There are too many non-believers in cyberpunk – Chapter 12

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Christmas Eve was white, just as the weather forecast had predicted.

So white, in fact, that the roads were blocked.

“This isn’t a white Christmas, it’s a white disaster.”

Sonia, having heard Amon’s mutterings, indicated her agreement from beside him.

The snow, which had begun falling a week prior, continued until Christmas Eve.

Thanks to this, the younger children at the orphanage were practically having a festival.

To young children, snow is always a welcome gift from the heavens.

However, to those who had to shovel the snow, it was a curse and a nuisance in its very existence.

Most people realized this truth after serving in the military or getting a part-time job.

However, the older siblings at the orphanage, including Amon and Sonia, tended to realize this truth relatively early.

Because they were the ones who had to shovel the snow with shovels and brooms.

Even Sonia, who had been excited about the white Christmas this year, found herself cursing the snow falling from the sky as garbage after just two hours of shoveling.

When a gigantic snow removal truck, comparable to a tank, passed by after clearing the snow once, the children quickly pushed the snow from inside the orphanage onto the public road in front.

In Colorado, where the snow came down in insane amounts, this was the most efficient snow removal method.

Piling it up on the side of the road?

Who knows how long and how much snow will fall?

With the climate already wrecked by environmental destruction, choosing to remove the snow later was absolutely not an option.

Because of this, the city’s snow removal method involved citizens dumping snow onto the road for a snowplow connected to a subspace to sweep it away.

There were many cases of unexpected accidents caused by people failing to avoid the approaching snow plows, but in a world where thousands were shot to death every day, nobody cared.

Fortunately, this tragedy did not befall the orphanage.

Thanks to Amon and Sonia’s thorough safety control and the children’s cooperation, the children were able to continue snow removal without incident.

However, not ‘all’ children were cooperative.

Among them were children who disliked Amon’s instructions and did as they pleased.

The majority of them were Jimmy and his followers.

The reason they didn’t have any accidents, despite this, was that they didn’t participate in the snow removal work at all, not just disobeying Amon’s safety instructions.

They had only come out with shovels and brooms because they were interested in the special snacks that came after the snow removal work, not to actually shovel snow.

They just huddled in a corner, giggling amongst themselves.

Amon gave up on them and let them be.

‘Well, it’s fine as long as they don’t interfere with the work.’

Anyway, they, including Jimmy, would soon graduate from the orphanage.

Even in the military, they don’t make senior sergeants work, so there was no need to force these kids to work.

Amon could just do more work himself.

‘Even if the world changes, military seniority doesn’t go anywhere.’

Amon consoled himself and continued working.

Of course, he was angry, and he wanted to flatten those kids’ heads with a shovel.

Amon was no saint.

But, even so.

He forgave them.

Remembering the goddess who loved him, and constantly reminding himself how blessed he was, he forgave them.

‘You little bastards. I’m not putting syrup in your hot chocolate when we get back.’

There was a bit of petty revenge mixed in, but Amon forgave them nonetheless.

In any case, after the morning snow removal session was over, the children returned to the orphanage.

The snowplow only came to the street where the orphanage was located during the morning, so there was no point in removing snow in the afternoon.

They returned indoors, basking in the warm stove and chatting with their younger siblings.

“Big brother! I want to shovel snow like you!”

One child’s words forced a wry smile from Amon.

It was something an 8-year-old would say.

At that age, snow removal would seem easy.

But it was something said out of ignorance of the mental haze that sets in after just an hour of continuous shoveling.

Besides, at 8 years old, snow isn’t seen as garbage, but as a toy.

Amon couldn’t bring himself to ask the child to lend a hand, so instead, he mumbled that he would be able to do it when he grew up.

As he was surrounded by his younger siblings, soothing his mind with sweet hot chocolate, someone came to the orphanage.

‘Who is it? Who would come through this blizzard?’

He couldn’t think of anyone.

It certainly wouldn’t be a government official coming to check on the safety of the orphans.

If it were a world where government officials worked so diligently, the city wouldn’t be in such a state.

A robber?

Never.

Even robbery is done to make a living, and on a day like this, robbers are more likely to get stranded.

Besides, there’s nothing worthwhile to steal from an orphanage.

Other possibilities like a documentary crew or a cult missionary group also came to mind, but these were also eliminated.

Someone coming through this blizzard meant they had a desperate purpose, or that they could only come when it snowed like this.

The most likely possibility was a police officer coming to fine them for not clearing enough snow.

