Neo-Joseon Cyberpunk

Chapter 98: Safe House (2)

A weapon that read and obeyed its master’s command on its own, the Arc Blade.

It was a mysterious sword whose creator, place of manufacture, and even date of creation were all unknown.

All I knew about it was that it emitted a blade made of mana, and that it had been forged using the ‘Ego Engraving’ technique.

〈Who are you, you bastard.〉

The sword spoke to me.

At that, I narrowed my brow and muttered.

‘So it really wasn’t my imagination.’

Just as the world knew, the ego engraved into this weapon was by no means weak.

〈Imagination? What imagination are you talking about?〉

“Hmm…….”

The way it communicated seemed similar to Ar, as if it were reading its master’s thoughts.

I examined the sword floating in front of my eyes from various angles and asked,

“How’s your current durability status?”

〈What? I asked first. I asked who you are.〉

“Hmm…….”

〈Why do you keep going ‘hmm, hmm’ like that? If you don’t answer right now, I’ll split you in two!〉

It was a weapon with a seriously nasty attitude.

I knew one very effective method to use in situations like this.

Shuuuuuk…….

First, I forcibly drained the mana inside the Arc Blade.

Then I lightly gripped the end of the weapon.

〈What are you doing ri—〉

Clang!

I swung it down mercilessly toward the table right beside me.

〈Ghk……!〉

Did it actually feel pain?

I wondered if it might be meaningless, but I got exactly the reaction I’d hoped for.

〈Hey, you son of a—!〉

“What?”

〈Do you have any idea what kind of body this is—!〉

Clang!

So it still hadn’t been corrected.

Metal forging was never something that worked with just one hammer strike, after all.

〈Ghuu—! You damn bastard—!〉

Clang!

After gripping the Arc Blade a few times, one thing became clear: this weapon was extremely sturdy.

That was probably why it could still chatter away like this even after being submerged in the depths of the Pacific Ocean Trench for decades.

〈Ghk……! You think I’d submit over something like this……?〉

“Yeah?”

Clang!

Just as requested, I struck it down much harder than before.

This time, right onto the sharp edge of the desk.

〈H-Hey……! That’s cheating!〉

Clang!

After going through several rounds of ‘correction.’

〈Heek, heek. F-fine. What do you want.〉

It finally entered a state where conversation was possible.

There were mountains of things I wanted to ask, but for now I asked the most important thing.

“How’s your durability status right now?”

〈……Not very good. After you smashed me so crudely just now, even more so…….〉

“Oh, really?”

Seeing through the obvious lie, I grabbed the weapon again.

The Arc Blade hurriedly added,

〈H-Hey! Okay! I get it! I get it! With this level of physical force, I won’t even get scratched! But that doesn’t mean I’m completely fine!〉

“What’s not fine, then?”

〈My heart!〉

“…….”

I stared down at it in disbelief, wondering what kind of nonsense it was spouting.

〈I’m serious! More precisely, it’s the pain that comes from the ‘emotion’ of being rejected by my master!〉

“What?”

That meant it already knew I was its master.

When I asked the Arc Blade the same thing directly, an unexpected answer came back.

〈That’s because…… you’re not Lee Hamin…….〉

Maybe it understood it with its head but couldn’t accept it with its heart.

It sounded like a line straight out of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, about a general clinging to loyalty.

“Yeah. I’m not Lee Hamin.”

〈…….〉

“But I am your master.”

Perhaps it accepted that, at least a little, because the Arc Blade trembled faintly.

〈Can I ask just one thing?〉

“No.”

〈You’re really picky.〉

“Tell me the durability first.”

〈……Alright. Honestly, my current condition isn’t very good.〉

Suddenly, something like a graph appeared in front of my eyes.

Judging by the situation, it seemed to be a visual signal the Arc Blade was sending to its master.

“Hmm…….”

〈Body durability is at 23%, mana efficiency is roughly 30%. But the more serious problem is…….〉

Among the graphs, the one sitting at the very bottom flickered.

〈Even if I crank the output to the maximum, it doesn’t even reach 4.1%.〉

So right now, it was operating at only 4.1% output?

Then just how strong would it be at full output?

With that thought, I asked,

“How do I fix you?”

〈Wait! You asked one question already! Let me ask one too.〉

I hesitated briefly over how to respond, then nodded.

“Alright.”

If I really wanted to, I could have forced it to answer only what I asked.

But thinking about our future relationship, such a one-sided exchange wouldn’t be very good.

Especially when negotiating with an existence that possessed ‘emotions’ like this.

〈Who are you?〉

The Arc Blade asked again the question it had asked at the beginning.

I answered honestly.

“Lee Hamin’s younger brother.”

〈What……?〉

A truth known by only a handful of people in this world.

Hearing it, the weapon muttered in disbelief.

〈Then you’re…… that Lee Hajin?〉

“Yeah.”

〈Huh……. So that’s how it is. Now that I hear it, I can tell. Just like Lee Hamin said.〉

My brother talked about me?

What on earth did he say to get that kind of reaction?

Growing genuinely curious, I asked the Arc Blade.

〈Ah, no. It wasn’t anything special.〉

“What did he say?”

〈……That you had some ‘unique’ traits.〉

“You’re not going to say it properly?”

When I grabbed the sword hilt again, the weapon panicked and blurted out,

〈Fine! I’ll say it! He just said you were kind of rough around the edges!〉

“…….”

〈Like what you’re doing right now!〉

Why would he say that?

Even though I fought tooth and nail with my younger sister every single day, I had never once gotten into a physical fight with my brother.

‘Is that how I looked in my brother’s eyes…….’

