episode_0121

As soon as I borrowed Spenda’s bombardment lance and succeeded in evaporating the heart of the former vanguard knight named Logan, killing him, the media outlets that had come to capture the scoop all turned into hyenas.

Those trying to reveal the monster’s identity by photographing its corpse up close, those arbitrarily trying to collect samples from the monster, and those shoving microphones in my face under the guise of an interview.

I, who was about to collapse from exhaustion, wanted to give up on everything, but when I grabbed the microphone shoved at me and crushed it with my grip, giving a warning, they all backed away.

With the help of Jay Q, Blake, and Raleigh who arrived afterward, I recovered the remaining Wild Hunt members and Logan’s body, then returned to the company.

People grumbled at me, their CEO, from all directions, but I neatly raised my middle finger and blew them off.

“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have been able to stop him on our own, and Logan would have been recovered by Genotech, unable to rest in peace. Thank you.”

Spenda, the vanguard knight, with his usual shattered full-face helmet tucked under his arm, bowed at the waist.

Behind him, Pasio and the fifteen surviving members also bowed their heads.

“I hope you’re not planning to settle payment with just a thank you.”

“Of course. Our objective has already been achieved, and there’s nothing left for us to do there, so the Wild Hunt is practically disbanded. Therefore, I, Spenda, and the entire Wild Hunt, will be joining R&B Risk Control.”

The recruitment of the Wild Hunt, which was the reason for their deployment to Tonyboni.

As the contracts were sent to their personal channels, each of them rolled their eyes in the air as if reading them.

“Read the contract carefully and sign if you accept. You may leave now.”

A dismissal.

Spenda, wearing his completely broken helmet, nodded, and when he turned around, the members, as if of one mind, rushed out of the room.

“Phew! It worked out somehow.”

“Good job. It must have been tough, but it turned out well.”

Luna sent a refreshing smile my way as I lay sprawled on the sofa.

“Wow… I think I’ve become a total celebrity, haven’t I? Someone as shy as me takes serious mental damage every time I run into someone I know on the street.”

It might sound like an exaggeration, but the aftermath of the live broadcast must have been immense, because if you look around online, my story is everywhere.

A noble bloodline rebelling against the current system! One of the strongest mercenaries in the sunless city!

And they kept attaching all sorts of unwanted modifiers like that.

Feeling my stomach churn in real time, I glared sullenly at Luna, and she, chuckling, avoided my gaze as if apologetic.

“There was nothing we could do. Although we’re nominally an Ayakashi subsidiary, so feelings weren’t great, the moment a military conflict broke out there, we became outright enemies with Genotech. Half-hearted containment wouldn’t have given Chairman Nozaburo a reason to intervene.”

“Tsk. This isn’t likely to end with just one time.”

“We need the perception that we’re a rampant troublemaker. And this was a good opportunity to make that tendency widely known.”

We even assaulted a secret facility of Genotech Holdings.

Of course, the very existence of such a secret facility in Eclipse Point was wrong to begin with, but the power of such a wild, borderline insane act – nonchalantly crashing into one of the world’s largest corporations, killing its employees, stealing experimental subjects, threatening reporters from mega-corp media outlets who came to cover the story, and then calmly leaving – was truly immense, causing a stir not just in Eclipse Point but across the entire world.

And Chairman Nozaburo of Ayakashi, who had been sitting idly, keeping his butt heavy, even when the megacorps’ attention was drawn to me for background checks, is now frantically holding press conferences and sweating bullets trying to cover this incident.

Was it said that an incompetent ally is more dangerous than a competent enemy?

While it’s questionable if ‘they’ consider me an ally, our enormous trolling, as nominal allies, made the already balding old chairman lose even more hair.

This action is dangerous for Ayakashi as a whole, but the fact that headquarters hasn’t come down to raise hell shows that Hiko is holding them back.

Feeling that deliberate intent to stir up trouble, I shivered for no particular reason.

“Anyway, I managed to get all of Genotech’s research data, but what should I do with it?”

Research materials amounting to ten-something percent of Martina’s total brain storage, and the hard drives I had Jay Q extract.

Originally, I had planned to use them in a deal with the Wild Hunt, but since we completely blew up the facility and even found their former comrades, telling them about the research became effectively meaningless.

“We’ll keep it as leverage and only release appropriate information to the media.”

“Sounds like it’ll just make them angrier.”

“Exactly. We’re provoking them. ‘I’ve got your leash in my hand, so bark for me,’ something like that.”

“Oh…”

That sounds kinda naughty.

“You’re having strange thoughts again, aren’t you?”

When Luna’s face turned serious, I feigned innocence.

It’s a perfect act, so she’ll have to fall for it!

“At first, they’ll try to placate us. They’ll offer capital or shares, asking us to return it. Because we have the powerful backing of Ayakashi Corporation, they can’t just mess with us.”

“And if we don’t give in, they’ll inevitably try to recover it by force.”

“We’ll have to resist to some extent, but then Chairman Nozaburo will have to block them again. Right now, it’s just Genotech, but what if we keep finding and collecting other megacorps’ secret misdeeds?”

Even if Ayakashi Corporation is one of the world’s leading zaibatsus, and Chairman Nozaburo is a philosopher-king capable of realizing ideal communism, their opponents are also similarly among the world’s top corporations.

And since their company’s ‘balls’ have been grabbed, they’re extremely enraged. If they come at us trying to kill us, they’ll surely scream.

“Things have gone really well. Although it’s a bit strange that the impact from what happened recently is much greater than what we’ve accumulated over ten years of effort…”

Luna let out a slightly wistful laugh, then stretched.

