Buzz.

The phone on the table vibrates. Without taking his hands off the keyboard and mouse, he rolls his eyes to check. It's a call from 'Weirdo'.

After swiping the touchpad to the right, he presses the speaker button.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Bro, what are you doing?"

"Gaming."

"Project Neo?"

"No, LoL."

"Ah, come on. Don't you know it's illegal for people over 30 to play lane? Just play some Steam games. Preferably PN."

"That doesn't suit me. Wait a second... Did I just die?"

While momentarily distracted by the call, the enemy Darius split his head with an axe. Ah, died with Flash up. Top lane is ruined. Really ruined.

"Why doesn't it suit you? Too complicated? Difficult?"

The younger brother asks, seemingly not understanding.

With the screen now gray, he takes the intermission to voice his complaints.

"Listen. First of all, Nomad is too crappy. Street dog? Lonely fighter? Give me a break. This description needs to change, I'm telling you. To something like: Suffers from pickpocketing, petty theft, various muggings, and random acts of violence. I can't make a clear comparison since I haven't tried other life paths, but this is just not right.

Hey, have you ever sat around a drum barrel burning firewood in the dead of winter, having heart-to-hearts with beggars? Have you ever rummaged through food waste in alleys that reek of sewage, holding your nose? Have you worn the same underwear for two months straight? Damn it.

And the guns? This is really hopeless. No matter how much I get hit, I just can't get used to it. Now I flinch even when someone just puts their hand in their pocket, you know? There's a reason American cops are so jumpy. People naturally become like that.

Speaking of guns. You don't know what it feels like to kill someone, right? I didn't want to know either. But what can you do? When some lunatic is stabbing me in the back, side, and chest with a knife just to steal the pocket change I have. Blood gushing everywhere, head spinning, feeling like I'm about to die, what choice do I have?

When I came to my senses, I was on top of him.

In case he might move. In case he might stab me again. I was so scared that I just kept hitting him, and at some point, he stopped breathing. I couldn't sleep for a week. Every day, that bastard, his smashed face, appeared in my dreams.

But you know what? As time passed, even this became routine. Honestly, killing people is nothing these days. Nightmares? What nightmares. I just sleep well now. I swore I would never get used to it, that I shouldn't get used to it, but in the end, I did. Yet getting shot still hurts.

How about that? Don't you think I'm screwed? I think so too.

Even if, and I mean if, a miracle happened and I woke up back in Vietnam, I don't think my life could ever go back to what it was then.

Maybe that's why. Sometimes I find it hard to breathe.

I wonder if this is panic.

Damn, I don't know. Actually, lately I've been thinking, when someone asks my age, maybe I should just say I'm 1 year old. You know, like those YoTubers do... Right, an alter ego. I guess I've created an alter ego too, just like those YoTubers. With the concept of a homeless person struggling to survive in this shitty world. How about that?

I need to comfort myself somehow...

Ah, shit, talking about it is bringing me back to my senses.

Hey, this is a dream, right?"

The next moment.

A voice tinged with laughter came through the phone.

"Yes, bro. Of course it's a dream. So you should wake up, don't you think? It seems like there are thieves."

Jin opened his eyes.

Before his eyes could adjust to the dark, he heard a rustling sound. Quietly moving his eyes, he saw figures hiding in the darkness.

Jin saw them, and they saw Jin.

An unnatural silence.

Suddenly, a shout breaks out.

"We've been spotted!"

"Shoot!"

Simultaneously, Jin rolled over on the blanket.

With a series of pew-pew-pew sounds, down feathers erupted from where he had just been lying. What's this, a silencer?

In the midst of this, his arm stung, indicating he had been hit by a bullet.

Immediately after, Jin, using the bed as a barricade, reached out and grabbed the leg of a chair visible in front of him.

Then, roughly estimating the direction, he threw it with all his might.

Whoosh!

The chair, flying at tremendous speed through the air, collided with something and shattered into pieces.

