Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed – Chapter 13

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Inside a cheap bar in the Lower District.

Cold wind seeped through the holes in the walls.

Cheap LED lights hanging from the ceiling swayed haphazardly in the draft.

As a gathering place for vagrants living hand-to-mouth, the air inside was heavy and stagnant.

I scratched my head awkwardly. Catherine, from a quick glance, also looked like she’d swallowed something bad.

“How did you even find this place?”

“…We’re not here to drink.”

Catherine shrugged and continued.

“Got a tip from No Answer. Said there’s someone decent here.”

“…Here?”

At Catherine’s words, I looked around.

Several people were slumped over old wooden tables, dead drunk.

A few huddled in a corner, giggling and guzzling down some kind of synthetic liquor.

One or two were swallowing shots of harsh alcohol with lifeless expressions, no food in sight.

Wow, look at this atmosphere.

It felt like a collection of the lowest of the low, even for the Lower District.

It didn’t feel like a place where you’d find someone “decent.”

I knew Catherine’s in-game companions.

One was a dwarf specializing in cyberware.

The other one was—.

Just then, a song drifted from the small bar’s stage, which I hadn’t even noticed before.

A very calm and clear female voice.

The drunken vagrants turned their attention towards the stage, one by one.

I remembered.

The other one was a singer.

The elf who was both a mercenary and a singer, Andrea.

“…Oh, looks like that’s her.”

Catherine gestured towards her with her chin.

“We’ll wait until she finishes her song then.”

“Right.”

Having found our target, we sat down in empty seats.

The worn-out metal chairs creaked loudly.

The bar wasn’t crowded, so there were plenty of places to sit.

“Don’t know about her gun skills, but she sings pretty well.”

Even Catherine, with her stingy praise, was slightly impressed by her singing ability.

As we waited for her song to end,

“Hey, bitch! If you’re gonna sing so damn depressing, just quit!”

A drunkard yelled at her while chugging from a bottle.

The way he snickered with the people around him was truly unpleasant to see.

It was like this everywhere in the Lower District.

Just a lot of crazy people.

Fights in the Lower District weren’t uncommon.

The problem was that this was directed at our (soon-to-be) new companion.

Catherine, sitting next to me, seemed to be thinking the same thing.

We were about to get up.

Just as we were contemplating how to deal with these drunkards,

A chair flew through the air.

Crash!

Andrea, abruptly stopping her song, threw the chair she was sitting on at the drunkards.

The chair, hitting the drunkard’s jaw with pinpoint accuracy, continued its rotation and slammed into the ceiling.

A completely unexpected situation.

The blood and white fragments spraying from the vagrant’s mouth confirmed that this was real.

The drunkard’s companions, who had been laughing along with him, were also caught off guard.

“What the fuck!!”

A moment later, the drunkards yelled at Andrea.

With the sudden change in the bar’s atmosphere, Catherine and I felt a craving for popcorn.

If Andrea handled the trouble herself, there was no need for us to intervene.

Her red hair reflected the light.

Her long hair swayed, asserting its presence.

“—FUCK.”

Perhaps thanks to her excellent singing ability, her clearly enunciated curse echoed throughout the bar through the microphone.

Then, she stood up stiffly, raising her middle finger.

“Come up here if you don’t like it, you dumbasses!”

And that was
our first encounter with her.

I want to defend her by saying that it’s not that she has a bad personality, but rather that there are a lot of mercenaries with bad personalities.

Anyway, that’s that.

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“Hey!! What was that about!”

“I’m just kidding, kidding! Can’t I even joke?”

Catherine yelled as she lunged at her, and Andrea responded nonchalantly.

This was Andrea’s private waiting room, her name on the door. It was incredibly extravagant, by the way.

Perhaps it also served as a dressing room.
Andrea, sitting in front of a large mirror, couldn’t stop laughing.

Although not as much as Catherine and me,
she was also one of our long-time companions.

We had gone on numerous missions together, entrusting our lives to each other several times over.

At first glance, it might look like a real fight, but it wasn’t that serious.

It wasn’t the first time they’d acted like this.

“…You really wanna die?”

“Wanna go a round? It’s been a while.”

…Are you sure it’s not serious?

I sat cautiously in a chair provided for guests and observed them.

They wouldn’t actually fight, would they?

I resolved to run without looking back if they did.

I wanted to go home.

