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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator:Bobt
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Fire and blood swirled.
Everywhere one looked, there was thick black smoke. In that smoke, flashes of red light flickered. Vicious trajectories solely aimed at killing the opponent. The owners of those trajectories shouted.
-Traitor!
-How dare you point your sword at us!
-I won’t forgive you!
At that moment, a gray flash cut those shadows. It also cut the shouts. It sliced through the storm of fire and blood rushing through the smoke. Then a voice was heard from beyond. It was a heavy voice.
-I considered you my son.
-You were my successor.
However, the gray flash in his hand cut even that voice. Then an even deeper, thicker voice resounded.
-You will never be able to let go of the sword. Because it is now your nature, because struggle is your very soul.
It was just as the words said. The gray flash was one with his hand, so he couldn’t let it go. So he raised that hand and sliced even the deep voice.
Beyond it, there was a woman. A woman dying in his arms. A woman looking up at him with infinitely sad eyes.
Even facing death, she calmly said,
-I love you, Locke.
* * *
Locke’s Eyes slowly opened.
He blankly stared at the ceiling as his eyes opened. After doing that for a moment, he suddenly raised his hand and touched the corner of his eye. Only an eye crust or a little stain, it was dry. He seemed to have shed tears in the past.
Locke, who had been spacing out while lying on the bed, soon raised his body. Then he looked at the night sky that was darkly spread outside the window.
The dark night sky. There were no stars to be found. It was because the light from the ground was too bright. Under the black sky, the light of the city was as bright as if the stars and the Milky Way that should have been shining above had flowed down to the ground. Of course, Locke knew well that the inside of that shining city was just cold, unlike its warm colors.
Locke, who had been looking out the window, threw a thin blanket over his shoulders like a shawl and got up. Shuffling towards the kitchen and opening the refrigerator, the refrigerator light illuminated his face.
Half-eaten pizzas and sandwiches were visible. Locke snorted once and took out a beer can. The refrigerator closed with a clatter.
His body, swaying with the beer, plopped down on the sofa in the living room. The beer can made a click sound and bubbled up small foam. Locke, buried deep in the sofa, looked at the small foam of the beer with downcast eyes.
Because Locke didn’t turn on any lights separately, his apartment was pitch dark. It would brighten a bit from the city lights outside the window and the headlights of the police aerodynes, that is, flying vehicles passing by from time to time. However, once that brief moment passed, the apartment was stained black as if sunk in shadows again.
The beer foam that had been rising above the can had already subsided. Instead, due to the coldness of the beer, droplets of water had already formed on the surface of the can.
Locke’s fingers suddenly touched those droplets. The water that had been beading up was mashed by a small gesture and flowed down.
Locke, who had been looking at it, raised his head and quietly said,
“Television.”
At that word, the television screen on one side of the living room turned on. The well-dressed host on the screen said something, and the studio audience burst into laughter and cheers. Afterwards, a famous actor appeared as a guest and chatted loudly with the host.
The host’s jokes. The actor’s witty answers. The audience pouring out in laughter and applause. The band’s performance and the neat movement of the camera. Locke was quietly looking at the screen while fiddling with the moisture on the beer can.
It seemed about a week had passed since the last request. Locke himself didn’t know exactly how long it had been. It was because he didn’t pay much attention to dates. Philip had also sent the compensation separately and hadn’t contacted him since. He was probably cleaning up the Melissa case and dealing with the person who had introduced her. The last two incidents must have been perplexing for him as well.
But Locke didn’t care much. There was also the fact that he was satisfied with the compensation Philip had sent, and if he wasn’t trustworthy enough, Locke could just accept a request from another middleman. Clean Cut guys like Locke were rare in Midland’s mercenary industry.
Buried deep in the sofa, looking at the colorfully swaying television screen for a long time. After the show ended and a few commercials aired, an old black-and-white movie started.
It was a story of a young man and woman shaken between family revenge and lovers’ love. The woman in the screen said,
[Let’s just run away. Far away, to a place where even my father can’t find us.]
[I’m sorry. That’s impossible. Please forgive me, my love.]
[Ah… Alright. But I still love you-]
“Turn off.”
