episode_0069

“Where can I get this”

Jihoon was purely embarrassed.

I don’t even know where to get the item that Hong Seo-yeon asked for.

I had a feeling where I could get things like drills, silicone, and hammers, but where on earth do I get electronic devices with complicated model numbers that I don’t even know the names of?

“What the heck, you call this an errand…”

Ji-hoon, who had expected to run an errand to go to the mart and buy a carton of eggs and a carton of milk, ended up clicking his tongue at an errand that was more difficult than he could have imagined.

But Hong Seo-yeon is busy right now. She was happily brainstorming with Trinity and creating something.

I have to code the program from start to finish, so I have to worry about the external access port and all that…

There was nothing Ji-Hoon could do to help since he didn’t know much about computers.

‘I told you to buy it and bring it today, so it doesn’t matter if it takes some time…’

Hong Seo-yeon didn’t seem to be expecting to buy all these items in just one hour.

Maybe he had Ji-hoon buy something that would take a long time because he had to concentrate for a long time in the future.

‘Either way…’

Ji-hoon clicked his tongue and headed towards the garage.

“…This is a bit.”

Going to the mart in Hong Seo-yeon’s sports car and buying things? Putting things that are no different from construction materials in the back of the car and buying huge electronic products and bringing them back?

No matter how I look at it or think about it, it just doesn’t make sense.

Ji-hoon had no choice but to walk out of the garage and look at the cars passing by one by one.

As it was on the outskirts of Neo Seoul, there weren’t that many cars passing by…

‘This would be good.”

A black pickup truck passed in front of Ji-hoon. It wasn’t a white truck, but a black one, and he liked the fact that it looked like something out of an American movie.

There was a feeling of toughness, and Ji-hoon snapped his fingers while looking at the truck.

─Squeak

The black truck stopped and the man driving it stopped.

‘This guy lives close by.’

Ji-hoon got into the man’s truck without hesitation. The man ‘lent’ his truck to Ji-hoon so naturally because the program was uploaded, and he just walked home.

This is not robbery.

I just borrowed it. I’m going to be back here today after loading up the trunk with various things. I’ve remembered the man’s home address, so all you have to do is return it to the garage.

Ji-hoon rationalized it like that and stepped on the accelerator.

* * * * * *

“Wow… You asked me to buy this? This is really too much. I have to go to Yongsan to buy this. Do you think they sell it at the mart?”

Sonagi clicked her tongue in disbelief as she looked at the luggage loaded in the back of the truck.

“Hey, but you bought everything above.”

“What’s important below? How many CPUs should I buy? It’s unconscionable to tell me to go to the mart and buy these. Why do I need a cyberware arm?”

The shower shook its head back and forth, even sticking out its tongue.

She was wearing a black bodysuit, and she had nothing to do today. She had no work to do as a problem solver, and it was ambiguous whether to meet Ji-hoon, so she was sleeping.

But then Ji-hoon suddenly sent her a message asking for help, so she got excited and came running to him.

Of course, I was surprised to see the black pickup truck piled with various items as if it were a house to be built on…

If you say date, this is also a date.

Sonagi sat down in the driver’s seat with a slightly excited expression. Jihoon suddenly sat in the passenger seat, but unlike a sports car, driving a truck felt very different.

If there had been no assist programs to help with driving, I might have already caused about 10 traffic accidents.

“Hey, Nagi. But I can’t do it without you, so help me out.”

“You’re going to help me, right? If you weren’t going to help me, you should have just gone to sleep.”

“Sonagi said with a smile and thumped the steering wheel with his hands.

“But is Yongsan still doing business? In the old days…”

This was a story of the 21st century. So Ji-hoon stopped talking.

“Ah, of course they do business. There was a time when Megacorps caused trouble… but that place has been famous since long ago. What’s the point of eating there…”

“Just swearing,” Sonagi muttered quietly, then skillfully started the truck and began driving, listening to the engine buzzing.

“But if it’s Yongsan, then it’s like that.”

Yongsan in the 21st century was the heart of the electronics market. It has lost much of its momentum now, but there was a time when if you wanted to buy electronics, you had to go to Yongsan, a word that still carries a negative connotation.

What would it be like in a cyberpunk world? Jihoon knew.

“This is a place where illegal cyberware not made by Megacorp is rampant and unlicensed ripperdocs are running rampant.”

“There~ Gangs have set up shop there, so it’s a mess, and there are fights here and there. But on the other hand, it’s also a place where you can get things you wouldn’t otherwise be able to get.”

“I’m talking about cyberware that isn’t approved by the government.”

“That’s right. Something like that. Um… For example, something like this.”

Sonagi smiles and sends something. It’s a video of a cyberware prosthetic arm with a fancy name called ‘Ripper Blade’.

It wasn’t that long, but it was a video recorded in the first person, and it was a video of a group of punks fighting, and then one man shouted and dozens of sharp sickles shot out from his shoulder to his wrist with a “clank clank!” sound.

“But, Nagiya. Why is this illegal?”

“The weapons permitted in South Korea are only for self-defense.”

“Ah, so they don’t arrest people like you who walk around with guns on their waists?”

“I have a certificate, you idiot.”

Sonagi opened her eyes slightly to see if it was real and glanced at Jihoon for no reason. I thought it was a joke, but Sonagi really showed me something like a certificate with a picture of her face on it.

“What the… Is this really true?”

“Depending on the assets you have and your qualifications, the types of weapons you can have are different. Even troubleshooters like us can’t have things like anti-tank missiles or heavy weapons.”

“This ‘Ripper Blade’ is definitely not for self-defense… . It’s for murder? That’s why it’s illegal. Is that right?”

