Chapter 59

Tom was the manager of the External Intelligence Department at Rekhetio Company.

He had been promoted to manager after the previous manager retired.

But Tom wasn’t happy.

The previous manager’s retirement hadn’t been done in a normal way.

Not just Tom, but no one in the company took the manager’s retirement at face value.

Because the manager had been a figure who opposed Owen’s appointment as chairman.

This wasn’t something that happened only to the manager.

Firing, honorary retirement, demotion.

The methods varied, but no one was unaware that this was a purge.

Those who had clashed with Owen when he was a department head, or those who had sworn loyalty to the former chairman.

In some cases, people were purged for no reason at all.

Even after one purge, you couldn’t relax.

Those who remained could still be purged for no reason, and even if they proved their usefulness, they could be discarded like trash.

Of course, this was common in the megacorps of this world.

But the former chairman rarely fired those he had hired, and those who were promoted were rarely demoted or fired.

Because the personnel he personally handled rarely caused problems.

Moreover, even if they caused problems, the chairman was mostly forgiving, and those who were forgiven repaid him with even greater achievements.

But Owen’s company was not kind at all.

It didn’t give multiple chances like a normal megacorp, and employees’ lives were snuffed out like flies depending on the chairman’s mood.

While this was common sense in this world, it was unfamiliar to those who had worked at this company.

Tom, the manager of the External Intelligence Department, hated the icy atmosphere of the company.

But there was nothing he could do.

He was newly married and had a wife and children to feed at home.

Tom silently carried on with his work.

But even he had a command that didn’t sit well with him.

– <Track the location of Cash Rekhetio and her companions.>

It was clear to anyone that this wasn’t for a good purpose.

If you compared a megacorp to a kingdom, it was common for successors to fight to the death.

Even after ascending to the chairman’s seat, thoroughly purging opposing forces was basic etiquette.

When the order came down, Tom sat in front of his computer with mixed feelings.

On one hand, he felt pity for her, but on the other, he did his best to track her for his own safety.

Tom, who had no doubt that a one-sided purge would take place, couldn’t help but be flustered when Cash stormed into the company.

‘Why this suicidal charge?’

Most of the employees were overjoyed, thinking that achievements were rolling in, and quickly geared up.

But not Tom.

The Cash he knew was bold, but she wasn’t crazy.

Even if the company was at its weakest due to bold personnel changes, it wasn’t weak enough to be breached by a mere mercenary group.

No matter how much internal dissatisfaction with Owen had peaked, the likelihood of them siding with Cash was extremely low.

Because of this, Tom wondered if Cash was planning to turn the building into a graveyard.

But after seeing the departments and teams that had rushed ahead being wiped out, he changed his mind.

At the point where Cash had wiped them out, Tom had no choice but to acknowledge her.

‘There’s something here.’

A reason to boldly storm the building.

At the very least, his colleagues who had gone ahead wouldn’t have been careless.

Before confronting Cash and her companions, Tom glanced behind him.

He looked at the employees of the External Intelligence Department.

Morale was at rock bottom.

It seemed they were scared by the news that the other departments that had gone ahead had been wiped out.

The manager looked at his subordinates and thought of his children at home.

Soon, he made a decision.

‘Damn it. If I fail, it’s treason, and if I succeed, it’s a revolution.’

As soon as he met Cash’s party, he immediately surrendered.

He even volunteered to escort them to the chairman.

Cash’s companions were bewildered by Tom’s sudden joining, but Cash accepted him as if it were natural.

“Wise move, Manager Tom.”

“I’m just a manager…”

“No. You’re a department head now.”

With her words, which might seem arrogant at first glance, something in Tom’s mind began to be deleted.

Confirming this, Tom was certain.

That his bet had been a huge success.

*

Starting with Department Head Tom, more and more people began to surrender to Cash’s party.

Those who were quick to catch on, those who were dissatisfied with Owen’s methods, those who valued legitimacy.

At first, there were only seven, but before they knew it, the number of people following Cash had reached hundreds.

But Cash didn’t take them all with her.

“Please maintain the floors we’ve occupied.”

This was a war.

A civil war taking place within a single massive building.

Decapitating the king was important, but maintaining the occupied floors was also crucial.

So, rather than taking the surrendered personnel with her, Cash had them hold their positions.

By her side, there were always only six companions.

With just those six, she conquered the company.

Even if they didn’t surrender, it didn’t matter.

Cash respected those who chose neutrality between Owen and her.

As long as they didn’t actively attack her, she left them alone.

– “However, those who remain neutral cannot expect the same treatment as those who have switched sides.”

Still, those who wanted safety chose to remain neutral.

Thus, three factions formed within the company.

The Owen faction, the neutral faction, and the Cash faction.

At first, the Owen faction was the majority.

But as Cash’s party gained momentum, the neutral faction became dominant, and by the time Cash had occupied half the company, the Cash faction became dominant.

At this rate, Owen was in danger.

