WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

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◈ I Became a Genius Engineer That Mega Corporations Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 017

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The Weight of the Sign

"Yeah. That's right. Let's get along from here on out."

When I held out my hand, Rita took it with that signature cheerful look.

"Great, boss! Now that we're working together... shall we get ready to start doing business for real?"

I nodded at her.

"Of course. Time to open the garage for business."

In Fupunkalypse, a player had to scrape together seed money from street stalls and day labor, build gear, and sell it for a lump sum before finally being able to set up a proper garage.

And setting up the garage wasn't the end of it. It was only the beginning.

Even once the garage was running, big commissions and high-grade gear repairs didn't just open up. Starting with small repairs and sales, the garage's reputation value had to be built up slowly from the bottom, and only then did higher-tier commissions unlock.

Meeting Old Man Gordon had simply let me skip stage one, scraping together pocket change. From here on, it was repairing and crafting over and over, until my back broke, to build a name.

With the plan sorted, I turned to Rita.

"Honestly, this building is solid and safe, which is great, but it's in such a tucked-away alley. I figure we should hand out flyers to the neighborhood, get the word out, and drum up some small jobs at least. Do you have any good ideas?"

Rita's face twitched at my earnest question.

Then she stared at me, and her expression turned like she was about to burst out laughing.

"...Boss. Are you seriously saying that?"

"Why? The shop's location is out of the way, so we have to advertise from the ground up to draw in customers."

"Pfft, hahaha!"

Unable to hold it in, Rita clutched her stomach and burst into roaring laughter, slapping the wall. Tears even gathered at the corners of her eyes.

What? Had I done something wrong? Weird.

"Ahaha! Boss. You really don't know anything, do you?"

"Huh? Wh... what do you mean?"

"What does that sign say? Titan, that's what!"

"What?"

What about Titan? I'd just hung up the sign that was already here because I couldn't be bothered making a new one.

"That Titan Garage sign is practically a legend here in Ground Zero. It's the old symbol of Old Man Gordon himself. This isn't some garage that takes any old job, you know."

A puzzle piece clicked into place in my head.

'No wonder...!'

The image of Old Man Gordon yesterday, laughing like a madman at the sign, came back to me.

'The sign found its owner just right, and it made me laugh.'

So that was what it meant, and why he'd laughed so meaningfully?

'I only used that neon sign because I didn't know anything, but... if I tried to take it down now, Old Man Gordon definitely wouldn't forgive me.'

He didn't seem like the type to tolerate anyone undoing what they'd already done.

And honestly, it was starting to get a little scary. The more I learned about Old Man Gordon, the more some impressive history kept popping out. I'd expected a bigshot, but not this big.

'...Can't be helped. Since I'm already tangled up with a bigshot, let's think positively.'

Stage one, raising capital and setting up a garage, was skipped, and now stage two, reputation, could be handled by leaning on Old Man Gordon's name.

'In return, I'll have to walk the tightrope a lot better from now on.'

A garage run out of Old Man Gordon's safehouse, under the sign that represented Old Man Gordon himself.

My ties to Old Man Gordon, now a bigshot with no way out of the picture, had gotten pretty deep.

"...So what kind of work am I supposed to do from here on?"

With the connections I'd built so far, I honestly couldn't carry a name like Titan Garage.

Old Man Gordon knew that too, which had to be why he'd sent Rita. Then Rita should be able to help.

At my words, Rita grinned and got to her feet.

"In that case... you're free tonight, right? Boss."

"...Huh? Tonight? Out of nowhere?"

"We need to go find someone who can get us work worthy of Titan Garage."

* * *

"Here you go. Hop in, boss."

Rita opened the taxi door.

Sliding into the back seat, I glanced at my wrist.

[ Current Time: 00:12 AM ]

'Being out this late is a first since my very first day in this world.'

Ever since settling into Old Man Gordon's safehouse, the radio had been full of gang war stories every day, and I hadn't dared to wander the dark streets.

'Still, with Rita around, maybe it'll be fine.'

She was someone Old Man Gordon had stuck at my side. She had to have the strength to protect someone like me, or he wouldn't have sent her.

