Top of the Fifth Inning
"You"re targeted by .mmm as well."
Karimura"s words repeated in Enokida"s head over and over.
"…… .mmm, huh."
Their outward appearance was that of a cyber terrorist organization, but their true face was that of a hacker hitmen group – a group that was completely foreign to him. Perhaps there was a chance the group of three who kidnapped macro-hard and took his computers were connected to .mmm. The possibility was certainly there.
From .mmm"s perspective, there would be no greater hindrance in their eyes than himself. And the occupation of an info broker was one where they would easily be targeted to begin with. Enokida had found himself near death multiple times up until this point, but he had no intention of being killed so easily.
So how should he brush off the enemy? Enokida began walking over to Genzo"s shop, thinking he could devise a plan while having dinner.
Just as he was a few meters out of the Gates building, Enokida felt an eerie presence and stopped. He was being followed.
It was not his imagination. Someone was following behind him. They could be an a.s.sa.s.sin from .mmm.
"……They"re here for me already?" Enokida whispered quietly. He did not have the time to formulate a plan.
The area I"m at is bad, he thought. This was an alleyway with few pa.s.sers-by. He was basically inviting anyone to attack him.
After he started walking again,
"Hey."
A voice called out to him from behind. Enokida turned around to see a stern-looking man standing there. He was quite large, though not as big as Martinez. He was holding a metal pipe in his hand and was obviously someone from the underground. So he was an a.s.sa.s.sin sent by .mmm then.
"……Do you need something from me?" Enokida inquired. He already knew what the man wanted more or less though.
The man grinned after he examined Enokida closely. "This guy is 5,000,000? This will be easy."
5,000,000?
Before Enokida could question what that meant, the other man had moved. He rushed at him with a yell. Enokida unconsciously stepped back. The man raised the metal pipe up into the air for an attack. Enokida stooped down swiftly, dodging the attack. The metal pipe collided with the concrete wall with a high pitched bang.
The man made his next attack, facing Enokida and throwing his weapon. Enokida flung himself to the right immediately, but the a.s.sault did not end there. The man closed in on him. He made a fist and swung it, aiming for Enokida"s face.
Enokida could not dodge it. He held up both his arms over his face to block it. The man"s fist sunk into his forearm. Enokida felt the bones in his arms creak.
"Ow-"
Enokida gritted his teeth, a sharp pain jolting up his arm. Unable to stop the force behind getting punched, his small frame was blown back. He then collapsed onto the concrete. When he tried to stand up, the man had already picked up his metal pipe and swung it down, aiming for Enokida"s head. It would hit.
Dammit, Enokida grimaced.
It was then.
Suddenly, a silhouette came into his field of vision. The man was wearing black clothes and stood over Enokida as if shielding him. He held a long object in his right hand: a j.a.panese sword. The man swung the sword, hitting the metal pipe out of the brute"s grasp.
Enokida could only watch, stunned at the arrival of his unexpected savior. The man then gave a sharp jab with the hilt of his j.a.panese sword into the unarmed man"s gut. The large man groaned and fell on the spot, falling unconscious.
"You alright there?"
The man turned around and held out his hand to Enokida. His speech was a familiar Hakata dialect. Enokida took that had, and as he stood up he whispered his name. "……Banbsan."
"You was in a pinch there. I"m glad I made it on time."
It did not seem Banba had happened to pa.s.s by. He spoke as though he knew Enokida would be attacked.
Banba asked Enokida, who was giving him a suspicious look. "Did you take a look at that undergroundjobs.com?"
Undergroundjobs.com was an underground website that gathered information on criminals and jobs. "I haven"t……"
"Did you get Lin-chan"s e-mail?"
"His e-mail?"
Enokida took out his smartphone, and just as he was checking his inbox,
"Ah."
He saw an e-mail from Xianming Lin just as Banba said. The subject was t.i.tled, "look at this." In the body of the message, a URL was pasted.
The link took Enokida to undergroundjobs.com f.u.kuoka version. He read over a post on there.
"We will pay 5,000,000 yen for the person who captures this man.
