After calming down a bit, I spoke towards the speaker.
"...So, what's the reason you've locked me up like this?"
[Find Daichi Kurosawa.]
Daichi Kurosawa. It was a name I recognized.
"Daichi? You mean the lead developer of NRO, the so-called father of Neural Full-Dive technology?"
[Yes. We believe he's the prime suspect behind this incident. We need to find his location.]
Judging by the way they spoke, it became clear that the ones who had locked me up were from Vortex Interactive, the company behind NRO. Given that, I figured I should probably ask a different question now.
"Daichi works for you, doesn’t he? Don’t tell me you can’t even manage your own developers."
[He rarely comes into the office. He works remotely most of the time.]
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"Then go to his damn house and find him!"
He let out a sigh, like someone who had already tried everything, then continued speaking.
[There was no one at that house.]
"Then why the hell should I be a part of your plan?!"
I shouted in anger.
[You don't have to, if you don't want to.]
...What?
"What do you mean?"
[Just what I said. If you don't want to, then don't. In that case, you'll be sent back to the facility. And you won't be able to log out anymore.
Think about it—do you really want to give up this freedom?]
"......"
To be honest, I don't want to go back there again. At the very least, dying while playing a game isn't my idea of fun.
"...Damn it, fine."
Reluctantly, I accepted their offer.
["Don't worry. We'll spare no effort in our own way to support you."]
Ha. At least they're not insane enough to send soldiers to war empty-handed—though honestly, that should be a given.
I ignored the chatter spilling from the speaker and turned my attention back to activating my equipment.
"Fine... Now that it's come to this, I'll find Daichi and earn my freedom—no matter what."
With that promise, I opened my own private little war.
