novelraw Chapter 233
Chapter 233
Chapter 233
Kara the Red Fixer.
At Aaron’s instructions, she had begun searching for Evangeline.
Evangeline had run away from Maria’s apartment in Sector A, and naturally, she planned to begin tracking from that starting point.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve searched for a missing person.’
Now, she was a fixer who had been granted a special designation mark by the government—a top-tier mercenary—but in the beginning, she had started out with things like locating missing people in Sector D.
Find a husband who ran off after having an affair, find our puppy, and so on. There had even been a time when she washed someone else’s shit-stained underwear for money.
‘No, that’s not right…….’
That was the memory of ‘Kara the Fixer,’ not the memory of me as a transmigrator. Strictly speaking, I had never done such things myself.
Well, at this point, arguing over whether I was truly ‘Kara the Fixer’ or a transmigrator from another world was meaningless.
‘Well, it doesn’t really matter…….’
This time, Aaron had attached the android ‘Ciel’ to me as both an assistant and a monitor, and for someone who had grown accustomed to working alone, it was thoroughly uncomfortable.
‘Did he send this one along because he doesn’t trust me? Or does he have some other intention—.’
“Kara~ Over here~”
“Right. Let’s begin.”
The entrance to Maria’s apartment.
I activated the ‘High-Sensitivity Mana Detection’ module and discovered a faint trace leading into the corridor. A slight residue of mana remained, shaped like the footprints of a small child. It was undoubtedly Evangeline’s.
The trace went down the hallway, into the elevator, and toward the main entrance. And, as expected, it was abruptly cut off at the entrance where Anti-Rain poured down.
‘I can’t expect any mana traces from here on.’
I immediately swapped modules.
This time, I equipped the forensic module set.
The moment I activated it, the neural processing unit hummed as it spun up violently, and at the same time, an enormous amount of information flooded into my field of vision.
It was a module that allowed me to calculate comprehensively—Evangeline’s hair, invisible footprints, the composition of dust caught in her shoes, odor molecules—and locate the desired target.
Following the direction indicated by the interface, we continued moving, only to discover that the traces were completely cut off near the boundary between Sector A and Sector B.
I deactivated the module and spoke.
“Because of Anti-Rain Level 4, there’s not a single trace left—no mana, no footprints. It’s completely cut off here. The only thing we can hope for would be nearby CCTV or car black boxes…….”
Usually in situations like this, one would ask nearby residents for cooperation or secretly hack the CCTV.
However, recklessly tampering with the lines installed in an upper-class district like this wasn’t exactly appealing to me, given my close ties with the government……
“Then I’ll do it~!”
“Hmm?”
Ciel stepped forward immediately, remotely hacking the nearby CCTV in an instant and downloading the recordings.
“So, you’re a Wizard.”
“Yes. I started learning a little for self-defense at first, but it was quite fun, so I began studying it seriously. All the related equipment was prepared for me by Aaron~”
“Hmm.”
An android Wizard.
It was quite an unusual hobby, but in a way, it might actually be a good judgment. Humans couldn’t exceed a Replacement Rate of 70%, so it was difficult to obtain computational ability beyond a certain level.
In contrast, Ciel had no limitations on modification, meaning her specs alone could surpass any Wizard.
Above all, since she wasn’t human, even if she were discovered during hacking, the risk of being traced back was much lower.
For example, even if someone tried to trace who hacked this CCTV, the result would ultimately reveal not a ‘human,’ but a ‘mass-produced android.’
Any hacker who traced that result would probably assume it was an error or someone mocking them. In many ways, it was an advantageous position in cyber warfare.
‘Ah, so that’s why he assigned her to me.’
I had a feeling I understood why Aaron hadn’t come personally and instead sent only Ciel. Ciel was quite a capable Wizard, and any work that might leave an unpleasant aftermath could conveniently be left to her.
After all, human laws didn’t apply to androids.
As I came to that conclusion internally and waited a moment, Ciel finished her hacking. She clipped the footage from the estimated time Evangeline had passed through and shared it with me.
“Hmm. She probably passed through here around this time…… but the video quality is terrible. Because of the rain, you can barely see the road…… I’m not good at this kind of thing…….”
“That’s enough. I’ll find her now.”
I skimmed through the footage Ciel had shared and, in an instant, succeeded in locating Evangeline.
I hadn’t done this kind of work in a while, since I’d mostly been working only with the government recently, but the video analysis know-how I had accumulated over many years didn’t just disappear.
“This way. Follow me.”
“Eh? You saw something in that pitch-black footage!?”
“It seems she went out wearing a yellow raincoat. Fortunately, that made her easy to spot.”
“Ehh…….”
Leaving the stunned Ciel behind, I took the lead. Once again, I retraced the broken trail with the forensic module. Whenever it vanished again, Ciel would hack nearby CCTV and we would continue chasing the traces that way.
Eventually, we arrived at a back alley in Sector D.
“It’s completely cut off here. There’s nothing left in the CCTV either.”
“D-did we lose her in the end?”
“No. Not yet.”
At Ciel’s question, I swept my arm through the air, and at the same time, a holographic image began projecting in front of me like a large monitor.
“I will combine the video data collected so far with information such as her movement routes to predict Evangeline’s actions. There may be some margin of error…… but roughly, it looks like this.”
What appeared on the screen was a map of New Valhalla City. Over it, red lines marked the route confirmed to have been taken by Evangeline, along with routes she was presumed to have taken.