Stretch— The outline of her armpit revealed beyond the fabric as her arms went up, and the slightly damp area beneath her chest came into view.

‘Wow. That’s hot.’

Although it was a sight hidden beneath her shirt, I could vividly picture it as if it were right before my eyes.

I haven’t been able to ‘release’ in the past few days, have I.

Just seeing something like that makes my lower body ache; it really feels like I’ve returned to my prime, when I boasted monkey-like virility.

While it felt good, feeling a subtle sensation, I lay on the sofa and sent Luna a suggestive gaze.

Intense— At my intense, though not sharp, gaze, Luna glanced at me, then flinched.

“…Your eyes are naughty again.”

“Yes, I am having naughty thoughts. Didn’t you say you’d give me a ‘service’ when you got back?”

“Ugh…”

Luna wrapped her arms around her chest, but would that really hide anything? Her impressively voluminous chest, which drew admiration just by looking at it, became squashed, appearing even more appealing instead.

And so, for a moment.

As if she continued to deliberate in her mind, Luna, with a crimson face, took a deep breath in and out, then nodded.

“Alright… You worked hard even though it was a tough job, so…”

As Luna stood up from the chair, the chair, still spinning with residual momentum, slid away, and leaving it behind, Luna slowly made her way to the shower room.

“…Wait for me.”

“Anytime.”

For a wait like this, no matter how long, I could wait happily.

Thump- thump- Feeling my heart pound, and watching Luna’s silhouette faintly visible through the opaque glass of the bathroom as she undressed, I rolled around on the sofa and called Martina.

“I’m here.”

“Ah, you startled me!”

It’s certainly great that she automatically finds what I want in my head without me even saying it, but this is the problem.

Martina, who arrived beforehand and startled me without being called, as if my surprise was something to be proud of, formed a V-sign with an indifferent, sullen face.

‘Is this really an AI…?’

On the outside, she was just a cute little girl with very pale skin, black inverted eyes, and intimidatingly blood-red pupils for no reason, but the fact that what resided inside her was a strong AI, holding back its evolution into a super-AI, was truly unbelievable.

“Even if Zafudong denies it, the interior of this organic terminal is the pinnacle of Ayakashi Corporation’s proud AI technology as…”

“Alright, alright. Our Martina is pretty, smart, and everything.”

If I stretch out the cheeks of the narcissistic teenage AI and embrace her like a princess, she’ll wrap her arms around my neck and instantly become docile.

“So, was there anything about *that body* in the data?”

The name Jade, which I’d heard when I infiltrated the lab.

Jade S. Acton, the urban legend and serial killer of Tonyboni, who was also known as Bram Stoker.

And he was, in a sense, the biological father of the body Martina currently used.

“That definition is not precise. While this organic terminal was indeed created using Jade S. Acton’s biological child as material, there is no longer a biological connection to Jade S. Acton, the former Genotech researcher, biologically.”

“…That’s a bit complicated, isn’t it?”

“It means that this organic terminal is taxonomically identical to the experimental subjects confirmed at Genotech’s wicked secret facility. Of course, thanks to the integration of Jade S. Acton’s unique technology and the modifications by the great Ayakashi’s nanoware, it is in a state closer to what the pathetic Genotech researchers would call a ‘success’ than their own.”

Martina’s words, consistently advocating hatred for Genotech, were quite surprising.

“A success? So if you take that drug, will your muscles bulge too?”

“…”

In response to my question, Martina’s eyes filled with pity, as if she were looking at a complete idiot.

“It was a joke…”

“This AI also wishes to believe it was a simple joke, so I will affirm that. The aggression-enhancing drug is merely a concentrated, complex structural ‘up drug’ in terms of its composition, and the direction of this experiment, as Genotech desires, is the development of an intelligent species with adaptability to extreme environments. In that sense, this organic terminal possesses physical adaptability, improvement through bloodsucking, procedural resistance to injury, and intelligence, thus conforming to the preliminary objectives.”

Come to think of it, Martina, who was just this tiny girl, was truly an unbelievable existence.

Was she not an entity into which biological and engineering cutting-edge over-technology, secretly created by Genotech and Ayakashi in violation of their agreements, was simultaneously poured?

“Please put Ayakashi Corporation first.”

“…”

You’ve mastered the art of online bickering. Go forth.

“Based on this organic terminal’s criteria, I find this place comfortable, so I resolutely refuse.”

As if being held and cuddled by me was entertaining, Martina showed no intention of getting down.

Anyway, having gained a clearer understanding of Martina, I fell into deep thought.

Could Martina be the real bomb?

Even so, my treatment of her wasn’t likely to change.

Just by her appearance, she was nothing but a cute kid…

Bite!

“Aargh!!”

Along with a sharp sensation embedded in my neck, I felt a hot energy draining away, suck-suck.

As I, who had let out a shrill scream at the surprise bloodsucking demonstration, glared and tried to grab Martina, she somehow slipped from my arms and scampered towards the door, escaping.

“…It seems Miss Luna physically wants to spend time alone with you, so I shall withdraw. Humph.”

As Martina closed the door with a thud and left, I rubbed my still-stinging neck and watched the door Martina had exited with peculiar eyes.

“Is she really going through puberty…?”

An aggrieved voice escaped me unconsciously, but clearing my throat, I sensed a presence beyond the bathroom door, and soon, with a click, the glass door opened, and a cloud of steam momentarily emerged before vanishing, thanks to the humidity control system.

And then, Luna emerged from within that cloud of steam.

Her face was flushed crimson, perhaps from the heat, and a single drop of water slid down her chest.

Luna, barely covering her front with a bath towel, exhaled hotly.

“…Turn over. I’ll give you a massage.”

“Oh.”