Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed

I’ve been faithfully playing the role of a house guard (jobless), but surprisingly, my daily life has been very structured.

There could be several reasons for this.

The most important one was the existence of ‘meal times’.

After eight people started living together in one house, set meal times became a rule that everyone had to follow.

I’ve tried to skip meals a few times with excuses like “I’m not that hungry…” or “I don’t follow the orders of the weaker.”

However, no matter how strong capitalism has become and how democracy has lost its shine, I couldn’t go against the overwhelming majority of 7 to 1 (myself).

Ugh…

I’m really sleepy in the mornings.

I descended from the 14th floor to the 13th, rubbing my heavy eyelids with my hands as I opened the front door.

At the wide dining table, various women were already seated, chatting.

I couldn’t keep the chairwoman or the boss of No Answer, the famous singer, and the part-timer at the sushi place waiting for too long due to their busy schedules.

So, I hurriedly walked over.

As I pulled out a chair and sat down, the chairwoman greeted me with a relaxed smile.

“Good morning. If you’re really tired, you can sleep more.”

I waved my hand, stifling a yawn, saying it was okay.

“…No, we should eat together.”

Hearing that, the chairwoman whispered softly.

“You seemed quite tired last night.”

“…”

No comment.

—

37. What’s Going On (2)

Anyway.

Breakfast went on as usual.

Since it was morning, the menu wasn’t heavy.

Everyone was enjoying their meal while having simple conversations.

Everyone has now gotten used to this lifestyle.

Thanks to that, some of us began to become close among the seven roommates.

Typical pairings included Catherine and Andrea, the chairwoman and Natasha, Maya and Julia.

Catherine and Andrea have been close since their mercenary days, and recently, Catherine started showing interest in fashion.

“…What about this?”

“It’s fine, but isn’t it a little boring?”

“But if you unzip this part here—.”

“…Wow, this crazy girl.”

“I’m only going to wear it at night, so what’s the problem?”

“…What brand is it?”

It’s hard to say for sure, but I assumed they were still having that kind of conversation.

As for the chairwoman and Natasha, they seemed to have the image of ‘elite entrepreneurs’ and talked a lot about business-related topics.

The chairwoman usually gave advice to Natasha based on her overwhelming know-how and experience.

“Is that okay?”

“Of course. As long as the return is good, it’s fine. Just the other day, during the outing incident, I used Monolith’s resources.”

“Well, that’s because you’re the chairwoman…”

“Or we could use this method—.”

I assumed they were probably passing down some (illegal) know-how right now.

Next were Julia and Maya.

Both were quite short, but what made them friends was a mystery to me.

“Just chew well so you don’t get a stomach ache.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, you’ve got something on your lips. Just a sec…. There, all clean.”

“…Thanks.”

They looked just like a mother and daughter.

I’m sure Julia is the elder one, though.

…

Well, that’s possible.

Sometimes I get the urge to pat Julia’s head.

While I was watching them, I took a last look at Eve.

Eve rarely got close to anyone and didn’t have conversations.

But I’ve heard that whenever the topic of ‘me’ comes up, she suddenly appears next to me.

It’s like there’s a ghost story about her.

Anyway, since everyone wasn’t on bad terms, it wasn’t something I had to worry about.

Lost in thought like that, meal time was almost over. Empty bowls sat in front of everyone.

“Thank you for the meal.”

My drowsiness faded away.

Sure enough, Korean rice is the secret to life.

Actually, this morning it was bread.

Once everyone finished eating, the chairwoman, who had been talking with Natasha, turned her gaze toward me.

“And now that we’re done eating, I’ll say something.”

“Yes?”

“I think I’ve found the tracks of that person named Merlin we discussed yesterday.”

“……Huh?”

My face tilted in surprise.

“I cross-checked with others, and it seems almost certain.”

“When you say ‘others’…?”

“Of course, I mean Eve or Natasha.”

I turned my gaze towards them, and they both nodded in agreement.

“We searched deep net since normal net space didn’t have any information.”

“…I asked the informants affiliated with No Answer. Not all the information brokers in the underground are illegal, you know.”

I couldn’t hide my shock at the unexpected turn of events.

I had only said one thing yesterday, and now everyone was out to find clues about Merlin.

Considering the information related to the underground in Neon City, the amount was inevitably small. Thus, there weren’t many surveillance cameras or people to communicate with properly.

How did they even find it?

