“Thank you very much for letting me know. I lived thanks to you. By the way… How did you know? Perhaps you already knew the information about that knife.”
“uh?”
When asked about the incident at that time, Tony had a bewildered expression as if he had not expected such a question.
“Are you asking that?”
“yes. why?”
“No, it really doesn’t matter. No thanks, no big secrets… .”
Shaking his head shyly, he says.
“I just told you because it looked like there was a trigger on the handle. Rather, it’s strange that you didn’t notice it. It was because the situation was so urgent.”
Is that too?
Haha, it’s common sense for a katana with a special function to have the trigger near the handle.
But it was under the handle, to be exact, deep inside. It wasn’t easy to find.
Of course, I also tried to touch the handle back then.
However, there was nothing that caught my finger, and I only discovered it after Tony sent me a message.
No matter how much I thought, ‘I could tell by looking at it.’ seems a bit odd.
The text I received at that time was also ‘Isn’t it under the handle?’ It was an assertive fight that seemed to be convinced that it was under the handle rather than speculation.
When I asked him more about him, Tony smirked and scratched the pinnacle of his ear.
It’s a habit of scratching body parts with your nails whenever you’re in trouble.
“Uh, I didn’t mean to say this… Now, look here.”
Then, he opens one eye wide with his finger. The dark circles in the round eyeballs move to both sides.
On the cornea on the side of the iris, which was softly brown, thin letters appeared and disappeared for a moment.
‘Sheiko Vision’
I immediately noticed and asked.
“Is it a lens? Or the eyes?”
“The eyeball, that’s a high-end natural cultured eyeball. I bought it for a lot of money. I have only one eye, and I have to check and manage it regularly every year, but… It’s quite usable. I am not a leader in this field for nothing.”
Seiko Vision. It is a conglomerate that proudly occupies the first place in the industry in the manufacturing and research of optical lenses and eyeballs.
I heard that it was acquired a few years ago and incorporated as one of the subsidiaries of Valentine’s, now Megacorp, but the company name seems to still be the same.
I stuck out my tongue.
Although amazing technology was applied, it was the Seiko Eyes that were rumored to be expensive at the same time.
“Wow… You look like you have a lot of money.”
“How much money do you have for a bartender’s salary? I just made some investments while tightening my belt. You know, I’m a bit of a picky eater. I also like cybernetics mods.”
It certainly was.
Putting Dragon President aside, of the three remaining Dragon’s Rare employees, the person most familiar with cyberware was also Tony.
It’s only natural that I don’t have any implants other than a switch in my head.
No matter what the inside of the Seido is, it is difficult to find any special aspect of body modification from the outside.
On the other hand, Tony doesn’t look like him, but he knows that one arm is a prosthetic arm, and there are quite a few modifications to his body parts such as legs, feet, chest and stomach.
You can find small metallic chrome protruding parts embedded in the ears or chin to match the current fashion trends.
But it didn’t stop there, and I would have changed the eyes too.
Before moving to Dusk City, I was terrified of the LASIK surgery that I had after attending college.
It’s hard for me to even imagine replacing the entire eyeball, but it’s like Tony, a cyberpunk native. very open-minded
If you look at the times, Tony is rather normal, and I may be abnormal… Anyway, it was surprising.
“Hmm, hmm. So I’m using these eyes to good use… It would be better to show this in person.”
After saying that, Tony pulled the jack from the terminal he was holding and abruptly plugged it into a small port near his temple.
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My eyes widened for a moment, and [Connecting… .] is displayed.
The screen crackles for a moment, then Tony’s vision is reflected as it is.
The world he sees through his eyes… hey
It was like watching a scene from a first-person game.
“I was wondering how good it would be if the eye performance was good, but it was really good. The frame rate is overwhelming, and the high density of the optic nerve, so the resolution is huge. Correction ability… .”
Ignoring Tony’s trivial explanations of useless technical terms, he looked at the screen.
Biometric notifications float above the viewing interface.
*Warning: Above the blood alcohol level threshold. It is recommended to refrain from drinking alcohol, get enough rest, and drink sugar and water… .
These texts are overdone, and various hormone levels, cyberware connection status, and heart rate are flashing at the bottom.
Next to her gaze at Nana Sei, a data memo came to mind as if explaining a game npc.
[Scan Results. Unnamed: Aaron Nakamura. Affiliation: Warawa. Origin: Neo Tokyo. Criminal Record: None.]
“Hey, it has all the special features.”
“ah. That’s not a function of the eye itself, it’s an accessory program installed… There are features like this.”
I’m so excited, I wonder how I’ve endured without talking about Seiko’s eyes until now, like explaining a new toy I bought.
Hearing bragging about it, I also wanted to change my body. That’s why everyone is doing cyberware, cyberware.
If it wasn’t for his Unidentified Risk, I would have gotten two or three implants by now. I’m sorry.
While pretending to be ignorant of Say’s pathetic gaze and continuing the men’s romantic cyberware talk, Tony tapped the side of his eye.