Indeed, about two years ago, a police officer had come to fine them for not clearing the snow.

Originally, it wasn’t illegal to not clear snow for 24 hours after the snowplow passed.

It’s not like they could be asked to shovel snow endlessly forever.

But that police officer fined them.

Partly because he was desperate for results, and partly because he thought the orphanage director wouldn’t know the law well.

The officer harassed the orphanage director, implying that a bribe could be paid to avoid the fine.

Unfortunately for him, he had to back down due to the director’s precise legal knowledge.

Incidentally, that police officer was found dead the next day in someone else’s front yard, after doing the same thing to several other houses.

The person he tried to threaten happened to be a gang executive.

Anyway, back to the story.

Since there was a precedent, it was highly likely that this was the case again.

No, not just likely, but certain.

At least, it was unlikely that the person who came through the snow to the orphanage was a good person.

With that prediction, Amon focused on the entrance.

What kind of person would come through that door?

As he waited by the stove where he could see the entrance, a nun soon opened the door.

What appeared through the open door was a man in a suit, the very image of a salesman.

He was a bit far away, so the details weren’t clear, but he had a company badge on his chest.

‘Where’s he from?’

It was a company he didn’t recognize.

Amon knew most major companies just by their color or silhouette, but this badge was unfamiliar.

‘Well, 50 years is enough time for the world to change, so it’s only natural.’

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen a company he didn’t recognize in this world, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Amon focused on the salesman talking with the nun at the entrance.

He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the way the salesman kept bowing to the nun gave the impression that he wasn’t a bad person.

‘No, get a grip, Amon. This is cyberpunk.’

Cyberpunk Rule #2:

There are no good corporations.

Especially the bigger the corporation, the lower the probability of it being good.

In this world, a corporation wasn’t much different from “a gang with the power to ignore the law and public authority.”

So, this salesman could be seen as a well-dressed gang member with insurance and legal protection.

‘Would such a person bow his head?’

Absolutely not.

There’s absolutely no way his intentions were good.

Amon kept his eyes fixed on the salesman, his gaze filled with conviction.

After a while, the director took the salesman to the reception room.

Some time later, the director and the salesman emerged from the reception room, both with pleasant smiles.

The atmosphere between them was undeniably warm, even from afar.

Just as Amon began to doubt his own assumptions, the director and the salesman approached the stove.

The children, warming their hands by the stove and their hearts with hot chocolate, noticed the two approaching and turned their gazes towards them.

At the appearance of the unfamiliar salesman, everyone raised their guard, but seeing the kind smile of the director beside him, they eased their vigilance.

If she trusted this person, then he must be trustworthy.

The director’s reputation was that solid.

Amon was in a situation where he seriously considered breaking one of his absolute rules: Don’t trust corporate people.

As he was pondering his beliefs, the orphanage director introduced the salesman with a benevolent smile.

“This is a representative from Higzen Distribution, who donated items to the orphanage last time.”

Higzen Distribution.

The children gasped at those words.

It was a natural reaction, as a supergiant corporation that controlled the American distribution industry had suddenly appeared.

On the contrary, Amon’s eyebrows furrowed even deeper.

It was too suspicious.

Why would such a large corporation bother coming to an orphanage through this snow?

His question was immediately answered by the director’s following explanation.

“They said that among the donated items last time, there was one possessed by a ghost. He’s here to discuss compensation for that. Tell him what kind of damage you experienced so he can assess the extent of the damage and compensate you. This company has been donating consistently for several years. I vouch for them, so you can trust him.”

Only after hearing those words did Amon understand.

Cyberpunk rule #1:

Generally, money and transactions don’t lie.

Therefore, this corporate guy had come with good intentions, at least for now.

Generally, money and transactions don’t lie.

This rule precedes all other cyberpunk rules and is an absolute law.

This was an absolute law that everyone had to acknowledge when Amon posted it on the online community in his past life.

Of course, there were those who questioned it.

Huh? Don’t corporations kill customers to cover things up?

But this comment is a rule that misunderstands the law.

Nowhere in that rule does it say that corporations don’t betray customer trust or anything like that.

Let me be clear, money doesn’t lie.

Applying the law to that comment means that corporations weigh what’s more financially beneficial – killing a customer or compensating them – and act accordingly.

What if the corporation is a defense contractor?

No problem killing the customer.

They’re confident they won’t get caught, they have the firepower, and even if they are caught, their image will take a hit, but it won’t be a bigger loss than if they kept the customer alive.

But what if the company is an insurance company or a security firm?

