Chapter 20: Dance under the lights (6)

The reason the pier was empty was for AI updates and maintenance of the heavy machinery.

Rock-bottom labor costs mitigated the deaths of workers, but malfunctions did not.

This was because it directly impacted imports and exports.

The work was mostly carried out under the judgment of engineers, and this time was, of course, no different.

It was under the judgment of those who had accepted bribes from the security company F24.

Things rotten at the root tend to have rotten branches as well.

Lee Do flicked his cigarette.

The hazy smoke that rose disappeared in the sea breeze.

The wind at the port was exceptionally desolate, and the sound of the sea, rarely heard in the city, slapped against his eardrums with a splashing sound.

It was a scene contained on a small table in a corner of the port.

“I don’t know what kind of absurd meaning it has for mere fixer solos to antagonize Red Stream, but…”

As Lee Do took out another cigarette and lit it, the man continued.

“To get straight to the point, we’ve roughly figured out where they are. Sector 11-A, hiding in plain sight, so to speak.”

Lee Do blew out smoke.

It was F24.

The government’s subcontractor, responsible for dealing with the remnants of the shattered Red Stream.

The only difference between solos and them here was whether they moved in large numbers or small groups.

At least their interests aligned.

Vivian, crossing her arms, asked.

“Then, what’s the reason you haven’t raided them yet?”

“It seems like there are guys backing them up. The deal was to wipe out Red Stream, not to pick a fight with other little sh*ts.”

“Backing?”

“Corporate b@stards, I mean.”

Corporation.

Vivian’s expression immediately turned peculiar.

It was a world overflowing with people who would sell their own families for money.

Whether Red Stream was crushed by the government or not, it was a fact that they had dominated Sector 11-A.

In that case, there was a high possibility that they would become their own unique item afterwards.

“To think there are corporations that would take in b@stards like that, the world is a complete mess.”

At Lee Do’s words, all three turned their heads simultaneously.

He repeatedly flicked the lighter on and off.

The flame flickered, then didn’t, and it was reflected in their eyes several more times.

It was a strangely captivating sight.

Vivian deliberately averted her gaze and asked the man.

“…So who is it? Their backer.”

“Core Works.”

“Core Works?”

“It’s just a guess. I don’t know the exact situation. However, I believe the possibility is sufficient.”

Vivian didn’t say it out loud, but there was a word she swallowed.

NIM.

The one she had checked before, just in case.

She had already confirmed its contents, but she hadn’t imagined that Red Stream and Core Works would be connected from there.

Wasn’t it the gang in the video that had looked like a mere low-level gang back then?

Her silence was naturally followed by quietness in the space.

The man took out a neat piece of paper from his pocket.

“It’s a business card. If you contact me, I’ll send you some information as it comes in to that contact. It’ll be useful.”

James Well, Team Leader of F24’s 3rd Security Team.

It was a business card similar to an employee ID, including a photo of his face without sunglasses.

“What’s the reason for doing this much?”

“If you’re skilled enough and have the same goal, there’s no reason to hesitate. It doesn’t matter if you’re terrorists or 10-year-old brats. If it benefits us, that’s enough.”

As if they had finished speaking, the man and woman slowly got up from the table.

“See you later.”

They got into the bullet-ridden van and disappeared from the pier with a quiet noise.

It was the private security company F24.

James, the security team leader, glanced at the two still sitting at the table in his side mirror.

“…Sunbae, is it really okay to give them that much of our information?”

[TL Note: Sunbae means “senior” — someone who is more experienced or has been at a school, job, or organization longer than you.]

The junior also peeks at the two in the side mirror and asks cautiously.

That place was hidden by containers and was no longer visible.

“You saw it, they’re not ordinary. At least, they’re not guys who’ll die on some street.”

“Aha. But to the other teams…”

“Don’t misunderstand. If they die an unnatural death, they die an unnatural death, and if not, not. I don’t expect any information from them. However, if they can even draw Red Stream’s attention, that’s a gain for us.”

“…I see.”

“If it seems like there’s going to be a problem, we can just deal with it. You should learn this kind of flexibility too. This method will be more convenient.”

“Ah… Yes.”

The van was completely leaving the port.

Vivian and Lee Do were left alone in the desolate wind.

Lee Do, flicking his lighter off, looked at the sea.

A vast and expansive sea, but lost in darkness, neither light nor the colorful neons visible if he turned around directly, were reflected.

Only the pitch-black waves crashed violently against the pier below.

Lee Do lit the lighter again.

A faint light shimmered there.

Flick, turn it off, and it would just heartlessly go out.

“Want to eat some raw fish?”

Lee Do turned to Vivian and asked.

The reason was simply that the lingering scent of the sea stimulated something in his mind.

“…What?”

She looked down at the business card, then at Lee Do’s face.

Raw fish.

For now, she reluctantly nodded her head.

F24 was a security company.

Private companies that used personal armed forces were usually abhorred by the government, but they were not.

Above all, they had a basic framework of credibility.

After Vivian investigated and cross-referenced some of the information they had provided, there was little incorrect information.

Also, there was definitely a high chance it would be useful.

From the location of the executive, which seemed to have been secretly photographed and reported, to their activities and movements.

It seemed they had almost everything prepared for the eradication of Red Stream.

