Chapter 24
Delivery Proxy (2)
“Phew……”
The cold air of early winter pierced deep into his lungs.
Sehyun slowly exhaled the breath he had drawn in, mulling over the contents of the request.
According to the note, the package had been hijacked along the inner ring road cutting through the city.
The area was divided into two: on one side a bustling district full of people, on the other a deserted redevelopment zone.
However, the redevelopment zone also had pedestrian overpasses leading into walking trails, so it wasn’t exactly a place where one could easily avoid being seen.
“Could an abduction really happen in such a conspicuous place?”
The thought that terrible crimes were still happening in the hidden corners of the city—without even an apocalypse having arrived yet—made Sehyun shudder.
“It’s not impossible. Don’t you remember? I used to kidnap people in crowded places just fine.”
“……”
Was that supposed to be a boast?
It wasn’t something to brag about, and the fact that Inha had once been her target wasn’t something Sehyun could let slide, but he decided to set it aside for now.
There was no point applying an ordinary person’s moral yardstick to her.
It had been the same in their past life.
Even when working with Ha Ilhwan, if a request didn’t suit her standards, she would walk away at any time.
Conversely, sometimes she would take on jobs she seemed unlikely to accept.
It all depended on her mood.
That was the only basis for her actions.
‘It must be the same now. She offered me this deal because she’s interested in me……’
But she could always turn her back on him in an instant.
They were working together only because their needs aligned. If the situation changed, she could just as easily become his enemy.
That was why he needed to make the most of her while he could.
Phantom stood atop the overpass.
She scanned the redevelopment district, the road, and the bustling street in one sweeping glance. Then, without hesitation, she headed toward the redevelopment area.
Shouldn’t they first check around the road, since that was where the package was hijacked?
“The words ‘package’ and ‘vehicle’ written in the contract are probably code. Clients often use euphemisms to hide their identity.”
Phantom tossed out the words casually as she walked.
Since the request had come to her, it was obviously about people, not cargo.
No shady client had any reason to reveal their true identity.
They wouldn’t have lied, since they wanted the job done, but leaving things out—or concealing details—was entirely possible.
“The location itself should be reliable, but there’s no need to fixate on the road.”
Fair enough—she herself was working under a hidden identity. There was no reason to expect honesty from clients.
Even within a contractual relationship, there was this kind of strategic maneuvering.
“This world is turning out to be more interesting than I thought.”
“Yours isn’t exactly boring either, Nam Sehyun.”
Phantom smirked as she stepped into the construction site.
Winter had halted all work, leaving only the skeletal steel frames of buildings rising high into the air.
It looked like the set of a noir film.
The kind of place where you’d expect someone to take a long drag of a cigarette and mutter a line like, ‘Come on, let me at least finish this smoke before I go.’
“Nam Sehyun.”
While he was lost in idle thoughts, Phantom seemed to have found a trace of something and called out to him.
There was nothing visible to the naked eye.
But if it was a trace left by stellar power, something only players could manipulate, that was different.
Tak—!
With each of Phantom’s steps, the shadows around her thickened under her ability.
Even the air felt heavier—not just his imagination.
She couldn’t pull anything else imbued with stellar power into her shadows, but she could reverse that limitation.
By spreading her shadows and letting them absorb the surroundings, she could sense a strange dissonance.
That dissonance came from the resistance caused when traces of stellar power collided with her shadows.
Catching that resistance allowed her to track the traces.
“That’s a handy ability.”
“But not when I need to be stealthy. It actually makes me stand out.”
To seize control of shadows, she had to saturate the area with her power.
Great for combat, where she could move freely in and out of shadows—but it made hiding her presence impossible.
“Still, I don’t mind when people call me things like ‘the silent assassin.’ At least they’re scared of me in advance.”
Most of the jobs she took were ones where a situation was already set up and required a professional combatant.
Tracking traces and slipping in quietly wasn’t her style.
“That’s why you need me?”
“You can do anything, can’t you? With that strange toy of yours.”
That was an exaggeration.
Sehyun still couldn’t unleash raw might like Phantom could.
But she wasn’t entirely wrong either.
His ability to craft artifacts with whatever function was needed at the time was a major strength.
“You even twist my abilities in bizarre ways.”
Phantom’s gaze fell on Sehyun, who had pulled out the Dead Ringer and was activating it.
The engraving of a hummingbird on the silver pocket watch glowed blue.
Concentric circles spread in the dense shadows, and a metal staff rose up.
“Don’t be too envious. I sacrificed most of your power just to use it in my own way.”
The shadow space he created with the Dead Ringer was fundamentally different from the original.
The key difference: whether or not it could contain objects imbued with stellar power.
