Nexgenesis: The System's Sin and Sovereignty

The Paradox of the Pavement

—Vroooooom.

“Young miss! Young miss, please wait!”

The girl continued walking despite the desperate voice coming from the car.

—Vrrrr…

The vehicle followed her slowly alongside the curb, a look of disdain still settling on her face.

“Miss!”

“What?!” she burst out in anger after that, shouting at the man in the driving seat.

‘Damn, that’s quite a loud voice.’

She seemed furious. Frustrated, even. Something serious must have happened. 

Also, from the way the driver called her ‘young miss,’ she was definitely a second or third-generation child of a high-class family.

“Can’t you just go and fuck off in some shithole! What do you fucking want now!”

This definitely looks like a family drama. 

‘Will she throw her phone in frustration if that driver keeps calling her?’

This is turning out to be quite a fun story for Mum. I bet she’ll laugh heartily hearing this shit.

“Young miss. Please watch your words. The master is here, and he wanted to tell you something.”

“You damn! Huh… what? He’s here?”

I was standing quite a distance away from them in the shadows, so they couldn't see me. 

However, since they were arguing right under a streetlight, I could see the car and the girl clearly. The angle wasn't right to see the faces inside the car, though.

‘Ah, right. Now that I think about it, isn’t that car the limited edition TessX3?’

It was a gorgeous supercar, said to have been built with next-generation technology according to an article I skimmed a few days ago. In this [Tier-6] city, only twelve individuals possess this specific vehicle.

‘Damn. Then they are definitely a [Class-3] or higher family! What the hell are those people doing all the way down here?’

The driver said his master was here, which meant someone of a very high rank, or perhaps the head of the family himself, must be inside!

“What are you doing here, you bastard?”

“Young miss?!”

‘Is cursing at one another common in higher-class families? I could never curse out loud before Mom. Never, damn.’

“It is alright, James.” An older, authoritative voice replied from the back seats as the window of the car opened up. 

It definitely belonged to one of those high-ranking people who hold the true power to cause changes or deal with the ‘invisible’ problems of society.

“Dear, it was my mistake. I apologize.”

“…what?”

That person in the car was clearly her father. 

‘And he loved her as well. His voice said it all.’

He seemed upset about something, not regretful enough to truly mean the apology, but definitely upset about something he did.

‘I can tell it was a distinct emotion, but I might be wrong, so let’s not speculate.’

I did not know the context of anything that was going on. As an uninformed spectator, I was better off not speculating about incomplete information.

“I just wanted you to see how things work here. I had no idea something like this would happen.”

“But it was your mistake that it happened! I didn’t even like those social parties!”

“Yes, dear. I understand. And I feel terrible about it.”

Nope, he didn’t. 

At most, he only felt bad for the outcome. 

‘His voice lacked the emotion of someone who feels truly terrible about their actions.’

However, the girl didn't seem to catch the hollowness in his voice.

“But it was your fault…” Her voice started cracking; she might be about to cry.

“It was the first thing I bought with my money. It was special! Do you even understand… it was mine. 

I was happy back home, but you dragged me to that shit party! 

You told me to socialize with those jerks! 

It was because of you that it broke down beyond help! 

I don’t resent those pieces of shits, Father! They are fucking bastards and will remain fucking bastards! But you just watched all that happen! How could you?! It was your fault! Just one sorry cannot bring it back!”

Hmm. Now they are causing a blatant commotion in this poor neighborhood. 

These rich people don't even understand that it's the middle of the night. People are sleeping on the floor of their houses. 

Why do they have to be so loud? We have to go to work early in the morning, unlike them. Disturbing our peaceful sleep is quite rude.

‘However, from what I understood, the girl didn’t seem to be in the wrong here.’

Something valuable to her was taken away, and she couldn't replace it. 

All because her father dragged her to some kind of gathering. 

‘Another rich-people thing.’

Well, they do it for connections and to keep the flow of power stable, so the father wasn't entirely at fault either. It was simply a conflict between his perspective and hers.

“I know, dear. That’s why…”

The front door of the car opened and the tall, muscular, bald driver walked out with a box. ‘What the hell?’

“It’s a special edition. The best that anyone in the city could currently obtain. I know it was my mistake, and I am truly sorry. 

And I know this won’t make up for your previous Link gear, however, this is just a token of my apology. Please don’t go. Your mother—.”

“First of all, Father. That woman is not my mother. And second of all…”

Even I could tell he had screwed up badly with that token of apology.

“Go to hell.”

