Chapter 12

Seeing a whole new side of Jugra with overwhelming intensity, I stood beside her, staring at the cyberpunks before me… and felt like I was looking at a microcosm of this city.

Jugra, shouting down a man older and bigger than herself, seemed larger than life—like a tiger uncoiling from sleep in its cave, baring its fangs and unleashing its true nature. Watching it firsthand, I couldn’t help but admire her as she stood at the top of this room’s hierarchy. Because, damn it, she looked cool. That childish appearance was just a facade, a trap to deceive newcomers.

When we first entered, Maine—just like the woman next to him, Dorio—had clearly underestimated Jugra.

And then, the moment the fight started—

Scraps of cybertech arms littered the floor, with Jugra sitting elegantly as the sole victor. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say she’d forcefully taught them their place. In this city, only the strong survive, and Jugra embodied that truth in her small frame.

"Heh. Thanks for the excessive decorations. Looks like my processing didn’t lag. Good for you."

"...You’ve got to be kidding me. Enduring that carpet bombing without a shelter was hell. I don’t wanna bleach my brain for a while… I’ll have nightmares."

"Huh. If even a halfway-decent netrunner like you says that, guess I held back just right. By the way, for future reference—how close were you to crashing?"

"Haaah…? Pretty damn close! If Lucy hadn’t been nearby to distribute the load, my brain would’ve fried!"

"Hmm. So against someone I can kill, no need to hold back, then."

"Maine, I swear to god, stop picking fights. I don’t wanna die with my brain slowly boiling in my skull."

"...Tch. Hate to admit it, but the ranking’s settled. We lost. Badly."

The woman called Kiwi, clad in crimson netrunner gear, interjected with clear disgust in her voice. Maine sighed, thoroughly drained.

Huh? Jugra nudged my side and pointed at a folded pipe chair leaning against the wall.

Oh, right—hand 'em out. Got it, got it, I’ll work.

After distributing chairs to everyone, I tried to sneakily take one for myself—only to get nudged again.

No sitting? I followed her chin jerk toward the back, where a fancier chair waited.

…This one’s for me? Thanks. Feels higher quality than our damn sofa.

"Alright, let’s sort this out. Maine—repeat the deal’s price."

"...Haah. 30K eddies. Dorio already paid 10K, so just cover the difference."

"Dumbass. This tech’s worth way more than that, you idiot. Ugh… Glad I didn’t hand it over to you. Listen up—this is top-tier Sandevistan, current-gen. Yeah, it’s crazy tech that eats away at the user’s humanity, but the performance? Guaranteed. Here—a 100K digital eddie slap. Rejoice."

"Haaah?! No way—holy shit, it’s actually transferred?!"

"A hundred thousand eddies? Hah! Looks like we’re throwing one hell of a party, eh, Leader?"

"You just wanna drink, you damn drunk… David, you’ve got a monster for a boss…"

Yeah. Yeah.

Jugra just casually dropped several times my tuition like it was nothing. How deep are her pockets?

Earlier, she mentioned weapon sales sites, and judging by the list before we left, she’s a top-tier techie too.

Meeting Jugra when I did was the best damn luck.

Putting it that way, my 1K eddy hourly wage must’ve been pocket change to her.

The more I think about it, the more I realize how unshakable her status is.

…Sorry, Mom. I’ll appreciate you more from now on.

Even in that knife-edge tension, she’s still sleeping soundly on that makeshift bed. Respect.

"That settles Gloria’s deal. Next—interfering with David’s rescue mission. And that forehead wound… David, what do you wanna do?"

So she did notice my injury. Rebecca, who’d caused it, broke into a cold sweat, lips pressed tight.

I quickly signaled forgiveness, and she blurted out:

"Nggh—! S-Sorry, David!"

"Nah, given the situation, it’s whatever. I’ll let it slide."

"Good. Now, about earlier—David’s a complete rookie as a cyberpunk. First real job. Since he made it back mostly unharmed thanks to your firefight distraction, we’ll call it even."

"Haah… We owe you."

"Nah, I owed you—if that netrunner hadn’t butted in, I’d have gone there and turned all of you into corpses. Saved me the trouble."

"...Is that really something to brush off…?"

"C’mon, David. In this city, people who won’t leave a scar on society if they die? They’re nothing. That’s why ‘cyberpunk’ mercs even exist here. Especially the ones without trauma insurance—the cogs in the machine. You know the hospitals they dump ‘em in? Scavenger dens. Corporate lapdogs. If Gloria got hit by a car and was half-dead? That’s where she’d go."

"...Seriously?"