The Security Chief wasn’t happy with this situation.

“Tsk. Stupid traitors.”

The Security Chief, Cayden, clicked his tongue.

Of course, Cayden himself was aware that he had betrayed the former chairman.

But he wasn’t criticizing the loyalty of those who had surrendered to Cash.

He was criticizing their stupidity.

‘Of all people, they follow her…’

In Cayden’s eyes, Cash had proven nothing.

Compared to Owen?

He had successfully closed numerous deals, big and small, within the company.

All on his own, without the former chairman’s help.

His genius was comparable to the former chairman’s, and he had even driven the former chairman from his seat.

In contrast, the Security Chief saw Cash as nothing more than a spoiled brat.

She spent her time outside the company with dubious mercenaries instead of using the freedom the former chairman had given her within the company.

In the Security Chief’s eyes, Cash had achieved nothing and would continue to achieve nothing.

“These arrogant brats don’t know reality.”

The Security Chief stood up.

He had hoped the subordinates would handle it, but Cash and her companions were performing better than expected.

If this continued, it would tarnish his reputation as Security Chief, so he decided to take action himself.

“Well, at least they’re not cowards.”

At first, he thought it was just youthful recklessness after they stormed in.

But by the time they had broken through about half, the Security Chief had to admit there was something more to it.

But-

“Whatever it is, I’ll crush it head-on.”

No matter what tricks the mercenaries had, he was the Security Chief.

If he put his mind to it, he could take on an army, not just a mercenary group.

In terms of combat power alone, he could easily handle about ten Hod squads.

No matter what tactics the mercenaries brought, he was confident he could crush them head-on.

He took his greatsword and grenade launcher and guarded the passage.

Soon after, Amon’s party appeared before him.

The Security Chief attacked them without even exchanging greetings.

“I don’t know what tricks you’re using-”

That’s as far as he got!!

He swung his greatsword, fired his grenade launcher, rolled his feet to shake the ground, and pushed them back.

As he fought Amon’s party, the Security Chief’s lips curved into a smile.

‘They had some confidence!’

He had to admit it.

Amon and his companions’ combat power was impressive.

Compared to the security team, each one was at least at the level of a manager.

Especially Amon, a young man who, with the right equipment and training, could potentially reach the Security Chief’s level.

But, it was only a possibility.

Their skills still fell far short of expectations.

“The game is over.”

The Security Chief’s Neural Acceleration Device activated.

Dodging bullets and ignoring magic from behind was basic for the Security Chief.

With the device in use, the Chief left afterimages behind and began to overwhelm Amon’s party.

The tanker couldn’t even react and was cut down along with his shield, the sniper became a lump of meat just by colliding with the Chief’s shoulder.

Then, he pulled the pin from the grenade at the ogre’s waist and tossed it toward the mage.

The only ones in the group whose eyes could keep up with the Chief were Amon and Sonia, but before they could act, the sword cut through their necks.

Finally, Cash was still staring at the Chief’s afterimage, seemingly unaware that her companions had died.

“Farewell, foolish girl.”

The Chief swung his sword.

After taking Cash’s head, the Chief held it up and turned around.

As he stepped onto the stairs to report to the chairman, his instincts rang an alarm.

To identify the source of this eerie sensation, the Chief looked around.

Soon, he realized the source of the eerie sensation was the head of Cash he was holding.

“?”

As he stared at the head, Cash’s face began to change.

The Security Chief knew that face well.

“Hams?”

Even though he called out his secretary’s name, there was no response.

He turned his gaze to the corpses of Amon’s party.

Somehow, the equipment and clothing they were wearing had all changed to that of the security department.

“What the…”

As the Security Chief was bewildered, static appeared on his screen.

A headache came.

‘Wait… why did I fight them?’

Thinking about it, Amon’s party had only reached the middle.

Was there really a reason for the Security Chief to come down and deal with them?

Was it the chairman’s order? Or his own will?

His thoughts didn’t connect.

When the static came again and he regained his senses, the former executive director who had left the company was looking down at him from the stairs.

The Security Chief was wary of the suddenly appearing executive director.

“Why are you here?”

The man who had written his resignation without hesitation to follow the former chairman had appeared without any warning.

As the Chief raised his guard toward the director, the director spoke.

“What a pitiful man.”

“…?”

“Even after betraying the chairman, you didn’t gain Owen’s trust. No, it’s natural not to trust someone who’s betrayed once.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Didn’t he tell you anything about the Rekhetio family?”

The Security Chief couldn’t follow the director’s words.

The director, thinking it was an answer, continued muttering to himself.

“Well, it’s not something you need to hear, but since it’ll take some time, let’s chat. The chairman never trusted you. From the beginning. Do you know why he kept you as Security Chief despite that?”

The Chief’s answer wasn’t needed.

“Because you still had uses.”

As soon as he said that, a download bar appeared in the corner of the Chief’s vision interface.

<Downloading>

The bar was already 30% full.

‘Since when?’