Characteristics: 165 to 170 centimeters tall, slim, blond hair.
Current Location: Nakasu 3-Chome 7-24 Hakata Ward, f.u.kuoka City – Gates Building 5F."
"……It"s about me."
They even ever so politely attached his photo too. It was an image of Enokida in the internet cafe.
"Yeah. You got a bounty on your head."
A bounty of 5,000,000 yen.
Enokida finally pieced it together. The brute who attacked him just now was referring to that. Enokida glanced over to the unconscious man on the ground. He had attacked him for the money. He must have been a bounty hunter.
"My current location is already tracked, isn"t it?"
That was how he was attacked by a bounty hunter. Although, likewise, that was how Banba was able to come save him.
"Anyway, ain"t it dangerous to stay "round here?" Banba turned on his heel. "We"re gonna run outta here."
"That mushroom has a bounty on his head."
Lin had called him to inform him of that. And apparently information regarding Enokida was posted on the internet. Lin told Banba that he had tried to call Enokida to tell him, but he was unable to contact him as he was taking a call and ended up sending an e-mail instead.
Banba got into his car and headed over to where Enokida was. It was vital he met up with him.
They returned to the car, and Enokida got into the pa.s.senger"s seat. Banba got in the driver"s seat, asking Enokida as he was fastening his seatbelt, "who did you anger now?"
No idea, Enokida shrugged.
"There are far too many that come to mind……But this may be .mmm"s work."
"Em three?"
"They"re an a.s.sa.s.sin organization for hackers. They use agents to kill off hackers or any skilled person who get in their way, apparently. They killed macro-hard too. And I just heard that they were after me as well. The timing is too convenient to be anyone else."
The light turned red, making Banba step on the brakes. The pedestrians began to cross the street. During that time, Banba turned on the radio, playing the live session of a professional baseball game. "The pitcher made their pitch! It"s a slider! Another miss! That"s three strikes!"
"Well for now, I have to get rid of that post."
If that post on undergroundjobs was not there, Enokida"s life would not be hunted down by bounty hunters. Enokida took out his laptop from his bag and began typing on the keyboard briskly. "I"ve infiltrated on this site once before. I made a loophole on there at that time, so I think I should be able to get in easily-"
Enokida"s fingers stopped their motion a few moments later.
"……They got me." Banba heard a tut from next to him.
"What"s the matter?"
Banba asked and looked over to the pa.s.senger"s seat. Enokida was dumbfounded. His complexion was unusually pale. "It was a trap."
Enokida was careless. He glared at his computer screen while running a hand over his head.
"We will pay 5,000,000 yen for the person who captures this man.
Characteristics: 165 to 170 centimeters tall, slim, blond hair.
Current Location: 33.598095, 130.406677: 9: 34 pm."
The moment Enokida attempted an attack, there was a change on the post on undergroundjobs with a revision on the information. The coordinates that were listed was Shouwa Street – where they currently were at. It was the exact location where they were parked at right now.
"A trap?" Banba tilted his head in confusion.
"I tried to delete the post, but I was countered."
Even when he deleted it, another new one was made. And this one had the most updated information on his location.
"I probably got a virus. It"s set to make an update with my current position when I go to delete the post. My location is specified based off the access point."
"Hmmm……And that means?"
"It means they found my location when I access the internet."
"……I see." Banba groaned. "That"s no good."
Bounty hunters visiting the site would be heading to their current location at any moment.
"Right now we need to run around to make them lose our trail." Enokida requested.
Banba nodded and stepped on the acceleration pedal. "Then that means you shouldn"t access the internet right?"
"That"s what the enemy wants."
A hacker was an ordinary human when their computer is taken from them. They could not make a counterattack without it.
"It means they sealed off my means of hacking."
"That ain"t good," Banba muttered as he gripped the wheel.
No kidding. This wasn"t good at all.
As Banba had said, in order to lose their trail, Enokida had to discard his computer. However that was like going into battle against a heavily armed army completely unarmed.
He needed to be able to set a trap for the enemy to fall into somehow.