"Jack!"

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"Fucking hell!"

Discovering their comrade falling with half his face destroyed, the other two men panicked and aimed their guns in the direction the chair had come from.

As they were about to pull the triggers.

Suddenly, a wall appeared before their eyes.

A wall that was the overturned bed.

"Guhek!"

As the two men, hit by the bed that flew like a cannonball, tumbled backward with a crash, Jin, who had rushed in right after, swung his back leg widely.

Bam!

The man, kicked in the side from the flank, was flung far and hit the wall. Then, with an expression of unbearable pain, he vomited blood and collapsed face-first into the red puddle he had created.

Jin had dealt with the second intruder in an instant.

Now he seemed to be fully awake.

So this time, using his right foot as an axis, he rotated his body,

As if he had known from the beginning, he grabbed the neck of the last man lurking behind and pushed him against the wall.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

The gun barrel, having lost its target, sprayed bullets in vain directions.

One of those bullets piercing Jin's thigh was bad news for both Jin and the man.

Jin was in pain, and the man had lost his chance to die peacefully.

And so, late at night.

With the sound of a window shattering, the bloodied man flew through the air.

The cause of death for the man who fell from the fifth floor was not the fall.

"Ah, shit."

Jin frowned.

In the middle of the room that had turned into a mess.

"...What kind of bastards were they."

Jin didn't know, but these late-night intruders had their own derogatory name.

Scavengers.

Those who roam around deserted motels, pick locks, and rob.

Plunderers who don't hesitate to murder if necessary.

It wasn't until his second year that Jin first encountered them, so it could be said that the saying "learning never ends" is accurate.

"No wonder I had a bad dream."

Jin muttered softly as he tightly flexed his right arm.

He was trying to squeeze out the bullet by tightening his muscles, but it was a futile attempt.

Only useless blood gushed out. The bullet showed no signs of budging, so he had no choice but to wait for the newly formed flesh to push out the bullet.

It would take about two hours.

Maybe faster since he had unlocked the Superhuman perk?

After estimating his recovery rate, Jin approached the two corpses sprawled on the floor.

Then came the justified looting.

It wasn't as lucrative as he had hoped.

As luck would have it, the one he had thrown out the window was managing the money, but Jin, unaware of this circumstance, shuddered at the thought of almost being kidnapped by a group of beggars.

"This neighborhood is always full of surprises. Always thrilling."

No matter how desensitized Jin had become to blood and corpses, he didn't want to spend any more time here.

Besides, the bed, window, and everything else were already smashed.

So, after quickly wetting his throat at the sink, just as Jin was about to leave the room.

Out of nowhere, a translucent window blocked his view.

「???」━━━━━━━━━

NEO ?? ??? ????

??? ?? ???? ?????

?? ??? ?? ?? ????

━━━━━━━━━━━━

Just when things seemed to have calmed down a bit, here comes more trouble.

Jin roughly waved his hand.

"Get lost."

No help at all, yet always telling him what to do.

Thanks to this, Jin, annoyed from the early morning, thrust his hands deep into his pockets and started walking.

----------------------------------------

A sudden attack, and that damned quest window too.

Although it ruined last night, overall, Jin was very satisfied with the past few days.

A feeling of excitement even when staying still? That kind of feeling?

At first, he thought it was because his pocket situation had improved.

Indeed, 100,000 credits was the largest amount Jin had held at once since drifting into this world.

Thanks to that, he could eat three meals a day, book lodgings without much worry, and even buy new underwear and socks to replace the worn-out ones.

But thinking about it carefully, he couldn't say his good mood was solely due to that reason.

Then what could it be?

The source of this tingling feeling in the corner of his chest.

After pondering for a long while, Jin finally reached a conclusion.

Ah. The money earned this time was a just reward.

It felt like his mind was clearing up.

Come to think of it, Jin's money-making methods in the past were simple.

Find a spot in a deserted alley.