Why hadn’t he noticed this?

The Security Chief set aside his curiosity and activated the antivirus in his neural network.

The antivirus detected something and raised a red warning, but with a gesture from the director, the warning disappeared and the download continued.

Not knowing what was being downloaded but sure it wasn’t good, the Chief shot at the director.

But the bullet passed through the director’s body and destroyed the wall behind him.

“Pointless. Attacking a hallucination only you can see won’t harm me. But still, if the young lady’s companions get hurt by blind gunfire…”

Snap!

The director flicked his finger, and the Chief’s body stiffened.

Every time the director gestured afterward, the cyberware installed in the Chief’s body stopped functioning.

The Chief couldn’t understand.

“This is impossible… we’re not connected to the internet.”

To prepare for the possibility of hacking, the security team didn’t use the internet during combat.

Even if they did, they only used the security team’s intranet.

It was safe to say that even the world’s top three hackers couldn’t hack their neural network.

But the director in front of him had done it as if it were nothing.

To resolve the Chief’s curiosity, the director shrugged and spoke.

“Twenty years. That’s how long the chairman has been secretly modifying the neural networks of unstable elements like you in this company.”

Equipment upgrades, internal intranet security checks, neural virus checks, and so on.

For numerous reasons, the chairman provided cyberware to unstable elements, and in the process, he secretly modified their neural networks.

It was a slow change over decades, making it impossible to notice.

And the person in charge of this project was the chairman’s only confidant, the director.

Hearing the truth, the Chief’s pupils shook.

“Don’t tell me Owen’s rebellion was planned from back then…”

“Ah, that’s not it.”

This project had been underway long before Owen’s rebellion was foreseen.

Originally, not everyone with the potential for betrayal was a target of this project.

Specifically, it was a measure for those who had the potential for betrayal but were too talented to let go, too dangerous to keep close.

There were worldlines where this project played no role and was forgotten, but at least in this worldline, that wasn’t the case.

According to the former chairman, if Owen had trusted the Chief and told him about the foresight, he might have been able to prepare.

The problem was that there was no worldline where Owen trusted the Security Chief.

“The chairman said something. That the singularity is important. Owen seemed to interpret the singularity differently. As something that always brings the best results and fixes the worldline. But the singularity isn’t that. A true singularity is someone you can trust and rely on in any world.”

As soon as he finished speaking, some data was uploaded to the Chief’s neural network.

Data name: Trojan Horse.

As the data uploaded, the Chief’s vision twisted.

The employees’ corpses began to look like Amon’s party again.

But this time, that wasn’t the end.

His body began to move on its own.

Even though he knew he was being deceived, his body recognized the employees as Amon’s party and moved to eliminate them.

There was no will of the Security Chief there.

He trudged down the stairs.

From behind the descending Chief, the director’s voice was heard.

“Impressive. I didn’t expect the download to take this long. No wonder the chairman valued you.”

With those words, the director’s voice was heard no more.

The Security Chief went down and picked up his weapon.

The equipment the director had deactivated was partially reactivated.

The employees who had sided with Owen until the end died at the Chief’s hands.

The Chief wasn’t the only one continuing the slaughter.

As if the director’s hand had touched more than just him, various people began attacking the employees.

The director’s attack didn’t end there.

Security devices like turrets and drones within the company suddenly turned against the employees.

They mercilessly turned those who hadn’t surrendered to Cash into swiss cheese.

‘This way… it’s useless…’

In fact, Owen’s strategy of tightening the company’s security in preparation for Cash’s foresight backfired.

But you couldn’t blame Owen’s incompetence.

His opponent had run the company for decades and had received a legitimate handover.

But Owen had only been chairman for less than two months and hadn’t received a proper handover.

It was too much to expect him to handle that while stabilizing his regime.

And so, the powerful combat personnel, including the Security Chief, tore through their own bodies to clean up the company.

Eventually, they reached Amon’s party, battered and bruised.

[Cash Yulia Rekhetio confirmed.]

A short sentence appeared on their interface, and they knelt before her.

Like condemned prisoners awaiting execution.

Cash didn’t hesitate and swung her spear toward their necks.

Swipe.

With them, the employees who had followed Owen disappeared from the company.

Seeing this, Amon grimaced and said,

“This is why I hate hackers.”

Regardless of direct combat power, a hacker with enough time and authority could do more than you could imagine.

This was why Amon didn’t undergo cyberware procedures.

No matter how strong the cyber procedure, if you ran into a hacker, you’d just be toyed with and killed, regardless of compatibility.

“That’s why I only got magic tattoos and genetic procedures.”

Cash agreed.

Sonia and the Bisexual Mage also nodded.

Their gaze naturally turned to the party member who had undergone cyber procedures.

Especially the sniper, who was more metal than flesh in the party.

The Mute Sniper made a face like he’d eaten something sour and said,

[Cash, I’m really not going to betray you, so believe me.]

“We’ll see.”

[Please spare me, