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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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I gave Drek a short farewell.
Since the wedding was just next week.
There must have been more than one or two people he had to give invitations to today.
As I returned to my room, Catherine, while operating her visual interface, asked me.
“Where’s Drek?”
“He must be busy right now.”
At my words, Catherine nodded her head.
Catherine must have known.
In fact, if you were to pick the most ‘normal person’ among our colleagues, ‘Drek’ was the number one choice.
Thinking of Drek’s personality.
He probably wouldn’t want to go through his once-in-a-lifetime (usually) wedding carelessly.
I sat down in the guest chair where Drek had been sitting.
I wondered how long Drek had been sitting there.
The seams of the chair were already slightly spread open.
…Putting the chair aside.
Drek, getting married.
It really is a special feeling.
It wasn’t in vain that I came into the game.
I thought, leaning back in the chair.
What would be a good gift?
In Korea, I would have just given a congratulatory money envelope and been done with it.
But in the ‘cyberpunk world,’ where American culture was generally established, giving gifts was the majority of cases.
Furniture? A refrigerator?
Should I just gift him an entire cyberware specialty shop building for peace of mind?
The compensation money Pete Mac had given me was still filling my account to the brim.
No matter what I gifted, it wouldn’t be a burden.
What should I do?
Catherine called me as I was in the middle of deliberating.
“Hey, hey hey hey hey.”
What do you want, golden child.
I looked in her direction without answering. Golden eyes were looking directly at me.
“Who are you going to put for this?”
“What.”
At my question, Catherine shared her visual interface.
It was the content of the RSVP card that Drek had sent.
In any case, since he said the wedding was next week.
All I had to do was write down whether I would attend or not.
Well, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.
With that thought, I checked the text of the RSVP card Catherine had sent.
【Who do you plan to attend with?】
…….
What do you mean, who to write?
I should just write everyone who’s going—.
“Ah.”
I instinctively lifted my head.
I looked around.
Catherine, who had asked me.
Andrea, who was subtly eavesdropping.
And Eve, who was looking at me confidently.
The gazes of these three were focused on me.
And, I didn’t know why, but figures like Julia, the Chairman, Natasha, and Maya flashed through my mind in order for a moment.
Do I have to choose just one here?
It was a very difficult problem.
Really, very, incredibly.
And, after a short silence, I opened my mouth.
“……I.”
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Santos knew that he was an ordinary person.
Of course, since he lived in the mid-level, he also knew that he belonged to a position above the middle class among the citizens living in Neon City.
But even so, he had never once thought of himself as ‘special.’
Starting a family in an ordinary way.
Working in an ordinary way.
Maintaining human relationships in an ordinary way.
Such an ordinary person.
That’s how Santos defined himself.
That’s what he had thought, until he received a wedding invitation from his next-door neighbor, the dwarf, ‘Drek Carter,’ and attended his wedding.
A church in the mid-level, South Pilier.
“Wow, he rented this place?”
Santos muttered and thought.
‘He said he was only inviting people he knew.’
Mr. Drek.
It seems he’s a person with a stronger sense of pride than I thought.
The scale of the wedding venue was larger than Santos had imagined. Of course, it wasn’t rare to see that kind of thing in Neon City.
Santos nonchalantly led his family and walked into the church.
Even if he was holding his wedding at the largest church in the mid-level, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
It was something an ordinary person could certainly do.
Because regretting the credits spent was not his business anyway.
Santos confidently puffed out his chest.
He brushed off the dust from the luxury brand (50% off) he had purchased for today.
He had also made sure his wife and children were properly dressed.
There was no need to be unnecessarily intimidated just by the ‘scale of the wedding.’
Santos waved his hand at the huge man in the distance.
“Mr. Drek!”
Seeing Santos’s face, Drek grinned.
‘How much has he worked out?’
He greeted Drek, who made him feel guilty about his own belly fat.
Whether he knew Santos’s feelings or not. Drek offered a cliché greeting.
“Thank you for coming, Mr. Santos.”
“Haha, we’re neighbors, of course I should come.”
Taking Drek’s handshake, Santos thought.
‘…He said he was a dwarf.’
Why is his build so huge?
A question suddenly arose.
He’s supposed to be a person who runs an ordinary cyberware specialty shop.
“……”
Santos shook his head and shook off his worries. Because it was surprisingly common for people who worked with cyberware to get cyberware surgery on their own bodies.
After a short greeting, Santos walked toward a wooden pew on one side of the church.
“Dad, when is the meal?”
“Just a little longer.”
Soothing the whining of his young daughter, he waited for the wedding to begin.
Subtly glancing at Drek.
It was a natural order of things to check if there was anyone Santos knew among the people coming to the venue.
It was at that moment.
“I’m here!”
A loud and cheerful voice.
But the reason the gazes of the people gathered at the wedding venue moved in that direction was not necessarily because of the ‘voice.’
‘……Wow.’
Santos admired inwardly.
Because if he admired it openly, it was a matter where he could be severely scolded by his wife next to him.
Golden hair shone dazzlingly.
There were several people around Santos who had dyed their hair blonde, but it was rare to see someone who suited it as well as her.