As I briefly sank into memories of the past, the Arc Blade cautiously continued,

〈And…… he also said you weren’t very honest with yourself.〉

“……What does that even mean?”

〈I don’t know either. I just said it that way.〉

Not honest with myself.

For the first time in a while, I reflected on myself, then quickly shook the thought off.

“Now I’d like you to answer my question.”

〈It’s obvious what you’re going to ask. How to fix me, right?〉

“Yeah.”

A powerful weapon my older brother had used until his final moment.

No matter what it took, I had to restore it to its original state.

However, the answer that came back from the Arc Blade was far from positive.

〈Right now, it’s impossible.〉

“Why?”

〈Because I’m not an ordinary object…….〉

At the continuation of that answer, I was so shocked I couldn’t even manage my expression.

〈I’m a ‘ghost.’〉

“A ghost…… you say?”

At the completely unexpected information, I frowned and asked.

“You don’t look like one at all.”

〈Of course not. I’m a completely different kind of entity from those other ghost bastards.〉

I recalled the day I first encountered a ghost.

A being of terror that spewed overwhelming ‘hostility’ toward everything around it.

Along with that, I remembered Boss Kim’s explanation about ghosts.

–Alive and dead at the same time, having everything yet possessing nothing. Ghosts are paradoxical existences like that.

‘In a way, it does kind of sound like a description of the Arc Blade…….’

As if it had read my thoughts, the weapon said admiringly,

〈That’s a pretty good explanation. Seems like someone who actually knew something about ghosts.〉

“Wait. Then what exactly is the Ego Engraving Technique?”

The technique said to have been used to create the Arc Blade.

At those words, the weapon burst out laughing.

〈Hahahaha……! Someone actually believed that?〉

“…….”

〈It sounds pretty convincing, right? Even I think so.〉

So it had been false information fabricated to conceal the Arc Blade’s true nature.

Well, if it became known that the great hero who saved the world from ghosts was using a ghost as a weapon, all sorts of troublesome issues would arise.

‘The Inquisitors would’ve been the first to go berserk.’

〈Ugh, don’t even mention those guys. I’m sick of them.〉

Having read my thoughts, the Arc Blade’s body trembled slightly.

“Then there’s no way?”

〈A way to repair me?〉

“Yeah.”

〈Normally, you’d need a special material obtained by killing a ghost. And stuff from lower-grade ones is meaningless. The bluish ones are at least somewhat useful.〉

By bluish ghosts, it probably meant Green Breed, a Grade-5 ghost.

A ghost four tiers higher than the White Breed I had dealt with.

‘That’s impossible for me right now.’

Maybe there was no need to go that far anyway.

The enemies I was facing now were manageable even with 4.1% output.

At least until proper ‘nightmare-class beings’ started swarming in.

‘Anyway.’

For now, there was no way to fix this weapon.

That meant it was time to extract something just as important as combat power: ‘information.’

“I’ll ask one more question.”

This was a tool that had been used to kill the Ghost of Destruction.

The memories contained within it were worth untold fortunes.

〈You’re a lot more curious than your brother. Fine, ask.〉

With the Arc Blade’s consent, I asked the question I was most curious about.

“What exactly happened to my brother?”

The final fate of the man called the Supreme Swordsman.

It was a mystery no one yet knew.

〈Hmm…….〉

The Arc Blade pondered for a long while before answering.

〈Sorry, but I can’t answer that.〉

“Hmm…….”

〈What are you staring like that for? No matter how much you beat me, it won’t help. I don’t know either, to begin with.〉

“You don’t know?”

〈Yeah. My memories aren’t intact right now.〉

Not intact memories.

At those words, a hypothesis flashed through my mind.

〈I don’t really know why either. Maybe because I consumed too much energy while enduring the depths of the trench, or maybe…….〉

“Someone sealed your memories.”

〈……That’s right.〉

My return to the world.

Perhaps my brother had known that and arranged everything in advance.

‘Were both the memories in my brother’s body and the memories left in the Arc Blade all intentional?’

If so, what was my brother trying to say?

To find that out, I needed information first.

“Tell me everything.”

〈Huh?〉

“Every memory you have left. Don’t leave anything out.”

〈Uh……. Alright. I understand.〉

It seemed I had found something to occupy myself with for the time being.

The information I could extract from the Arc Blade was less than expected.

Most of it was related to combat, and a large portion overlapped with memories I already had.

‘There’s no way this thing’s memory loss is a coincidence.’

In the end, I arrived at one of two conclusions.

Either my brother had deliberately edited the memories.

Or someone other than my brother had done so.

The two conclusions were different, yet they pointed to the same result.

‘There’s definitely something I’m not supposed to know yet.’

What exactly was it?

In my current state, I couldn’t even properly guess.

‘Still, I did gain one thing.’

The countless sword techniques my brother had trained in the past.

The Arc Blade retained training methods for them.

That was a very worthwhile discovery.

I had never received proper swordsmanship training.

Even though I could fight quite well using only the memories left in my brother’s body, I was starting to see the limits of that.

‘So far, I’ve just been wildly swinging whatever techniques came to mind…….’

Skill was something that could only truly be honed through systematic training.

In that sense, the training methods discovered through the Arc Blade would be of great help going forward.

[Mr. Diesel.]

As I was organizing my thoughts, Kang Da-hee’s voice came through the communication network.

I stood up from my seat and replied.

[You’re here?]

[Yes. Please wait where you are.]

[…….]

[You’re coming up, right?]

A swordsman of the Brain Dragon Magic Tower and the older brother of the half-dragon Betty Barosi, Tae-oh Barosi.

[Yeah.]

It was time to go check on a talent who might become new combat power for the Aguiggun Clan.