Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed – Chapter 16

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

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Illegal mercenary.

As the name suggested, it referred to a mercenary who primarily took on illegal missions.

Broadening the perspective, there were quite a few people around who could be considered illegal mercenaries.

Chinatown, Little Shinjuku, or even Redwood in the Lower District were overflowing with gangs operating as illegal mercenaries.

The mercenary profession itself was like that.
Unlike other professions, no license was required to take on requests and perform mercenary work.

The only requirements were skill and a track record.

In this world, where countless vagrants entered and died in the mercenary industry every day, the difference between illegal and regular mercenaries wasn’t that significant.

So, what constituted an illegal request?

This was simpler to explain than the previous point.

A request that could harm the city.

Frankly, anything that violated the city’s laws could be considered an “illegal request.”

Even failing to pay taxes on accepted requests was considered illegal.

Perhaps due to this, illegal requests held a relatively low and narrow position in Neon City.

There was another reason.

Since “No Answer” took control of Neon City’s mercenary industry, taking on illegal requests was strictly prohibited.

As far as I knew, there were still people secretly exchanging requests, but once caught, they were expelled from No Answer and couldn’t receive requests from any associated brokers. Because of this risk, the number of people taking on illegal requests had significantly decreased.

But what kind of creatures were humans (and all other races)?

If their desired path was blocked, they would find a detour or a new path. This was how humans (and all other races) survived.

I’d never taken on an illegal request,
so I didn’t know much about it.

From what I’d heard, it was divided into several factions.

Some created secret sites on Netspace to exchange requests.

Since their identities could be exposed, and the work was risky, many preferred to meet in person and only take requests from trusted individuals.

Eventually, only one method remained.

And so, a certain “game” was born, one that required clunky access through outdated input/output devices like monitors and keyboards; possessed graphics and gameplay that discouraged casual players;
posed less risk due to its lack of virtual reality interface and thus limited potential for hacking damage; and boasted high security thanks to the administrators physically isolating the servers.

It even masqueraded as a normal (if strange) game, making it easy to avoid suspicion.

Since no data logs remained on the server, it was perfect for secret conversations and illicit dealings.

If this was true, it explained the lack of max-level content and the overall broken gameplay.

…Hmm.

So.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“…It’s true.”

I was speechless.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the changes after the game became reality was the lore I didn’t know.

Every NPC on the street had a detailed story.

But this was unexpected.

I didn’t remember hearing about it while playing the game.

Well, maybe I just didn’t remember.

It had been about ten years since I played.

I couldn’t readily recall anything besides the main characters and the main storyline.

It couldn’t be helped.

But conversely, it meant I did remember the main characters.

The hostile NPC in the game.

The villain and wanted criminal who loved rabbit dolls.

Julia took a large bite of the tomato spaghetti I had ordered for her. Incidentally, the tomato content listed on the menu was 0.0%.

With her cheeks puffed out with food, she looked like an ordinary girl of her age.

Though she wasn’t.

“…So, what you’re saying is…”

There was a “game” used primarily for illegal requests.

She had never seen anyone actually hunt in that game, so she was curious about what kind of person I was and wanted to meet me.

“Is that it?”

“…Yes.”

It was surprising that my favorite game held secrets rivaling the Deep Net, but it was even more shocking that a player who had simply enjoyed the game with me was a notorious wanted criminal.

I just played a game I liked, and I had no idea it would leave such a deep impression on a famous wanted criminal.

I tried to prove my innocence and show that I was a law-abiding citizen.

“Like I said, I’m not an illegal mercenary.”

“…I know.”

Huh?

“…You’re the ‘Only Magician’.”

“I don’t really like that nickname.”

It sounded a bit chuunibyou.

Actually, that was the general sentiment in this world.

“…Shooting Star, Red Horn, Tech Master. You’re their companion too.”

…Hmm.

Compared to the nicknames of my other companions, “Only Magician” didn’t sound so bad.

Those were the nicknames of Catherine, Andrea, and Drek, respectively. They felt a bit childish, honestly.

I thought proper nicknames should be something like Golden Hand or Smasher.

Those sounded cooler.

Though such nicknames probably didn’t exist in reality.

“…You’re famous among us.”

“The others are pretty famous.”

“…No, I mean, you too, Magician.”

