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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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The girl instinctively lowered her posture.
‘……What is it?’
A vibration was felt from somewhere.
As if it wasn’t just her imagination.
At regular intervals, with a thumping sound, the inside of the sewer shook with vibrations.
Due to the humidity, the dew hanging from the ceiling even fell like rain, and dirt and dust flowed down from the cracks in the old walls.
Slowly standing up, the girl looked in the direction the sound had come from, the way she had walked.
As time passed, the vibrations and the sound were getting closer and closer.
‘Is it the sound of something exploding?’
There was no time to think for long.
The girl hid her body between the thick pipes that were lined up on one side of the wall.
She covered her mouth with her hand and quieted her breathing.
“…Ah…!”
Between the echoing sounds of explosions, a person’s voice was heard.
‘…What kind of crazy bastard is running around making so much noise here.’
There was a limit to putting your life on the line.
Whoever it was, the girl thought to herself that they must be a very foolish person.
And by the time she had realized that the ‘foolish someone’ was looking for ‘her,’ the girl had already pulled her body out from behind the pipes.
“Golden chi—, ah there you are.”
“……”
That foolish someone was a person the girl knew.
“Golden child, what city are you talking about? It’s dangerous here, so let’s hurry back.”
“And the one who knows that is running around shouting like that?”
It was beyond frustrating; it was absurd.
If it had been a stranger, she would have let it go.
But since it was someone who knew it was dangerous, she really felt like hitting him just once.
“……Haa.”
The girl let out a deep sigh.
‘He’s not a real fool, is he?’
No, is he a fool?
As if he knew the girl’s thoughts, the boy who had appeared with a loud noise looked at the girl and smiled brightly.
“Let’s go home.”
It was a matter of course that the girl ignored the boy.
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It was a relief that I found her faster than I thought.
I secretly sighed.
I couldn’t know when the golden child, who had disappeared leaving only a piece of paper, had left.
While I was talking with Four-eyes, the golden child could have already gone deep in the direction of the city.
That was why I had been running around making a loud noise.
It was important to find the golden child as soon as possible.
We were already far from the village.
It was true that this area itself was safer than other places, but that was only relative.
It was dangerous all the same.
I spoke to the golden child again.
“I said let’s go back, don’t ignore me.”
Since I had even come all this way to pick her up, the only possible answer would be ‘YES.’
But, he girl’s nickname was ‘Golden Child.’
“I’m not going.”
“?”
Golden golden child….
What on earth does that mean?
I followed behind the golden child who had started walking. I continued my full-powered persuasion.
“Hey, golden child. Just stop for a second.”
“No, and you go back.”
“Then let’s at least walk a little slower.”
“I don’t want to do that either.”
Agh.
How is she walking so fast when her legs are shorter than mine?
At my words to walk slowly, the golden child, on the contrary, quickened her pace and moved forward.
For me, with my trash-like stamina characteristic, it was difficult to even keep up with her pace.
…Dr. Oh Eun-young. Please give me strength (physical).
I’m going to lose her again at this rate.
I, who had calmed my mind by taking deep breaths and counting prime numbers, ran with all my might and caught up to the golden child who had gotten far away.
If I couldn’t stop the golden child’s actions right away, I decided to first find out the cause.
“Why on earth are you trying to go to the city?”
“…Just because.”
Golden child.
‘Just because’ cannot be a reason.
“…You don’t have to go right now, do you.”
“Right, but still, just because.”
Right, she’s at least answering.
I thought positively.
If only those answers weren’t meaningless, I would have thought, ‘our golden child has really grown up well.’
…….
We’re really going to go to the city at this rate.
In fact, even if we arrived in the city safely like this, it wasn’t without its problems.
Basically, children born and raised in a garbage dump usually don’t have an ‘identity.’
The moment we arrive in the city, my class would automatically change from ‘mage’ to ‘illegal immigrant.’ The difficulty of living itself would rise.
Of course, after arriving in the city, there was also the method of returning to the garbage dump again, but there was no guarantee that the way back would be as safe as the way there.
I wasn’t even sure if the direction we were going now was the direction of the city, so I didn’t know what kind of confidence she had to be striding forward like that.
…She knows, right?
With that thought, I asked the golden child.
“Is this the right way to the city?”
“……”
The golden child, who had been answering my questions continuously, ignored my question for the first time.
In fact, it was no different from an answer.
A silent expression of not knowing.
