novelraw Chapter 75
Chapter 75
Chapter 75
〔The Genorua Family kept its promise. They would soon reorganize their forces and head for District 1.〕
“Goodness, as expected, the only partner one could truly trust was the Consigliere. Ah, I suppose I should call you the Godmother now. Congratulations, haha.”
When word spread that the Genorua Family had been brought under control, Geum Gang-hyeok could not help but cheer inwardly.
Now that she had obtained the authority to move the Murder Company, she would at least be able to wage a war of attrition against PMC Black Mer, the loyal hound of Stero Mer.
Of course, her voice as she delivered the good news sounded oddly subdued, but he did not care in the slightest.
Usurping a throne was never an easy task.
He knew that well, having done it himself.
Harvesting the lives of those who clung to you while calling themselves blood relatives and family was an extremely stressful affair.
“I was worried you might ruin things by being unnecessarily soft-hearted. Still, I’m relieved you didn’t reach out to someone like Lucky Anubis.”
With a smile that accentuated his characteristically warm-looking face, Geum Gang-hyeok rose from the corpse he had been sitting on.
Naturally, blood had stained the legs of his white suit pants, but since the suit was made of cutting-edge fibers, the stains vanished as if they had never been there.
“Isn’t that right, Min-su?”
“……Can you not call me by that name, Geum Gang-hyeok?”
“Even if you lack discernment, it hurts my feelings when you speak so casually. We’ve shared quite a history together.”
“…….”
At Geum Gang-hyeok’s words, Min-su’s expression hardened.
Outwardly, it would have been unthinkable for him, as a secretary, to speak informally to Geum Gang-hyeok, the de facto ruler of the Geum Young Group, but neither of them minded at all.
Naturally so.
Just as Geum Gang-hyeok had concealed his true identity and deceived Jin Crow, Min-su too had merely hidden who he was from others by posing as nothing more than Geum Gang-hyeok’s secretary.
Thud-.
Min-su tossed down the round object he had been holding, and Geum Gang-hyeok stopped it with his foot like a soccer ball as it rolled to him, then nudged it slightly so the front was clearly visible.
What came into view was a familiar face.
“Nice to meet you, Jimmy Silver. Your full name is rather long, so may I engrave it that way on your tombstone as well? Ah, you say it’s an honor? Thank you.”
Already dead with his head severed, Jimmy Silver was mocked as Geum Gang-hyeok nudged his lips at will with a shoe-clad foot.
Since it was far from a pleasant sight, Min-su—having shed the mask of a secretary for once—spoke while casting an undisguised look of contempt.
“Fatal of Carpe Diem sensed something was wrong and escaped.”
“Wow, that lady’s impressive too. How did she manage to run away from this?”
Though he voiced admiration, the rise and fall of his tone, as if he had expected it all along, only deepened the unpleasantness.
Perhaps because of that.
As Min-su slid the sword—subtly reminiscent of Holy Galactic Empire craftsmanship—back into its scabbard, the blade that had severed Jimmy Silver’s neck, he spoke.
“Even if the Genorua Family mobilizes the Murder Company, it’ll be difficult to face Stero Mer. You know that too.”
“Ah, of course.”
“Then why aren’t you moving the troops? You said Stero Mer had to be cut down for the deal with the Empire.”
If Min-su’s words were to leak outside, they would have dealt the Geum Young Group an enormous scandal.
After all, it was tantamount to admitting not only that he himself was from the Empire, but also that the Empire stood behind the Geum Young Group.
What was more, there was a peculiar irritation mixed into Min-su’s tone.
“The only reason I’m humoring your pathetic games here isn’t for anything else—it’s all for the Empire. You haven’t forgotten that, have you?”
“That’s Min-su’s problem. You do everything you’re told, yet you complain so much. Are you pretending to be a knight now? When in reality you’ve practically been exiled.”
“How can you say that now—!”
Provoked by the blatant taunt, Min-su tried to draw his sword in anger, but at Geum Gang-hyeok’s following gesture, the white-suited figures that swiftly surrounded them forced him to halt with his blade half-drawn.
Naturally so.
Lined up in formation with white masks covering their faces, as if awaiting nothing but orders, they might have appeared careless—but they were Geum Gang-hyeok’s true military force.
‘All Quad Gear–class And/roids.’
They were the driving force that had swallowed the Geum family whole.
If he fought, he would not lose—but it would come at no small cost.
Moreover, if it came to that, the deal with the Empire would collapse. And if that happened, the Empire would discard him rather than Geum Gang-hyeok.
And Geum Gang-hyeok was a snake-like schemer who understood that fact all too well.
“If you can’t bite, don’t bark either, Min-su. And what’s wrong with the name? It’s warm and nice. I’d appreciate it if you’d shut up before I start calling you Dol-soe or Ttaeng-chil.”
In the end, the only thing he could do was grit his teeth and endure it once more.
“……I overstepped, President.”
“Good. You look quite nice with your tail tucked between your legs. It’d be even better if you rolled over and showed your belly.”
“…….”
Min-su offered no reply to the continued mockery. Seeing that, Geum Gang-hyeok smirked faintly, as if the fun had drained away, and withdrew his forces.
As they slowly blended into the surroundings and vanished as though they had never encircled them at all, Min-su watched them for a moment before asking again.
“So, why are you not moving the troops?”
“Because now isn’t the peak.”
“Pardon?”
What in the world did that mean?
