How to Survive in a Fusion Punk

Chapter 19 – Irregular

This might be unimaginable now, but back in the past, during the days when the city government was feverishly expanding residential areas, the 40th district was considered prime land with guaranteed success.

This perception led various companies and construction firms to invest heavily.

As a result, city planning included luxurious names like Boutique Street and Entertainment Mega Tower.

If things had gone as planned, the 40th district would have become a thriving sanctuary and tourist destination, offering a prosperous life for years.

That was, of course, before the sudden outbreak of war between corporations and families.

The battle between the two giants changed everything.

The land that once dreamed of being paradise fell into ruin overnight.

Leaving behind countless monstrosities.

From the perspective of historians, the 33-story building used by the resistance as their base could be considered an unsettling legacy of those times.

In a world line where the war never broke out, the building would have been a sparkling five-star hotel, but after countless modifications, it had been transformed into a fortress.

Training rooms, barracks, operation rooms, weaponry, and more packed into it like a pressurized container.

Jin, who had never seen anything like this before, couldn’t help but exclaim in awe.

“Wow, this really feels like a military base…”

“We didn’t expect you to think we were some kind of neighborhood patrol,” Albus replied with a chuckle, walking ahead.

He turned his head and asked, “By the way, do you really have to check this now? You’re still recovering, after all. You were on the brink just a few days ago.”

“I’m curious,” Jin replied.

As soon as he heard about the reward, Jin had gotten out of bed and started moving, dragging the IV stand along.

His attending doctor, a woman, was taken aback and urged him to rest, but who could stop a man on a mission?

He followed Albus, despite his aching muscles and trembling legs.

“I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed,” he muttered.

“Who cares? It’s free… no, it’s a bonus. I’ll be grateful anyway.”

Jin responded casually, but as he glanced back, he noticed the attending doctor hiding behind a nearby pillar.

“What’s up with her?” he wondered.

It wasn’t like Jin had done anything particularly appealing, so why was she acting like that?

He tilted his head in confusion.

He turned back and continued dragging the IV stand along.

Later, when they entered the elevator and descended to the fourth underground floor, the heavy smell of gasoline greeted Jin.

In the massive garage, there were all sorts of vehicles, from small cars to armored troop carriers.

Albus raised his voice.

“Ben!”

But there was no reply.

“Must be working…” Albus muttered as he walked forward.

After a few steps, faint music could be heard.

As they got closer to the source of the sound, they found a car with its hood up.

Two legs were sticking out from underneath, and Albus kicked them aside.

“Ugh. What’s this?”

A gruff voice followed, and the figure slid out from under the car, covered in soot.

“Albus?”

The man, his face covered in grime, groaned and got up.

He took off his headphones, which had been blaring music loudly enough for anyone to hear.

“What’s going on? Can’t you see I’m working?”

“This is part of the job too… Just turn down the volume first,” Albus replied, squeezing his eyes shut in annoyance.

The man, named Ben, gave a sour look and turned off the music.

“Stop nagging… So, what’s the deal?”

“Solo here wanted to see your stuff, even though he’s sick,” Albus said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb, leading Ben to make eye contact with Jin.

There was a short silence.

Then, with a sound of realization, Ben nodded.

“Oh, you’re the one. I’ve heard the rumors.”

“My exploits have already reached you…” Jin muttered.

“Is it true your… thing is that big?”

“What??!”

Jin was taken aback, but before he could react, Ben had already stepped forward and firmly shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’ve already prepared everything. Follow me.”

After their vigorous handshake, Ben stomped ahead.

A strange silence fell between Albus, Jin, and the doctor, who stood a distance away.

Albus cleared his throat, his voice mixed with a cough.

“You were completely covered in blood. Your clothes were all ragged, so I had no choice but to change you. As for the rumors… I don’t know anything about that.”

He hurriedly left the room.

Jin turned his head and glanced at the doctor before scratching the back of his head and walking again.

***

“Here it is, here.”

Ben clapped his hands in front of something wrapped in white cloth.

Jin, who could guess the contents just from the silhouette, widened his eyes.

“Oh, no way?”

“I heard from your friend. He said you’re a bit of a slowpoke? In this day and age, running solo like that. Isn’t that a bit too honest for your own good?”

Ben grinned and pulled off the cloth.

As expected, an motorcycle appeared, just as Jin had guessed.

The matte khaki-colored body had a futuristic design that exuded heaviness.

While it looked clean, it seemed a bit rough, as though it had been heavily modified.

“Wow. Oh, wow. Hmm, seriously.”

Ben watched Jin’s amazed reaction with a proud smile.

“Pretty cool, huh? The base is the Nocturne Industries’ Lion XR, but I’ve replaced everything else. So, it weighs a little more than the original, but the engine’s performance is way better, so you won’t really feel much of a difference.”

Ben started babbling excitedly about the motorcycle’s specifications and technology without even being asked.

Of course, Jin didn’t understand most of it.

Something about injector pressure and variable valve timing…

This guy’s just like that old man, Brof.

From now on, Jin decided to think of Ben as the young Brof.

But, seeing how much effort Ben was putting in, Jin nodded along.

As he tried to show some interest, Ben suddenly threw a question at him.

“So, what are you going to name it?”

“Huh?”

“The name. Every mode of transportation deserves a cool name. You can’t just call this new beast a Lion XR, right?”

Ben stopped talking and looked at Jin, full of expectation.

Jin furrowed his brow.

Dammit.

Why do I have to come up with something like this?

He quickly racked his brain.

Just before the silence grew uncomfortable, Jin managed to open his mouth.

“Umm… what was the base name again?”

“Lion XR.”

“Right, Lion XR. Anyway, it’s supposed to be a lion. And then you added wings and gave it a spiked tail. You upgraded it.”

