Chapter 43 – Are We Really Going to Do This? (3)

[Translator – Late Dreamer]

[Proofreader – Seeker]

Chapter 43 – Are We Really Going to Do This? (3)

The thick hatch slowly opened.

A fierce gust of wind from outside swept through the interior of the airship.

I held onto the safety rope tightly amidst the intense vibration.

I peeked my head out and glanced downward.

Outside the airship, the panoramic view of Neon City, enclosed by protective barriers, along with the vast horizon, came into view.

I didn’t have a fear of heights.

But still, maintaining composure at this altitude was challenging.

What am I doing here?

I absentmindedly admired the scenery.

Amidst the sound of strong winds, Catherine’s voice was heard.

“Are you ready?!”

I didn’t reply separately.

I simply raised my trembling hand, curling my index finger and thumb into an ‘okay’ sign.

I refrained from speaking out loud, fearing my voice might tremble.

I regretted not realizing this situation beforehand and my foolishness for not anticipating Natasha’s plan.

I briefly remembered Natasha’s plan. She had said,

[And taking advantage of this opportunity to infiltrate from the air, seize, then land at the designated external waste disposal site, and finally transport the target to the safe house completes the prepared plan..]

That’s right.

I should have asked back then.

How were we going to infiltrate from the air?

How were we going to seize the airship?

It wasn’t until just before boarding the airship that I could finally grasp the situation.

At that time, I had only thought of various excuses to survive.

“Is it really necessary to fall from an airship without using a parachute? There are tactical jetpacks or small aircraft, right?”

Out of the question, as the infiltration speed into the airship was slow and susceptible to interception by nearby tactical drones.

“If the vice-chairman’s airship is simply made to crash…”

It might not be Smile John’s airship. Since the main objective of this plan is abduction, not murder, it’s naturally out of the question.

“Let’s just not do this.”

I even went as far as saying that.

But Catherine grabbed my collar, and there was no way to resist as we boarded the airship.

Entering Neon City was strictly controlled, and launching the airship was also restricted under city law.

Why?

Even such problems were solved too easily because there were too many capable people around.

Eventually, that’s how Catherine and I ended up skydiving from the airship without parachutes.

Drake and Andrea wanted to join us in the same situation, but unfortunately, they had equipment specs that didn’t match the unconventional setup, so they are currently waiting at the designated ground checkpoint.

I wanted to opt out too. In this operation without ‘parachutes’, my role was the most crucial.

Even if Catherine was the protagonist in the game, dropping from this height without any device was extremely, extremely risky.

“…Haa.”

Why did I learn magic?

Today, of all days, I resented my mentor (the video channel).

《Exactly 15 seconds until the jump. I’ll count》

Natasha contacted me through the radio.

《If you need to say something, do it now, because once we enter the airship, communication might be disrupted due to jamming.》

Since we’ve come this far, there wasn’t much more to say.

I took a deep breath.

The wind, stronger than before, struck my face, covered by the mask, from all directions.

Because of that, only I could hear my own breathing.

《10.》

Natasha slowly began the countdown.

The countdown started, and before I could mentally prepare, we reached 5 in the blink of an eye.

《5,4,3,2–》

And then,

《1.》

I had my eyes tightly shut.

“Let’s go!”

Catherine and I leaped out of the hatch.

If the gods of cyberpunk exist, please just leave me alone.

Free-falling is more romantic than one might think.

Before I came to this world, it was like that.

There were many who willingly paid to enjoy skydiving.

The cool breeze and the feeling of liberation. It was a form of extreme sport enjoyed with guaranteed safety.

Of course, in the cyberpunk world I live in now, the story is a bit different.

I don’t know about other cities, but Neon City is enveloped by a kind of giant barrier, with strict prohibitions on entry except for certain areas.

I still wondered how Natasha managed to break through that and lift the airship.

The reason for the city’s barrier.

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s because of severe weather changes in this world.

There’s the notorious toxic gas typhoon, for instance.

In a world where storms laden with radiation or toxicity can strike at any moment, there weren’t many who could leisurely enjoy skydiving outside the city.

In that sense, I thought positively.

Though it wasn’t what I wanted, I was still able to enjoy skydiving in a way that others couldn’t.

Except for the minor issue of not having parachutes, I had no complaints.

As I was falling, lost in unnecessary thoughts, Catherine reached out and grabbed my hand.

Our fingers intertwined.

Unlike me, who was escaping from reality, Catherine was enjoying the fall with a bright smile.

She wasn’t wearing a mask yet, so her expression was clearly visible.

Her blonde hair shimmered in the sunlight, swaying with the wind.

Perhaps because of that sight, the tension in my heart also eased along with it.

…Yeah.

Well, in life, you might just find yourself free-falling without a parachute at some point.

Next, Catherine shouted something, but I couldn’t hear over the howling wind.

Realizing I couldn’t hear, Catherine pulled my hand closer to her.