The latter, naturally, branched into several paths depending on probability. The two of us moved along those predicted routes, checking multiple locations, and finally managed to discover traces of Evangeline and someone else.
“She was taken from here.”
“By who?”
“Quite tall. Replacement Rate approximately around 50%. Highly likely male. He’s wearing something like monk’s robes, and this looks very much like…….”
“A Guardian, perhaps…….”
“I think so too.”
“Like Mr. Aaron said, do you think the Guardian is a transmigrator?”
“I don’t know.”
“…….”
“…….”
We fell silent for a moment, deep in thought. But that wouldn’t lead to any conclusion, and Ciel let out a sigh.
“First, we should contact Mr. Aaron, and we’ll keep searching.”
Kim Cheolsu’s life had been harsh.
‘Why is my life such a mess…….’
Ever since long ago, everything he did had gone wrong, as if misfortune clung to him like a curse. He lamented that the proverb about breaking your nose even when falling backward might as well have been invented just for him.
His parents had him in a reckless youthful mistake, and even after he was born, they remained young and immature.
As a result, not a single member of his family held a proper job, and naturally, he had suffered from poverty since childhood.
Even so, if that had been all, he wouldn’t have complained this much. He could even understand his immature parents running away, saying, “It’s too hard to raise a kid.”
However.
Five hit-and-run accidents afterward, three instances where he was nearly branded a criminal due to mistaken identity, being hit by bird droppings 590 times, catching a cold ten times after getting drenched in sudden heavy rain that wasn’t in the forecast, stepping on large piles of dog shit 28 times while walking down the street, colliding with passersby and having drinks spilled on his clothes 19 times…… and countless other incidents he couldn’t even remember.
In any case, he was terribly unlucky.
Yet despite such a grueling life, Kim Cheolsu had not given up. They said the total amount of luck in a person’s life was predetermined, so he believed that someday, all the accumulated misfortune would return at once as tremendous good fortune, and he continued to live diligently.
However, he ultimately became a criminal.
Not by choice, but by force.
‘Of all things, why did I have to read that web novel……!’
Participating in the completion commemorative Quiz Event of Cyber-Module’s Necromancer had been the root of the problem.
Though it had only been a consolation prize, he had been overjoyed to receive his first award in life. For a brief moment, he celebrated—then he was enveloped in a blinding light.
When he came to his senses, he had become Kim Cheolsu.
Not the struggling yet diligent young man ‘Kim Cheolsu’ living in South Korea.
But ‘Kim Cheolsu,’ a low-ranking member of the Black Dragon Gang in New Valhalla City.
Yes, astonishingly, his original name was the same as the character he had transmigrated into. The only advantage was that whenever someone called him, he could immediately respond without confusion.
Other than that, Kim Cheolsu of New Valhalla City was not much different from Kim Cheolsu of his previous life. A bottom-tier nobody with nothing to his name, a hollow fool dreaming of one big score before burning out like a star.
He wasn’t competent enough to work as a freelance mercenary, nor was he devoted enough to dedicate himself entirely to the organization.
Thus, among the clubs owned by the Black Dragon Gang, he ended up as the lowest errand-runner at the shop with the poorest sales.
In truth, his position was so low that calling him an organization member was questionable. A cabaret girl at one of the Black Dragon Gang’s establishments likely wielded more influence than he did.
After transmigrating, he had considered using his knowledge of the novel to make some money and even dabbled in stocks, but his initial capital had been so small that he gained little from it.
Above all, major transmigrators like Aaron Stingray rampaged about, causing the story to deviate far too much from the original work.
‘That’s just my life.’
Perhaps because the character’s life was so similar to his previous one, while other transmigrators suffered confusion over their identity due to Synchronization, he accepted it without much resistance.
After that, he drifted aimlessly within the Transmigrator Alliance, neither here nor there. Even when Aaron Stingray appeared and clashed with the Motherboard, he merely read the situation and stayed afloat…… living like a leaf drifting on water.
At last, a trial came to him.
One bearing the name Aaron Stingray.
An enormous, overwhelming trial.
“……Understood. Please continue.”
Aaron Stingray ended the call in front of him.
He returned to his seat, and Zyle asked him a question.
“It seems you had anticipated this situation.”
“Not particularly. I merely considered it as one of the possibilities and moved in advance.”
“Possibility?”
“I told you. The possibility that the Guardian is a transmigrator. If so, there’s more than enough chance that he would target Evangeline. Perhaps the two of them are together right now. And if that’s the case, there’s a high probability they’re hiding somewhere in Sector E. I simply moved in preparation for that possibility.”
“I see.”
Zyle nodded.
He appeared to understand something, but Kim Cheolsu understood nothing at all.
No, whether it was Evangeline or the Guardian—if they were the problem, shouldn’t they focus on them instead!
Then why……!
Why does this conclusion come out like this……!
“There’s no other choice. I’ll cooperate.”
“Good.”
As they said that, the two of them turned their gaze toward Kim Cheolsu. He shrank back instinctively but mustered his last bit of courage to protest.
“W-wait a moment!”
“What is it?”
“No matter how I think about it, this makes no sense! This is insane!”
“In what way?”
“I told you already!”
Kim Cheolsu cried out in despair.
“What do you mean I’m becoming the Boss!!”
Kim Cheolsu.
Age 32. The lowest of the low in the underworld.
And yet, backed by the Crown Prince of the Stingray Family, he was about to become the ruler of the underworld.