25. customer
‘Purified Potato’ by Azdec, a food engineering company, is a new product that removes contaminants by washing wasteland potatoes with a special solution, and is up to 17% cheaper than potatoes from dome farms.
“Only 17%? Are you just washing it?”
“Most of the washing water is also contaminated. Even more, it is a wasteland plant where genetic mutations have occurred. Detoxification is not an easy task.”
The potatoes grown in the dome are yellow and round, but the potatoes from the wasteland are black, pointed, and have holes in them. It was a visual that I couldn’t eat even if I pretended. Although Max has already eaten five.
An Azdek company employee proudly explained that his tanned face was full of pimples.
“Our company’s technology is improving day by day. Sooner or later, we can lower the unit price by 23%.”
“Then why don’t we lower the price sufficiently before selling it?”
“Of course it will, but this distribution is a preliminary research and promotion. We plan to sell it at 1 credit per 150g.”
The average weight of a wasteland potato was around 300g, so it was 2 credits per piece. Even without turning on the brain chip calculator, I could tell that it was a deficit sale.
“That is definitely cheap. Do you sell them in Junk Town?”
“My main target is Junk Town restaurateurs. It covers a total of 44 restaurants from 11th Street to 15th Street.”
When Leonard and the potato entrepreneur talked excitedly about business, local fixer Noah Lucas yawned.
“You don’t need to know that, do you? Client, what are we specifically supposed to do?”
“Oops, you forgot something important. Today, at 15:00, join the convoy at Checkpoint No. 3 in Head Town, escort it to 13-1st Street in Junk Town, and keep the cargo until 19:00 the next day.”
Leonard checked the time and was dissatisfied.
“Then it’s a 28-hour request, right? If you count from now, it will be 30 hours.”
Noah Lucas left the brain chip and counted on his fingers.
“150 credits per hour isn’t bad, right? I feel like a business man.”
“Wait, is that 4,500 credits? I have 3,000 credits?”
“Ahem, that’s the career gap.”
In fact, it was the fault of Jake, the broker who was getting the request at a low price. It may not be Noah Lucas, but Leonard and Max, who intervened in someone else’s request. However, Noah, who was as begrudging as Yonsei, didn’t care much.
“Are you from A-022 City? Who was the fixer they hired? Wouldn’t the city be more dangerous than the wasteland?”
“I hired a fixer at the starting point, but they said it was difficult to work in the city center because I was a non-citizen.”
“Oh, you must be from the suburbs. I have quite a few friends like that.”
“It costs a few pennies in taxes.”
This gave me all the information I needed. No additional risk factors were significant. Junk Town itself is like a den of robbers. Leonard opened the driver’s seat of the pickup truck, which was not like new, but it was repaired so that it could be ridden.
“Things never went well in Head Town…”
“It will work out this time. Now, let’s go!”
Max and Noah climbed into the passenger seat and the luggage compartment, respectively. Leonard was at a loss for words for a moment at the natural ride.
“…why ride in someone else’s luggage compartment? Isn’t that your motorcycle?”
“Ah, we need to save on gas. I’ll be back here anyway.”
“How much is my gas? Getting a lot of pay really sucks…”
“I am clean! Washed in ten days! Little assistant, am I dirty?”
“no. It’s beautiful.”
The black-headed beast was not to be reaped. Max’s hair isn’t black, but it was. As a whale, the young could not beat the old and the young, so they just gave up.
“Everything that gets entangled with a company is like this. let’s go. go.”
@
Noah Lucas sat at the end of the luggage compartment, waving his legs and humming. It was a very old song, probably sung before Leonard and Max were born, maybe before the ground burned down. It didn’t fit the mood these days, but there was something strangely attracted to it.
“Some of the fixers were like that.”
Max looked at Noah Lucas with a hazy face. Leonard stuck the peeled lollipop into the pathetic assistant’s snout and pulled out a new one.
“You’ll change your mind when you see that old man fighting.”
For some reason, it seemed that such an opportunity would come soon.
Leonard leaned against the car door and looked at the horizon. As a company, the time commitment was accurate. As the number in the middle of the clock changed from 59 to 00, a thick cloud of dust rose on the other side of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was an armed convoy of Azdek Corporation.
“No, not armed. It’s just a convoy.”
There was only one trolley full of black grime and a jeep covered with a whistle. At least the jeep was a fixer vehicle hired by A-022 City. Compared to the armed convoy of Big Ground, which I met not long ago, it was shabby and laughable.
“Are you a company? Isn’t it the local supermarket?”
“Twenty years ago, it was pretty good…”
Since it was in the early stages of groundbreaking, it was at the level of a supermarket. Noah Lucas jumped out of the luggage compartment and came next to Leonard.
“A driver, a bodyguard, and the five of us to protect the cargo?”