I glanced at Mom, still asleep.

Scavengers—human traffickers dealing in cyberware and bodies, according to Jugra.

And that’s where she’d end up? Not funny. Jugra’s dead-serious expression confirms it.

"Dead serious. That’s why ripperdocs like me—good ones—are priceless. Honestly? Unless it’s the brain or drugs, I can bring you back. Even if your heart’s blown out. Ten minutes minimum, thirty max—just gotta gamble on the side effects."

…My boss is beyond broken.

Let’s see: elite ripper, top-tier techie, killer combatant, backed by Tiger Claws.

What can’t she do?

"...Cooking. Sucks at it. Mostly ‘cause ingredient quality. Happy?"

"How’d you read my mind that fast?!"

"Heh. You were just bragging. ‘What can’t she do?’—figured that’s what you were thinking."

Is… this what top-tier cyberpunks are like?

Maine and the others were all giving me pitying looks.

Yeah, okay, having a boss this insane is heavy.

But hey, she’s ridiculously kind. Helped Mom for free, treats me well—

"Wrong premise. I’m a cutting-edge techie first. Ripper skills? Medical know-how? Afterthoughts."

"What about your netrunner-level tech?"

"Hah? That’s just cheating. Brute-forcing problems others solve with brains, using high-spec hardware. Lazy."

Jugra shrugged like it was nothing—but Kiwi, despite her mask, had gone pale.

"Wait… You’re telling me you used a MegaCon? In this day and age?!"

"『MegaCon』?"

"Heh. Well-informed, aren’t ya? Guess I underestimated you as just another netrunner. Yeah, I’ve got a 『MegaCon』. Smaller scale than the original, though. A masterpiece linking a hundred quantum computers in series—cutting-edge rigs."

"...No wonder you said you held back. If you wanted, you could’ve shoved an info-bomb into our heads so dense it’d make our brains detonate. Maine, I’m seriously telling you—do not pick a fight with this girl. If it comes to that, I’m bailing. Cutting all nets, jumping somewhere with zero signals."

"The hell’s that supposed to mean? What is this 『MegaCon』 thing?"

Maine sounded like a clueless old man left behind by the times. The rest of us exchanged glances, just as lost.

With the exasperation of someone repeating themselves, Kiwi glared at Jugra and reluctantly explained.

"『MegaCon』 refers to a supercomputer built during the Corporate Wars by 『MegaCorp』—a coalition of mid-tier companies. It was an info-weapon that fried netrunners’ brains outright, EMP’d everything connected to the net. Imagine a meteor shower of ultra-dense data raining down in all directions. The ‘20s had Bartmoss’ DataKrash, but 『MegaCon』 was the counter. Back then, Bartmoss’ viruses spread chaos worldwide. The only counter was an analog crash—using the last remaining analog PCs to hunt him down. Viruses? Obliterated. Burned everything to the ground. Of course, some deep-net stuff survived. Point is, 『MegaCon』 was analog pushed to its limits. And yeah, it got banned. Obviously. For netrunners, it’s like being trapped in a shelter with a nuke. That’s the level of despair we’re talking about."

Everyone paled at Kiwi’s explanation. Jugra, casually wielding banned tech, was terrifying.

These days, everyone’s connected to the net. If this was true, Jugra basically had a tactical digital nuke.

…This girl’s scarier than most terrorists.

"Relax. My 『MegaCon』 isn’t the original corporate-building-sized monstrosity. Can’t crash the entire net—just, y’know, reduce a corp’s servers to digital dust."

"That’s more than enough… Please don’t. I felt my soul leave my body when I realized what was happening."

"This was a good test run. Lucky for me, Kiwi’s better than your average netrunner."

"...Haah. Thank god Lucy was nearby. Without her, my brain would’ve splattered like a crashed drive."

Kiwi slumped back in her chair, utterly drained. Everyone looked at her with pity—while the culprit just smirked, expressionless.

…Yeah, no. Never piss off Jugra. That much was crystal clear now.

"Anyway, since we’re all such good friends now—let’s play nice, yeah?"

"...Y-Yes. L-Looking forward to working with you."

Maine, despite his hulking frame, suddenly seemed small. The room’s sympathy shifted to him.

Jugra, utterly indifferent, flashed a bright smile.

"Great! Now, I’d like you to teach David here what being a real cyberpunk’s all about. Name your price—I’ll pay it."

And just like that, the same pitying stares turned to me.

Sure, I’d said I wanted to be a cyberpunk—but this wasn’t the start I’d imagined.

Rebecca gave me a "Hang in there, champ ☆" look. Inside, I was sobbing.