“Hmm. Right?”

Ben nodded, confirming Jin’s words, prompting him to continue.

“A giant with wings and a spiked tail. How about Manticores?”

He blurted it out without much thought, and just as he was checking Ben’s reaction, the latter’s face lit up.

“Ohhh! That’s it! That’s it! A monster lion! Manticore!”

Ben grinned, showing all his teeth.

“Your naming skills are amazing! Alright, Solo. As of today, you’re the owner of the Manticore. Go ride it rough!”

Immediately, Ben threw something into the air, and Jin caught it. He opened his palm to reveal a key.

Jin sighed as he checked the key.

Now that he had the key…

It would have been great to leave in a whirlwind of dust.

But Jin was still lying on a stiff hospital bed, wearing a patient gown.

In movies, when the main character wakes up after getting injured, they often dramatically pull out an IV drip and just throw on a coat before leaving.

Unfortunately, Jin, feeling too weak, quietly finished his IV.

Each drop of that stuff costs money.

He had to take it, even if it was a waste.

How much time had passed?

As Jin quietly stared at the dripping IV, a face suddenly flashed in his mind, and his body jerked.

A tall figure in a black leather long coat, wearing a bird-like mask.

He had become ingrained in Jin’s mind as the plague doctor.

This time, it had really been dangerous.

If Fenril hadn’t been there, If the bomb hadn’t exploded on time, If they hadn’t miraculously broken through the plague barrier…

With just one variable being different, Jin knew he would have been dead.

The fact that he was saved by a series of uncontrollable coincidences might seem like luck, but on the other hand, it was an unbearably uncomfortable outcome.

Most of all, the plague doctor was still alive.

It wasn’t just a gut feeling or instinct; it was the lack of experience points.

The experience points Jin had earned were all from completing a quest.

That meant the doctor must have survived the explosion and was somewhere out there.

Once this thought crossed his mind, his palms became clammy.

Feeling uneasy as he lay still, Jin hurriedly sat up.

Leaning his back against the head of the bed, he took a long breath and carefully tried to raise his mana.

No, he tried to.

If it weren’t for the excruciating pain, like thousands of needles stabbing him from within.

“······!!”

Jin, unable to even scream, trembled violently as his body shook.

As he curled his fingers and toes, enduring the pain, someone entered and pulled the curtain aside, injecting him with a needle.

After a moment, as the fluid dripped, Jin barely managed to control his breathing and looked toward the woman, mumbling a thank-you.

“Th-thank you…”

“Be careful. Your circuits are torn to shreds. If you try to raise your mana recklessly, you might go into shock and die.”

That was a crucial point.

Despite the pain, Jin asked.

“······I thought you were a doctor. Are you a mage?”

“If a humble talent in the domain can be called that, then yes.”

She answered like that, then hesitated for a moment before pulling a chair close to the bedside and sitting down, just as Albers had done.

“My name is Grace.”

“…I’m Jin.”

As the unexpected introduction took place, Jin blinked in confusion.

Grace, who had been fiddling with her fingers, opened her mouth.

“Jin, do you know about your current condition?”

“My condition?”

What?

Is it a death sentence?

The attending physician, who had been keeping a steady distance from him all day, spoke, and Jin tensed up.

So, like any patient filled with anxiety, he started rambling, offering excuses that weren’t really excuses.

“Why? Is it really that bad? It can’t be. My recovery rate is pretty crazy. Even though I’m like this now, I should be fine in a few days…”

“That’s right. It’s crazy.”

Grace interrupted Jin and swallowed her saliva.

“You’re dead, for sure.”

A death sentence, not just a terminal diagnosis?

Jin looked at Grace with a confused expression, wondering how he was supposed to take this.

“I’m alive though?”

“Yes, you are alive. The thing is… I’m sorry, I overdid it with my words. I’m just surprised that someone who was in the process of having their proteins denatured and organs starting to coagulate actually woke up.”

“I told you. My recovery rate is insane.”

“No, that alone doesn’t explain it. Unless it’s reconstruction…”

Jin closed his mouth at the words that followed.

Grace’s statement was something the plague doctor had mentioned too.

“Reconstruction?”

“It’s a higher-level concept of healing. It’s kind of an urban legend. It’s the ability of a body, pushed to its extreme, to destroy damaged areas and rebuild them. And not just in a simple repair way, but to make it stronger than before.”

Grace, who had offered her opinion, finally looked more at ease.

It seemed like she had been pondering whether to say this all day.

It must have been hard to bring up urban legends in front of someone who had just woken up from death.

Just as Jin was thinking that, Grace’s expression hardened again, and she continued.

“If I’m not mistaken, and it really is reconstruction… Jin, you might keep getting stronger as long as you survive. Almost like… evolving.”

Evolving.

At that moment, Jin remembered his unique trait.

The one thing a playable character can start with.

Unlike other skills, you can’t pick multiple, and you can’t change it later.

It was the element that defined your identity in the game.

Irregular.

Finally, Jin understood what the vague description meant about breaking through the limits of a species.

Nietzsche’s quote, “That which does not kill me makes me stronger,” had never resonated with him until now.

It had never felt like this.

With complicated feelings, Jin splashed his face with cold water.

Then, he remembered an old game recommendation and the nameless writer behind it.

He also thought of the face of his younger friend, who had recommended the rogue build.

Had he predicted something like this?

Probably not.

To them, Project Neo had probably just been a chunk of data beyond the screen.

They had only made a perfect combination for the new players with the intention of helping them avoid failure.

How cruelly ironic that someone who read that post ended up kidnapped into a mad world.

Yeah, that’s how it was.

A story that no one in the world could empathize with, a story known only to him.

As he let out a bitter chuckle, Jin muttered under his breath.

“Damn world.”