Wouldn’t the chances of returning be higher if I just grabbed the golden child’s ankle and made a fuss, telling her not to go?
Around the time I was starting to think that.
“Let’s go back—, huh?”
I stopped what I was saying and looked ahead.
Because the golden child who had been walking ahead had suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Did my persuasion finally work?
But unfortunately, that wasn’t it.
I could see the shadow of a person blocking the sewer path we were on.
It was a vagrant with a blanket over his shoulder.
The mechanical eye, exposed above the torn artificial skin, glowed with a red light and was aimed at us.
It was also the man who had sold me the YouTu○ viewing electronic device for three days’ worth of food.
“Kids, where are you going?”
“……”
Hmm.
Are we fucked?
The distance to the village was far.
This area where the golden child and I were was not a suitable place to meet a vagrant.
“Haha, don’t be so wary.”
I felt like I had seen a ‘my dog doesn’t bite’ and a ‘beware of fierce dog’ sign at the same time.
As the man took a step toward us, we, on the contrary, stepped back and moved away from the man.
I should probably show him the power of my magic—.
It was then that the golden child lifted me and started running in the opposite direction.
“Huh?”
I had never been carried princess-style even before coming into the game.
I was flustered by my first-ever princess carry.
Even though she was shorter than me, her strength was immense.
“Is it called a princess carry because a princess is carrying me?”
“…Shut up and be quiet.”
The golden child answered my dazed comment.
I should have been the one doing the carrying.
Well, with my stamina, it would have been impossible.
As if it were too much for even the golden child to run all the way to the village, she turned into a narrow fork in the sewer path we had come from.
The pipeline that was extending out complexly crossed the ceiling and the floor.
The golden child put me down and let out a ragged breath.
This place looked like a corner of the sewer.
Since there were no lights, a dark shadow was settling low. The sound of insects flying around buzzed in my ears.
I asked the golden child, who was still breathing roughly.
“…Are you okay?”
“……Yeah.”
The feeling of being rescued, held by a girl who was (probably) younger than me, was a new experience.
Since our voices could leak out and we could be found by the vagrant again if we weren’t careful, even though we had managed to hide, I lowered my voice as much as possible and said,
“…We’re going back to the village now, right?”
“……I’ll think about it.”
So you only start to think after things have gotten this bad.
…….
I told the golden child a thought that had suddenly occurred to me.
“But you know.”
“…Be quiet, we might get caught.”
That’s true, but.
“If it’s a mechanical eye, shouldn’t it usually have the function to detect vital signs—.”
“Hello?”
At the man’s voice that suddenly came from behind, we, startled, jumped forward as if falling.
What, there’s only a wall.
As if he had read my thoughts, the wall broke with a loud sound.
Craaaash!!
Unlike this dark place, the other side of the broken wall was lit.
A bright ray of light leaked through the hole to this side.
Beyond it was the owner of the voice. It was the vagrant I had seen earlier.
Only then did I realize the identity of the one arm he had been covering with a blanket.
What the, do cyberpunk vagrants have a pile bunker attached instead of an arm?
“You can’t run all the way to the village anyway. Let’s not waste our energy and just come here.”
A long, torn line formed on the man’s mouth.
He widened the hole with his good hand.
The man crossed over to this side through the hole.
Large pieces of stone fell onto the puddle of water on the floor.
“Kid, you can run away.”
Then the man said, looking at me.
From the way he was talking, it seemed the vagrant’s purpose was the golden child.
“How many credits will I be able to get? Haha! A chance like this has come to me too.”
The man’s gaze, shining with madness, focused on the golden child.
The man, as if thinking we had no way to escape now, elowly blocked our escape route and began to walk in our direction.
The golden child said to me.
“…You run first.”
“What did you say?”
“I’ll take care of this guy and then go.”
What are you talking about, golden child?
No matter how strong the golden child’s muscle strength was, surpassing that of an adult, the chances of her beating a man armed with cyberware were close to 0%.
The golden child, who had read my expression of ‘don’t talk nonsense,’ said to me again.
“…Then are you going to fight with me? If I create an opening, you just run in that gap.”
I shook my head.
As if he found that sight very funny.
The man burst out laughing.
“Khaha! What a tear-jerking sight! Right, Weakling, was it? A man should have that kind of stubbornness! Though it’s meaningless now, what is that.”
The ball of light created at the tip of my index finger flew toward the man at a slow speed.
As if he didn’t feel any threat, the man blankly watched the ball of light flying toward him.
