from here too, so it doesn’t matter.”

At the mention of a long vacation, a subtle heat could be felt in the eyes of Yuki and Kana as they licked their lips.

A sense of liberation from work was mixed in, but the majority of it was a sticky lust and a clear ‘purpose’.

Looking at their glossy lips, I couldn’t help but shiver as a chill ran down my spine.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hmm? Is the air conditioning unit set too high… I feel cold.”

It must be my imagination.

Luna, mouthing something as if deep in thought, then grabbed the tips of Yuki and Kana’s ears and pulled them straight up.

Their thin, delicate-looking ears stretched taut…

“Kyaaaah!”

“Gyaaaah!”

Luna, who had effectively and efficiently separated the two, who had become fox dolls that shrieked when pulled, from me, snorted at the complaints Yuki and Kana expressed with tears in their eyes, dismissing them.

Thinking they had gotten close, I averted my eyes from the three who seemed to still be sorting out their hierarchy, and Johann, perhaps not wanting to get involved, also averted his gaze so as not to get caught in the crossfire.

“So, that’s all? Just to tell us that we became overnight stars by appearing on the 7 o’clock news?”

Johann slowly shook his head as if to say it wasn’t.

And he even annoyingly wiggled his finger.

“Tsk-tsk-tsk. Of course not. It’s to inform you that the Shape Shifter will be actively moving.”

“He just cleanly retreated as soon as he failed, so he seemed like someone who doesn’t hold grudges, you know.”

Of course, in this industry, such individuals often seem more sinister, but if he had stabbed someone and left, especially with cloaking capabilities, we wouldn’t have been able to respond. The fact that he didn’t do so made it roughly clear what type he was, even if he couldn’t be trusted.

At my indifferent expression, Johann flicked the glass containing his cold Ramen Tea, which he hadn’t even finished, like a bell with his finger.

*Ping-* *Ping-* *Ping-*

“Of course, if it were the Shape Shifter, he might, but… he’s a professional who ultimately moves according to his client’s demands. I don’t think a killer who failed a job would have much say in a discussion with the Visor, at least? At the very least, he’d have to pay compensation satisfactory to the client, or do other work of equal value.”

“So, he’ll issue a revenge commission against us for disrupting his plan?”

“That’s a transaction between the Shape Shifter and the corporation, so I don’t know, but it’s highly probable. Whatever method he uses, he’ll come after you again.”

Johann stretched his arms out as if saying “Ta-da!”, like he was telling a funny joke.

Of course, no one understood such a high-level and sensational joke, so the atmosphere remained chilly.

“Well… that is a big problem.”

If such a guy was determined to assassinate us, I wondered if I could truly protect the others.

“But he said things like, ‘You’ll be big. Let’s meet at the top,’ and then disappeared. Would he stoop so low as to bother us? Claiming to maintain his pride, he could just pay the compensation and be done with it.”

“Haha! That guy is always short on cash!”

I was dumbfounded at Johann, who added personal remarks like, “Because he buys so much equipment!”

“He’s one of the Seven High, isn’t he? A list packed with the pinnacles among mercenaries.”

“Hahaha! The ‘Seven High’ is just a list of strong people, it has nothing to do with their financial situation!”

He buys all that flashy equipment, but does he only use necessary weapons during missions?

There’s no waste like this. High-tech weapons of that caliber wouldn’t be cheap, you know.

If only he had donated that money directly to me, I would have lived so happily…

“Coming to assassinate someone because he’s short on cash… that sounds plausible?”

In fact, if you ask for the reason when something happens at Eclipse Point, 99.99% of the time it’s about money or a love-triangle dispute, so it’s only natural.

“So, to get to the point, I, Johann, the leader of Vanishment, have something I want to propose to you.”

Johann dropped his lighthearted, easygoing expression, as if everything before had been nothing but idle chatter, and sported a relaxed yet sharp smile.

The hazy atmosphere instantly sank, and it felt like a shard of glass, not a knife, was held to my throat.

Even the three who had been cute-ly keeping each other in check seemed to realize the seriousness, and though there was a difference in scale for their groups, they showed serious faces as leaders of their respective organizations.

“Frankly, I don’t know if the Shape Shifter will target you directly. His work is optimized not just for direct assassination but also for instigating discord and orchestrating murder by proxy.”