"Right now, we"re heading into the ninth inning."
At some point, the baseball game had entered its final inning. The first batter made it on base with a walk.
"There are no outs with a runner on first. Now what will they do? It does not look like they"ll be going for a bunt." The live announcer prattled on swiftly. He spoke with a tempo like someone broadcasting for a radio commercial. "The pitcher makes his pitch! It"s a straight; it hit and it"s a grounder to second base!"
Enokida remained quiet and listened to the broadcast.
"Oh no, they stopped the runner on first! They touched the runner out and threw the ball over to first!" The announcer"s voice raised in excitement. "The runner is out. And first base is safe!"
A professional baseball OB commenter spoke then. "If they had just thrown to second base, they would have gotten a double-play normally."
"The runner stopped right in front of them, so they went to touch him out."
"The first base runner made himself a good decoy."
A decoy.
Enokida had a realization.
I see. There"s always that option too. "Banbsan, stop."
"Eh?"
"Let me off here."
Banba did as asked and parked on the side of the road. Enokida slipped out of the pa.s.senger"s seat the very moment he did.
"Will ya be alright by yourself?" Banba questioned him with a worried expression.
"I"ll contact you when I need help."
"Enokidkun," When Enokida had turned on his heel, Banba had called out to him in a stern voice. "Take this with you."
What Banba tossed to him through the window was a baby pink baseball hat. The character R was written on it. It was part of the Ramens team uniform.
"Your hairstyle stands out."
"……I only appreciate the sentiment." Enokida tossed the hat back. "I don"t like hats that much."
Banba smiled, astounded.
Enokida had no choice but to counter hacking with hacking. If he could not delete the post on the server, then he had to get rid of the server itself. The method was simple: a DDoS attack. This utilized a large number of computers as bots to ma.s.s access the website to make it inaccessible. For a cyber terrorist method, it was the basic of the most basic of tactics.
Once the server is down, no one would be able to browse the site. Enokida would be able to shake off the bounty hunters on his trail until the server rebooted.
After Enokida had left Banba, he ran, holding the laptop to his waist. He was heading to the Gates Building which was connected to the munic.i.p.al subway at Nakasu Kawabata Station. Enokida needed a place where he could focus on his work. He ran through the building and got inside one of the stalls in the men"s restroom. Once inside, he locked the door. He sat down on the lid of the toilet, opened his laptop which sat on his knees, and began hacking.
The tapping of keys resounded in the quiet s.p.a.ce of the restroom. And then, Enokida felt the abrupt presence of someone outside his stall. He heard footsteps of a man. Someone had come to the restroom.
The footsteps stopped in front of Enokida"s stall.
Another pursuer?
They already seemed to have pinpointed his location. Almost immediately the banging against the door started. Someone was trying to wrench open the lock. Enokida unconsciously held his breath and tried not to voice anything.
However, it was pointless to attempt not to. The sound of typing had already given away that he was in here. His pursuer was there; a door being the only barrier separating them. Yet Enokida kept hacking regardless.
After a few moments, he heard a noise from above his head. He looked up and was shocked. He could see the man"s hands poking through the opening at the very top of the stall that was roughly fifty centimeters tall. This person had gotten a grab of the door itself.
Enokida was startled with the scene unfolding in front of him, like one from a horror film.
You"re kidding me. He"s planning to get in this way?
Bottom of the Fifth Inning
"It looks like he noticed we are after him."
When they put blackleg"s information on the internet and put a bounty on his head, they were sure blackleg would try to get on the server to delete that post. Chegar was counting on him to do so.
As planned, blackleg fell for the trap. They succeeded in counter hacking him.
Since blackleg"s computer was corrupted with the virus Siva made, they would be able to figure out his whereabouts as long as blackleg was connected to the internet. Once they deciphered blackleg"s current location provided by the web accesspoint, then they could easily track his movements.
Their proactive efforts seemed to have succeeded. Now their opponent was one step behind. Playing a defensive fight against in a cyber battle put blackleg at a severe disadvantage. Once he lost his computer, then the rest would be simple. Blackleg would have no other choice than to run around with his laptop in hand, which would be a mere shape of machinery at that point.