Toward Min-su, who wore such an expression, Geum Gang-hyeok let out a soft chuckle and, with a cigarette he must have taken out at some point, murmured in a whisper.
“After the Genorua Family collapses so miserably, if we were to recruit an instructor from the Composite State, wouldn’t the Empire stand to gain something more as well?”
After turning his words over in his mind, Min-su could only nod quietly in the end.
He did not like it, but at the very least, as a business partner, the man never let him take a loss.
“……This is absurd.”
Stero Mer, having returned from underground, could not help but let out a hollow laugh as he read the report that summarized what had transpired over the past hour.
‘Jimmy Silver and Fatal missing. Lucky Anubis deceased……. Geum Young and Tita Genorua, is it.’
There was no room for doubt. It was a coup.
The problem was that it had been left unattended for a full hour.
“District 5, District 7, District 11. Kill the Black Mer branch chiefs. Their entire families and even their neighbors.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
He spoke without even looking at the secretary, whose eyes were filled with obvious fear, and she nodded in response, reassured that she herself had survived.
There was no sense of resistance at the excessiveness of the order within her.
Rather, as if grateful that it ended at that, she bowed her head deeply and hurried out of the chairman’s office.
‘……Is it about time to overhaul everything.’
Of course, she did not know.
That in the mind of the young boy watching her retreating back, a purge that would kill ten thousand people had just been planned.
To him, subordinates were nothing more than replaceable cogs.
He did not believe in hollow things like loyalty.
All he wanted was to enjoy eternal life amid overwhelming force and overwhelming dominion.
Swish-.
Lifting the whiskey he had set on the desk, he moved toward the window that offered a panoramic view of the entire city.
“Lofty skyscrapers shall be the sacred symbols of civilization, and the unextinguished lights shall become the stigmata that prove we overcame the terror of the night.”
There was a time when he believed in God.
However, after obtaining Nectar and seeing fragments containing the truth of this world—an AI derived from the first Mother AI—he discarded the illusion called God that very day.
“I must advance.”
Annihilation was already rising to his chin.
Yet in the future he had seen, there was no salvation.
If so, would it not be right for him himself to become a prophet and protect this golden paradise?
Gulp-.
After draining all of the golden-hued desire contained in the glass, he contacted the secretary who had just left and issued additional orders.
At just that moment, a justification to eliminate all obstacles at once had come to mind.
“Open all isolation facilities. And in thirty minutes, under the pretext of a Great Purification, clear District 5, District 7, and District 11.”
〔……H, however, Chairman.〕
Great Purification.
The secretary, who knew well what those words meant, hesitated and tried to say something, but at the ensuing silence, she ultimately consented and cut the call.
「The creature threat approaching the Free Planet Alliance, successfully suppressed by the response of Mer Corporation’s PMC Black Mer.」
It was the moment tomorrow’s news headline was decided.
Of course, when combining all three districts, nearly tens of millions of people would die, but that was nothing more than a small sacrifice necessary to excise cancerous cells.
Having thought that far, he once again boarded the elevator.
He pressed the button marked with the letter N and headed underground.
And soon, to the androids who welcomed his return, he spoke in a slightly exhilarated voice.
“Prepare Subject Body No. 74.”
At his murmured words, the androids closed their mouths.
A strange silence lingered throughout the facility.
However, Stero Mer did not panic.
He knew well that the androids’ silence was not of their own volition, but a prelude to the one being who governed this facility and would bestow eternal life opening its mouth.
“…….”
How long did that silence last?
〔Subject. Icarus(Icarus). Reconsider.〕
Mother AI, Nectar(Νέκταρ), located at the center of the underground, finally spoke, but Stero Mer responded to the machine voice that seemed concerned for him with a hollow laugh.
“Shut up and prepare. Fragment of original sin.”
What was contained in his voice was deep contempt.
Tita Genorua stared blankly for a long while at Lucky Anubis, who had taken his own life, and Jin Crow stepped aside for her for a moment.
He did not have such a morbid hobby as voyeuristically savoring another’s misfortune.
At the same time, he also intended to check the unpleasant sensation he felt nearby.
Click-.
Holding a revolver loaded with reinforced rounds, he gripped a blood-soaked dagger in a reverse grip.
He closed the door, bit down on a cigarette laced with an awakening drug, and pressed hard on his fatigue-darkened eyelids.
“If you’re an enemy, you’d better say it quickly. I’m not used to mercenary work yet, and I’d like to clock out early.”
On the surface, Jin Crow’s words were empty to an extreme degree.
Naturally so, since they were nothing more than words muttered toward an empty corridor.
But at that very moment.
From one side of the corridor, where there had been nothing just moments before, a man walked out, wearing a black military cap and techwear, his face covered by a black mask reminiscent of a shark’s teeth.
At a glance, he was anything but ordinary.
Because of that, Jin Crow fixed his gaze on him while rotating his gear—already being pushed close to its limits—so he could respond at any moment.
“Don’t be tense. I’m not your enemy.”
At that moment, the man murmured as such and, despite covering his mouth, scratched the back of his head with a bright, smiling expression evident in his eyes.
“I came to pay my respects to the new Godmother, haha.”
Yet seeing how utterly sloppy he appeared on the surface, Jin Crow could not help but grip his dagger even tighter, forcibly ignoring the cold sweat instinctively flowing down his back.
‘At least Quad, maybe even Penta?’
The man was absolutely not a weakling.