Chapter 21 : Contention (6) Part-2

A week later.

I was once again summoned to the headquarters.

If they were going to treat me like such an important figure, sometimes I wish they’d come pick me up or meet me directly, but then I realize this is the best way.

No matter how they approached me, the conclusion would always be that their identities would eventually be revealed.

Sighing deeply, I just hoped that today wouldn’t be a mission.

And I especially hoped it wouldn’t be like last time, where I was called into an auditorium and applauded

Fortunately, today, I was summoned directly to James’s office.

“I called you to talk about the equipment you returned last time.”

James got straight to the point.

His voice had a tone of expectation.

Did he have high hopes for this equipment

“Don’t tell me you’re asking me to pay for it—”

“Of course not. What do you think of our company?

James said seriously

Hmm

Even though they called me in at any time, regardless of weekends or anything else, sent me on jobs that could break my limbs without telling me the details of the mission, and most of the combatants worked as day laborers without regular contracts—

Of course, I couldn’t say any of that directly in front of the executives, so I just kept my mouth shut

“Anyway, look at this.”

James gestured toward the sofa.

Since he was an executive, I waited for him to sit down first, then slowly sat down facing him

I had already gotten quite a bit worked up last time when I shouted at the back of the seat he sat in, so I felt a little awkward

This time, James pushed a suitcase-like object toward me.

It was even bigger than the last one.

“This is a custom-made item.”

I didn’t open it, just staring at it with a somewhat uneasy glance

“When we first scouted you, I knew you would succeed like this.”

Even though I hadn’t gotten any richer from succeeding, I kept quiet, knowing that the orphanage would benefit from it.

“The results from the last three years have been quite excellent, but the past few weeks have been so outstanding that the word ‘dazzling’ doesn’t even do them justice. We send our admiration to your courage, Jeong Jieun.”

He bowed his head toward me, and I quickly bowed mine in return.

It felt a bit awkward.

Even though the contents were unknown, he looked like a foreign man in his forties.

“So, I’d like to provide you with equipment that matches your courage.”

“And you are saying it was custom-made?

“Yes, that’s right.

“In just a week?

“…”

James subtly shifted his gaze

Yeah, thought so.

It was probably something they had already developed.

But still, that wasn’t entirely a lie.

If this was a prototype, they had likely been working on something—maybe a more advanced energy circuit that hadn’t found a suitable user yet.

Well, it wasn’t that unusual when you think about it.

Villains in tokusatsu shows often pull out upgraded equipment in just a week.

“Go ahead, open it.”

James said, skirting around the explanation.

I silently reached for the case.

As soon as my hand touched it, a beeping sound came from the case.

I realized that it sounded just like the warning beeps from the helmet, and I couldn’t help but admire the company’s frugality

Inside was— a black suit.

The tight-fitting design was still the same.

However—

“We’ve made it into a one-piece suit to increase the efficiency of the energy flow. Since there are no gaps, there’s more energy retention.”

Normally, separate tops and bottoms can actually work against that.

So even if I hit the limit, I wouldn’t waste as much?

The suit was a jumpsuit—snug-fitting but still a bit loose-looking.

What should I say? It was hard to tell which outfit looked worse compared to the one I wore last time.

And on top of that, there was a flight jacket-like outfit.

It was similar to the leather jacket I wore last time, so it didn’t seem to pose any big problems.

The fact that the color was unified in black made it not look too weird, though.

“It’s been upgraded. The charging capacity is now twice what it was last time. At least this time, there shouldn’t be an overflow and a meltdown like before.”

“…”

Wait, I was having second thoughts about whether I could actually use this properly.

Honestly, I wasn’t so sure.

The previous suit only reached 100% under perfect conditions, and I never expected an overflow.

Would I be able to use this suit effectively?

“And this helmet,”

James said.

“Would you like to try it on?”

I obediently put on the helmet.

After all, I wouldn’t be leaving until I heard the full explanation.

0%

Since there was no circuit installed, that number was expected.

However…

“The helmet functions even without the circuit.”

James grinned.

My visor displayed a scan of James’s face.

Species: Presumed human.

Estimated age: mid-40s.

Estimated gender: male.

All estimates, huh?

I wondered if it would just say “Human” when it analyzed a real Human.

But then again, it doesn’t seemed particularly useful for my missions.

My missions rarely involved finding people.

“It’s equipped with cutting-edge technology to accurately analyze the status of others. From the video of your last helmet, I saw you target the enemy’s weapons to strike their weaknesses— this strategy will be very useful.”

That just happened by chance, though.

It wasn’t like I was targeting them on purpose— Iris was in a rush and blocked their weapon with mine.

It probably wouldn’t work again next time.

“The most important point is that even without a circuit, it can run solely on the user’s energy as long as the user is compatible. It can be used standalone without any circuits.”

“Ah.”

I understood now.

The previous helmet couldn’t be used without its circuits.

It could be useful… depending on how I use it.

The real issue was whether I’d ever need to wear just the helmet without the suit.

I wasn’t exactly going to advertise that I was a combatant.

After all, Iris had recognized me just by the scratch on my helmet.

… Then again, it might come in handy if I needed to hide my face quickly.

That was only when I had the helmet with me, though.

“How do you like it? You can also wear double the battery capacity.”

“That’s nice.”

I nodded.

At my response, James nodded in satisfaction and said,

“There will be an opportunity to test the equipment soon. I hope you’ll perform excellently with it. If your performance improves even more, the terms of our assistance will, of course, get better as well.”

“Besides the suit, we have other rewards prepared. We’d like to double the frequency of our donations. How does that sound?”

“That sounds good.”

I repeated the same response.

Yeah, an equipment upgrade, no matter how I thought about it, wasn’t exactly a ‘reward,’ was it?