Anecdote.

Califa, who met again across a long table, immediately got to the point.

"There's something I need you to find."

She then handed over a file folder.

While Jin's gaze fell on the organized documents and photos fixed with clips inside, Califa continued speaking.

"It's a data chip. As written, it contains the Solard family's vision magic."

Jin was in the middle of reading that part with his eyes.

An emblem that looked like a flame appeared.

Below it, the word "Solard" was written.

"If it's vision magic, isn't that really amazing?"

Even with Jin's rudimentary knowledge, the status of a "family" in this world was tremendous.

A powerful organization made up of purists.

Inheritors of sword and magic who reject the cutting-edge era.

Jin, who regretted not being part of a family instead of being a Nomad every other day, and a corporation on the other days.

Califa, unaware of these circumstances, answered.

"It is amazing. But what leaked was just a few basic spells. Of course, even that would be shameful for the Solards."

"Hmm."

Naturally, Jin's eyes turned to the documents, and Califa continued speaking.

"While the Solard side was investigating the leak route, they found evidence that the data chip had been copied, and one of them flowed into downtown here. And someone acquired it."

"Is this the guy?"

Jin muttered, confirming someone's mugshot.

A man with half his face covered in tattoos. With piercings reminiscent of a nose ring, he was glaring in the direction where the camera lens would have been with a murderous face.

"Edmond Nielsen. A guy who illegally tattooed mana circuits on his body. He was originally famous on the black net for installing various cheap public spells. As a result, his personality became twisted, and he became a lunatic who commits murder at the drop of a hat."

Mana circuits?

Not only was it an extremely fantastical term, but the fact that it could be created through a procedure gave Jin a strange feeling as he continued to read the documents.

"He's even left his gang. Despite being the number three."

"It's because it's involved with a family. There's no point in talking about ridiculous bonds like loyalty or family. Thanks to that, we have nothing to hold us back."

Adding that they just need to retrieve the data chip from that guy's head one way or another, Califa, who was now twirling the glass in her hand, said:

"The success fee is 2 million credits. The brokerage fee is the limited amount. What do you think?"

2 million.

It was the amount Jackie had offered before to save his younger sister. A huge sum that could buy meatball spaghetti three times a day for 333 days, and still have money left over for waffles.

This alone was a sufficiently attractive condition for Jin.

Moreover, dealing with the fake magician Nielsen would allow him to gain a hefty amount of experience points.

As Jin was already short on XP needed to unlock a new perk, the answer was already clear.

"Alright. I'll do it."

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

Edmond Nielsen.

Califa explained that he, who had allegedly implanted the data chip in his head, had been holed up in his own hideout for days.

And that hideout was an old corridor-style apartment, a monstrosity covered in chaotic graffiti. Up close, there was also a pile of uncollected garbage, emitting a foul odor that stung the nose.

Jin climbed the stairs roughly welded with rebar.

Room 402.

Arriving in front of Nielsen's apartment, Jin scratched his head.

Should he break in?

With his current strength, breaking a door lock would be no big deal.

At first, he thought about pretending to be a delivery man who had mistaken the address, but it would be troublesome if the target became suspicious due to clumsy acting.

So, quick and decisive. As Jin made up his mind and grabbed the door lock...

"...Who are you?"

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Jin turned his head at the voice full of wariness. A man with both hands full of black plastic bags was looking this way in an awkward posture.

A bald man with the right half of his face covered in tattoos.

For a moment, Jin's and the man's gazes met in the air.

A brief silence.

The next moment, both people moved simultaneously.

"Shit!"

Throwing the plastic bags at the approaching Jin, Nielsen stretched out his hand.

"Boom Light─!"

The next moment, Jin instinctively closed his eyes against the light accompanied by explosive pressure.

"Ugh!"

Is this what it feels like to have a flash grenade go off right in your face? In games, it just whitens your vision, but experiencing it in reality, tears and saliva flowed freely. His body staggered, making it difficult to maintain balance.

But this too was only for a moment.

As his abnormal recovery ability stabilized his confused autonomic nervous system, Jin opened his bloodshot eyes wide.

Various canned goods, toilet paper, razors, and more.

Amidst the daily necessities spilled from the bags rolling around on the floor, Nielsen could be seen running down the stairs in the distance.

Jin immediately stepped on the railing of the corridor and jumped up.

His jumping power easily surpassed that of an Olympic medalist.

It was truly like flying through the sky. While not losing sight of the target, Nielsen's eyes widened as he was hurriedly stepping down the stairs.

Bang!

A cloud of dust rose on the landing between the 2nd and 3rd floors.

It was a brutally unskilled landing.

"Crazy?!"

Nielsen, terrified with his escape route blocked, faced Jin as he closed the distance. A fist cutting through the air. A scream erupting like a seizure.

"Shield!"

A barrier that looked like fish scales enlarged and tightly connected blocked the fist. With just that, the barrier shook greatly, and unable to withstand the following barrage of punches, it finally shattered.

But by then, Nielsen had already pulled back his body.

Now Jin chased after the magician who had started to flee upstairs.

"You bastard! Stop chasing me!"

Thinking he would be caught at this rate, Nielsen suddenly pulled out a gun from his bosom and fired backward.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

As blind bullets hit the rebar and sparks flew, Jin frowned.