‘…To think Core Works is the stumbling block, it’s almost unfair to them.’

She and Lee Do decided to stay at the motel for a few days.

If they could move, they would have moved several more times, but the information F24 had leaked was more significant than expected.

To the extent that they didn’t have to go around looking for each one individually.

So they stayed at the motel for a few more days, and naturally, the awkwardness of the first day had somewhat subsided.

At least, it meant they could wash without feeling self-conscious.

“…”

However, the problem was the awkwardness of being with someone every minute of every second.

No matter how much of a solo fixer relationship it was, it was the first time she had even shared a bedroom with someone, regardless of gender.

That was, if you excluded her orphanage days, which she couldn’t even remember.

But the reason it didn’t seem particularly uncomfortable… what was it?

Could the reason she didn’t know be that her feigned cynicism was hiding even her true self?

Vivian tore her eyes away from the Cyberdeck and glanced sideways at Lee Do.

It was a scene of him constantly smoking and throwing punches into the air with strange postures.

Refining the First Form.

And when he finished, he would wipe his sweat and indifferently skim through the manuals on the table.

It was Eastern martial arts.

Taeheukgwon.

Lee Do, sensing her gaze, tilted his head slightly.

Lighting a new cigarette, he asked.

“Do you have something to say?”

“No.”

She quickly averted her eyes.

Then, her hesitant lips finally blurted out what she wanted to say.

“But, isn’t it about time you told me? Well, how you generate such power…”

“Were you trying to ask that?”

“No, not really.”

“Wuxia.”

[TL Note: “Wuxia” is a Chinese genre of fiction that focuses on martial artists in ancient China, combining swordplay, martial arts, honor, and chivalry with often fantastical elements.]

“…Wuxia?”

Lee Do, who was now sitting on the sofa and exhaling cigarette smoke, nodded.

“It’s similar to a prosthetic body. If you think about it.”

“Bare body, isn’t it? New human, something like that?”

“Similar.”

“Then what are you?”

Lee Do asked back.

“What?”

“You’re not an ordinary fixer either, are you? Your hacking skills, things like that. What have you been doing your whole life to have your own insights and talk about a strange body?”

“That’s…”

Vivian hesitated for a moment before answering.

After being chosen, or rather not chosen, from the orphanage, what kind of work she did and how she was raised.

She learned code before letters, and before code, she learned the greed of those who become adults.

There was no need to hide now that the political situation and the world were too big for a child to comprehend.

Especially if someone knew the name she had used at the orphanage.

“White hat hacker.”

She replied.

Lee Do flicked cigarette ash into the ashtray he had bought at the mart and simply watched her.

That silent gaze seemed to constrict her somehow, so Vivian added.

“I was a white hat hacker.”

“Government?”

“Yeah. Though I was a low-ranking one.”

Just as one couldn’t assign meaning to every particle shrouded in deep darkness, she simply ended it with the name “white hat hacker.”

Everyone has a purpose and a motive in life, but the world is too tiring and exhausting to listen to every single one of them.

Lee Do seemed to be thinking about something, then nodded.

“I’m Daehyup.”

“…Daehyup?”

“Yeah. Great Daehyup.”

Lee Do also ended it with just that.

Daehyup.

The Great Daehyup of 20 playthroughs.

Originally, he was a person who would form relationships with the young ladies of numerous martial sects and train at the Ice Palace where he went for study.

Or a person who would thwart the conspiracies of unorthodox factions and defeat the scoundrels of the Demonic Cult.

Perhaps, he might have been a person who mediated the understanding between the Imperial Palace and the Murim Alliance.

Lee Do thought, and what else was there.

A person who received the secret techniques of various prestigious families, wandered the world as a Taoist who had lost his way, and encountered enlightenment?

[TL Note: The term “Taoist” here doesn’t just mean a religious figure — it’s being used more like a wandering martial arts sage or hermit, a common archetype in wuxia stories.]

A lay disciple who entered simply to learn secret manuals, realized the true Buddhist law, and became a dignified member of Shaolin Temple?

Whichever way it went, what was certain was a person who constantly met new people, became friends, sometimes made enemies of them due to their injustice, and became a righteous hero.

He must have been such a person.

A martial artist who should have laughed and chatted with friends and beauties under a clear spring sky, amidst the fluttering scent of flowers.

Great Daehyup.

Now, unfortunately, only the hazy smoke that billowed up was closest to him.

So Lee Do added one more word.

“I’m a hero.”

Vivian had a look on her face as if she didn’t know what he was saying.

He wasn’t particularly talking to her.

It was closer to an evaluation and answer regarding his body, which had been aching and stiff for several days.

“I’d rather live for the sake of chivalry, not like you unorthodox b@stards.”

The corners of her mouth moved, as if rising or falling.

Lee Do got up from the sofa.

He flicked his cigarette out the window, into the complete darkness.

It was just a movement he had made countless times before, as he always did.

He took another cigarette from the pack.

“I am Lee Do. I am the Great Daehyup, not that !diotic Lei Chen.”

Although he wasn’t speaking to Vivian, she sat blankly on the bed with a restless expression.

Soon, she blurted out.

“…Yeah. I’m Vivian.”

One more thing.

“Vivian Quill, I guess. If I go by what you said, not a fixer… nor a white hat hacker.”