“He even tried to kill Closing Age by impersonating Jooworld’s boss in the first place.”

“Even if he doesn’t pose a direct threat of murder to you, attacks mimicking your combat techniques and traces will certainly occur everywhere.”

Johann was filled with conviction, as if he had seen the future.

It was a belief in how the opponent would act, based on accumulated data from observing the Shape Shifter for a long time.

“Even in the Lower City, to do such a thing…”

“You might think it’s absurd, but think about Mr. Yoshimura. Do you still think that was truly the power an individual could possess?”

“…”

“It might sound funny because it’s just a name people casually put together, but they are all people with abilities befitting the names they hold.”

I had no choice but to admit it, so I raised both hands.

No matter how much Tony Bonny was called a senile old geezer and a trash can, there had to be a reason for his radicalism, effortlessly cutting down a building where people lived and brazenly trying to murder a mega-influencer in front of a crowd of nearly ten thousand people.

Megacorps, too, must be reluctant to touch such things.

“So, what do you want?”

Luna’s wary gaze and Johann’s cunning eyes clashed in the air, shattering and scattering.

The victor of that near-instantaneous, invisible battle of wits was Luna.

More precisely, it was closer to Johann, who had no will to fight, backing down, but the reason for the proposal he had given us transparently spilled from his mouth without delay.

“From our position, taking jobs from Megacorps, the Shape Shifter, a docile and clever hunting dog, is a troublesome competitor and a subject of investigation, as we need to find out which Megacorp is supporting him, among other things like his possession of equipment that shouldn’t be released to civilians. Of course, Vanishment, a mercenary group, has higher actual power than an individual like the Shape Shifter, but he’s still not an enemy to be ignored.”

“So, we should cooperate and act as bait, since we’re the targets anyway?”

“Ahaha! Is that how it sounds? Well, let’s say yes for now.”

At Johann, who casually agreed as if he had no intention of hiding anything, Luna frowned slightly.

“Even given such a situation, that doesn’t seem like a reason for us to cooperate with you unconditionally.”

“How bold~”

Luna’s answer was negative.

Even though he had been practically rejected, Johann, who didn’t lose his relaxed expression, asked for the reason.

“May I ask why?”

“Because our team isn’t weak.”

It was an expression of confidence.

Jay Q, Blake, Raleigh. And me too.

Luna’s confidence that those she had gathered herself wouldn’t crumble.

“Didn’t Jun tell you? Even the Moon Princess’s secret weapon, the lost item of Ayakashi, me…”

“Stop. That story doesn’t seem necessary right now.”

‘What’s a Moon Princess… and what’s the lost item of Ayakashi…?’

Something dangerous seemed to have suddenly been discussed.

Perhaps it was too stimulating for the small, cute aspiring nine-tailed foxes who only wanted to grow into full-fledged Gumiho, as their mouths dropped open.

“Ahaha! Indeed… I acted a bit immature. Well then, how about you consider that Vanishment has received a commission from Rune’s Bar… and K.I.T.S.U.N.E?”

“A commission?”

Johann activated the panel, which was still on the table showing Closing Age’s montage, and displayed a new text file.

[Real Name: Unknown] [Identifier: Shape Shifter] [Danger Level: Ⅷ] [Age: Unknown (Estimated early to mid-30s)] [Place of Birth: Unknown, Residence: Unknown, Education: Unknown, Family Relations: Unknown…]

Unknown, unknown, unknown… if this entirely unknown mess was presented as information, it was a poster so embarrassing you’d bite your tongue and die.

Even the composite sketch, reconstructed by AI from testimonies and CCTV footage, was blurry beyond measure.

But everyone present had their eyes fixed on the text at the very bottom.

Dead or Alive 100,000,000 Credit.

Whether dead or alive, just bring them in, and it’s 100 million.

At an amount on a different scale, Luna, who rarely gets surprised by anything after being a mercenary for 10 years, couldn’t close her open mouth.

“If you help us catch the Shape Shifter, the 100 million credit bounty on his head…”

Johann was smiling broadly, as if this reaction was truly amusing.

“I’ll hand it all over to you.”

It was the price of us becoming living bait.