"Now then, I imagine he"ll make an attempt to get away."
There were ten display screens in Siva"s room. One of them had the map of f.u.kuoka City on its screen. The red dot moving around on it was blackleg.
Current location: 33.593075, 130.406278: at 21:45.
Blackleg was currently in Nakasu. Chegar already had Irasawa heading there. He would arrive at the place soon.
A blue dot was displayed on the map, indicating Irasawa"s position. There was not even a distance of ten meters between those two dots.
"Irasawa," Chegar called Irasawa. "He entered the Gates Building."
"I"m heading there now."
It would take no time for Irasawa to come in contact with blackleg.
After a few minutes, Chegar heard Irasawa"s voice. "I found him. He went into the restroom."
"Alright, capture him." Chegar ordered.
However, there was no response.
"What"s wrong, Irasawa?" Chegar called his name again.
A few seconds pa.s.s –
"s.h.i.t," He heard Irasawa tut. "He got away."
"……He got away?" What had happened in those few seconds? "How?"
"There was a power outage. He was hiding in one of the stalls. I was here too. And then I couldn"t see anything all of the sudden. When the lights came back on, he was gone."
"He must have tapped into the building"s electrical system. Blackleg hacked into it and caused a power outage."
"And then he escaped in the dark."
"No, he"s still nearby." Siva glanced at the red dot on the map. As Siva said, it looked like blackleg was loitering around in the area. "It looks like he"s heading to the station."
The red dot on the map was moving. Chegar ordered Irasawa to follow it.
After a few moments –
"……He stopped."
Current location: 33.5940983, 130.4056712: at 21:48.
Current location: 33.5940983, 130.4056712: at 21:50.
Current location: 33.5940983, 130.4056712: at 21:52.
The time of his current location was at 21:52. Blackleg did not move away from Nakasu Kawahashi Station.
"Irasawa," Chegar called out to him again. "He"s in another restroom in the station. Just past the ticket gate."
"I"ll get there soon."
Chegar glanced over to the screen. The blue dot was moving, but the red dot remained still. It was not moving at all. Blackleg made no indication of running away. "What is blackleg doing?"
"Probably, this."
Siva was typing on another computer. He was trying to access Undergroundjobs. However –
"Loading."
An error message came up in the center of the screen. Siva could not access the site.
"The server is out."
"It seems the site has been attacked."
"Is that blackleg"s work?"
Blackleg had made a DDoS attack and made it so no one could access the undergroundjobs website. Without the website available, bounty hunters could not go after him.
Then blackleg must have stopped moving to attack the website. But even if he had gotten rid of the bounty hunters, this could not shake them off his trail.
Current location: 33.5940938, 130.4056712: at 21:53.
They looked at the map again when the location updated. Blackleg still had not moved. There was a distance of two to three meters between the red dot and the blue dot. Irasawa was closing in on blackleg.
"Irasawa, he"s right ahead of you."
The blue dot was now converging with the red one.
"Right there."
Any second now, Irasawa would make contact with blackleg.
However –
"Not here." Irasawa muttered. "He"s not here."
"……What did you say?" Chegar must have misheard.
"There"s no one in the restroom. There"s only a laptop in one of the stalls."
What"s the meaning of this? Chegar frowned in confusion. Blackleg"s current location displayed on the map was pointing to this location. They should have caught up to him. But the man himself was absent, with only the laptop left there.
Then that means –
"A decoy?"
He made of fool of us. He left his laptop behind in the restroom and ran away? No, there"s no way. Blackleg should have been using his laptop there just a second ago.
Then why was blackleg not there? Where did he disappear to?
Did blackleg immediately get up and leave as soon as he made the DDoS attack?
"But then, how did he manage to hack-"
How could he accomplish hacking without having his laptop with him?
Could it be-? Chegar swallowed.
"He got us." He came to a realization. There was one way blackleg could have done it. "It was a virus."
That was blackleg"s aim from the beginning.
"Blackleg infected his own computer with a remote virus."