“Look at this too. Actually, I was going to show you this first.”
As soon as he said that, the screen suddenly changed.
The background looks all blue as if the thermal imaging camera is on, and Sei and Na or other elements that generate heat appear yellow or bare.
This alone is surprising enough, but it wouldn’t end there.
I know that the thermal image detection function is included in other eye cyberwear and optical lenses other than the Seiko eye.
There must be something more than this.
As if confirming my guess, Tony tapped his eyes again and the screen changed again.
this time… Everything else remained the same, only certain parts of the field of view were highlighted and illuminated.
Guide robots, kitchen displays, closed-circuit cameras around, my cyberwatch, and more.
What they had in common was that they all used electricity and were directly or indirectly connected to the net.
“It does not end here. Take a good look.”
As Tony said that, he tightened his eyes, as if pulling a zoom on a camera, his field of view narrowed and got closer.
At the same time, the internal design of the display and the circuit of the surveillance camera are transparently visible.
… clairvoyance? figure out the structure? Either way, it was an incredible performance. What kind of eye color did you make so well?
I asked with a frown on my face.
“Did you ever look into the structure inside that katana with that one?”
If so, that’s a real scam.
But Tony shook his head.
Fortunately, even if it was a Seiko optical eyeball, it didn’t seem like that.
“Well, I wish I could, but I can’t. This scan function is convenient, but if the structure is a little complicated or if there is a measure to prevent electromagnetic wave projection, it will be completely useless.”
Aha.
Haha, Kokuyotoo was no ordinary katana.
It was Schneider’s heirloom, a laser lightsaber that combined Tokyo’s technology just before submersion.
If the security device of such a sidewalk could be easily breached, it would have been rather strange.
The internal structure was also very complex, at least as far as I remember.
As I was thinking about it, I suddenly lost interest.
Come to think of it, I wasn’t in a position to tell you to buy Tony’s Seiko Eyes.
To the subject who saw through the outer surface of the obsidian with the naked eye, and witnessed the ring of the plasma engine that contained enormous energy inside.
Looking at it objectively, it was me who was cheating.
I’ve felt it since I did cyberdive safely and comfortably with my bare body.
I was reminded of what value the microchip in my head was and how absurd the implant was.
It would be great if I could control it by myself.
“Anyway… .”
Shrek.
The sound of Tony pulling the jack out of the connection port and putting the terminal back in broke his thoughts.
His explanation follows.
“So, of course, I couldn’t see the inside of the knife with this, but I could even see that something was connected to the internal circuit under the handle. So I told you. It’s not really a big deal.”
Ah, that’s how it happened.
Now everything made sense.
As I nodded in satisfaction, Tony asked with a somewhat shaky expression.
“So, any more questions?”
“… Yes?”
“Can I ask you any more questions?”
“… … .”
I was silent.
At this point, it wasn’t Tony’s turn to pass.
But Tony, the party involved, didn’t seem to be satisfied with this.
No, why is that gentleman anxious because he can’t reveal his secret? If it ends here, shouldn’t we rather be thankful?
It hasn’t received much spotlight yet.
The anxious expression on his face, as if asking for something, seemed to get ripped off at any moment if he didn’t ask a question, so he spit out what he remembered.
“Uh, how did that arm come to be replaced with a prosthetic?”
“That’s what I’m curious about too.”
It was a material that aroused curiosity to the extent that Seido, who had been dull until now, lit up his eyes.
How did Tony lose his arm? Does the truth exist among the arrogant bluffs that have been heard so far?
“No, not like that!”
But somehow Tony still seems dissatisfied.
Otherwise, what the hell do you want?
“Not a trivial story like a prosthetic, but an important and secret past like Sei did… That’s what I mean to ask.”
I didn’t know what to say as I was so exhausted.
Do you have any hidden identity? A bartender is a bartender.
“Well, it is.”
And Se too, considering that I asked an important and secret question, didn’t Sei just reveal secret parts of herself?
“It is so… .”
I sighed and asked at the sight of him scratching the bridge of his nose stupidly.
“Then, do you have a hidden past?”
To be honest, it was a question I asked with no expectations.
It is clear that Tony also has a secret. But compared to Seina Dragon’s president… It felt insignificant.
How much should I expect?
At most, I was working as a hacker in the back world, and then I got my hands dirty and started a new job as a bartender.
As well as handling machines well, being a hacker is a promising job in Dusk City.
In the 21st century, in Korea alone, there was a coding boom, and one or two people around you were studying programming languages such as C or Python.
The 22nd century Dusk City has a similar feel. The only difference is that it’s a hacker boom, not a programmer boom.
It’s not easy to deal with a net program, and there are many cases of giving up on the way, but if your skills are recognized through hard work, you are treated generously.
There is nothing strange about having one or two former hackers around.
Considering what he has shown so far, it’s no surprise that Tony is the main character.
That was the thought.
However, an unexpected answer emerged.
“I was a net diver.”