The screen turned off. As the only light source in the apartment disappeared, darkness covered it again. Locke was also buried in that darkness. At that moment, light came in from outside the window. It was a hologram advertisement from the building across the street. A red light illuminated the inside of the apartment. Like the red light in a darkroom for developing film.
That hazy light illuminated the beer can. The droplets that had formed were long dried, but Locke hadn’t taken a single sip of that beer yet.
Locke, who had been quietly looking at the beer can, threw off the blanket and got up from the sofa. Then he went to the kitchen, poured out the beer can. He crumpled the empty can and threw it into the trash can, picked up the jacket that had been hanging on the back of the sofa, and left the apartment.
Locke, who reached the parking lot through the gloomy corridor and a slightly old elevator, got into his beloved horse and started the engine. The Black night left the parking lot as if sliding.
The Black Night ran into the night view of the city. The dazzlingly shining signs and towering skyscrapers became its background.
Locke drove on the road without a destination. Various colors sparkled and passed through the windows of the Black night. Locke’s Deep eyes blankly stared at those lights. Just like when he was watching television in the apartment.
After driving like that for a while, Locke’s Eyes suddenly caught a sign. It was a 24-hour restaurant called ‘Change’. The speed of the Black night slowed down.
Locke parked the car on the side of the road and got out. Walking heavily and opening the restaurant door, he saw a much more crowded restaurant than last time. It had only increased from three or four people to about seven or eight, though.
After looking around the restaurant for a moment, Locke sat at the bar table at a leisurely pace. An employee holding an order pad approached him. She clicked her pen and opened her mouth.
“Welcome. What can I get you…”
Her eyes widened. Locke, who made eye contact, lightly nodded his chin in recognition. A smile rose on the face of the warm brown-haired employee.
“You came again. Have you been well?”
“More or less.”
“Thank you for the last time.”
Locke roughly nodded. It was embarrassing to receive empty compliments. Perhaps reading Locke’s Attitude, the employee continued with a smile on her face.
“What would you like?”
“Coffee.”
“Coming right up.”
Just as she said, the employee quickly held out a coffee cup in front of Locke and brought a coffee pot to fill the cup. And next to it was a small piece of cake.
When Locke raised his head to look at the employee, she smiled brightly and whispered ‘it’s on the house’ and left. Locke felt the corner of his mouth rise without realizing it.
A coffee and a piece of cake. Locke, who devoured the cake with three or four fork stabs, quietly sipped the coffee. Then a tsk-tsk sound was heard.
“It’s the end times, the end times. Those damn terrorists are running amok.”
When he turned his head, an old man sitting on the other side of the bar table was shaking his head while looking at the restaurant’s television. The television was shedding light on the implant factory terror incident that had occurred during the day, and was also reading a statement from some group called ‘Children of the Trees’ or something.
“What are the end times? They just gave those fucking big corp bastards a good blow.”
Suddenly, someone from a table in the back intervened in the old man’s words. When Locke and the old man looked back, an orc wearing large sunglasses and black tattoos all over his face was fiddling with his protruding fang.
The old man said with a displeased expression,
“Even so, what’s the use of hurting people?”
“The only one hurt was an executive-level bastard, not the workers. If you lick the bottom of a big corp and get paid, you have to be prepared for that much at the very least, don’t you?”
“Oh my, if that big corp collapses, do you know how much this Midland economy will shake…”
A red glow shone from inside the orc’s sunglasses.
“If it’s an economy that will collapse because those guys fall, it’s better to collapse quickly for once. In the first place, how many people have already died crushed under that golden tower, and how many more will die in the future.”
“You, sir. Still, it’s thanks to those companies that this Midland has become such a global city…”
“Say that bullshit in front of the families of factory workers who died of cancer without even receiving compensation.”
The sudden argument turned into the two sides glaring at each other with displeased looks. Judging by the orc’s electronic eyes glowing ominously even behind the sunglasses, it might lead to some unfortunate incident.
However, that staring contest ended with a single intervening voice.
“Would you like some more coffee?”
It was the brown-haired employee. The old man coughed, and the orc crossed his arms and turned his gaze outside the restaurant window. The old man asked the employee who was filling his coffee cup,
“Emily. Do you think like that too?”