Was there anyone who could stop them?

I muttered softly, just loud enough for Eve to hear.

“…Eve, is there any good way to resolve this situation?”

[There will be in approximately 5 seconds, I inform you.]

“Huh?”

That was a completely unexpected answer.

[Currently, a bio-reaction is approaching the waiting room entrance. I recommend checking the door, I inform you again.]

As Eve finished speaking, the waiting room door burst open.

“Yo!”

It was a man with the appearance of an Upper District celebrity.

His golden skin, starting from his chin and covering his entire body, looked peculiar.

Who was he again?

…I almost remember.

Oh, right.

The guy who sang on stage earlier.

Most Neon City celebrities had that kind of vibe. Except for Andrea, of course.

In a different sense from the Lower District, they had overflowing personalities.

“Andrea!”

“Ugh… this crazy bastard is here again.”

“Still foul-mouthed, I see, my thorny rose.”

Andrea sighed after seeing the man’s face. She looked truly disgusted.

Catherine burst out laughing after witnessing Andrea’s expression.

After laughing for a while, Catherine put her hand on Andrea’s shoulder.

“Oh, that’s hilarious. Crazy bitch, you guys are a good match.”

“…Seriously, stop it.”

I heard the grinding of teeth.

There was one problem: the man’s attention wasn’t solely on Andrea.

Turning his head, the man now faced Catherine.

“Oh, you are also beautiful.”

“What the fuck?”

“Huhuhu, I hope you enjoyed my performance earlier. I am Vince Barbo, leader of Rain Earth.”

Now it was Andrea’s turn to burst out laughing. Just like Catherine earlier, she couldn’t contain her laughter.

Was he an extreme narcissist?

The man didn’t seem to care much about their reactions.

“I was just about to have dinner. Would you join me, ladies?”

Hearing this, Andrea, still laughing, said to Catherine.

“Hey, hey. You guys are a good match. You two go eat together. I’ll go with Shiun.”

“…Shiun? Who’s that?”

The man, Vince Barbo’s, eyes momentarily sharpened.

I didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire, so I sat quietly without saying a word.

I took a sip of the tea that had been provided for guests.

It tasted good.

But despite my efforts, unfortunately, we were the only people in this room.

There was nowhere to hide even if I wanted to.

It was only natural that Vince Barbo’s gaze landed on me.

“…Hmm, so it’s this guy.”

He chuckled.

“Wouldn’t I be better than this Asian guy? Wearing a mask, he doesn’t look so healthy either.”

…Hmm.

It wasn’t the first time I’d encountered racism.
At this point, I didn’t even get angry.

But ignoring a provocation in Neon City was foolish.

It couldn’t be helped.

I was about to stand up to respond to his provocation.

I would have, if Catherine and Andrea hadn’t struck him simultaneously.

Bang!

Perhaps because his whole body was gold-plated, the sound of him hitting the wall was particularly loud.

Vince Barbo, unconscious, was stuck upside down in the wall.

…I wasn’t planning on doing that much damage.

Catherine and Andrea looked at each other.

Then, without a word, they nodded.

“…Are you sure this is okay? He seemed pretty famous. Maybe go easy on him next time.”

But neither of them seemed to care much.
Rather, they both looked relieved.

“Alright, alright, I’m done singing, so let’s all go eat.”

“Shall we?”

…I briefly wondered if this was okay.

Well, the concert did end quite late.

And I was indeed quite hungry.

I decided to eat first and think about it later.

[…….]

I don’t know.

It’ll work out somehow.

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And the very next day.

《Breaking news from NCB24. ‘Vince Barbo,’ the leader of the popular male group, has been urgently arrested on seven charges, including tax evasion.》

The news program showed the face of the man I saw yesterday.

“Oh.”

What a coincidence.

Tax evasion, huh.

Tax avoidance was essential in Neon City, but tax evasion, of course, resulted in arrest.

Not paying taxes in the city of capitalism was the same as asking to be expelled from the city.

The sentences were quite harsh, as I recall.

I wouldn’t have to worry about him for a while.

《The NCPD says they investigated based on evidence sent online by someone—.》

“Hmm.”

Someone?

Then, Eve suddenly spoke.

[I wonder who really sent the evidence. It would have been impossible without a high-performance AI, I add.]

Was it you?

I pestered her several times, but Eve never told me the truth.

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