“Me?”

Why me?

I didn’t think I had any reason to be famous.

“…They say you can’t be killed.”

“Ah.”

That wasn’t a good reason.

Nor was it a positive assessment.

As expected of people from the underworld.
Their evaluations were harsher than those in the light.

I tried to change the subject and spoke to Julia.

“Ms. Julia—”

“Just Julia.”

“Julia.”

Right, nicknames are important.

It’s not that I corrected myself out of fear.

“…I understand you’re currently a wanted criminal. Is it okay for you to be here?”

I wasn’t saying this because I didn’t want to be with a wanted criminal.

It was out of genuine concern.

Julia raised the doll she was holding to my eye level.

A white rabbit doll.

Its red glass eyes twinkled at me.

“…This…”

Holding the rabbit’s ear with her other hand, Julia stretched the rabbit’s neck and body.

It was a stuffed doll, stretching and shrinking according to her movements.

“It distorts signals around me… blocking facial recognition. I was also careful coming here.”

[Information.]

Surprise.

Eve continued.

[After hacking the cameras, I confirm that the image quality near the doll drastically decreases due to generated noise.]

Really?

It was all easy to obtain in the underworld.
Come to think of it, there were many similar products.

So that’s why she carried the rabbit doll.

“…I just like the design.”

She giggled softly, saying she liked rabbits.

If I hadn’t played the game, I wouldn’t have suspected a thing.

This little girl, a wanted criminal listed by the NCPD? Don’t be ridiculous.

I would have dismissed it.

Thankfully, she didn’t seem like she wanted to fight me.

I hoped today would end peacefully.

“But, more than me…”

“What?”

“RealMageHere—”

“…Could you call me by my name?”

Hearing my game ID in real life was extremely awkward.

Julia suddenly put down her fork.

She seemed to be choking. Stopping mid-bite, she hurriedly gulped down the water from the glass next to her.

She didn’t look like a villain at all.

“…Your name is…”

“Shiun, Lee Shiun. Lee is my last name.”

“S-Shiun-nim.”

Being called “nim” by a wanted criminal felt strange.

“…I heard there’s a bounty on your head too?”

“Huh?”

Naturally, I froze at Julia’s words.

She continued.

“…You’re famous among underworld mercenaries these days. It’s been a few days, I think… your bounty might be higher than mine?”

Why me?

What crazy talk was this?

There was no reason for underworld mercenaries to put a bounty on my head.

I wanted to hear more details.

But then,

The restaurant became noisy.

It seemed like several people had barged in at once.

The murmuring voices of the people around me.

Something was definitely happening.

Their target was none other than me.

“There he is, the Gold Magician! We’ve been looking for you!”

The timing was comical.

I had just learned about the bounty on my head, and as soon as the words left her mouth, people armed with knives and guns entered the restaurant.

“Took us long enough to find you, huh? What the— Julia, what are you doing here?”

The leader, a man, shifted his gaze to Julia, who was sitting across from me.

“…Hi.”

“What are you doing here? You skipped out on a mission, saying you had something to do.”

I didn’t know who the man was, but he seemed to know Julia.

“Ugh, stupid. She didn’t even recognize the money bag right in front of her.”

The leader scratched his temple with the pistol he was holding.

Was that scar on his head from doing that?

At a glance, his entire body seemed modified with combat implants.

It was cyberware on the level of the chrome psychos I’d seen in past missions or on the news.

Unlike me, who was speechless in this bewildering situation, Julia spoke her mind firmly.

She had stuttered a bit while talking to me earlier, but now there was no trace of that.

“No.”

“What?”

“I didn’t not recognize him.”

The atmosphere in the restaurant, which had seemed to ease slightly, tightened like a drawn string, filled with tension once more.

“…Then why aren’t you grabbing him?”

“He’s my party member, so no.”

“Then get out of the way.”

“No to that too.”

It seemed the leader’s patience was wearing thin.

“…Hey. I can overlook you putting a knife to my throat. But this? This isn’t something I can overlook.”

“I wasn’t joking either.”

The leader gritted his teeth.

Julia’s hand had already moved towards the rabbit doll in her arms.

I just stayed still.

I didn’t understand what was going on.

I took a sip of the cola in front of me.

At least the cola was cold.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