“Well. I’m not sure.”
The employee gently brushed off the old man’s words and approached the orc to fill his coffee as well. The orc said nothing, only looking out the window.
Locke also turned his gaze forward again and sipped his coffee while blankly looking at the scene. He thought he would watch a fight. These days, the elderly are not unconditionally beaten by the young. If a 90-year-old man has expensive implants, it’s an era where he can run a hundred meters in 9 seconds. Seeing how he didn’t back down from the orc’s gaze, one never knows.
As he was sipping his coffee like that, a face suddenly approached from the other side of the bar table. It was that employee.
Meeting Locke’s Eyes, she suddenly said,
“Right. My name is Emily.”
“…I’m Locke.”
“That’s too bad. I was trying to hear your name first.”
“Then what’s the difference?”
She, Emily, smiled softly.
“Well, there’s not much difference.”
Seeing that nice smile, Locke also unconsciously showed a faint smile on his lips. Emily’s cheeks turned a little red.
After hesitating for a moment, she continued with a slightly timid attitude.
“Uh, you know. I’m changing shifts in an hour today…”
Locke’s Eyes widened. It was a very clear signal. And it was also a signal with no reason to refuse. He was about to nod with a smile.
But at that moment, a certain voice suddenly came to mind. Along with the eyes that had been looking at him.
-I love you, Locke.
When he stared into the air for a long time without any answer, Emily tilted her head.
“Locke?”
“…Sorry, but I have some business at dawn.”
Emily’s eyes widened.
“Ah… th-then it can’t be helped. Hehe. Actually, I had something I forgot about today too. It doesn’t have to be today, but it’s good to do it.”
She rambled with a beet-red face and took the coffee pot next to her and left. Locke looked down at the coffee cup in front of him and fiddled with the handle. A faint steam was rising from the cup.
Then he felt a gaze from the side. When he turned his head, that old man from earlier was looking at him with a really displeased look. When the old man’s eyes met Locke’s, he coughed once and gently shook his head, then turned his eyes back to the television. Locke gave a bitter smile.
It was also awkward to keep sitting there, so he put a bill or two on the table and got up. Emily, who was taking orders from the customers over there, saw it and quickly approached.
“Are you leaving?”
“I’ll come again next time. When I don’t have business at dawn.”
At those words, her expression brightened a little.
“…Then come again next time.”
Locke nodded and left the restaurant, leaving her behind. The small bell attached to the restaurant door jingled as the door opened and closed.
Locke, who returned straight to the car, started the engine and stepped deeply on the accelerator. The Black Night’s engine roared roughly and leaped forward.
Afterwards, a wander followed, aimlessly driving through the city full of neon signs and lights. He crossed the middle of the busy city center, and sometimes drove along the winding coastal road. From rough orc ballads to dizzying synthesizer pop, music flowed out of the loudly turned-on radio.
And Locke just stepped on the accelerator and drove wherever the road led. After driving and driving like that, at some point, he found himself on top of a hill called Dragon Hills on the east side of Midland.
The west seen from that hill was unreadable. It was because the view was filled with densely lined skyscrapers.
However, due to the intense sunlight rising from the east, those skyscrapers began to shine brightly like thermal columns in a desert. The city that had endlessly tried to shine alone during the dark hours, yet the moment when that city truly looked beautiful was now, when the sun rose in the eastern sky.
Locke got out of the car, leaned against the hood, and looked at that scenery. It was as if the wandering that had continued since last dawn was for seeing this scene.
It was while looking at the hidden appearance of Midland like that. Suddenly, the terminal inside the car turned on and a voice rang out.
[Locke? I heard you’re free these days. I heard about the last job. Philip was whining like a pitiful son of a bitch, afraid that you might be angry, and I couldn’t stand the sight of it. Anyway, there’s a job that needs you now. Are you listening?]
It was a familiar voice. A middleman like Philip. It was a goblin named William.
Locke, who had been looking at the shining thermal columns of Midland, turned his body at the continuing voice from the terminal. Afterwards, the car door slammed shut and the muscle car’s engine rumbled with vibration. Locke’s hand pulled the gear.
The Black night, with its back to the bright sunlight, began to run on the road.
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