“That’s right. In the first place, even if you have a melee weapon like this, it’s useless. You can’t defeat someone who has installed a fire control program, so a gun can be used for self-defense… If you want to use this for real defense, you’d have to modify your entire body into a cyberware body and install an energy shield, right? ”

The belly button is bigger than the stomach. Ji-hoon nodded in agreement with Sonagi’s words.

“Then can you use the problem solver?”

“You can use it, but only if you’re addicted to electronic drugs and want to ruin your life.”

The cyberpunk world is cruel.

Where on earth is the romance of melee weapons? Ji-hoon felt a little bitter, but reality is reality.

For example, even if you have a lightsaber, what would happen if you were to fight clone troopers with machine guns? What would you do if bullets were flying at you at a rate of at least 800 rounds per minute in a small area?

Could you take them all out with a lightsaber? If you had the cyberware eyeballs to do that, wouldn’t it be better to use a gun to accurately shoot the opponent’s head off?

Because you can block incoming bullets with an energy shield?

‘How cold-hearted… .’

Still, aren’t there people somewhere in this world who stubbornly stick to melee weapons?

Ji-hoon decided to close his eyes for a moment with a small sense of anticipation.

* * * * * * *

“Wow…Fuck…”

Is this the Yongsan of cyberpunk?

A forest of haphazardly constructed buildings, nicknamed ‘Yongdon’, greeted Ji-hoon.

Flashy neon signs adorned the signs dazzlingly, and Ji-Hoon’s eyes were filled with stores with outdated names, wondering what kind of electronics malls there were.

The problem is that this cyberpunk Yongsan Electronics Market is so haphazardly woven with so many buildings that it almost feels like a maze, to the point where the word ‘dungeon’ fits it perfectly.

“What the heck, why are these buildings like this?”

“Why, why? Because they illegally remodeled it, made passages above and below, and did all sorts of other things. Why would people call this place the Yongsan Fortress?”

It’s not a dungeon, it’s a castle. Ji-hoon was so dumbfounded that he rubbed his eyes and got out of the pickup truck.

“Where should I go?”

“If you just want to get a few CPUs, there’s no problem getting them on the first floor you see over there, right? But selling cyberware is a different story.”

“We have to go inside.” Sonagi waved for Jihoon to follow her and started walking with him.

What was strange was that, unlike other times, Sonagi was walking around with a machine gun slung openly on his waist.

“Hmm…”

“Hmm…”

At the entrance, where a huge sign was posted, stood two or three large, muscular men wearing goggles. Nearby, men wearing Hawaiian T-shirts and gold chains around their necks stood smoking electronic cigarettes.

“…What are those kids doing here?”

“Cyberware prosthetics and limbs can be modified to be used as weapons.”

“…Are you trying to stop a hostile organization from coming in here and getting weapons?”

“Ugh.”

Sonagi nodded, and as she said, the moment Sonagi and Jihoon entered the electronics store, they didn’t really stop them. Even though they scanned them with their red, straight-line goggles, they didn’t seem to be an enemy organization. It was natural.

“Megacorp is leaving this alone?”

“Rather, use it.”

“Surely you’re saying that high-performance cyberware is multiplied several times here?”

“That’s right. But the merchants here also have to eat and live, right? If you buy it officially, you can buy it for 2 million won, but at Megacorp, they want to sell it for 400, and these people also have to eat and live… .”

“500… No, I’ll sell it for fucking 600.”

This is an outrageous premium. Who on earth would pay that much for cyberware here?

Ji-hoon didn’t understand, so he followed the rain and went up the spiral staircase, crossed a small cloud bridge, went down to the musty smelling basement, and then took a small elevator and went down somewhere.

When he heard a ding-dong sound, he could hear the club’s music from far away, and the sound of flies buzzing and the flashy neon signs welcomed Ji-hoon.

‘Well done! Doctor Park!’

‘The original Ripperdoc, Mr. Kim!’

‘A house where one comes and becomes two’

“What…”

It was a place full of cheap-sounding signs. Judging from the strange fishy smell, it seemed clear that this was the place where ‘unlicensed ripperdocs’ were performing cyberware treatments.

“Ah.. Mister! Mister! Please! Really! Please! If I can’t do this, I won’t be able to work starting tomorrow!”

Ji-hoon stopped walking slightly at the sound of a voice coming from far away. A woman with dark skin was bowing with her one remaining hand on the ground.

“Uh… I told you, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Please sir! Please do the surgery! Okay? I’ll somehow get the money.”

“Uh… Ahem! You have to bring the money first! I’ll do the surgery, Miss. Do you know how dangerous it is to operate on someone who doesn’t even have a resident registration card? Especially if they’re a foreign worker…”

Ripperdoc closes the door slightly as if he really has no choice and goes inside, and the desperate woman opens the door and goes in to plead her case.

“It’s a common technique.”

“…What are you doing?”

“If a woman begs like that… At first, he introduces a private loan shark and says he’s only doing it for himself, but then charges three times the price and performs the procedure.”

“Hey what the fuck… No way… No way?”

“Of course. They make you addicted to electronic drugs while performing the procedure, or in the worst case, they perform a combination procedure that requires periodic after-sales service. Then, you can’t even pay back the principal and the money keeps flowing out….”

“In the end, I guess I’ll have to sell my body.”

At Ji-hoon’s words, Sonagi smiled bitterly and pointed to a corner store. The name on the signboard there was relatively ordinary.

“Let’s go in here first. The people here are relatively ordinary. Hong Seo-yeon wants… The cyberware parts will all be here.”