Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 17: That Pizza (1)

"I’m definitely going to die."

Tony, the manager of Burning Duct, a Black Bio Pizza franchise, was drenched in cold sweat, trembling.

There was only one reason for his fear—he had # Nоvеlight # run out of pizza for that customer.

For the past three days, he had gone to every Black Bio Pizza shop in the area, offering extra cash to snatch up pizzas, but even that was no longer possible.

Ever since the Low-Tech Street Gang took over the Black Bio production plant, the entire supply chain had collapsed.

Tony had desperately appealed to headquarters, begging them to send pizzas for the Pizza Lunatic, but they hadn’t even bothered to respond.

Of course, that was to be expected.

Tony wasn’t an actual Black Bio Corp employee—just a franchise owner.

The company wouldn’t care if one franchise collapsed.

No, they might even welcome it.

They could resell the profitable Burning Duct location to a new buyer at a premium!

“I can’t just tell him there’s no pizza... right?”

Tony had already refused an order once before, citing stock issues and other excuses. He knew exactly how terrifying the consequences of that choice could be.

He had once been threatened by a gang that was at war with the Pizza Lunatic.

A bizarre warning: Don’t sell pizza to him.

But the horror that followed his refusal... Tony would never forget it.

Everywhere he went, he felt those glowing, cold blue eyes watching from the shadows.

Eyes that burned with pure, vengeful hatred—like they were staring at the murderer of a loved one. Just remembering them now made his skin crawl with dread.

And the sound that came with them—

A soft, high-pitched “Kyu-kyu.”

The noise clung to his ears, refusing to fade, even now.

For days, he lived in terror.

Then, one morning, Tony woke up and nearly screamed in horror.

A severed head sat in the middle of his living room.

It belonged to the gang member who had threatened him not to sell pizza.

And not long after, he heard that the once-powerful gang had completely vanished from the area.

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From that moment on, Tony never dared to delay an order from the Pizza Lunatic.

Sure, Babel City was full of criminals. Merchants being threatened wasn’t unheard of.

But that was usually for people dealing in drugs.

Tony just sold pizza!

How had he ended up in this nightmare?!

That was why, instead of blocking the Pizza Lunatic’s account or shutting down his order channel, Tony made a different decision.

He would meet him in person.

Maybe if he explained the situation face-to-face, the guy would understand.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A cautious knock on the door.

The moment it opened and the Pizza Lunatic appeared, Tony dropped to his knees and prostrated himself on the ground.

“Please spare me!”

Pressing his forehead to the floor like a desperate monk, he began to plead for his life, explaining the situation.

Everyone knew about the Black Bio plant shutdown by now, so he kept it brief.

No more shipments were coming from headquarters. There was no telling when they would resume.

Screeeeech.

The sound of metal groaning under pressure.

Tony peeked up—and his breath caught in his throat.

In the Pizza Lunatic’s grip, a steel railing was crumpling like paper.

His glowing blue eyes burned even brighter, flickering like a flame. Even his hair seemed to shimmer with a blue aura.

And yet, his face was completely blank.

No anger. No sadness. No expression at all.

It was the same vacant look that gang members got when their cybernetic implants fried their brains.

The kind of look people had before they lost all emotions... before they started acting on pure, unpredictable impulse.

That was still manageable.

But the moment they started breaking things that weren’t there—

The moment they started talking to people who didn’t exist—

That was when it was over.

The final stage of cybernetic insanity was hallucination.

Just as Tony was about to lower his head again, the Pizza Lunatic suddenly turned, his lips parting.

“What? Loosen up my expression?”

He muttered to himself, touching the corners of his mouth—then, faintly, he smiled.

‘?!’

Tony’s entire body locked up in shock.

He didn’t see anything. He didn’t hear anything.

He just shoved his head to the floor and trembled.

Right now, the only thing he could do was hope to survive this madness.

As he remained frozen, a soft sound whispered near his ear.

“Kyu.”

‘!’

That cry.

The one that still haunted his dreams.

Terrified, Tony turned his head—

A black mass loomed over him, glowing blue eyes staring down at his shaking body.

Tony felt like he had fallen into a waking nightmare.

The Lunatic was still there, whispering to the empty air—

And beside him, the Kyu sound echoed through the room.

At that moment, Tony truly regretted everything.

Starting a pizza business.

Buying into a corporate franchise.

But most of all—

Selling pizza to him.