Wait for a rowdy thug, hoodlum, or third-rate gang member to pick a fight.

Beat them up good.

Empty their pockets.

The so-called bait strategy.

Honestly, it's not a good way to make money.

Moreover, what sense of achievement could there be in rummaging through the pockets and underwear of trash? It's a blessing if they don't stink.

Living day by day like that.

The first request he experienced,

The money he received after completing the job,

A single word of thanks.

It made Jin's heart race.

Maybe he could live a little more like a human being?

A small hope.

And so, Jin spoke while chewing on a hot dog.

"Mister. Let me ask you something."

The middle-aged man with hollow eyes grilling sausages spoke with a suspicious look.

"What is it? No refunds. You've already eaten half of it."

"Hey, do you take me for a beggar? It's not about that."

"Oh? Then buy another one."

What's this about?

But Jin just decided to go along with it.

He was feeling a bit hungry anyway.

"So what is it you want to know?"

The stand owner asked while handing over a new hot dog, and Jin answered while taking a big bite of the received hot dog.

"Do you know how to become a solo?"

"What?"

"You don't know?"

The stand owner frowned.

"Why solo? Do you have some fantasy about being a mercenary?"

"No. So do you know or not?"

"Of course I don't know. If I knew that, would I be leisurely making hot dogs here?"

"I guess..."

As Jin was about to bring the hot dog to his mouth as if he had expected this, the stand owner added.

"But I do know this. You need to catch the eye of a linker."

"Linker?"

"What? You don't know what a linker is? Did you come from the moon or something? Tsk tsk. How do you expect to survive in this field like that? You won't last long."

As the owner shook his head, Jin, his mouth full of hot dog, glared.

"From what I hear, you're not just teasing someone. Why can't you explain things properly at once? If it's going to be like this, huh? I wouldn't have ordered an extra hot dog. This is all, uh! What is it. Right. Information fee!"

Crunch! Want me to shut down your business?!

The owner waved his hands at the food particles flying with a destructive force.

"Oh my, it's all flying. S-stop! I'll tell you, okay!"

"Hmph. You should have done that from the start."

As if telling him to recite, Jin wiggled his finger at the owner who glared back and continued.

"A linker is a linker. What more explanation do you need... Hey? Why are you clenching your fist? Who said I'm not explaining? It's a mediator, a mediator. Someone who connects clients and solos. Simple, right?"

Aha. So it's literally a Linker?

Jin nodded.

At the same time, a question crossed his mind.

"But why do I need to catch the eye of a mere mediator?"

"What?"

"I'm the one doing the physical work, so why do they get to be picky about who they accept? No, it's wrong from the start that they didn't recruit me. With such poor judgment, how can we work together? Don't you think? By the way, this hot dog is delicious. Give me another one. No, make it two. With lots of sauce."

"......"

The owner subtly looked Jin up and down.

He thought he was dealing with a normal person, but looking again, there was a faint glint of madness shimmering in those ashen eyes, making him realize that ah, this guy is indeed a resident of Downtown.

Judging by his appalling level of common sense, he must have damaged part of his BCI chip while frequenting the Black Net.

So, he tried to soothe him gently.

"Why wait for a linker to come to you? You can go find them first. Here, your hot dogs."

Jin took the two hot dogs the owner handed him.

Go find them first, huh.

He didn't like it, but what choice did he have?

He was tired of crouching in dark alleys waiting for someone to pick a fight.

Let's try to live a bit more like a human while doing proper work. Maybe then, someday, he could escape Downtown.

From what he heard, the inner sections of Area 30 have some semblance of public safety. At least there, he wouldn't get shot while sleeping. Right. It must be so. It has to be.

Jin, muttering to himself, stuffed the hot dogs he bought with his last money into his mouth. Then, with a muffled voice from his full mouth, he spoke to the owner who was watching cautiously.

"If you know any linkers, tell me about any of them. I'm going to find them right away."