How to Live as an Immortal Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Special al, Gangster

***

This was an area handled with strictness by both the municipal governnt and the board of directors alike. It was a matter that could cause the entire social foundation to collapse. In a society where the basic inco system was implented, status itself ant budget.

The more money that leaked out, the more inevitable inflation beca.

Long ago, humanity had experienced these adverse effects once through lax managent.

The hyperinflation that occurred in 2246 was a representative example.

Thanks to the belated implentation of monetary tightening policies, the imdiate crisis had been extinguished, but the risk factors still existed even now.

Even after entering the 2300s, prices remaining close to those of the early 2000s was because such an impact had swept through once.

Device extraction was a grave cri that even a gacorp could not escape.

However, unlike the risks that had to be borne, the gains that could be obtained were fixed, so it was a choice that even a criminal organization that had fallen to rock bottom rarely made.

That was when I felt a presence behind my back.

“So who do we have here. Isn’t this the rookie problem solver.”

I turned my head faster than the voice reached and spoke the other party’s na.

“Gesto.”

From the mont I entered the underground, this eting had been all but inevitable.

“You’ve seen sothing you shouldn’t have.”

“I already reported it to the Public Enforcent Corps.”

“Heh heh, do you really think those guys will co all the way here? Do you even know where this equipnt ca from?”

I had already more or less guessed that. What I said was rely a confirmation step, like probing him, to see Gesto’s reaction.

In reality, I hadn’t reported anything.

“Well, I guess it was a difficult story for a re problem solver brat who doesn’t know anything to understand.”

No, I understood.

Wasn’t he saying that this wasn’t a level where the Public Enforcent Corps rely got involved, but a level where they were leading it?

The Pier Gang was simply a tool to project their will.

I could see clearly what kind of deal must have gone back and forth.

Not acting rashly had been the right judgnt. If I made one wrong move, I would have had to fight even the corrupt Public Enforcent Corps.

Thus, while I quietly sorted out the situation, it looked different to Gesto. To him, it must have seed as if I was flustered.

Yeah, like a startled rabbit that had stepped into an unexpected trap.

It wasn’t a coincidence that the warning he had given at the unlicensed clinic suddenly ca to mind.

“I told you before, if we et again, that’ll be the day of your ancestr—”

“What the hell are you saying, you idiot.”

As if Gesto’s bluster was laughable, I didn’t hesitate. I pulled out my pistol and fired.

A triple tap aid at the glabella, the chest, and then the abdon.

Even as the violent burst of fire continued, all that ca out of the muzzle was a faint sound.

What I had bought yesterday at the gun shop was a masterpiece produced by a gacorp that stood shoulder to shoulder with Seven tal, made by ‘Fundantal Lock’.

It was slightly longer in barrel length than a typical handgun, but its firepower wasn’t particularly high. Its increased size was due to a barrel design that accommodated both a flash suppressor and a silencer.

The so-called quietest handgun in the world.

The gunshot, controlled down to an astonishing level of 20 dB, was nothing more than a tickle, like the sound of a clock’s second hand.

That was why it was given the na Clock.

“Cute. You really trusted sothing like that?”

But even after taking a surprise gunshot, Gesto didn’t die. He was a mber of a street gang notorious for its brutality even in the underworld. He had always lived under constant threat to his life.

Reinforcing vital points with Slots was nothing special.

After licking the blood flowing from his torn forehead with his tongue, Gesto pulled the trigger of his sawed-off shotgun.

Boom!

In an instant, steel pellets spread out in a fan shape as if a bomb had exploded, ripping through the interior.

As soon as I ducked behind a life-support unit for cover, gangsters rushed in, having heard the gunshot.

“Hyungnim?”

“There’s an intruder. Deal with him the way we practiced.”

A concise explanation.

At the execution order issued by Gesto, the mbers scattered to their respective positions.

At that very mont, the light vanished from the control room.

The perfectly controlled interior was no different from pitch-black darkness. It was impossible to tell whether my eyes were open or closed.

“There’s nowhere for you to run.”

Only Gesto’s voice rang out clearly before fading away.

It seed he reacted imdiately after confirming that I had no equipnt to see through the darkroom. That way, allied casualties would be close to nonexistent, making it an appropriate tactic.

Trapped in a sealed room overflowing with hostility, I calculated in my head.

The number of people who got out of the three vans was eighteen in total. Subtracting the five who had been kidnapped left thirteen.

The magazine originally loaded into the Clock held sixteen rounds, but since I had expended three on Gesto, thirteen remained.

Both numbers matched exactly.

So—

‘I won’t even need to change the magazine.’

That was assuming I landed every shot, but that wasn’t a restriction at all.

That was when the approaching footsteps stopped.

Bang!

The mont the first shot went off without warning, the muzzle flash briefly illuminated the surroundings.

It lasted only milliseconds, but it was enough to distinguish friend from foe.

Having morized all the gangsters’ positions, I avoided the incoming bullets and returned fire.

Click.

“Ghk.”

With the sound of a scream, the interior beca hectic. They must never have imagined I’d succeed in counterattacking.

I heard sounds of them hurriedly changing cover from all directions, but it was useless. This wasn’t an open field, but a storage room where life-support units were installed in neat rows and columns.

The places to hide were limited. No matter how wide a chessboard was, the spaces where pieces could be placed were always finite.

Moreover, every ti they sprayed bullets indiscriminately under the pretense of thoroughly punishing , the surroundings lit up.