She was wearing a yellow frilly one-piece dress.
Since it wasn’t a very shiny material, it also blended in naturally at the wedding venue.
“Catherine, you’re here.”
As if they were close.
Drek greeted her brightly with a hello.
“Where’s Shiun?”
“In the bathroom for a moment.”
Santos, who had overheard the conversation, thought.
‘Shiyun? Shun? Anyway, what a lucky guy.’
Santos, who had subtly shifted his gaze, looked at his wife.
When they had gotten married, he thought they would be happy forever.
A toad that he couldn’t have seen back then was now occupying his side.
To cleanse his eyes, Santos looked in the direction of the woman called Catherine again.
Behind her, another woman walked in.
“Hmm, it’s quite big? I thought they were doing it small.”
Santos’s eyes widened.
As if he wasn’t the only one who had noticed.
The gazes of the surrounding guests were also all focused on that woman, the ‘celebrity.’
Long red hair tied in twin tails flowed down softly.
Her attire itself was a suit with not much decoration, but since the person herself seemed bright, on the contrary, it felt glamorous.
Drek welcomed the singer, celebrity, Andrea.
“Thanks for coming, Andrea. It’s just the scale, just the scale. Lorenda said it would be good to do it at a church.”
A famous influencer he had only seen on broadcast.
It was Andrea Rose.
A celebrity famous enough that even Santos, who wasn’t very interested in worldly affairs, would know.
Santos cautiously raised Drek’s level in his mind by one step.
‘…His connections are wider than I thought.’
To think that a celebrity would come and congratulate him.
But Andrea, who had finished her greeting, approached the woman he had seen earlier, Catherine.
“Shiun’s in the bathroom, right?”
“Yeah.”
…….
For goodness sake.
‘Who is Shun?’
Does he have a ton of credits or something?
Jealousy came before envy.
‘…He’s probably nothing special.’
He spat out a black feeling inwardly.
Of course.
If the people who had come had ended there.
Santos would have just thought that.
Drek continued to guide the guests who came in a line.
“Julia, was it? Nice to meet you.”
“……Yes.”
“The people waiting for Shiun are over there.”
A woman (a beauty) holding a white rabbit doll walked to their side.
“Boss, thank you for taking the time.”
“Don’t mention it, where’s Shiun? We were supposed to meet here.”
“You can wait over there.”
A woman with a sharp impression (a beauty), and an orc who looked like a bodyguard.
“……Excuse me.”
“…Who—, ah. You’re Ms. Maya. I’ve heard a lot about you from Shiun.”
“…Yes.”
“If you wait over there, Shiun will appear soon.”
Although she looked relatively ordinary.
Even a woman (a beauty) who could draw the surrounding gazes.
And so, in the end.
Numerous beauties were sitting in one place, talking to each other.
‘……What is this?’
No matter how sharp his wife’s gaze was getting, Santos couldn’t stop his head from turning in that direction.
‘…Is it some kind of event?’
Since they had all come looking for the man called ‘Shun,’ he couldn’t help but think that.
‘No, snap out of it.’
Santos shook his head.
It was also because his wife’s gaze had become unbearably sharp, and because the wedding start time written on the invitation was approaching.
He had come to congratulate his neighbor’s wedding.
Not to watch the people around him.
In Neon City, marriage is a thing to be blessed.
It’s something he, who was married, knew better than anyone.
Even more so if that person was a good neighbor.
‘……Well, still.’
There probably won’t be any more surprises. Thinking that, Santos looked after his daughters, waiting for the wedding to begin.
“……”
Santos felt something in the atmosphere change.
He lifted his head and looked around.
Then, which he hadn’t seen before.
He began to see men in black suits guarding every entrance.
He couldn’t even guess since when they had been there.
Beyond the stained glass of the huge church.
Several black shadows flashed by.
‘……Air vehicles?’
Air vehicles are supposed to be prohibited from entering here.
And their size wasn’t small either. They were not vehicles of a size that would be used for general transport.
A size that would only be used by some megacorp—.
Thud.
The closed door opened.
The first thing that came into view was purplish hair.
It was true that the people who had appeared so far all had an unapproachable feeling, but this person was completely different in their feeling itself.
Something.
Santos felt as if she were a person from another world.
It seemed that the friendly neighbor, Drek, also didn’t know the identity of the woman.
He was making a puzzled expression, just like Santos.
And next to the woman, a man with his black hair neatly slicked back naturally followed.
“…Mr. Justin Borg?”
Drek muttered.
Drek, who then let out a hollow laugh, spoke to the woman as if he hadn’t expected it.
“I am sorry for not recognizing you at a glance.”
And he continued.
“Chairman, thank you for coming.”
“Hmm.”
Chairman.
A title that usually refers to the head of a specific corporation.
Santos, who had overheard the story up to that point, swallowed hard.
Santos didn’t understand where he was right now.
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Ugh, I’m nervous.
I walked out of the bathroom, washing my hands.
“……Whew.”
And I faced Eve, who was standing in front.
“……”
To think she was waiting in front of the bathroom.
I thought, looking at Eve.
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