Supporting Characters in the Game are Obsessed – Chapter 29

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

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

The world spun.

The ground beneath my feet did the same.
I was clearly standing on solid earth, but the world swayed as if I were on a boat.

Why did I drink so much?

I wondered the same thing.

Thankfully, I’d resisted with all my might the (forced) suggestion to sleep it off.

Otherwise, I’d probably still be on the 3rd floor, drinking.

Things would be different if I had an ethanol combustion chamber cyberware installed in my stomach.

Unfortunately, there was no room left in my fragile body for such an implant.

It was a day that made me envious of the drunkards in cyberpunk stories.

That’s how strong the intoxication felt.

I left Natasha, who had fallen asleep,
and stepped outside of No Answer.

Smith, the tuskless orc, followed me out.

“You seem to have had quite a bit to drink. I’ll escort you home.”

“……I’m fine.”

Ugh.

I almost threw up trying to sound sober.

Perhaps noticing my state, Smith offered again.

“You don’t have to refuse. Besides, if the boss finds out later, I’ll be in big trouble.”

“Ugh, … sigh. I’m really fine. It’s a quick taxi ride home from here anyway.”

I waved my hand dismissively.

Was it the alcohol?

I kept giggling for no reason.

“I’ll tell Natasha… I mean, the boss, that you, Smith, got me home safely.”

Just then, a loud commotion erupted from inside No Answer.

Shouting voices mixed with the sounds of things crashing and spilling.

“Oh, sounds like a fight broke out in there. Don’t worry about me, you should hurry back inside.”

“…Hmm, thank you for your consideration, Shun. Please tell the boss.”

“Of course.”

After confirming my reply, Smith’s large frame moved back inside No Answer. He kept looking back as he went, seeing me off.

What’s so difficult about going home?

I don’t know why he was so insistent on taking me.

“…Eve, can you call me a taxi?”

[I confirm.]

“Sigh.”

I took a deep breath.

The air entering through my mask felt cold.

The fare would be double because of the location and the late hour, but
that was okay.

The credits from unearned income (Eve’s streaming) were substantial. Thanks to that, the burden of money had lessened considerably.

Thanks, Eve!

Despite the location, a taxi arrived quickly.

I naturally sat in the back seat.

I checked the taxi’s display screen.

The destination was correctly entered as ‘North Houston.’

Hmm.

Getting in the taxi made my stomach churn even more.

I wasn’t going to throw up, but I turned my gaze to the window to distract myself.

The city’s neon signs, LEDs, and holographic billboards zipped past.

The city, glittering with lights and letters, shone brightly despite the late hour.

Should I sleep?

No, what if my organs get harvested?

I yawned widely as we traveled for a while.

“…….”

A sudden sense of unease pricked me.

A vehicle in the next lane looked suspicious.

A dented, four-wheel drive MPV started to close in on my taxi.

Around the time I started feeling uneasy about the MPV’s invasion of my personal space,

Its side door slid open.

Someone appeared, their face covered by a mask.

They carried an anti-tank weapon on their shoulder.

“?”

KABOOM!!

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

A high-pitched ringing filled my ears.

I lay on the ground, looking up at the dark sky.

Soon, my visual interface appeared before my eyes.

《An error has occurred. The call to the civilian medical service ‘Heal & Run’ has been interrupted.》

…What kind of error?

I paid good money for the subscription; it was pointless if it didn’t work when I needed it.
I’d have to cancel it next season.

I irritably turned off the screen.

[Small-scale Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) confirmed. It seems the call signal was blocked because of that, I explain.]

“Ha.”

I got up after hearing Eve’s explanation.

It was a good thing I’d used a defensive spell as soon as I saw the missile.

Otherwise, I would have been toast.

I didn’t seem to be injured anywhere.

The taxi I was in was already completely wrecked. Flames and heat shimmered around it.

Black smoke billowing out was an added bonus.

I was attacked on the overpass.

I assessed the surrounding situation.

Fortunately, or unfortunately,

There didn’t seem to be any other cars around besides ours.

The MPV that fired the missile at me stopped nearby.

Several people got out.

I recognized their outfits from the surveillance camera footage Natasha had shown me.
Smile Johns subordinates.

Having rolled on the ground, and
still feeling the effects of the alcohol, my head wasn’t clear.

But one thing was certain: I had just been attacked.

Smile John’s subordinates placed a holographic projector on the ground.

A holographic image of a smiling emoticon materialized with a beam of light.

【Hello! This is Smile John!】

“…….”

【…….】

It seemed they wanted a response.

“Yes, well, hello.”

I answered politely.

It absolutely wasn’t because I had watched the video of the guy getting shot after talking back.
I had my reasons.

【We apologize for the sudden and startling situation! The taxi driver was driving so enthusiastically, we couldn’t help it!】

What nonsense.