But thinking about it, it wasn’t impossible.

The head of a megacorp, the only super AI in Cyberpunk, the leader of all intermediaries in Neon City.

It’s weirder if they couldn’t solve it with these people gathered.

“I’ll organize the clues and send them as data.”

The chairwoman leaned slightly toward the table. Her enormous chest lightly rested on the table.

“Don’t think too hard alone. If there’s anything else, tell us first. We can help anytime.”

“…Thank you.”

I didn’t expect this kind of support when I spoke about it.

I hid my embarrassment and thanked everyone for their concern.

“What’s the big deal about this?”

The chairwoman replied with a light smile.

A warm atmosphere filled around the table.

In the meantime, Maya, who had moved very cautiously, slowly approached me.

“…Um.”

“Yes?”

“…I was going to look into it too.”

Maya looked down, her expression sulking.

She looked like a puppy caught in the rain.

“…Oh, no. Good job.”

I didn’t know what she had done, but I hurriedly patted Maya’s head.

She’s a good kid.

—

I comfortably lay down and examined the data on the three people that the chairwoman had compiled for me.

“…Wow, this guy must have been digging around like crazy.”

I inadvertently muttered to myself.

The contents of the data were that absurd.

On the holographic map of Neon City, a path containing Merlin’s tracks was briefly organized.

To put it simply, there wasn’t a place he didn’t go.

From the underground of the upper-class area where security robots moved to the deep underground of the lower-class area filled with contaminants and fugitives, the routes were complexly intertwined.

Is he even okay?

…But since he’s a veteran, he should be fine.

For ordinary people, once they entered the underground, they should start worrying about their lives, but Merlin is a currently wanted bounty hunter registered in the NCPD identity database, so he should be alright for now.

At the end of the data, a section that presumably indicated where he might be staying was highlighted in red on the map.

As I checked that area with my finger, other data popped up on the screen.

A picture of a vagabond with a scruffy face came along, so without thinking, I touched the screen containing that photo.

It was an audio recording.

[Cough, can I speak now? (crackle)]

Reading the holographic text floating below the screen, it indicated that it was data sent by an informant under Natasha.

[I don’t know much about the surface, but this old man is very famous lately in the underground. It’s hard to see a crazy (crackle) old man wearing a suit in a place like this. Keke…]

The vagabond’s voice crackled with unpleasant noise as if his vocal implants weren’t functioning properly.

[That guy suddenly came into the house next to me, so I couldn’t ignore it. Keke… My house? It’s just a sewage; if the entrance is blocked, I can comfortably call it my home. Not every underground place is strange… No? You don’t want me to talk nonsense? Damn it, you asked me…]

As the vagabond continued to mumble, he suddenly raised both hands.

[Ah, cough! I get it! I’m talking aren’t I?! Anyway, that old man is probably still in that spot. (crackle) I value my life, so I’ve set up an enterprise replica turret at the entrance. There’s a camera there, but I haven’t seen him leave yet. Kekeke…]

The vagabond’s speech paused for a moment before continuing.

[…As for the old man’s condition? I wouldn’t know. He seems a bit tired, but if I get involved and get shot, it’ll only be my loss. I don’t really know. But it seems I’ve said everything now. How much is the fee for these info—]

And then the audio data cut out.

“…Hmmm.”

What I could gather from the organized data was Merlin’s currently confirmed location.

I couldn’t determine his state or what situation he was in.

It’d be great if he just forgot to come up and was wandering around the underground searching for magic systems, but…

…It seems unlikely.

He could contact me at least once.

An uneasy feeling swelled up in the corner of my heart.

I speculated that Merlin might not be in a normal situation right now.

“…Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue lightly.

Looks like I’ll have to go check it out myself.

I could ignore it, but even though I’ve been living in this Cyberpunk world for a while and become a bit jaded, I couldn’t just pretend not to know someone I know.

…Well, what could possibly go wrong?

Slowly, I got up from my bed.

—

“I want to go too.”

“Sure.”

I knew you’d tag along.

I nodded at Catherine (the house guard).

“Since it’s a dangerous place, I’ll go with you.”

“That would be great.”

Having Eve come along reassured me more.

I nodded again.

“…Can I go too?”

“……?”

But I couldn’t help but be surprised by Julia, who preferred not to step outside more than I did.

I think the sun will rise from the west tomorrow morning.

I gave a small nod.

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