I was thinking that over and about to settle into my seat when it happened.

Whirr... Zzzt.

The driver's head swiveled around a grotesque 180 degrees and fixed on me in the back seat.

'What the fuck, that scared me. It's a robot.'

A grating, metallic voice came out of the speaker near the robot's neck.

"Welcome aboard, passengers. Please state your destination."

Rita slammed the door shut as she sat down beside me, and spoke as if she were used to this.

"Ground Zero's District 8, downtown. Drop us in front of Club Velvet."

"A late-night lawless zone surcharge of 30% applies. Is that acceptable?"

Rita glanced over at me.

Right. I was the boss. Got it.

I sighed and nodded.

"Yeah. That's fine. Go."

"Destination set. Proceeding to Club Velvet. The company accepts no liability under its terms of service for passenger injury caused by external gunfire or collisions en route."

Vroom!

The driver robot said something terrifying in its distorted voice and pulled the car out.

This robot model was a bit older than the ones in Fupunkalypse.

The robots I'd often seen in Fupunkalypse were far more advanced than this. Some of them had felt almost human.

Then again, this was 300 years later, so maybe that was why. Or maybe this particular robot was just unusually outdated.

Cutting off the thought, I turned to Rita.

"So, isn't it about time you told me where we're going?"

Rita looked out the window as she answered.

"We're going to see Valeria. She's the godmother who holds District 8's downtown and red-light district in her fist, and one of the bigshot brokers who runs the biggest game in Ground Zero."

"A broker?"

"Yeah. Exaggerating a little, more than half the money, contraband, and human lives flowing into Ground Zero roll around in that woman's palm."

The flashing neon outside the window swam across her pupils, as if we were drawing close to downtown.

"Gangs fighting over turf, bounties going up on somebody's head, dangerous goods flooding the black market... whenever something like that happens, in the end it's the brokers who set up the board and hold the purse strings."

It had been the same in the Fupunkalypse game. That was why I'd had to put quite a bit of effort into keeping up relations with the bigshot brokers.

"So we're going to this Valeria to get work from her? A bigshot like that, would she even meet with us?"

"Of course, if you drop my name or yours, she won't even meet with us. But drop Titan Garage's name and it'll be a little different."

"So, we have to borrow Old Man Gordon's clout to get a meeting?"

"Of course, Gordon's name alone won't make it easy to build a relationship with Valeria either. So what should we do?"

"...I have to prove that I deserve to get work from Valeria."

"Ding-dong-ding! Correct answer!"

Clap clap clap clap!

Rita broke into a cheerful grin and started applauding.

Watching her, I clutched my head and shook it.

'This is why getting deep with bigshots gets exhausting...'

What could I do? As the saying goes, once you're on the tiger's back, you ride it to the end.

Screech!

While I was gathering my thoughts, the taxi stomped the brakes hard and jerked to a stop.

This taxi robot bastard drove like shit.

"Destination reached, Club Velvet. The total fare including the late-night surcharge is 8,900 credits. Please pay."

What? 8,900 credits? That was fucking expensive. What company was this?

Dolores Taxi? I'd never ride one of their cabs again.

Pulling a credit card from inside my coat, I paid and climbed out.

The moment the door opened, thumping electronic music started battering my ears.

And people who might've been drunk or high, no telling which, were already stumbling along the street, dancing to the music and cackling.

Beneath the neon signs glittering all around, a giant hologram sign cut through the darkness, flashing in midair.

[ CLUB VELVET ]

"Looks like the night here is brighter than Ground Zero's daytime."

"It probably really is. I saw a magazine measure it once."

Rita answered, already walking toward the entrance.

On either side of the entrance, hulking guards plastered head to toe in military heavy-armor cyber gear glared with menacing eyes, watching everyone coming and going. The weapons in their hands looked like proper corporate-made automatic shotguns.

'I'd like to take a closer look. That looks like good stuff, the kind that's hard to find in Ground Zero.'

While I was sizing up the guards with that thought, Rita, walking ahead, turned around and spoke to me.

"Come on, boss. Don't chicken out, just follow me."

I gave a snort of a smile and started after her.

"Who said I was chickening out? I'm not scared, okay?"

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