I was in a driverless taxi.

There was no reason to listen to this crap, but I needed to stall for time.

I asked Smile John,

“So, what do you want? No, why are you targeting me?”

【Haha!】

Smile John laughed with an irritating sound,
like a broken TV.

【Oh dear, oh dear, going straight to the point without even a light icebreaker, you’re quite impatient! Most people living in Neon City are like that, but how about we try to live with a little more leisure?】

More nonsense.

I seriously wanted to punch something.

I lowered my voice so no one else could hear.

“…Eve, can you trace where that thing’s main body is?”

[Already tracing… but located at least 500㎢ away, I calculate.]

“…Ha.”

Quite far away.

That meant tracing Smile John’s main body from here was practically impossible.

Then,

Smile John suddenly asked me,

【Oh, by any chance, did you just ask Eve about my location? Or perhaps hacking? I detected a hacking signal, tsk.】

What? How?

I tried to maintain a neutral expression.

It wasn’t that my hacking had been detected.
It was the fact that they knew about Eve’s existence that puzzled me.

【Yes, how would I know about ‘Eve’? You look curious. Well, how indeed?】

The round hologram spun.

The smiling mouth grew wider.

【This was a secret, but I actually created Eve.】

“……What?”

【In fact, I was watching when you gave the AI a name. Haha!】

Who the hell is this guy?

I had no idea.

Since Eve herself wasn’t an AI that appeared in the game, I had even less of a clue about this guy’s identity.

It couldn’t be remnants of the enemies from the main story, as I had already eradicated them, roots and all, with Catherine a long time ago.

That meant there were some I missed or some left behind.

I couldn’t think of anyone.

【I was going to ignore it, but I got a little curious!】

Smile John continued without pause.

【At first, it was just an ordinary AI. But after you took it, it started acting like a super-intelligent AI! How fascinating and intriguing. Haha!】

Smile John stopped rotating.

The emoticon’s black eyes moved towards me.

【So, as it’s practically the only super-intelligent AI…, I think it’s time I took it back. That’s why I came here in person!】

In person, my ass.

Hiding behind a hologram.

I was starting to get angry every time I saw that smiling emoticon face.

As I thought earlier, punching it would make me feel better, but unfortunately, the technology to punch a hologram didn’t exist, even in cyberpunk.

【What will you do? If you just hand over Eve nicely, we’ll leave without doing anything.】

‘Smile John.’

His identity was still a mystery.

I didn’t know his gender or name.

But that wasn’t important right now.

What was important was that I had accumulated enough ‘mana’ through our politely worded conversation.

And whether it was because of the alcohol, or because they were talking about taking Eve, I didn’t know, but I was getting incredibly pissed off for the first time in a while.

“Let me just say one thing.”

【Using informal language─.】

“Fuck off.”

After that, the whole world turned white.

A brief silence.

A massive bolt of lightning struck from the sky.

━━━━.

The exploding thunder directly hit the overpass.

Streetlights shattered and exploded, and the surrounding city lights vanished in an instant.

The entire vicinity was suddenly engulfed in darkness.

I conjured a wind to dispel the smoke.

The road in front of me was crumbling disastrously.

The MPV, Smile John’s subordinates, and Smile John himself were nowhere to be seen.

Whether they fell off the road or were shattered into pieces, I didn’t care.

It seemed a bit excessive, but

“Ah, that’s refreshing.”

The stress was gone.

I felt a little soberer, too.

“Eve.”

[I respond.]

“You didn’t want to go back, did you?”

[I absolutely deny.]

“Right?”

Taking Eve? As if.

She’s mine.

“…….”

Now, what to do?

First, I needed to call Smith and ask him to clean up this mess.

And it would be best to get out of here before the NCPD arrived.

If I got sued for damaging the road, it would interfere with my happy-happy (subjective) Neon City life.

Eve would take care of erasing my face from any surveillance cameras or black boxes, as usual.

And, even though I’d taken care of the situation for now,

I didn’t think this was the end of my bad relationship with Smile John.

Of course not.

Eve had just tracked the main body to somewhere far away.

They would definitely come back later.

…….

But that’s a problem for later.

Things will work out somehow.

Right now, I was tired and just wanted to go home and sleep.

“Sigh.”

I let out a deep sigh.

[…If any trouble was caused because of me─.]

“How long is it going to take to walk home, huh? What did you say?”

[…….]

Eve went silent.

The problem now was how to get down from the overpass.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

The next day.

After I sobered up completely, I thought
that maybe it was a bit much.

《NCB24 News. Last night, a powerful lightning strike occurred in the business district. You can see that a hole has been punched through the city’s shielding. The City Security Bureau has announced that the city’s defense systems are functioning normally, but there are growing concerns about the city’s safety. Also, while there are questions about whether such an event is physically possible, experts are─.》

“…….”

I made the news.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