Hook Office Fixer Hong Lu/Identity Story

Overview

Voicelines

Identity Story

Speaker	Dialogue
Hook Office Hong Lu	Mm, mm~ The air smells as pleasant as always tonight. It's musty and hazy. Now that's the Backstreets I know and love.
	The child pulled his mask down and breathed in a lungful of air.
	The stench of slightly rotten trash, the exhaust fume smell of an unknown origin. The Backstreets reeks with a smell not unlike burning incense of stubborn, industrial dust. The child seems to love it, though.
	It was not so long ago when all this child ever knew was the high-brow, lavish aroma of his affluent home. Maybe that's why he enjoyed the smell that most denizens of the City would gag at. He said it reminds him of... 'the common people'.
Hook Office Ryōshū	Y.D.Y.
Hook Office Meursault	I cannot agree with that statement, but I understand your sentiment behind it.
	The child was flanked by two other children. One wore a mask and hid her face under the hood of her parka. The other wore a mask that covered his entire face.
	They've been roaming and causing trouble in the Backstreets together for the last few years.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Sure! Well~ We don't have to agree on everything, right? As long as we can agree on one thing.
Hook Office Hong Lu	That we all love ripping people to pieces.
Hook Office Ryōshū	Watch your words. Fixers aren't allowed to kill for no reason. Don't want anyone listening and snitching on us to the Rep.
Hook Office Meursault	There are nothing but rats in our 500-Meter radius. No one is here to listen. And if anyone does listen, we'll tear them apart as well.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Right? Why should we gag ourselves? It's gotta be so frustrating, living like that~
Hook Office Hong Lu	Also, Ryōshū! Didn't you have a lot of fun yesterday, hmm? And thanks to you, we ended up killing way more people than intended.
Hook Office Meursault	Yes. Which led to unscheduled muscle pain and lack of payment for our extra kills. It was inefficient.
Hook Office Ryōshū	... It was a rare opportunity. It's hard to come by material consistent enough to be in the same exhibition... I'll consider this incident sorry.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Was that even an apology? ... Ha ha.
	The child shrugged and let go of the discussion.
	There was no point in dragging it on. It wasn't going to change anything, anyway.
	Besides, he also had fun yesterday. He certainly wasn't the one to talk.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Well, if it's all the same to you... I think I enjoy getting paid a consistent rate for killing people.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Who would've thunk that people like us, people from a killer Syndicate, would be working for an Office? Business cards and all.
Hook Office Ryōshū	S.O.R. Picking up the Backstreets dogs like us... Now that's one strange Office Rep.
Hook Office Meursault	This is our niche. There are as many Offices as there are Syndicates; it is a reasonable choice for a businessman to prioritize a smaller niche in an over-saturated market.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Hm... But I have a feeling that this Office won't last long.
Hook Office Hong Lu	We can tear people up into pretty little straps and hang them up all day... But it's not like we're leaving our business cards behind. There's no way to get the Office's name out there.
Hook Office Ryōshū	I.A. This canvas is not nearly good enough for real, proper art.
Hook Office Hong Lu	This Office isn't going to get any new clientele beyond fledgling Syndicates or other poor people who want to hire us for petty scare jobs.
Hook Office Meursault	Will you propose an alternative, then?
Hook Office Hong Lu	Hm? Why would I?
	The child looked at the other innocently and cocked his head. It was as though he didn't understand where the question was coming from.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Well... Are we ever going to build a real resume to rise through the Fixer ranks? Or are we going to suck up to the Rep. to get him to recognize us?
Hook Office Hong Lu	No, we're just doing some temp work. When there's nothing more to get out of this Office, we'll leave and saunter back to the Backstreets.
Hook Office Meursault	That is also a reasonable suggestion.
	The child shrugged affirmatively.
	So did the bionic weapon on his shoulder.
Hook Office Ryōshū	That weapon. It's from the Union Co. Workshop, isn't it?
Hook Office Hong Lu	Oh, yeah! It's cheap and decently handy. How's that? Couldn't have gotten this without a stable income~
Hook Office Ryōshū	That Workshop is filled with amateurs. They pick up their meat from random piles of corpses to make their weapons. There's no refinement to them, only a facade of it.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Well, that's why they're cheap, and that's why I like them... Though using these really drains my energy. I'm hungry all the time.
Hook Office Meursault	That is an insignificant problem. Simply take more work, increase your earnings, and consume more calories.
Hook Office Ryōshū	Agreed. Let's tear it up some more.
	The three children giggled, as though a funny thought had crossed their minds.
	They were confident, on top of the world— nothing could possibly stand in their way. Or so they thought, at least.
Hook Office Meursault	Incoming contact. It's from the Representative.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Oh! New work?
Hook Office Meursault	Precisely. It appears that our next job is... at some Library.
Hook Office Hong Lu	Nice. Let's hurry there.
	The children leisurely strolled through the Backstreets.
	Where will these children go?
	... Well, there is no way to know for now.

World of the Former Library Guests - 1 Identity Stories