Corpo Age

NPC - SocialCorp(?)

Two men were seen near a waterway, with one of them lying completely flat on the artificial grass. He seemed relaxed as he enjoyed the view of the night sky coupled with the backdrop of the space elevator. His demeanor contrasted greatly with his partner, who was visibly tense. He constantly glanced around, as if expecting someone to jump out at them at any moment.

When the man on the ground saw that, he only chuckled and returned to stargazing.

“Status,” he muttered.

That caught the attention of his paranoid partner, but only for a split second. The two had been together long enough to know each other’s quirks. It was impossible for the man standing to mistake his companion’s words as asking for a status update. He rarely questioned his allies or participated in small talk. He only spoke when he needed to.

“Mister, it’s almost time.”

“Almost means we still have some time left.”

The man standing over him coldly stared down in response.

“Come on, relax a little. There’s no time limit to this game, right?”

The serious man remained unfazed by his partner’s rhetorics and continued to use his gaze to urge the man into action.

After a few more minutes, the carefree man finally relented, but not without some venting as he got up.

“Who the hell designed you? You’re no fun.”

The two then walked over to the nearby parking lot. The easygoing man retrieved a motorcycle while the other boarded a large commercial truck.

They started driving through the heart of the city and didn’t stop even when they reached the edge. It was soon apparent that their destination was the space tower looming in the distance. However, such an important structure had strict security measures in place. It wasn’t long before they encountered the first security checkpoint.

To the guards’ surprise, these newcomers didn’t bother to slow down at all. Before they could even alert the other guards about the suspicious activity, one of the guards suddenly collapsed with a hole in his forehead. Immediately after, the other guards followed suit without even a chance of uttering a cry.

The truck continued at full speed toward the checkpoint without care of any obstacles. By the time it collided with the gates, the rising bollards on the road lowered for some reason, allowing them to bulldoze their way through.

One truck and one bike blazed through the checkpoint, picking up speed throughout the incident. They repeated the same trick at the other checkpoints, relying on their speed to catch their enemies off guard.

They only ran into an issue when they approached the final checkpoint right before the space elevator!

This final checkpoint had sturdy metal gates that not even a truck could plow through. Several minutes had also passed since their invasion, so the personnel there were aware something had happened. They were on guard, closed every entry point, and prevented a small group of vehicles from entering. This added even more obstacles in front of their sturdy gates.

The two assailants were not surprised by this development. The relaxed man on the bike continued to shoot with one hand with surprising marksmanship, while his partner used his hacking skills to disable the turrets and other security systems.

Though there was one difference during this final checkpoint. After completing his task, the tense man opened the doors and jumped out of the moving vehicle.

Seeing this, his partner commended his efforts through their internal communication channel.

“Good job. I’ll take it from here.”

The stern man frowned and struggled with something on his mind for a moment. He then breathed in deeply and decided to be a little chattier than normal.

“...Good luck, Mister.”

“I should be fine. Thank you for everything you’ve done—Krai. Just sit tight and wait for me.”

“I prefer NPC now. You’re the one that forced it on me, so at least stick with it until the end.”

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Their conversation was cut short when the truck finally collided with the line of cars. The heavy-duty vehicle crushed every obstacle in the way, sending fragments of metal everywhere. With shocking momentum, it managed to run into the walls of the checkpoint. Then, a loud explosion shocked the entire scene.

Taking that as his cue, NPC dashed into the aftermath of the explosion without hesitation and began eliminating any surviving members of the security forces.

Meanwhile, his partner weaved through all the wreckage on his bike and crossed the checkpoint toward where the space elevator.

That was the last time NPC had ever seen his partner.

“I only know as much as the plaque in the lobby of the spaceport tells. I tried searching about it on the web after, but there’s barely any information about this so-called Gamer person,” I replied.

The NPC’s gaze veered to a corner, and he remained silent for several minutes. It created an awkward atmosphere as it happened right after he asked me a question about The Gamer. At some point, his eyes had closed. I would’ve thought he fell asleep if not for the subtle shifts of his brows.

