‘What's with her?’
Woojin could feel the gaze.
A girl with black hair and brown skin was watching him.
It was the girl whose eyes he had met on the way into the police station.
Late teens, roughly?
In truth, the middle-aged mercenary with the steel jaw beside her bothered Woojin more.
He looked like the girl's companion, and he didn't seem to think much of the girl watching Woojin.
That mercenary's armament: a handgun, a prosthetic right arm.
There was a good chance some weapon was hidden in the steel artificial jaw as well.
‘But he won't try anything strange inside a police station.’
Lemming City or not, you couldn't commit a crime inside a police station.
Which meant there was plenty of time to file the death report for the mercenary who had left him the lead on the Tech Junkie.
A moment later Woojin's turn came.
With the tarp-wrapped body still on his shoulder, Woojin went to the window and spoke to the police android.
“I'm here to file a death report.”
“An acquaintance?”
“No. I'm a sanitation civil servant and I found the deceased in the course of my work, so I came to report it. The ID in his wallet showed an address in this area.”
Woojin set the ID he had found in the mercenary's wallet on the counter.
“Gileon Cross. That appears to be his name.”
“Ah!!”
In that instant a single scream rang through the police station.
The girl who had been watching Woojin closely had cried out.
She came running toward Woojin.
“Is that true? Gileon Cross?”
“And you are?”
“I'm Gileon Cross's daughter!”
The girl picked up the ID on the counter and checked it.
Her hands shook and tears gathered in her eyes.
‘So she was the mercenary's daughter.’
Woojin was startled by the bizarre coincidence, but at the same time relieved that she wasn't a dangerous party.
He set the body down on the police station floor and unwrapped the tarp.
Seeing the blood-soaked corpse, the girl wailed.
“Dad!”
Her crying filled the inside of the police station for quite a while.
Station business ground to a halt and the other visitors showed signs of discomfort, but with Woojin and the steel-jawed mercenary standing there, none of them voiced a complaint.
After some time the girl's crying stopped.
The police android confirmed the body's identity and processed the death report.
Woojin asked the police android.
“Will this child be able to collect the insurance money?”
“Yes. The proof of death has now been passed to the insurer. The insurer will pay out within a few days.”
Woojin was relieved.
This much easily paid for the Tech Junkie tracker he had received.
But Woojin's words seemed to have caused a misunderstanding.
The steel-jawed mercenary asked Woojin with sharp eyes.
“Did you do this with your eye on the death benefit?”
“Asking it outright, are you.”
“Otherwise there'd be no reason for a cleaner like you to haul a body all the way to a police station.”
“…….”
Woojin shrugged and looked away.
It wasn't a matter he had any reason to answer.
He did intend to explain it properly to the girl, of course.
“I happened to find your father dying. I thought about treating him, but the wound was deep and there was nothing I could do. Your father asked me to file a death report so you could collect the death benefit. So I did, that's all.”
“Ah, then I should give you something in return…….”
“I took the equipment your father had on him. That's enough. Is there anything you want to keep of his? If there is, I'll sell it to you.”
“N-no! Just having my father back is enough for me. Besides, I have the necklace my father had.”
The girl was holding a round locket in her hand.
It opened in two halves, with a photograph of a little daughter inside.
Looking at it now, the child's face in the locket photograph and the girl's face were quite similar.
“Please tell me your name! I'm Lena Cross!”
“Well. Do you really need to know it?”
“If my father were alive he'd have scolded me for not even knowing the name of the man who helped us.”
“Is that so? I'm Jinwoo Martinez.”
“Thank you. Mr. Jinwoo Martinez.”
Lena put both hands over her navel and bowed politely.
Woojin felt oddly awkward and looked around.
And then his eyes met those of the reception area's only human officer.
The man had been watching Woojin, and when their eyes met he grinned and applauded soundlessly for him.
<Lena Cross's contact information has been received.>
Meanwhile, Lena seemed to have sent Woojin her contact information.
When Woojin looked at Lena with a startled face, she tucked her hair behind her ear and spoke.
“I still feel like I ought to do something for you in return.”
‘I don't need it. I don't, but…….’
Woojin glanced at the steel-jawed mercenary beside them and spoke.
“Then buy me a meal sometime.”
***
The next day.
Woojin came to work as always and got into the garbage truck.
When Daphne started the truck's autonomous driving system, it moved without Woojin laying a hand on it.
“Autonomous driving is great. At least while riding I get to rest a bit.”
<Of course! I support you hard so you can work as comfortably as possible, Officer Woojin!>
“You do. Thanks to you, Daphne, I survive even when it's hard.”
<I knew it! Ha ha ha!>
Listening to Daphne's delighted voice, Woojin let out a smirk.
Daphne was the sort who got happy at the slightest praise, so there was a curious fun in complimenting her.
<We have arrived! Let's start today energetically as well.>
“Huh? We're there already……?”
Woojin, who had dozed off for a moment, groaned and climbed out of the truck.
Then he pulled the signal tracker he had stashed in his fluorescent sanitation civil servant half-coat.
The tracker was quiet.
“Guess it isn't here.”
<Do you mean the Tech Junkie that uses Shaolin Palm Fist?>
“Yeah. I've got a tracker now, so I should look for it.”
<Will you be all right? Isn't that dangerous?>
“Daphne, what exactly do you take me for? Hm?”
<A probationary sanitation civil servant of District 297.>
“That's true, but……. I'm surprisingly strong, you know?”
Woojin had learned the Tier 4 external art [Diamond Qigong] and the Tier 2 fist art [Snake Shadow Fist Art].