When I put it on, Max said ‘Hee-hee-!’ laughed On the other hand, the request over there seems to have ended here. I stopped the car in front of the checkpoint and the truck driver and the jeep solver talked about something. It was far away and I couldn’t hear it well. If you hacked either of them, you could eavesdrop, but you didn’t. Even with a one-day request, first impressions were important. After a while, the truck departed. The jeep made a U-turn without crossing the checkpoint.
“Looks like it’s our turn now.”
Noah Lucas smirked. With 4,500 credits, Leonard was confident to laugh. An Azdex company employee opened the window and asked.
“Are you Mr. Walker and Mr. Lucas, hired by the City branch of A-044?”
I didn’t have to answer. The fixer greeted with open arms.
“Welcome to A-044 ‘Sodom’ City.”
@
Leonard’s pickup truck led the way, followed by an Azdek lorry. There was no big scavenger to shoot on the city roads where corporate vehicles went, so it was more like a guide than an escort.
“What about gangsters?”
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Junk Town 12-15 was the territory of the Blast gang and the Tigerclaw gang. At first glance, he was pushed by the Twins gang on the main street, but the gang was a gang.
“Well… I don’t think you’re going to be aiming for potatoes…?”
If you handle it well, it will be credited, but the form is not good. The picture of the gang selling potatoes was strange. And if there was an organization, big or small, there was nothing good about being with a company.
“Can I pretend to be a scavenger?”
“You are literally a scavenger. It has no name or address, so it is difficult to find it by diving. Well, if you make up your mind and release people, you’ll catch them someday.”
Even the far-flung senior agreed with Leonard’s claim. I lay down in the luggage compartment and fell asleep with my mouth open. Leonard resisted the urge to hit the brakes.
Perhaps thanks to that kind of patience, I returned to the Azdek garage on 13-1 Street before the sunset. The potato entrepreneur was delighted and welcomed the head office staff and the fixers. I could go to work now, so it was worth it.
“I’ll be back tomorrow at 9 am. I’m sure there’s something special, but I’m sure you’ll take care of it even if it’s a big deal.”
With a meaningless expression on his face, he joked, ‘Because that’s the solution’, but I felt hateful for nothing. Leonard took one look at the Azdek company truck parked in reverse and closed the garage.
“It might be better to take turns sleeping tonight.”
“I’ve had enough sleep.”
Depending on the implant rate, Cyborg didn’t need much sleep. For Leonard, four hours a day was enough. Noah Lucas was much shorter than that.
“Originally, when you get old, you don’t sleep at night.”
“Fuck.”
Leonard threw an energy bar. The lack of sleep did not mean that he was not aware of fatigue. Today we will take turns resting. Noah Lucas stared blankly at the unfamiliar favor and said with difficulty.
“Don’t you like pizza? I like pizza.”
“…just eat some.”
@
The ‘Potato Guard’ under Leonard Walker had a simple dinner of energy bars and cold potatoes and prepared for a long night.
Azdek employees and bodyguards, exhausted from the long drive, slept on camp beds in the garage, while Leonard and Noah Lucas took turns watching the surroundings from a pickup truck.
The night in Junk Town never subsided no matter how deep it got. Cyborgs intoxicated with e-drugs and cheap ethanol staggered through the streets, corporate drones flew in the sky with no joy or sorrow, and silent buildings waved their neon signs restlessly.
Max crouched in the luggage compartment of the pickup truck, gazing at the loathsome landscape of his hometown. After seeing the neat streets of White Town and the depressed streets of the suburbs one after another, seeing the streets of my hometown again gave me a new feeling.
“…noisy.”
“So it’s a junk town.”
Leonard jumped into the luggage compartment and sat next to Max.
“The night is long. Sleep when you can.”
“I’m not even awake.”
Max pursed his lips. Contrary to what I said during the day, I was upset because I didn’t treat it as my full strength.
“You need to sleep well to grow taller.”
“Are you going to switch to a mechanical body anyway?”
“A body that fits your original body type adapts quickly. And there is no need to force implants.”
“why? Isn’t the implant body better than the real body?”
“There will be a great sense of loss.”
Max, who didn’t have a tooth implanted, didn’t understand. Leonard, who had his body replaced at an earlier age than Max, could not explain the sense of losing ‘himself’. So I said vaguely.
“It costs a lot.”
“…I don’t ask for it.”
The misunderstanding was as deep as the night. Leonard hit the top of Max’s head without explaining! beaten loudly
“Just get some sleep.”
“I heard you’re not tall!”
Max muttered and crawled over the luggage box. The night wind was chilly, but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t sleep with my coat on. But it was a little early to end the day. Tonight isn’t over yet.
“Leonard Walker. Max Walker.”
A white hand with rolled up sleeves came out from the passenger seat. I didn’t know it because of the big and baggy clothes, but it was a lightweight body that was more than Leonard. Before Max could say anything, the next line came out.
“…a guest has arrived.”