Is this what a magician is?

However, for Nielsen, who wasn't a purist but learned magic through illegal procedures, firearms were just another weapon.

So he emptied the entire magazine.

One of the ricocheted bullets hit Jin's shoulder.

Due to the sudden change in trajectory after hitting the rebar, it was difficult to react. He quickly twisted his upper body to take the hit on his shoulder, as it was flying towards his heart.

Nielsen, who had luckily played billiards with the bullet, couldn't be entirely happy. Jin, who seemed to hesitate for a moment, started to pick up speed again.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!! What the hell are you doing?!"

Nielsen, who spat out curses nervously, gritted his teeth.

Just then, they reached the rooftop. With nowhere left to run, he turned around in desperation. Then he prepared a spell.

Real magic, different from the cheap public spells rolling around on the surface of the black net.

When he realized this was just beginner level, he despaired. With his level, he only had techniques that were barely usable once, techniques that put a strain on the body just by using them.

Using it would certainly render him unable to fight.

But cornered like this, there was no other choice.

"I'll make you roasted meat, you little shit."

The moment Nielsen muttered while a nosebleed trickled down.

Jin detected a change.

Something indescribable gathered in one place.

The amorphous energy that had coalesced thus began to rotate as a sphere of blazing flame above Nielsen's palm. Along with the heat clearly felt even from afar.

All of this happened within 2 seconds.

"Di-ieee!"

Right after, Nielsen threw the fireball like a baseball.

At the same time, Jin put strength into his thighs.

As the fast-twitch muscles developed beyond their limit contracted with tremendous force, explosive forward power was generated with the last step.

Jin, who closed the distance in an instant, lowered his head while crossing his arms in an X shape. At the same time, the heavily flying fireball collided with him.

Kwang!

Nielsen, pushed back by the shockwave created by the explosion, fell on his backside. He too was at close range.

While crawling on the ground to escape the suffocating heat, he inwardly rejoiced. Convinced that if hit directly by that, not even bones would remain.

"...Did I get him?"

And so, when he uttered the taboo words, a cracked voice answered from within the black smoke.

"Those words don't even bring the dead back to life."

"......?!"

The next moment, a leg appearing through the smoke kicked Nielsen's side as he lay fallen.

His body, lifted as if hit by a dump truck, fell back to the ground and rolled around helplessly before colliding with a water tank.

Then Jin revealed himself from the smoke.

His face, red from being burned, frowned as he patted out the fire on his shoulder with his palm.

"Magic is really overpowered."

Jin frowned at the searing sensation that swept over him.

Originally, burns are most painful at the 2-1 degree stage, just before nerve damage occurs. And Jin was in exactly that state right now. Soon there would be blisters and oozing, quite a mess.

But Jin, as always, just endured it.

There was also something that needed to be dealt with immediately.

"Kuh, kuhek. D-don't, don't come."

Even while gasping for breath, Nielsen was pushing the ground with his heels to distance himself from Jin. As if foreseeing what was about to happen.

"Th-this is mine. It's mine."

Looking down at him curled up like a pillbug while clutching the area near his temple, Jin sighed.

"You still haven't come to your senses."

Then, forcibly tearing away the resisting arm, he examined the access port of the brain socket. Among the densely packed chips, there was one with a reddish glow.

"Flame emblem... This is it."

"Hey hey! You f-fucking bastard! Don't pull it out, please! I haven't finished downloading yet. If you pull it out now, I'm screwed! You son of a bitch!"

"Ah geez. So noisy."

Thud!

Jin slammed his fist into the glowing face.

Finally, as Jin struggled to remove the chip from Nielsen's now quiet temple, he accidentally realized that pressing the end of the chip firmly with his fingertip made the whole thing pop out, and scratched the back of his head.

"...It's similar to a floppy disk. Well, you'd have to use it to know."

It was the moment Jin, having retrieved the target after much trouble, was about to get up.

Nielsen, who had been lying limp like a corpse, suddenly reached out and grabbed Jin's ankle.

"...?"

Jin's brow twitched.

Putting aside the fact that he had already regained consciousness,

The grip strength squeezing his ankle was not normal.

His body, sensing danger, moved instinctively.

Jin stomped on Nielsen's wrist with his other foot, quickly pulled his caught foot out of the loosened grip, and kicked Nielsen's face as he had already half-risen.

The sensation transmitted through the instep told him.

That he had completely crushed the face. Surely he had, and yet.

"A'hhh!!!!!"

Nielsen's face, which had been thrown back, dropped back into place with a grotesque cry. Eyes turned black as if ink had been spilled, faced Jin.

"A'hhhhhh!!!!!"

Nielsen, who let out another monstrous cry, lunged like a beast, all traces of his previous desperate attempt to escape gone.

But even in his surprise, Jin responded calmly.

He created distance, avoided Nielsen's upper body as it pounced, and tripped his ankle as smoothly as flowing water.

And so, he repeatedly stomped on the back of the head of his opponent who had planted his face on the ground at full running speed.

At some point, a tingling sensation of ascent shot through his head.

Jin, having gained a satisfactory amount of XP, wiped the sweat flowing down his chin and slumped down on the ground.

Then, looking alternately at the red data chip he pulled out from his chest and the fallen Nielsen, he slowly opened his mouth.

"What is this?"