It was a telltale sign that he focused on something in his mind. I really wanted to call out to him, but I didn’t want to interrupt either. After all, with his identity as a SocialCorp executive, it wasn’t wise to antagonize him. Especially after all the effort he put into saving me in the past. He deserved better.

We waited and waited. Claire and Thorne surprisingly didn’t complain. They spent their time curiously inspecting the room. It irked me that they had silently agreed to leave all the talking to me. It was only these moments, when we spoke to someone truly important, that they threw all responsibility to me.

Seeing I wasn’t going to get any help in the conversation to come, I spent my time formulating some talking points.

Now that I knew he was a hotshot within the biggest corporation, I had to re-contextualize everything that had happened so far.

A SocialCorp executive had decided to watch over me. It couldn’t have been the decision of the entire company. If that were the case, they wouldn’t need to be sneaking around like this. They were too big for that.

From the recent turn of events, it’s apparent that there are factions within such a large company. There were two opposing groups, for sure. A goddamn civil war had broken out within their ranks. It was safe to assume the faction that NPC was in was on good terms with me. It made it highly likely that the party who had malicious intentions against me was this other faction.

These theories made my guardian angel’s actions make a lot more sense. It explained why he was acting so secretively during our encounters.

The only missing link that remained was how this Gamer fit into everything. It should be way up there on my list of questions, along with who and why people were after me. It shouldn’t be because of the attention I got from the NPC. There was definitely a more compelling reason if he brought me here in the middle of a war.

Is there some reason he needs me to physically be here?

After an entire fifteen minutes, the NPC reopened his eyes.

“Apologies. It is understandable that there isn’t much known about The Gamer. The consortium made sure to erase anything that could endanger the status quo.”

“And this type of dangerous information is something you deem related to me?”

The man looked up, and his cybernetic eyes audibly shifted gears as they focused on me before nodding. It was only now that I got a good look at his face. His army of robotics arms was too attention-catching for me to previously get a good look.

At first glance, he had short auburn hair, but upon zooming it, I could tell it was similar to the material Ferrumus used for their hair. The same material that could flick around at speeds that could intercept bullets. His skin didn’t fit into corporate culture either. It wasn’t made to appear as authentic as possible and openly showed off its metallic properties.

Even his eyes were like that. It looked like he had a monocle on, but it was actually the parts inside his optics. It didn’t have irises like a normal human’s. Instead, it looked like there was a crosshair on them.

His appearance, combined with his robotic arms, gave off a unique pressure when he solemnly stared at me like that.

“You’re going to have to elaborate on that if you want me to understand,” I pressed for an answer. “Tell me how this Gamer is related to me in any way?”

“It’s simple. You both share the same secret.”

I said nothing and urged him to continue with my gaze.

Ever since I heard the name, I speculated there may be some correlation between my system with The Gamer. The system was just too game-like with experience points and leveling up. Still, I refused to believe any other party could have possessed it.

It was because the system was just too overpowered if given the time to grow. With the advantages it gives its users, they could simply hide away under the guise of a mercenary of something similar and grind up levels. As long as they focused their points on personal combat strength, the snowball effect it would generate was almost unstoppable.

It was a path I considered going, but becoming a one-man army was not something I wanted. On the other hand, the knowledge I gained required resources and equipment to put into action. The theories wouldn’t tell you exactly what to do. Both material supply and research were needed. In exchange, the effects it could have were another entirely different scale.

“I don’t believe you consider it necessary to take your secret to the grave, correct? After all, you’ve already told your two companions here about it.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I replied.

“You can deny it all you want, but to someone like me who has personally witnessed the power of your so-called system firsthand, for over a decade, it’s only too obvious.”

I frowned upon hearing his words. I didn’t like how familiar with the system he sounded. Gears turned in my head, and the revelation of the identity of the man sitting in front of me shocked me to the core.

“Wait. You’re saying you were with The Gamer back when he was alive? Wasn’t he a terrorist and an enemy of all corporations? How in the world did an executive from SocialCorp get in bed with a terrorist, of all things?”