Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 98: Negotiation

With the dazzling night view of Titan Tech’s Eastern Branch behind her, Amber stepped out of the conference room.

Her head throbbed from the meeting she’d just finished with Dominic Krilov.

“Phew...”

She let out a deep sigh before she even realized it.

When she turned her gaze out the window, the dazzling nightscape of East Babel stretched before her in full.

A festival of light created by countless hologram billboards.

Streams of aerial vehicles cutting across the sky.

And the radiant glow exhaled by the skyscrapers.

But none of that splendor stirred anything in Amber now.

Her head was filled entirely with the contents of that just-concluded meeting.

A strategic alliance, huh...

Dominic’s proposal had been radical.

After the recent betrayal and assassination attempt inside Titan Tech, he had effectively lost all standing within the company.

The same went for those affiliated with his faction.

If they stayed, it was only a matter of time before the next purge came for them.

So Dominic had made his decision.

He would lead those loyal to him and sever ties with Titan Tech completely—an utterly reckless plan, if ever there was one.

Of course, if the situation had devolved into a civil war between two rival factions, like in the case of Hexa Core Armory, the story might’ve been different.

But right now, Titan Tech’s power was unshaken.

Attempting to split off with only a handful of people in such conditions was little better than suicide.

And yet Dominic brimmed with certainty.

The source of his conviction was just one thing—A.

The infamous villain now so powerful that even the megacorps dared not act carelessly against her—A, the Pizza Demon.

Dominic was betting everything on the unpredictable variable that was A, trying to flip the entire situation with her alone.

That had been the entire point of today’s meeting.

To determine what kind of military support Dino Park could offer for Dominic’s independence.

And in return, what kind of personnel or technological support Dominic would offer to Dino Park—negotiated in concrete terms.

Surprisingly, the talks had gone smoothly.

Whatever potential Dominic saw in A, his attitude had been more proactive than expected, accepting nearly every condition.

All that remained now was to iron out the finer clauses.

Amber turned her eyes away from the window and looked around the building’s interior—what she saw was the Eastern Branch in utter disarray.

Broken chairs and desks were scattered everywhere, and the walls were pocked with bullet holes like a honeycomb.

Large dinosaur footprints were stamped deep into the floor—clear evidence that the Triceratops from Dino Park had rampaged through here.

The scars from the violent shootout days ago remained exactly as they had been, creating an atmosphere that should’ve been somber.

And yet, the building was filled with an unexpectedly vibrant and cheerful mood.

Thanks to the small, noisy beings running and shouting everywhere.

[White bird!]

[White friend!]

Right then, a ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ white bird flitted frantically past Amber’s eyes.

A horde of children let out shrill cries as they thundered after it.

Their tiny feet pounded the hallway floor, filling the corridor like a giant wave.

“Hwindungi! Kids, be careful!”

The blonde researcher, Riley, stumbled after them with a flustered expression.

The interior of the Eastern Branch had, before anyone noticed, become a massive playground for the children.

For Amber, it was unexpected to see so many kids wandering so far away—normally, they never strayed from A’s side.

She didn’t know the reason, but perhaps the kids now considered this building part of A’s territory too.

The Titan Tech employees who had survived the battle reacted in various ways to the children.

One researcher observed closely and took notes.

Another stared like they were looking at an alien fallen from space.

Some just shared snacks and played together.

What was clear was this: the kids’ smiles were infectious, even among the staff.

[Pencil!]

[Eraser!]

Off to one side of the hallway, Aria was surrounded by children.

She sat among them, fusing objects together according to their instructions.

An eraser walking around with a child’s face. A grinning kid’s face floating on a monitor.

Children merged with stationery toddled around—it was a surreal sight, to say the least.

[Nooo!]

At a sudden shriek, Amber turned her head and spotted a child fused with cotton candy shrieking in laughter as they ran away.

Covered head to toe in fluffy white fibers, the child looked like a walking ball of cotton candy.

[Heehee.]

Chasing after them was a child fused with water, gleefully giving pursuit.

The water-child glided over the floor like transparent liquid, clearly trying to play a prank and melt the cotton candy kid.

“It’s good to see Aria’s back to normal,” Victor murmured as he came up beside Amber, watching the bizarre scene unfold.

“Not sure if gaining the ability to fuse with kids qualifies as ‘normal’...” Amber shrugged at his comment.

She looked around the chaos of the building once more.

The remnants of destruction and the innocent laughter of children made for a strange harmony.

As Amber watched, she heard the water-child’s disappointed voice from below, gazing up at the cotton candy kid, who had just barely started floating using fluff to lift off the ground.

No longer able to follow, the water-child splashed and rippled, spreading like a puddle across the floor.

[Nooo!]

Amber let out a small laugh.

****

Dino Park slumbered in its usual, cozy darkness.

I was in the Dino Park lounge, combing through every last trace of data on “Rina Cortez” through the AR interface.

But no matter how deeply I searched or how hard I dug through the database, the result remained the same.

As if she’d never existed to begin with, there wasn’t a single record of her anywhere.

“Hm... What the hell is this?”

I racked my brain to figure out the cause of this bizarre phenomenon, but nothing came to mind.

It was such an absurd situation that I almost felt like all of Babel was conspiring in some grand theatrical hoax to deceive me.

Maybe it had just been too long since I used my brain—either way, a sharp headache hit me, followed by waves of fatigue.

“I dunno... Whatever. If something like this happens again, I’ll probably figure it out then.”

I muttered to myself and tossed the headache-inducing thoughts into some dusty corner of my mind.

As I slowly nibbled away at my pizza, I spaced out, watching the kids playing in the corner of the lounge.

Something about their carefree innocence had this strange calming effect on me.

It was like the headache from earlier melted away the longer I watched them.

The kids were having a blast playing with the giant caterpillar Iris had brought in a while back.

Iris doted on it so much, feeding it so well, that it had gotten at least twice as fat as when we first saw it.

It had grown so huge that it could barely fit into a pizza box anymore—hell, it was almost the size of a gym ball now, if I was being dramatic.

The kids seemed to love its plump, bouncy back—they bounced up and down on it like it was a trampoline.

No matter how many times I told them, “That thing’s gross! Don’t touch it!” it was pointless.

Every single person in Dino Park except me thought that hideous caterpillar was adorable, and I couldn’t help feeling the generational gap.

A whole damn century of difference, maybe? I guess it couldn’t be helped.

As I watched the bouncing caterpillar trampoline with a bitter heart, a few kids approached me.

They poked at my cheek with tiny fingers as I lay there.

“?”

I gave them a questioning look, and the kids started tugging at my hair.

Unlike their usual playful behavior, their expressions looked oddly serious.

[Something weird appeared!]

[It appeared!]

Unable to resist their insistence, I sat up from the bed.

The kids hurried ahead, urging me deeper into the heart of Dino Park.

Down a corridor where almost no one ever walked.

The place was unnecessarily wide and so rarely used that dust had piled up thick on the floor.

Because of that, I could clearly see the tiny footprints of the children stamped all over it.

I should probably make a schedule to clean this place...

I thought to myself as I watched the kids stomping ahead in their usual little rhythm.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just have them do it...?

The moment I thought that, the kids all stopped walking and turned back to me, shouting in unison.

[Here it is!]

[Here!]

I turned to where they pointed—and saw a scene I hadn’t expected.

Beyond the airlock that opened into space, a new structure was floating—one that hadn’t been there before.

Incheon...?

It looked exactly like the fossilized remnant of Seoul I’d seen at the heart of the Corrosion Bomb’s blast not long ago.