I Became a Cyberpunk Tycoon

Refining (7)

Incomprehensible.

Lisa tried hard to grasp the emotions of the man before her eyes.

No answer came. He just enjoyed the meal with a grinning face, not trying to demand anything.

The atmosphere was good. The meal was satisfying too, if you ignored who the person sitting across from her was.

'It tastes good though...'

Despite rising to a high position, Lisa's lineage wasn't particularly good. She had to live entirely on her salary, with no one to rely on.

The salary given to police officers wasn't much, and there were many people she had to take care of. She couldn't afford to come to a restaurant like this with her own money.

"Wine. Should we order another bottle of the same?"

Han Sanwoo smiled gently. Lisa discreetly glanced to check the price of the wine. It was dizzyingly expensive.

"No, thank you."

He was looking at Lisa with a satisfied smile, as if he were watching a white, fluffy cat.

Lisa also observed him from time to time.

Han Sanwoo, holding a knife, looked ordinary. Despite being the highest-ranked person in this city, his dining manners were surprisingly plain.

She had been avoiding reception meetings with 'distinguished people' as much as possible, but there were truly unavoidable encounters.

Lisa knew how many manners and rules the upper class of this city used to distinguish between the 'real upper class' and the rich from 'outside the central district.'

But the meal with him was ordinary. It wasn't rude or vulgar, but other 'upper-class' people would have looked down on someone who cut meat so ordinarily.

Perhaps someone who doesn't need to prove their specialness through etiquette or customs can act more freely. Even if they might sometimes appear vulgar—

After her thoughts reached that point, Lisa frowned slightly. Her feeling that Han Sanwoo was rude and vulgar wasn't just because of his lack of dining manners.

"If you were someone who could exercise such self-restraint, couldn't you have done the same when you visited the police station before?"

Lisa spoke with a hint of regret. Someone who could act like this—why had he leered at her in front of others?

"Because it was necessary then."

"So now it's not necessary?"

"Of course. No one can hear our conversation here."

It was a statement she couldn't ignore. He was speaking as if such behavior 'needed to be shown.'

Lisa couldn't help but frown. This wasn't information she could obtain through such casual conversation.

"Eat comfortably and relax."

"Pardon?"

"You have a lot of work anyway, right? You should take it easy at times like this."

His words were right. Lisa had no shortage of tasks.

She had cleaned up the mercenaries' commotion at the abandoned factory. An electronic jamming bomb had fallen in the middle of the city, and she had to use her already scarce workforce to decontaminate the area.

Gang conflicts had increased lately, so people were needed to stop those, and with new laws possibly being enacted, surveillance personnel needed to be increased too.

"I... suppose."

Somehow, the rookies she had trained got their police credentials and then moved to corporate security jobs that paid much more and were safer. The police station was always short-staffed, and Lisa's workload was always overflowing.

"There's a lot of work."

Lisa was spending that precious time entertaining Han Sanwoo. As he said, if she didn't rest even a little, she would find this time unbearably wasteful.

"Just relax. I'll take you home on your way back."

Unnecessarily warm. If only anyone other than Han Sanwoo were saying those words, it would have been really nice.

'Is this... like a date?'

She had been immersed in work all day. She couldn't even imagine forming a deep relationship with someone.

There were people who worried about her marriage prospects or romantic relationships. Whenever Lisa heard such talk, she would smile and leave.

The only people Lisa could naturally meet were criminals, police officers, or people with entangled interests. Meeting such people was extremely dangerous.

Even if she tried to meet someone of her rank through matchmaking, she would only end up meeting corporate people who wanted to use the police at their whim.

"Haa..."

The man in front of her would probably be no different.

His sweet words were probably just meant to explore her body, and his kind attitude was probably just a display to covet the power she held as the police commissioner.

Still, this moment was sweet. Lisa lowered her guard considerably and took a sip of the expensive wine remaining in her glass.

The sweet grape aroma filled her.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"For now."

