NOVEL NEXT Chapter 142
Inside a speeding car.
A mechanical woman’s voice flows from the car’s deck with no emotion.
“We would like to inform the citizens of the Platinum Zone that an explosion has occurred on the outskirts of the area, specifically on the ‘Sky-High Way’. Residents nearby are advised to stay away.”
A blonde woman, sitting in the passenger seat with a worried expression, turns her head towards the driver’s seat and speaks up.
“Bran, honey. Did you hear the broadcast? Something happened! Is it okay to keep driving?”
“Oh…, Cindy. Why would it be─ not okay? When else would we speed through here when the roads are clear?”
The man, Brandon, waves his hand as if to say not to worry.
But just for a moment.
Maybe he wasn’t used to driving; he quickly grabs the steering wheel with both hands again.
Brandon continues to talk smoothly, trying to mask his nervousness.
“Besides, if we don’t take this road, we’ll be late for the party. You trust me, right? If I say it’s fine, it’s fine.”
Even if something goes wrong.
Who would dare say anything to him, the fifth child of the heir to Megacorp (not)?
Brandon acts as if he’s calm, even with a hint of showmanship. He runs his hand smoothly through his hair, seemingly lost in the image of himself driving with his girlfriend by his side.
“See, the road is totally─”
Just then, in the middle of the road, a shadow appears.
“…Shit!!”
Brandon curses and slams on the brakes.
Thank goodness for the four-wheel drive. It was a vanity purchase, but if he was in an air vehicle, he wouldn’t have been able to stop.
“Ahhh!!”
“Screeeech—!!”
The vehicle comes to a halt before it hits the shadow of a person.
‘What kind of crazy…!’
He wasn’t accustomed to holding back.
Brandon’s blood boiled, and he quickly opened the car door and dashed outside.
“Hey, you crazy bastard! Are you on drugs?”
But his anger was short-lived.
He halted when he saw the person on the road.
The man was covered in blood.
‘Did I hit him…? No way, I definitely stopped before—! Then what the hell? Damn, if I cause another accident, Dad’s cutting off my credits…!’
Brandon’s mind raced.
A stranger, looking like a third-rate zombie movie extra, slowly approached him, blood dripping with each step.
Panicking, Brandon spoke nervously to the man.
“Uh, about insurance, I can work something out with my company—”
“Sorry, but we need to borrow your car for a moment.”
“…Huh?”
—
Boss Natasha of No Answer slowly opened her eyes, feeling a slight dizziness.
‘…Where am I?’
Inside a vehicle.
But not the sleek black SUV she had intended to ride in.
Rather, it appeared to be an ostentatious high-performance racing car, something a tycoon’s youngest son would drive around in.
Before Natasha’s foggy mind could fully clear up, she heard the voice of the wizard she had hired, Lee Siwoon, from the side.
“Oh, you’re awake.”
“What on earth happened—”
Natasha stopped herself mid-sentence.
The state of Siwoon driving was nothing like what she remembered.
In a trembly voice that wasn’t characteristic of her, she asked first.
“…You look seriously hurt.”
Every part of Siwoon’s body that was within reach was dyed a deep red, as if painted.
Blood was still dripping down from the steering wheel he gripped.
This might explain why his complexion looked worse than usual.
Having worked in the field before, Natasha could tell; it surprised her that Siwoon was still driving, seemingly fine.
In reality, Siwoon was breathing heavily, as if he had just exerted himself.
Natasha looked around.
Now noticing her own arms and legs were soaked in blood too, but it wasn’t from any wounds.
There was no pain.
This meant Siwoon had carried her while covered in blood.
‘How the hell….’
With a worried look, Natasha glanced back at Siwoon.
“Oh, this?”
But contrary to her concern, Siwoon calmly gazed ahead and spoke.
“It’s nothing serious. Just some scratches.”
That can’t be true.
Yet Natasha found it hard to respond to that answer.
Siwoon himself likely knew how serious the situation was.
But what was his intention in deliberately telling her he was fine in this situation?
“…”
Feeling touched by his care, Natasha found it hard to say anything.
She felt embarrassingly flushed, realizing how heated her cheeks were becoming.
—
*
I’m really dying here.
I tried hard not to show that I was struggling.