He had discarded countless functions that could branch from shadow manipulation, keeping only the property of having a unique space.
Thump—!
Sehyun tapped the staff—the Dowsing Rod—lightly on the ground.
A vibration spread outward, and hidden traces of stellar power surfaced.
He followed them, staff in hand, step by step.
“But there’s something I don’t get.”
“What’s that?”
“Why did you even take this job? It doesn’t suit your abilities.”
Phantom was always picky about which requests she accepted.
If a job seemed troublesome, she would simply turn it down.
Could it be that the “package” being a player was the reason she accepted?
“You’ll get hurt if you know too much.”
“……”
Her sudden icy response made Sehyun shut his mouth.
From the look of it, she was sharp enough to cut him down where he stood.
Of course, she still wore her usual smile.
In the tense silence, they continued to follow the traces.
Before long, they exited the redevelopment zone and entered a walking trail.
Pedestrians began appearing here and there.
Tok—!
Suddenly, Sehyun stopped in his tracks.
“It’s cut off.”
“Damn it. Things just got annoying.”
The trail ended there.
Now they had to search the area blindly, without clues.
The problem was, neither of them had much talent for that kind of work.
“We can’t just grab random people and ask them… huh?”
Phantom scratched her head, then widened her eyes.
Sehyun followed her gaze.
“…What the hell is that?”
A suspicious group of people were gathered at a café terrace.
Wearing riding jackets and full-face helmets, they were chatting—clearly delivery riders.
“Heh. Shall we mess with them a bit?”
Sehyun shot Phantom a look, sensing trouble.
“Haah… what now.”
Her face lit up with the mischievous grin of a brat about to play a nasty prank.
Grrrrrrr—
Phantom drew on her stellar power.
The passersby in the street didn’t react, of course.
Ordinary people without stellar power couldn’t sense it at this level.
But the delivery riders panicked.
“Ugh! What is this pressure?!”
“Don’t tell me they’re targeting us too…!”
“Damn it, my feet won’t move!”
They flailed helplessly, boots glued to the ground, while pedestrians passed by staring oddly at them.
Phantom chuckled endlessly, enjoying the scene.
‘What the hell is she playing at…’
While Sehyun was debating what to do, one of the riders looked around, spotted Phantom, and locked eyes with her.
“…Phantom, you bastard.”
He kicked off his stuck riding boots and strode barefoot toward them.
Phantom raised a hand in a familiar greeting.
“Chester, long time no see~.”
“Shut it. Enough with the jokes!”
“Pfft, okay.”
With a flick of her hand, the bindings vanished, freeing the others.
Watching the man approach, Sehyun asked,
“Who’s that?”
“Oh, he’s an Outplayer too. An… old friend of mine, I guess?”
“Friend, my ass.”
The man lifted the visor of his helmet, revealing a deeply furrowed brow.
‘…Judging from his face, he’s fallen victim to this prank more than once.’
Clearly, Phantom pulled this stunt every time they met.
“So why are you all huddled together here?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Come on, we should help each other out, right? Us players, I mean.”
Chester glanced at Sehyun, then sneered.
“Hmph. You’re always alone, and now you’ve got company? What’s going on?”
“You tell me first, then I’ll tell you.”
“……”
Choosing curiosity over ego, Chester sighed and answered.
“…I hit a snag in a job I was handling.”
“Ohh? What kind of job?”
“Would you even understand? All you know is fighting.”
Still, he explained briefly.
Two days ago, Chester had received a request through the “delivery proxy network” he had built.
The client was a team leader at a fairly well-known IT company in Korea.
This team leader oversaw a TF team working on a language-based AI project and already had a model nearly 90% complete.
The problem was that one of his team members had stolen the original model and was trying to smuggle it overseas.
The request was to recover it intact if possible—or, failing that, to eliminate the defecting team member.
“…Huh?”
As Sehyun listened, a suspicion grew.
Phantom seemed to think the same, chuckling quietly at Chester’s words.
“We caught that runaway team member, but some weirdos took him from us… Wait, what are you laughing at?”
Chester frowned at their reactions.
He was giving them the story because they’d asked, yet they were being dismissive.
But the two of them couldn’t help it.
Because aside from a few swapped words, it was exactly the same request.
“Pfft… hahaha! This is priceless!”
Phantom burst out laughing, tears in her eyes.
“So I tell you all this and you laugh at me?!”
“Haha… no, it’s just…”
Wiping her eyes, Phantom continued,
“Hey. That client of yours? Looks like he double-booked—with both you and me.”
“…What?”
“Which means we’re going to have to team up.”
Phantom’s lips curled into a sly smile as Chester stood dumbstruck.