He hadn't used it yet, but he had the Tier 2 throwing-blade art [Autumn Wind Flying Blade] as well.
A Tech Junkie that used Shaolin Palm Fist?
At this level he could certainly catch it.
If the Tech Junkie had some other power hidden, the story would change somewhat, of course, but it was worth attempting.
<Hmm. Is that so?>
Listening to the doubt in Daphne's voice, Woojin began cleaning.
Drive the garbage into the steel bin, clean the surroundings, run the truck's robotic arms.
Then ride the truck to the next spot and check the signal tracker.
At some point his neural interface announced eight in the morning.
Woojin was in the truck, moving to the next garbage bin.
Woojin picked up the aluminum canteen he had set on the passenger seat.
It was his breakfast.
The menu: NutriBlock.
Pig slop with artificial flavoring added.
He had made it in advance at the dormitory and poured it into a bottle.
Drink it down like a protein shake and the meal was done.
It tasted bad but it was easy to consume, so it was bearable.
“Refueling complete.”
Normally Woojin would doze for a bit after eating or go straight into work, but today was a little different.
He placed a call to Lena Cross.
<Calling…….>
A fluorescent message generated by the neural interface rose up before Woojin's eyes.
Soon the girl's voice rang inside his head.
<Who is this?>
“The cleaner from yesterday.”
<Ah! Mr. Jinwoo Martinez!>
Color came into the girl's flat voice.
She must have been wary of a call from an unknown number.
Woojin hadn't given Lena his number, after all.
“Call me Woojin. It's easier.”
<Ah, yes! Mr. Woojin! Is there anything you'd like to eat? Tell me anything! Once the insurance money comes in I'll have plenty, so anything…….>
“I didn't call to get a free meal. There's something I'm curious about.”
<Yes! Ask me anything!>
Woojin brought up the thing that had been bothering him.
“That steel-jawed mercenary who came to the police station with you yesterday. Is he someone close to you?”
<…What is your reason for asking that?>
“I saw the mercenary's face when I pulled back the tarp wrapped around your father. And there was strangely no emotion on it. If he were close to your father he would have grieved.”
Lena was silent for a moment.
Then she spoke in a far calmer tone than before.
<You have excellent powers of observation, Mr. Woojin.>
Just as he thought.
But yesterday there was no word from him. I got anxious and asked several people about my father's whereabouts. That is how I came to know that mercenary, Gilt Banner.>
“And the relationship between your father and Gilt Banner?”
<They worked a few jobs together, that's all. He was absolutely not my father's friend.>
“But the two of you looked quite natural together.”
Lena laughed coldly.
<He's a mercenary. If he felt like it he could kill me any time he pleased. He suddenly started acting friendly and saying he'd help, so I just went along with it and said yes to everything.>
Excellent judgment.
“Did Gilt Banner do anything to harm you with his eye on your death benefit?”
<Haha. Are you worried about that sort of thing?>
This time Lena sneered at Woojin.
But Woojin felt more like laughing at her.
Putting on airs when she was just a kid who'd lost her father.
“You're a kid, so I have to worry at least a little. Do you have a mother? And did you eat breakfast?”
<…I have a mother. And I ate breakfast.>
“Good. Are you off to school now?”
<Don't treat me like a child! I'm in my graduating year! Next year I'll be an adult!>
“Yeah, yeah. All right.”
Woojin chuckled.
<Ahem! Anyway, I can see you're a good person, Mr. Woojin. You found my father's body and you worry about things like this. There's nobody like that anywhere in this city.>
Woojin shook his head and spoke seriously.
“I called for a reason too. Gilt Banner, was it? That mercenary was looking at me with eyes full of greed. I wondered whether he knew what your father was chasing.”
<You mean Gilt Banner might snatch my father's job?>
“Yeah. Though I've already snatched it. Looks like it'll pay pretty well.”
Woojin spoke while fiddling with the signal tracker.
The tracker still gave no reaction at all.
When would the Tech Junkie that used Shaolin Palm Fist appear?
<You may take my father's job. You honored his last words. But Gilt Banner?>
Lena's voice turned sharp.
<Absolutely not him, Mr. Woojin! I don't know what work my father was doing, but I truly hope you're the one who completes it and makes the money!>
“Haha.”
Woojin burst out laughing.
Was it because she was a mercenary's daughter?
A fairly vicious girl.
“Obviously. I'll be the one who finds it. Not for your sake, though. Because it looks like it'll profit me.”
<Be careful of Gilt Banner.>
“I know.”
Woojin hung up.
But Lena called him again.
“What?”
<Mr. Woojin, you're a cleaner, right?>
“Yeah.”
<Do you by any chance do mercenary work too? If you do, couldn't you teach me mercenary work?>
“What?”
<Please. I'll do anything you tell me to. Anything at all, really.>
Lena said it with a clumsy little purr in her voice.
She seemed to be trying to tempt Woojin, and for Woojin it was simply dumbfounding.
Did the children of Lemming City go around doing this from the time they were barely grown?
The end times, truly.
“Yeah, not interested, so get lost.”
<Wha……!>
Woojin hung up and got out of the garbage truck.
At some point the truck had arrived in front of the next garbage bin.
The instant Woojin's feet touched the asphalt, Daphne's businesslike voice came into his head.
<Officer Woojin. There is one mercenary behind the garbage truck. It is Gilt Banner, the mercenary you met at the police station yesterday.>
“So he came after all.”
Woojin grinned and turned to look behind him.