CYBERPUNK: Travel to 2075

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..Scavenger...

"Is there a job?"

That was Karl's first reaction. His second was: "Faraday, who are you?"

"Faraday?"

Oliver immediately recognized the name. "I remember. He's a middleman who operates in the city center, Watson District, and Santo Domingo. Some members of the Six Street Gang I used to work with have taken his commissions."

Jack lowered his voice and asked, "How is his level?"

"A low-level mercenary working with a low-level middleman."

Oliver's response was clear, indicating that Faraday was not highly regarded. But Karl, still on the call, didn't think much of their opinions. From what he had gathered, Faraday was just a middleman, which meant he was probably offering a job.

"Middleman, are you assigning work to me?"

"An old client of mine recommended your number," Faraday said on the other end. "They said you're very capable… What do you think? Want to give it a try?"

"Old customer of the company…"

The only "company dog" Karl knew and was familiar with was Blanca—the one who had felt Karl's services were worth recommending.

"What's the job? Can you tell me more about it?"

Karl was always cautious before taking on new work, even after just finishing a big job.

"It's a small thing for practice. I need you to save someone from a kidney removal. Don't treat it like a formal commission. Before I commit to anything bigger, I always like to test the other party's abilities. Considering the difficulty, the reward won't be too high—just 6,000 euros. Do you mind?"

Six thousand euros…

Oliver and Jack exchanged uncomfortable glances. They couldn't shake the feeling that they were being treated like fools.

Only a naive mercenary would fall for the "test your abilities before the big jobs" routine. In reality, this was just a way for Faraday to get someone to take a dangerous job with little reward, knowing the money would be practically useless in covering the real cost of life.

But at least Faraday was the first middleman to approach them, and neither Oliver nor Jack was keen to turn down the opportunity. Karl, however, was in charge of accepting tasks and negotiating, so if he thought it was doable, they were in. If not, they'd move on. They just listened and waited for the pay after the work was done.

"Go to the kidney removal place and save the person," Karl said after thinking it over. "Send me the details. What's the time frame?"

"I'll send you the details right now, and the 1,500-euro deposit will be transferred. As for the timing, it's up to you. If you want, you can go now. If not, no problem, just go whenever. The client's minimum expectation is to at least recover a body. The money they've given is already the bottom-line price."

Faraday's subtext was clear: the client's money was barely enough to save a body, not a life.

"I understand. Send it to me first, then I'll decide whether to take it."

"Okay, I'm hanging up now."

Faraday's indifference was clear. Within seconds of hanging up, Karl received the file. He used the program in his access warehouse to scan it, confirming it was clean of viruses before opening and reading it.

Jack, who had been munching on potato chips, sighed. "The middleman found some desperate idiots, gave them money they couldn't even use to buy prosthetics, and sent them off to fight scavengers with guns. I thought it was all talk, but I didn't expect to encounter it myself."

"Yeah, who knew?" Oliver muttered.

Karl didn't look up as he finished reading. "I guess this is the kind of crap we'll deal with. But 6,000 euros isn't bad for practice."

He looked over at Oliver and Jack, who were already preparing for the job. "Isn't today a rare day off?"

Oliver checked his equipment. "Come on, let's go finish this quickly so we can get back to eating. Just a little digestion."

"Don't you want to rest for a bit?" Karl asked.

Oliver looked at him with a smirk. "We don't know how to rest, Carl. Besides, we might as well get it over with quickly."

Jack, his body half turned, added with a middle finger: "You bastard, still asking if we want to rest while we're heading out to do your dirty work. Let's go, before someone who spends all their money on a commission ends up coming back in a body bag."

Karl laughed. "I didn't know you were so kind, Jack."

He smiled as he stood up, leaving his bucket of French fries on the table. "But I guess we can't let those bastards keep doing their disgusting things."

The group headed downstairs and squeezed into Oliver's beat-up car.

"Why do you always complain about my car?" Oliver grumbled. "You can walk back by yourself, Carl, if it's too cramped."

"I just said something, and you're overreacting."

"Bullshit. You just love to complain. If you think it's too small, you can go ask someone to modify it and see if you can fit into the engine."

"Okay, okay," Karl said, rolling his eyes. "Just stop talking and let's get moving. My face is almost touching the window."

Jack grumbled about the cramped space, but his attention shifted back to the middleman. "Speaking of which, 6,000 euros for this commission—how much do you think Faraday's taking?"

"He treats us like idiots. I bet he's taking half, at least," Karl said, his mind already calculating.

Oliver nodded thoughtfully. "I've heard the complaints from the Six Street Gang members who've worked with Faraday. Apparently, it's standard for him to take half of the fee."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's taking more," Jack added, "I suspect this job costs 30,000 or 40,000 euros, and the client probably spent all their money just to get this far. Faraday will be waiting for a corpse to show up next."

Jack shifted his weight, scooting over to give Karl more space. "Carl, where are we headed? Oliver, step on it."

"The city center," Karl replied, his voice sharp.

City Center: The corporate hub of Night City, where safety and luxury go hand-in-hand for the elite. To the average person, it's a paradise, but for those living in the shadows, it's a place to avoid.

NCPD Danger Level: Safe

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