****

I patted the pizza shop owner reassuringly, telling him it was fine, before heading toward the Seoul Office.

It would be better to get information from Amber before blindly rushing into the Black Bio plant.

If I was lucky, Amber might have already received a job request from Black Bio.

As I walked toward Burning Duct, a few thoughts crossed my mind.

"He's really scared..."

Unlike the cyberpunk humans, I'm just a logical and harmless 21st-century human—why would he be scared of me?

It was incredibly strange.

"Cyberpunk locals are really hard to understand..."

As I walked along the outskirts of Babel, the sight of Burning Duct came into view.

Huge pipes stretching across the sky were still emitting hot steam, and red flames sporadically burst out.

Below, tangled wires and cables were connected like the city’s nervous system.

As I turned into an alley, the noise of people began to fill my ears.

The messy sounds of music, street vendors calling out, and the laughter of drunken mercenaries blended together, creating a strange yet familiar atmosphere.

In one corner, a merchant was trying to deceive a novice mercenary.

"Hey, hey, this is hard to come by! Special Hexa Core enhanced implants. Other places charge over 50,000 credits for these!"

The merchant held up an item that was clearly a fake implant.

The shine on its surface and the circuit patterns were nowhere near resembling a real Hexa Core product.

But to the novice mercenary, it probably just looked like an expensive high-end product.

In the cyberpunk age, merchants would try to sell ridiculous items at ridiculous prices to anyone they thought looked the slightest bit gullible.

Compared to the malicious 21st-century merchants, they were on a whole different level.

Well, if they sold that kind of thing in the 21st century, it would have been considered fraud!

Some merchants would even lure overly naive customers into their shops, kill them, and steal their belongings.

Of course, Burning Duct didn’t have merchants that were quite that ruthless.

There were a lot of mercenaries around, and the local organization that controlled the area was watching.

Still, it was best to be cautious.

As I passed the mercenary on the verge of getting scammed, I spoke softly.

"That’s a scam."

The mercenary looked confused at the sudden voice and glanced around, but in the hustle and bustle of Burning Duct, it was impossible to pick someone out that easily.

I passed the entrance where the mercenary had been and headed toward the outskirts of Burning Duct.

Finally, I spotted the familiar sign.

Above the entrance of an old brick building, the Hangeul symbol for Seoul glowed in blue neon lights.

Jing.

The door made a small chime as I entered.

Amber was wiping a glass behind the counter.

"You’re here."

Amber greeted me with a natural expression, as if she had expected me.

I sat at the bar, and she effortlessly poured a drink and set it in front of me.

"Thanks."

I took the glass and sipped it, my eyes scanning the inside of the shop.

On the TV in the corner, the news was playing.

["Black Bio Corporation announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Hexa Core Armory to resolve the Low-Tech Street Gang’s occupation of the plant."]

["This cooperation is expected to go beyond simple security contracts, showing signs of expanding into a large-scale military operation."]

Amber poured herself a drink, then sat down across from me.

"When do you think the Black Bio plant situation will be resolved? Is there anything I can do to help?"

At my question, Amber sighed deeply.

"The situation has gotten more complicated than we thought. With Hexa Core Armory’s involvement, there’s a higher chance this will drag on longer."

"?!"

I didn’t understand.

Even though the Low-Tech Street Gang was strong, there was no way they could fight Hexa Core Armory properly.

Hexa Core Armory’s involvement should have accelerated the resolution of the situation.

Seeing the confused expression on my face, Amber took a sip from her drink, leaned forward, and lowered her voice.

"Hexa Core Armory preemptively attacked Titan Tech."

Amber’s eyes gleamed seriously.

"Of course, Titan Tech couldn’t just stay idle. And the battlefield they chose was the Black Bio plant."

"!"

It suddenly made sense.

I had been suspicious of Hexa Core Armory helping Black Bio for no reason, but now I understood.

If it was a proxy war between two megacorporations, it made perfect sense.

I felt like my pizza was slipping further away.

Sigh.

I slumped forward on the table, and Amber refilled my drink.

"Don’t worry too much. I’ve already sent Victor to the Black Bio plant. He’ll bring back something useful."

"Victor?"

My voice carried a hint of doubt.

I turned my face toward the TV, where the news about the Black Bio plant was still running.

I stared blankly at it, muttering softly.

"I wonder when I’ll be able to have some pizza..."