Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed

No Answer’s Secretive Third Floor.

The motherless Orc, Smith, quietly presented his opinion to his boss, Natasha.

“…Boss, no matter how you look at it, isn’t this a bit too risky—?”

But he couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Shh, be quiet.”

This was because Natasha raised her index finger without turning around.

Then she turned her head to look at Smith.

“Aren’t you under house arrest?”

“…Yes.”

At that, Smith sealed his lips.

It was because he couldn’t see off a certain wizard.

Of course, Smith held no regrets about that part.

No matter how much the wizard said it was alright, the crime of not properly following the boss’s orders was severe.

Even if someone pointed fingers at him regarding that incident, it was still his fault.

If only he had seen the wizard home, that accident might not have occurred.

Smith silently lowered his head and assisted his boss.

Natasha sorted through the documents, lost in thought.

Just as Smith said, it was indeed a dangerous subject.

In fact, it was incredibly dangerous.

Moreover, it wasn’t something that she needed to do by breaking her own rules.

A mission that wouldn’t bring harm to Neon City.

The most important and fundamental rule at No Answer.

But why did she agree to help Catherine after receiving her call?

Meteor.

Red Horn.

Tech Master.

Even if they were amazing entities, they were not comparable to the entirety of Neon City.

Natasha recalled a certain wizard.

She thought back to when they first met.

The first emotion she felt was likely sympathy.

The fact that being a wizard was a profession rapidly disappearing, not just in Neon City, but globally.

And because his companions were so outstanding, there were many who envied the wizard.

People whispered that it was just because he had one good friend.

At that time, she had no particular thoughts about it.

There was a part of her inside that empathized.

The next emotion was curiosity.

Because the wizard was at the center of the group.

He wasn’t particularly strong or exceptionally smart, yet he naturally moved like a leader among them.

Though she didn’t realize it back then, now she understood.

There were no mistakes in his actions.

He rescued others as if he knew about the hidden hostage.

He cleared the false accusations effortlessly and found the hidden culprit.

Thinking about the fact that everyone with a connection to him owed a debt to the wizard made it all the more obvious.

It didn’t take long for Natasha herself to come to trust him.

Mission success rate 100%.

A figure no one had ever achieved.

Those who didn’t know might have dismissed his accomplishments as being due to outstanding comrades.

But those around him would know.

Without the wizard, that 100% figure wouldn’t have existed, and they could have been much more miserable.

And finally.

“Well, he did save my life.”

“What did you say?”

Smith replied to Natasha’s soliloquy.

She waved her hand indifferently.

“Nothing, nothing. By the way, when will the crew all gather?”

“They’re almost all here. We just need Meteor and the Unique Wizard to arrive.”

Natasha nodded briefly.

“Good, get the documents ready and go see them off.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Smith respectfully bowed and went outside.

Natasha slowly contemplated.

Right, it was just about repaying that favor.

She interpreted and organized her actions and emotions that way.

Without even realizing that her heart was secretly fluttering.

*

12. Are We Really Doing This? (2)

I slowly traced the patterns on the ceiling.

I tried to ignore the reality before my eyes.

Was it the five stages of death they talked about?

This wasn’t a situation to get angry over.

I felt none of the anger but kept going back and forth in my mind between denial, negotiation, despair, and acceptance.

Denial.

“No way… this can’t be happening.”

Negotiation.

“Can’t we just call it a draw?”

Despair.

“……It’s over, everything’s going to end.”

Acceptance.

“Yeah, that could work. Megacorp Vice President? We might be able to kidnap him.”

And back to denial again.

Just then, Natasha gathered everyone she had called to No Answer.

To be precise, it was Catherine who had asked Natasha to devise a plan, but anyhow.

Natasha pointed at the hologram with her folded fan.

“Kojaka William, I checked the schedule, and he’ll be coming back to Neon City next week by private airship from Neo Japan.”

I was too scared to ask how she found out about the hidden Megacorp Vice President’s schedule.

The hologram in front of her shifted into the shape of a gigantic airship.

Drake, Andrea, Catherine, and I all turned our gazes towards the hologram of the airship.

“This is the airship’s data, and… check the details yourself.”

As Natasha’s words ended, a frightening file was transmitted.

Through the open network port, the data was saved onto my neural computer chip.

Through my visual interface, the detailed designs and specs of the airship were displayed.

Honestly, I had no way of knowing what any of it meant.

I think this is a wing.

And this seems to be the fuselage.

That was about the extent of my understanding.

Among us, the smartest, Drake, slid his finger to scroll through the screen and spoke.

“Since it’s the Vice President of Kojaka, the anti-air defense systems are no joke.”

While saying this, he adjusted his sunglasses with his finger.

His eyes were looking at Natasha.

“No regular missile would even come close.”

At those words, Natasha snapped open her fan. As a habit, she covered her mouth with it.