“Ah, you mean this.”
At my changed tone, the golden child looked at me with an expression of looking at a crazy person, but I forced myself to ignore it.
The man waved his hand at the ball of light that had come right in front of his nose.
“I can’t even touch it, what is this?”
I gave the man an answer to his curiosity.
“Magic.”
“……What’s magic?”
The man, even with my answer, couldn’t find an answer.
He had a question, but there was no more time to answer the man.
I let go of the control over the mana I had gathered.
The light that had been brightly illuminating the surroundings contracted.
And by the time the man, who had felt the anxiety, was about to step back.
I grabbed the golden child and threw myself in the opposite direction.
“Hey, hey! Where are you touching!”
“Duck, you idiot!”
The more I used mana, the more I could tell my talent.
The speed of gathering mana had also become faster.
And I had also gotten the hang of dispersing mana.
Among the magic I had used so far, I had gathered the largest amount of mana.
Pooooooong!!!
Good thing I had covered my ears.
The exploded light dominated the entire sewer.
In the aftermath, the golden child and I, who had been ducking, rolled in the opposite direction.
It was obvious what had happened to the man without even looking.
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As if she had a change of heart, the golden child walked behind me.
“…I said I’m sorry.”
The golden child had also apologized.
But since she had to receive a proper punishment for her wrongdoing, I let the golden child’s words go in one ear and out the other.
“…Still, it’s dangerous, so we can’t go together.”
I didn’t answer and continued to walk.
We arrived at the village before we knew it. I moved along the path of the sewer village.
“Answer me…, I said I’m sorry.”
“Never mind that, just follow me.”
I took the golden child to the house of a technician called ‘the Tinkerer.’
“Huh? What brings you kids here.”
A dirty woman wearing glasses made of 8 lenses, like a spider, looked down at me.
I said to the woman, the Tinkerer.
“Can you make a decent identity for me and this kid? And a credit chip that can be used in the city.”
The color of the glasses the Tinkerer was wearing changed.
“That’s a bit expensive. Even if you’re a village kid, you can’t get it for free.”
“Please use this for the credits.”
I handed over all the credits I had saved up until now to the Tinkerer.
“…Hey! You saved that up for a very long time.”
I saved it up for this anyway.
I turned around and said to the golden child.
“What am I supposed to say to a kid who’s trying to go to the city without a thought, the identity problem will be solved with this. Let’s go to the city after we’ve grown up a little more.”
“……Still.”
“Nonsense, confiscated.”
Originally, I was going to save up a little more and then create a higher-grade identity.
But if I didn’t do at least this, I didn’t know what kind of accident the golden child might cause again.
“Hoo.”
The Tinkerer who had confirmed the amount of credits said.
“What will your name be? Ah, for the record, a name is something like a nickname used in the city.”
“I’ll go with Lee Shiun, Lee is the surname. And the name will be Shiun.”
“You know what a name is?”
Of course I know.
I, who had said my real name, looked at the Tinkerer.
Of course, if I had known it would be changed to a Chinese style here, I would have been a little more careful in conveying it.
But at this time, I didn’t know it would turn out like that.
“Hmm, golden child, what about you?”
“……I.”
As if the golden child also had a name she had been thinking of.
The golden child’s mouth slowly opened.
“Originally, I was going to go without a surname, just Catherine. But I’ll take the same surname as Weakling, Shuun…? Please do that.”
“Confirmed, sit there and wait.”
Why is she trying to use the same surname as me?
Is it a sibling-like feeling?
But Catherine?
If it’s Catherine, it’s the default name that was set when the protagonist in the game was female—.
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“Anyway, that’s how we decided on the names we would use in the city. And after living there for a few more years, we came into the city.”
I briefly finished my explanation.
Catherine showed the picture in the frame she was holding from the side to Eve and added an explanation to my words.
“This is a picture we took at the Tinkerer’s house then, don’t we look so fresh?”
Eve, who had been silent for a moment while Catherine was talking, recalling the past, said.
“…That individual, ‘Teddy,’ what happened to him?”
“I wouldn’t know, I think I heard a rumor that he was dragged away by a drone after that.”
“……Then why did you say ‘spoiler’ earlier, I ask.”
“That’s more fun.”
“……”
An emotion appeared in the eyes with which Eve was looking at Catherine. She looked angry.
To think you can create emotions in an artificial intelligence.
The golden child really is a golden child.
I shook my head and thought.
It was another peaceful day.
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