Her flushed face filled my vision.

“Siwoon!”

[Translator – Late Dreamer]

[Proofreader – Seeker]

“Huh?”

I replied.

It could just be my imagination, but it felt like Catherine’s breath, so close to my ear, cut through the fierce wind.

Facing the ground, I met Catherine’s gaze while still in mid-air.

Her prominent nose and golden eyes left a lasting impression.

What was she trying to say?

Was she really going to start a conversation in this situation?

Maybe it was something important─

“Look out behind you!”

“Huh?”

It didn’t seem particularly important.

Well, we’ve been falling for quite a while now. It was time to start preparing for the landing.

I calmed my pounding heart, which had started racing when Catherine got closer for some reason.

Turning my whole body, I looked towards the ground.

In the distance, I spotted a large airship.

Although it was still far away, it seemed to match the description Natasha had given of the vice chairman’s private vessel through the hologram.

It was quite sizable.

But I guess we didn’t need to worry about just passing by.

And then…

A single light flashed on the ground.

A missile was launched, leaving a trail of smoke as it curved through the air.

…But wait, isn’t that missile a bit bigger than usual?

The size of the missile was larger than I expected.

It was almost as if it was launched with the intention of causing a crash.

But I didn’t dwell on that worry for long.

A beam of light shot out from beneath the vice-chairman’s airship.

The widely scattered beam of light set the sky ablaze as it burned itself.

───■■!!

A massive explosion that’s hard to describe with words followed.

The sound was short, but the explosion lasted.

In the shockwave, several tactical drones flying near the airship crashed into the junkyard below.

While admiring the explosion, Catherine grabbed me and began descending rapidly.

She angled towards the ground vertically, minimizing air resistance.

Catherine, who glanced back slightly, had suddenly covered her face with a mask.

A hologram image appeared like a mask.

“Confirming flare and chaff, radar is probably jammed now. It sounds like the defense system’s just been breached.”

“But the firing speed was faster than my calculations. I don’t know if there’s another problem.”

She mentioned there might be a problem, yet she didn’t slow down our descent.

But then again, we only had one choice anyway.

I prepared to use magic.

There were only two spells I planned to use.

One was the wind magic I had used before to send alley thugs flying into the air.

It allowed me to change the direction of descent by riding the wind.

I had identified a spot that seemed suitable for the vice chairman based on the blueprints I had examined beforehand.

The other spell was the main reason I was involved in this operation.

It was the magic I had used when I was attacked by Smile John’s henchmen while riding an unmanned taxi and got hit by tank-grade weaponry.

Through the hands holding onto me, I enveloped myself and Catherine in my magic.

It wasn’t like armor; if it were, something would have broken when I was thrown from the unmanned taxi.

It was more like a shield, a magic that absorbed the impact itself.

In simple terms, it absorbed the shock.

As the airship approached rapidly…

In other words, it made such an impossible operation entirely possible.

– Bang!

“Wh-what?! What’s happening again!”

As we fell towards the airship, Catherine suddenly pierced through the interior of the airship.

Indeed.

Just as the blueprint described.

As we abruptly infiltrated the airship’s interior, “William Kojak” looked at us with a bewildered expression.

Ding dong, delivery’s here.

…But something seemed off.

Inside the airship were not only William Kojak and his henchmen but also masked figures pointing guns at him.

I immediately thought of Smile John’s henchmen, but their masks were different from these.

“…”

We suddenly appeared through the ceiling of the airship, and anonymous figures were aiming guns at the vice chairman and his henchmen.

At that moment, a light flashed from the radio I had attached to my pouch.

Seeing the light also coming from Catherine’s radio, it was undoubtedly Natasha’s transmission.

“Um, hold on a moment.”

I asked for permission from the people around us.

Perhaps because they were so bewildered, no one stopped my actions.

Those facing unexpected situations usually couldn’t act.

Natasha’s voice came through the radio.

《We have a problem. There are people who fired missiles before we did.》

Hmm.

《It seemed too easy to breach the security channel when planning… There must have been someone already breaching it》

Umm.

《But according to my calculations, they won’t have arrived at the airship yet, so let’s come down to the ground first and check the situation-》

Then the radio went silent.

It seemed like the interference with communication inside the airship had been restored.

…

Even if others intervened…

The sequence of events seemed a bit odd.

Given that there were people with guns here, they were already infiltrators inside the airship.

And if so, their comrades fired missiles at the vice-chairman.

Since our goal was infiltration itself…

Firing missiles and then entering the airship…

That meant their purpose was something like abduction.

A softer approach was out of the question.

A short silence followed.

In the unexpected three-way standoff…

In the midst of the ongoing standoff…

William Kojak spoke.

“…Are you here to rescue me by any chance?”

‘We are here to kidnap you.’

I let out a silent sigh.

Things just got messed up like shit.

[Translator – Late Dreamer]

[Proofreader – Seeker]