“That’s true, and this time we’ll be using that performance.”

“Hmm.”

Drake fell into silence briefly.

That was a gesture of wanting to hear more.

Natasha began explaining the actual operation.

“We’ll attempt to intercept using ground-based anti-air power… specifically, surface-to-air missiles.”

“What?”

I unconsciously reacted.

Natasha’s blue eyes turned toward me.

“The purpose is to confuse the radar and vision by guiding the defensive system’s flares and chaff,”

She gestured towards the hologram.

From below the hologram of the airship the Vice President would be on, several beams of light shot out.

Then smoke and explosions were depicted.

“And then, using that gap, we’ll infiltrate from above, take over, and finally land at the designated external landfill. Once we transport it to the safe house, our prepared plan will be complete.”

At the same time, Natasha explained a few other aspects.

She covered security aspects, information systems of Kojaka, expected deployment times from Neon City… it was all that kind of content.

Honestly, none of it got through to my ears.

[I’ve saved it to the database, I announce.]

I just trusted Eve.

And it wasn’t just me; Catherine and Andrea were also putting on dazed expressions.

Frankly, those two were also not exactly brainiacs.

Only Drake was nodding his head.

Seeing that, it looked like I could just trust Drake with this plan.

“I’ll arrange the remaining detailed matters as an individual document to distribute, of course, since there’s a hacking risk, it’ll be on paper.”

Natasha folded her fan again.

She crossed her arms and flicked the fan with one of her hands.

“Any questions?”

At those words, I cautiously raised my hand.

Glancing around.

Everyone except me was quietly listening.

After a few coughs, I asked Natasha.

“Um, I’ve said this several times, you know.”

“Hmm.”

“…What if it’s not Smile John and we end up kidnapping the wrong person?”

But this was something I just couldn’t let slide.

It was the biggest reason for opposing this (crazy) plan.

The truth is, even with just one suspicion, planning to kidnap the Megacorp Vice President made no sense at all.

In the cyberspace megacorp world, there are many beings with more power than entire nations.

For reference, Kojaka falls under such entities.

Might as well kidnap the President of the United States instead.

…Although that’s not easy either.

In any case.

It meant it was roughly that scale of incident.

“Well then, we’ll just let him go.”

Contrary to my concerns, Natasha’s response was incredibly calm.

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

However, she added an elaboration.

“That’s why we’re paying closer attention to security, and of course, we’ll hide our identities. Minimum people will be aware.”

…….

Was this really such an easy problem?

Was it just me being serious?

They say in a world filled with three-eyed beings, those with two eyes are weird.

I tried to voice more opinions to stop this crazy act.

But at some point, Andrea and Drake, who had been sitting, stood up and came closer to me.

Drake’s large hand rested on my shoulder.

“Haha, we should repay this favor by doing something like this. Don’t worry! It’ll work out.”

I appreciated the help, but I didn’t understand why they were talking as if it were a given.

“By the way, my girlfriend asked me to bring you next time, said we should have a meal together.”

“Hmm.”

Drake’s girlfriend must have been Lorenda.

Since she had some connection to me as well, it wasn’t strange for her to make that request—

No, that’s not important.

I slowly assessed the situation.

Then cautiously opened my mouth.

“…Even if I ask you not to do it, you’re going to, right?”

There was no subject, but no one misunderstood my words.

“Of course!”

“Absolutely.”

The former was Andrea’s response, and the latter was Drake’s.

……Why won’t you kids listen to me?

I had too many Gyeomjoks around me now.

In the end.

I decided to give up on everything.

“…Sigh, fine.”

Defeated, I weakly nodded.

“Let’s give it a shot.”

“Haha!”

Drake laughed and thumped my back with his enormous cyberware arm.

Each time he did, my whole body shook and bounced. Ouch, it hurt.

Drake was thumping my shoulder.

Did he plan to thump me too, with Andrea trying to fit her giant mechanical arm?

Catherine and Natasha were chatting away, analyzing their data.

Smith had a deadpan expression somewhere.

At that precise moment, I made eye contact with Smith.

After a brief moment of eye contact, we both nodded simultaneously.

So I wasn’t the only one worried after all.

Anyway, I have no idea now.

Well, it’ll work out somehow.

I let out a sigh in secret.

*

Inside the airship that Natasha secretly launched.

It was maintaining an incredibly high altitude, making the grand sight of Neon City seem small.

I swallowed unconsciously.

Was it due to the pressure difference, or was it from nervousness?

My ears and head felt heavy.

I was crazy, dammit—

Why didn’t I feel something was off after hearing Natasha’s plan?

I cursed my past stupid self inwardly.

…Should I say something now to back out?

Before jumping out of the airship without a parachute.

I shut my eyes in silent regret.

I should have stopped this crazy plan.

I thought sincerely.

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