They can’t kill the customer.

Their business relies on an image of saving lives.

Killing a customer might be profitable in the short term, but if it’s ever exposed, the damage to their image would be beyond imagination.

Who would entrust their life to a company that kills its customers?

The losses would surely be greater than what they were trying to cover up.

So, instead of killing the customer, they prepare enough money to silence them, and only take action when absolutely necessary.

Ultimately, in transactions involving money, or something equivalent, no one betrays anyone.

Unless the other party is a psychopath or so incredibly stupid that they can’t calculate the consequences, Rule #1 is absolute.

The reason the director readily trusted the salesman, and the reason Amon opened up to him, was due to this rule.

A ghost possessed an item donated by a distribution company.

The damage to their image would be unimaginable.

However, massacring the orphans to cover it up would be too inefficient.

Therefore, it’s much more profitable to settle this as an unfortunate accident and conclude it with a heartwarming image of providing compensation.

Besides, there was another reason that only Amon knew.

‘It’s probably because of me and Sonia.’

A major corporation like Higzen Distribution would be operating its own independent information network.

They’d likely be aware of the presence of a Divine Power wielder in this orphanage.

That’s why they’d been steadily building goodwill through donations for several years.

And it would be incredibly frustrating if those years of effort went down the drain because of a single (?) haunted vase.

Putting all this logic together explained why a man at the level of a section chief in a major corporation was wearing a salesman’s suit and braving the snow to come all the way here.

His department head or CEO must have been putting immense pressure on him.

As proof, the traces of fatigue were evident under his eyes.

‘Poor guy.’

Amon, who had worked at a black company that made him pull two consecutive all-nighters, felt spontaneous sympathy for the section chief.

However, sympathy and forgiveness were different matters.

He had suffered so much because of that haunted vase.

He wanted to demand compensation for emotional distress.

Unfortunately, in a situation where he had to hide the fact that he was a Divine Power wielder, he couldn’t say he’d exorcised the ghost by hitting it over the head with a Bible.

Amon had to be a hero who physically drove away the ghost.

That’s how the embellished story was told to the salesman.

His eyes turned towards Amon.

‘He’ll probably suspect the Divine Power.’

But Amon wasn’t a fool.

He had already prepared countermeasures.

Amon and Sonia both wore silver anklets under their pants.

When the director first gave them the anklets, saying they would ward off ghosts and bad luck, he thought they were some kind of germanium bracelets.

But he wore them out of courtesy, and he realized their true purpose immediately.

The anklets had the effect of blocking leaking Divine Power.

Amon realized it because his ankles felt like some warm energy was being trapped, unable to escape.

So, the salesman wouldn’t be able to detect anything here.

And as Amon predicted, the salesman, unaware, prepared to leave.

He seemed somewhat suspicious of Amon, but it was only circumstantial evidence, not enough to reach a conclusion.

The director hurriedly saw the puzzled salesman off.

“Have a safe trip back!”

Numerous children waved their small hands, bidding him farewell.

He gave the children an awkward smile and left the orphanage.

The salesman, leaving the orphanage, walked down the road with his frosted glasses still on.

In the blinding blizzard, his steps were confident.

Behind the frosted lenses, his eyes glowed red, staring ahead.

He kept his hands in his long coat pockets and muttered into the empty air.

“Yes. Yes. Confirmed. Yes. The Mystic Power wielder, you say?”

He nodded, then quickly covered his mouth with a soundproof glove, whispering so no one could hear.

“I’ve narrowed down the candidates to two. They’re both wearing silver anklets.”

As he spoke, his eyes whirred mechanically, readjusting their pupils.

His prosthetic eyes, as if seeing through everything, gazed beyond the blizzard.

In the snowstorm, where one could easily get lost, the salesman shrugged nonchalantly.

“The possibility of both of them being wielders? None. You know, a Mystic Power wielder can only be born one per region. It’s theoretically impossible for two Mystic Power wielders to be born in the same city.”

Of course, if what he said were true, it would be difficult to explain the current situation with two people wearing anklets.

But the salesman had already formulated a theory to explain the current situation.

“It seems one of them is a decoy. You know… there’s that expression in Japan, right? Shadow samurai. Ah, is it called Kagemusha? Yes, that’s it.”

He removed the glove from his mouth and continued his monologue.

“Yes, I understand. I’ll do as you command.”

His monologue ended there.

The salesman in the long coat walked beyond the blizzard.

There wasn’t a single moment of hesitation in his steps.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