47. Freedom Terrifies Her

Johnny's sudden appearance as a projection made everyone present's pupils contract.

No one failed to recognize Johnny—how could anyone not know the famed Johnny Silverhand?

That wild, unrestrained face, that signature messy hair, and that raised middle finger—every detail was identical to the rock boy, terrorist, and Night City legend who had been mythologized or demonized in historical records.

But he should have turned to ashes in the nuclear blast more than fifty years ago, his rebellion and rage buried with him.

Yet now, he stood there in the form of a digital ghost, confronting Arasaka Saburo's projection across the table. Two men who should have long been dead had "returned to life" in this bizarre fashion and now stood face-to-face.

"—Johnny Silverhand?" At last, one executive murmured in shock, his voice filled with incredulous horror.

That whisper broke the dead silence. Like the first chunk of ice falling, it triggered a chain reaction, and hushed voices spread like a tide.

Even to Arasaka's current upper ranks, Johnny Silverhand remained a name from far too long ago, yet one that was nearly legendary.

In truth, Johnny Silverhand had merely been a famous rock musician. The greatest damage he had inflicted upon Arasaka was, with Militech's assistance, delivering a nuclear bomb to Arasaka Tower and detonating it. Yet everything he did became a spark that ignited countless acts of resistance against Arasaka over the following decades.

Because of his attack, Arakawa Kei, the once-uncontested next leader of Arasaka, died in the chaos that followed. And because of his actions, countless people had raised his name high and launched attack after attack against this corporate giant.

To Arasaka, Johnny Silverhand himself might have been insignificant, but the wound of resistance carved open in his name had yet to heal.

That name no