WeTried Translations
Translator: [IncomeElastic]
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◈ I Became a Genius Engineer That Mega Corporations Are Obsessed With ◈
Chapter 38
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Pureblood Engineer
In Fupunkalypse, an engineer character would've had it great just staying holed up in the garage and taking whoever walked in, but plenty of the time it didn't work out that way.
Every so often, an engineer got an on-site commission.
On-site clients fall into roughly three types.
The first is the customer whose prosthetics are so badly broken they can't even move. They can't make it to the garage on their own two feet, so the engineer has no choice but to go to them. When people say on-site, it's usually this kind.
The second is the VIP, the big names who'd lose face walking into a garage themselves. Honestly, on-site jobs from these people aren't bad at all. The repairs are almost never tricky, and going over usually means being treated well.
A slip of the tongue or a failure to read the room can cause an accident, but play long enough and you get used to that too. Stroking a VIP's ego is something an engineer picks up fast.
And then the third, the biggest headache. The client who can't show their face. Someone being hunted, or someone who can't afford to be found.
Clients like this are usually on the run, so they're suspicious of the engineer, and if the work drags on, they get anxious and snap or lose their temper.
But the biggest problem was that taking on a third-type job often ended in a fight.
Naturally, once that happens, just surviving is a bitch for an engineer.
Looking down at the terminal again.
[ Client : Undisclosed ]
A customer who wouldn't even give a name, calling an engineer out to wherever they were.
...This time, the third type was most likely.
"Shit. I made up my mind, but it's kind of scary."
Unlike in the game, I could end up dropped onto a battlefield where my own life was really on the line.
"Rita. This job is on-site, so we need to get ready to head out."
"Yes. Understood."
"On-site? What's on-site?"
"Yeah. It means we have to go out and do the work instead of doing it at the garage."
Rita answered Zino's question gently.
"Wow~ We're going out! Going out!"
Normally, heading out on-site would mean packing quite a lot of gear, but a magitech build engineer like me is different. There's no need to haul a pile of tools around.
Harness on, then safety goggles and leather gloves, nothing else. The old coat went over the top.
That was all the prep I had to do.
"Rita. Are you ready?"
"Yes. Four nutrient jellies, and two nutrient tubes just in case."
That's Rita for you. She does it all now without my saying a word.
"Um. Then what about Zino? What should Zino get ready?"
That one I answered myself.
"Zino just has to keep your big bro and sis entertained, like you're doing now."
"Wow! Zino's totally good at that!"
Then another message popped up on Valeria's terminal.
[ The client has assigned a vehicle. ]
[ Estimated Arrival : In 3 minutes ]
"They must be in quite a hurry too. They've even assigned a car. It says it'll be here in three minutes, so let's head out."
Exactly three minutes later, a black car pulled up in front of our garage.
"Wow. I've never seen a car this nice in Ground Zero."
"Hmm... Zino doesn't really like cars that are just black."
"...Wasn't the point of withholding the name to hide who they are? A car this nice driving around Ground Zero is going to get them spotted."
The car's rear door opened, so we climbed inside.
The driver's seat was empty. Apparently a self-driving vehicle.
Right. It's Dolores, with their androids for drivers, that's the strange one.
The ride was, of course, smoother than anything the Dolores androids could manage, but we had to spend quite a while in that car.
It kept circling around, over and over, for a long time.
"Big bro Dex. This is the third time we've come down this road. Zino remembers, so I'm sure."
"...Yeah."
"Is the car broken?"
"No. Our client has a lot of enemies, so it looks like they're worried about being followed."
"Ohh. So they're scared scary people might chase them."
Eventually the car pulled into the loading bay of an old distribution warehouse. It made one big loop between the containers, then slipped out through the exit on the opposite side from where it had entered.
At the same time, the windows turned black. The inside of the car went dark in an instant.
"Huh? I can't see outside!"
"Yeah. They made it so we can't."
[ No Signal ]
Even the terminal Valeria had given us was dead. They must have a jammer running inside the car.
Shaking a tail I could understand, but this was a different grain. It meant even we weren't supposed to know where we were headed.
While I was thinking that, the car started to tilt. Probably heading underground.
The car went down for a long while, then its speed began to drop at some point, and it came to a stop.