I was lucky to have secured a vehicle.
A good car happened to pass by.
Fortunately, it wasn’t an autonomous vehicle.
If it had been, I would’ve had to use magic to stop it, but since a person was driving, it was a relief I could stop easily.
However.
The real struggle began from that point.
Hiding the boss briefly in some bushes and getting her into the car was already a hassle.
‘Ugh… she’s so heavy.’
I tried pulling her by the ankle.
“Boss, wake up! Boss!”
It was quite the embarrassing situation, but I even slapped the boss’s face a few times to try to wake her up.
(The reason her cheeks are red right now.)
Honestly, I wanted to use magic to either lift her into the car or wake her up, but due to my control issues, that wasn’t easy either.
Finally, after all the struggles that I couldn’t express in words, I managed to drag the boss into the vehicle.
In the end, she wouldn’t wake up even when I nearly suffocated her. But as soon as I put her in the passenger seat, she woke up!
…
At this point, I couldn’t help but suspect she was pretending to be out cold.
Did she know I was thinking that?
With a somewhat dazed gaze, the boss looked at me. She clearly wasn’t completely with it yet.
Hmm.
By the way, the blood isn’t stopping.
The properties that make up my trashy body are the cause of it. “Delicate skin,” “slow recovery,” “fragility,” “weakness,” and so on.
The fact that I looked like I’d just come from a battlefield because of a mere scratch was humiliating.
Of course, it was true that I might actually be at risk of excessive bleeding, but seeing the boss looking fine after rolling around like I did was a bit sad.
Anyway, the boss is awake now.
It’s time to decide on our plans moving forward.
While driving, I spoke to the boss.
“First, I have two pieces of bad news.”
“…Is your condition that bad?”
“No, I’m really fine.”
Seems like she doesn’t believe me.
I ignored her concern and continued with the explanation I intended to give.
“First, seeing as missiles are coming our way, it seems our—specifically your—pursuers haven’t given up yet.”
Honestly, the person who fired the missiles probably didn’t expect us to still be alive.
But it’s always best to assume the worst-case scenario and act accordingly.
“…Missiles?”
Ah, the boss must not have seen it.
That’s understandable.
I shrugged slightly.
“Yes, missiles. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d survive a missile hit, but I’m lucky to be standing here with only these injuries.”
Then I switched to the second piece of bad news.
“The second bad news is that the city might be involved in this ambush.”
I had briefly flipped through the radio out of boredom earlier.
The content was trying to play it off as a regular ‘explosion accident’ even though there had been missiles and gunfire.
It was odd that the NCPD hadn’t been dispatched despite all the chaos.
“Therefore, it might be difficult for us to go down to the lower levels through the access gate.”
“…If that’s true, then yes.”
It is true.
I was a bit disappointed that this car I borrowed isn’t an air vehicle either.
If it had been an air vehicle, we might have been able to escape even with pursuing drones.
Anyway.
Our objective of returning to ‘No Answer’ in the lower levels was clear.
After taking the necessary protective measures, the boss could negotiate or whatever she wanted.
Of course, if the worst case comes, I have some escape routes in mind, but.
As they say, ‘don’t speak it into existence,’ I didn’t bother to mention those options to the boss.
And someone like the boss of No Answer would surely have other escape methods.
For now, we just needed to hide somewhere quietly—
“【NCPD Platinum Drone here. Please stop your vehicle. We will verify your identities. This is a repeat warning. Please stop your vehicle.】”
……
I turned towards the source of the mechanical voice.
A massive drone was flying outside the window.
Not just one, but several.
…Already on our tail?
How could they know how we moved?
That made no sense.
Unless there’s another reason, this wasn’t the scenario I expected at all.
“【Vehicle number RFT-A0421P, your vehicle has been reported stolen. Failure to comply may result in force being used.】”
“Ah.”
I couldn’t help but let out a sound.
So they were acting on a report.
Thank goodness the attackers hadn’t succeeded in tracking us. But now that the police drone had us, it wouldn’t take long before they caught up.
……
“【This is your final warning. Please stop your vehicle.】”
Immediately after hearing that, I looked back at the boss and spoke.
“Hold on tight.”
Then I pressed the accelerator, crashing forward.