I escorted Lisa out. My car was speeding down the road alongside Stella City's night view.

"What about the suspicious guys?"

"When the young master and the police commissioner entered the restaurant together, they slowly disappeared."

"Not bad."

If my enemies were to take aggressive action, the targets would be narrowed down to two places.

The politician who contacted me and the police commissioner who would handle the law when it was actually created.

"It's fortunate she doesn't have a family. No, should I not consider that fortunate?"

"Lisa is a woman who rose from the bottom of the police force on her own. Certainly, she won't be swayed by personal feelings or burdened with protection concerns."

It was one of the reasons she could achieve rapid promotion.

Police officers from prestigious families whose promotions were predetermined from the start couldn't betray their roots and eventually had to give up their positions after facing opposition from numerous corporations hostile to their families.

While her ability was certainly why she could reach that position based on performance alone, such circumstances were not unrelated to how she could maintain the position of police commissioner for such a long time.

"They wouldn't seriously try to harm Lisa, would they?"

"Their armament level was poor. They might have made somewhat aggressive shows of force, but they probably wouldn't have directly injured her."

Fortunately, they weren't as reckless as I thought. Lisa is a necessary person for this city, and if I thought she was in danger, I would have to change the entire plan.

"While you were having dinner, the mercenary group sent a report."

I hadn't expected results so soon.

"There was an attempt to kidnap Congressman Ronald's son. The mercenaries dealt with the intruders and successfully escaped."

The investment was worth it.

Even using Hansan's private soldiers could have stopped the intruders. But it would have been impossible to wait until the enemy's operation was induced.

There are enemies within Hansan too. Even for me, it's not something that can be hidden when moving the real forces within Stella City.

Even if others might think of this as a mere incident, Ronald won't be able to think that way.

He might feel fear at the thought that his life is in danger. Maybe he'll want to back out.

But after keeping that thought in his mind, he'll inevitably recall the Doris mercenary group that quickly disposed of the intruders and slipped away. He will have vaguely realized that my side also possesses military power.

"I guess we can call it a success."

"But it won't end here. There have been ominous movements."

"Ominous?"

"It seems they had set up a contingency plan in case their plan failed."

They are not a gang. In fact, if you start looking for differences in detail, they might not be that different, but for now, they aren't.

It wasn't unusual that they prepared methods other than operations using force, like kidnapping and intimidation.

"They've put forward preemptive measures as justification. They say they're restructuring in advance because the newly revised law will increase the burden on companies."

"Ha, they're making excuses to flex their muscles a bit?"

It's not strange. In Stella City, people who talk about things like 'job security' would all be treated as lunatics.

"For now, they're citing the increase in labor costs as their reason."

"What nonsense..."

I don't know how sincere the law is, but it's Ronald's law. Although we don't meet often in the game, he's an elite who has some affection for this city and made this plan.

The people in this city don't lack wages. Even simple wage workers earn more money than is imaginable in other cities.

The problem is that so much money seeps back into the terrible business tactics of corporations. The concept of public service is very weak in this city.

Electricity, water, heating, communications, medical care, and so on—the money that must be paid for essentials was sky-high, so no matter how much money one earned, it was meaningless.

But Ronald didn't propose this law to overcome such a reality. His concern was the safety and rest of workers.

Unless they hire more workers, firing current workers couldn't be seen as preparing for that law.

"It's pressure."

"I've already received information that dangerous individuals have contacted journalists. They'll start moving the media soon."

It's a fight between me and them. But neither I nor they could openly reveal our faces.

If I directly and strongly appealed for this bill to pass, it could pass. But the cost would be too great.

This was something I started to increase my grip. I couldn't be satisfied with just the opposition forces bowing their heads momentarily.

The same goes for them. If it becomes crystal clear that they publicly criticized me and plotted operations, Hansan forces spread not just in Stella City but throughout the world would pressure them.

"Let's observe the situation for now. We should move after seeing how they respond."

I sprawled on the seat and looked at the city visible through the window.

As always, the lights never went out.

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