Click.
All the rear doors opened at once.
"Boss. I'll get out first. Stay behind me."
"Okay. Zino, can you stay quiet for a while? The customers might get startled."
"Okay. Zino's a good kid, so Zino will listen to big bro."
Stepping out, I was astonished to find the car looked completely different from when we'd first gotten in.
It had been transformed into a vehicle that looked twenty years older than when we first rode in it.
Even the license plate looked completely changed, at a glance.
Seemed like a more careful person than I'd figured.
Two women who'd been waiting walked out as we stepped from the car.
Both wore black suits, and both looked like they could fight.
Both had combat prosthetics for their entire legs, after all.
There's a distinctive posture you see in people who use a combat spine and combat leg prosthetics.
'Those have to be powerful prosthetics, and yet they barely make a sound when they walk.'
The two women exchanged a look and murmured something, then one of them came toward me.
"Are you, by any chance, the engineer?"
"Yes. I'm the engineer."
"Engineer."
"Yes."
"...You're a man."
The woman let out a short breath.
"We needed a woman to come..."
I couldn't help snorting at that.
"You're looking for an Asian woman engineer in Ground Zero? That's harder than finding an unpaid volunteer on a megacorp's board of directors."
At my words, the one standing behind, not the woman who'd been dealing with me until now, stepped forward and took over.
"No. Valeria also told us beforehand that we couldn't meet that condition. She said that in exchange, this person's skill, at least, could be trusted. We apologize for the rudeness."
'So this one outranks the one from before.'
Her prosthetics looked a little older, but going by the wear marks, the way she walked, her posture and the rest, she seemed stronger than the first one, a high-tier fighter.
'They're both Baekdu-made.'
Baekdu Precision, the same maker that built Rex's spine last time.
If Arcana was the name on the magic side, Baekdu was the name on the body arts side. A brand respected among mid-to-upper-range prosthetics.
On top of that, the equipment these two were using looked like pretty high-end stuff.
"For now, allow us to escort you."
With that, the bodyguard started leading us deeper inside.
Following the two of them, I noticed Rita was wary of them.
I'd once seen a character sent out on an on-site job get killed to keep their mouth shut, so I was glad Rita was staying on guard.
Eventually we arrived in front of a certain room.
"...Miss. The engineer has arrived."
"...Send them in."
At that, we were able to enter the room.
A woman lay face down inside.
Black hair, black eyes. A few years older than me, maybe. Even so, she looked to be in her early twenties at most.
A white cloth covered her whole body, so there was no telling what kind of prosthetics she had.
"......"
Her eyes met mine.
I felt her gaze sweep over my body in an instant. It lingered quite a while on my hair and eyes in particular.
"I apologize, Miss. We found a pureblood engineer, but we couldn't find one who was both pureblood and a woman."
"...It can't be helped. In this situation, I should be grateful we could get even a pureblood engineer."
So these people were from the very top tier. Going on about purebloods like that.
"Engineer."
While I was thinking that, the one who looked the highest ranking over there, the one they called Miss, called out to me.
"...Yes."
"What is your name?"
"It's Dex."
"No. Not the name you use to survive at the bottom. Your real name, I said."
I couldn't help snorting at the woman's words. Neither of my names meant much to me anyway.
But what could I do? The customer was asking. To survive as an engineer, humoring the client was a must.
"Seol Gye-hyeon. It's Seol Gye-hyeon."
"Not a common name. But I like it. And what is this riffraff beside you?"
I felt Rita's brows knit at that. I squeezed her hand lightly and let go, settling her a little.
Hold it in. Rich customer. Upper-tier people.
"My assistant. She's someone I need, so would you permit her to stay at my side?"
"Hmm. Since you insist that much, I permit it."
Hold it in. Rich customer.
"Then... what is it you'd like me to do?"
"Come closer and open this cloth. Then you will know."
I stepped up beside the bed.
Then I took hold of the edge of the cloth and slowly drew it back.
A woman's snow-white naked body was revealed.
"......"
Ah. So that was why.
The reason they'd wanted a woman engineer. It was maintenance that meant exposing the whole body.
The woman's prosthetic spine and both legs were completely shattered.
"Engineer. Can you fix this?"
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