No matter how much they moved, if they kept giving away clues like this, it wasn’t sothing I couldn’t infer.

Having tracked the gangsters’ positions in real ti, I pulled the trigger before they could move again.

Now that the existence of ta-humans was known, I should refrain from abusing the advantage of not dying like before. If I moved rashly, I’d leave a trail.

If a situation could be hidden, then I would hide it.

That beca the new policy I set for myself.

In any case, it wasn’t a situation that required extraordinary counterasures. The gangsters sprawled across the floor hadn’t managed to inflict any aningful damage on until the very end.

Coincidentally, I had one bullet left.

And there was only one person remaining.

Thud.

As if announcing its presence, a heavy vibration swept across the entire storage room. An overwhelming heat surged from the front, so intense that I could feel it without even looking.

Instead of hiding, I stepped forward and sneered.

“Is this all the show you prepared for ? No, judging by how it’s neither interesting nor fun, was it not even a show?”

“You bastard…….”

When buckshot was fired once more, I leaped high. Throwing my body beyond the sparks that spread like an explosion of light, my muzzle swung back toward Gesto.

Click.

It was a single shot aid at the neck, but to Gesto, that mont was clearly visible.

The average ti it took for a human to respond to external stimuli was 0.3 seconds. The more one trained, the more that record could be reduced, but only down to 0.1 seconds.

Anything below that was a realm a human being couldn’t reach.

But Gesto had broken through that limit by offering up his own body as a sacrifice. He had forcibly implanted an illegally modified device, pushing its performance to the extre.

Slot, Face Up.

The chip embedded in his brain stimulated even the nerve endings, shattering the 0.1-second wall.

That was why, upon seeing approach, he judged it was too late to use the sawed-off shotgun and discarded it.

The mont Gesto clenched his fist, the unit clinging to his trapezius like carapace, Rage, writhed violently.

Pssshhk.

At the sa ti a cylindrical flask embedded deep within his body surged upward, the muscles across his entire body swelled to the point of tearing apart.

ntal amplification and pain cutoff. And muscle stimulation.

The functions built into Rage were prepared for one purpose only: to annihilate the enemy right in front of him.

Having gained monstrous strength capable of smashing even a concrete wall with bare hands, Gesto swung his arm without hesitation.

With no proper protective equipnt to speak of, this should have been the end.

Crunch.

But contrary to that expectation, when the sound of rupture that should have burst from his opponent instead erupted from his own arm, Gesto couldn’t hide his shock.

“Elbow?”

Just as he said, what crushed the fist was my elbow, fired off in an instant. It was an unanticipated counterattack, but Gesto paid it no mind and swung his opposite arm like a whip.

A combination flowing from one-two to a hook, then a straight.

The boxing techniques he had learned while scraping by on the streets were poured out without restraint, but once the scale had tilted, it showed no sign of returning.

If anything, the gap only widened as ti passed.

Co to think of it, his reaction speed was already a step beyond that of an ordinary person. And yet, the fact that I was still responding ant—

“Kugh.”

Gesto’s train of thought didn’t continue. I closed the distance in a single breath, leaped up, and smashed my knee into his chin.

It was only natural that he toppled backward in a sorry heap.

There shouldn’t have been any pain at all, and yet the shock that reverberated down to his bones left him utterly unable to regain his senses.

It wasn’t as if Gesto had never encountered those called problem solvers. But most of them were little more than human scraps, to the point it was hard to tell who the criminal really was.

Only a handful among them could be called the roots that supported the industry, capable of standing toe-to-toe even with talents walking the elite track within gacorps.

To Gesto’s eyes, I belonged to that very category.

“What exactly do you find lacking that you’re prowling the backstreets?”

“That trash like you still exists in this world.”

Gesto struggled to push away as I stood with my foot planted on his chest, but for so reason, his body wouldn’t respond the way he wanted.

There was no need to ponder it. The jaw that had been moving just fine until monts ago had gone slack with a dull drop.

“Be happy. I just realized I’d chambered a round as well.”

The bullets I had loaded beforehand weren’t sixteen, but seventeen. One more than the listed specifications.

Where to use it was perfectly clear.

“Special al, gangster.”

Forcing the muzzle into Gesto’s mouth, I—

Click.

Expended the final round.

***

After leaving the storage room, I imdiately began searching. Now that I knew they were extracting devices, there was no ti to waste.

Fortunately, perhaps because they had wanted to minimize movent routes from the design stage, the operating room was located close by.

Pushing open the sliding door and stepping inside, I saw a man lying flat on the operating table. It seed they had only just begun, as his device appeared intact.

“Is it Gesto?”

That was when an irritated voice rang out. An old man who looked like a doctor clicked his tongue without even turning around.

His posture was slovenly beyond belief. Not just his manner of speech, but his very attitude. He wasn’t wearing a mask, nor latex gloves.

A halfwit who lacked even the most basic qualifications of a doctor.

“I told you not to barge in during surgery, didn’t I? Is what I say that funny? There’s no one else who’d join hands with punks like you except , is there?”

Yet despite that, his arrogance rivaled that of any hospital director. You could tell just by the way he stubbornly held his ground even as a disturbance broke out.

Of course, that kind of nerve beca poison now. The one who had entered wasn’t an assistant, but an unwelco guest.

“You… ugh.”

The old man noticing late and his eyes going wide happened almost simultaneously with blood splattering across the wall.

Click.

There was no need for conversation in that sequence of events.