There was a pile of garbage just around the corner. She walked up to it, threw the box containing the best Link gear one could find in this city, as the person had said… and immediately left the place after sitting in a taxi that arrived at that very location at that exact moment.

—Vroooooooooom.

The taxi took off, leaving the driver standing motionless, staring inside the car at his master, unsure of what to do. 

His master was silent for a moment. After that moment passed, he perhaps signaled something to the driver, who sat back down hurriedly, turned up the completely silent engine, and started going after the taxi… Wait!

“Hey! Wait! That box!”

What the hell?!

“Hello! Mister! You forgot your box… is this empty– no! Fuck, this is authentic! Hey, mister!”

The street was empty. The girl didn’t accept her father’s present, because receiving something similar to what you lost is often the last thing a prideful person will accept. 

‘And in a situation like this, they wouldn’t accept it even as the last thing.’

Loss of a precious item… something bought with their first self-earned money, is a terrible feeling for someone young, experiencing it for the first time, especially when someone doesn’t understand the emotional connection one had with that item. 

A connection nothing in this world, not even the best tech like this Link gear, could possibly replace. 

Even I can understand that, so it’s funny how someone like her father didn’t, and chose a present like this as a ‘token’ of apology.

‘But what the hell, people! At least take your precious thing with you! Something as valuable as this does not belong in a roadside garbage pile!’

—Thump! Thump! Thump!

The car was following the taxi, maintaining distance, so they were comparatively slow… but they were still going at a speed I could barely chase!

—Thump! Thump! Thump!

They were driving off, and I was running behind them with the box of the Link gear in my hand, something that I had never even dreamed I would get to hold.

‘Are all rich people this careless?!’

This thing was expensive, even for them! How can they just leave it with the garbage?!

—Thump! Thump! Thump!

“Hey! Mister! Stop and at least take this with you, man!”

They weren’t slowing down. 

As the taxi sped up, the supercar matched its pace.

“Haaa! Haaaa! Haaa!”

I was confident in my athletic abilities, and I had run after cars before, but this time, the car was not some simple family vehicle or taxi. 

It was a freaking supercar! If they weren't going this slow, I would never have been able to keep them in sight!

“Stop, damn it!”

I don’t understand these people! Why do they have to create such a mess just to put an unknown, unrelated person through all this shit!

‘I just wanted to have a stroll at night! What have I gotten myself into?!’

Damnit. And I told Mum I would be back early.

‘Fuck this shit.’

—Thump! Thump! Thump!

I gathered whatever strength I had left, focused on my feet, and increased my sprinting speed. 

‘A little more!’

I was no world-class athlete, but the speed I achieved at this moment was just enough for me to reach right behind the white car! This was the fastest I had run in my life, definitely.

“Hello! Hey! You forgot your thing! Please take this!” I prayed to the heavens as I shouted.

—Vrrrrr.

And this time, at least this time, the heavens heard my desperate cries.

“Haaaa! Haaaaa! Haaaaa!”

They stopped on the side. I reached them with my stumbling steps and stood before the expensive car, panting.

—Scrrrrr.

The window to the backseat, not the driver seat, but the one where the ‘master’ was sitting, opened up. 

I looked up at him, still panting with my free hand clutching my chest.

“What do you want?” he asked, his deep voice sending shivers down my spine.

“Haaaa. Y-you… forgot this… haaaaa. Mister.”

My eyes were hazy, so I couldn't clearly see who this person was, but it was none of my business. I just held the forgotten box before him and told him the reason for my presence.

However…

“What? You ran after us for something like this? What the hell… you can keep that thing or throw it away. It’s useless to me if she doesn't want it.”

—Scrrrr…

He said that in an unpleasant voice and started pulling up the window. 

But before it was closed completely, I slammed my hand on that damned window.

“I wouldn’t have run like that if I wanted this! This isn’t mine! And it’s not something you can just throw away! It is a precious piece that anyone would want to have! If you don’t want it, go return this! Someone who needs it will buy it! How can you say—.”

“Hey, bastard. That’s enough. Who do you think you are shouting at?”

The big driver, James as the girl had called him, appeared seemingly out of nowhere. I heard his voice and sensed his giant, bare hands reaching to grab me from the side.

“I am alright, mister. No need to touch me.”

I sidestepped, avoided his massive hands, and looked at the two people I was dealing with after my vision cleared up…

“Wait.”

But these people…

I knew these people.

“Why are you…?”

The entire city perhaps knew these people!

‘Damn it. Looks like I got myself into another mess…’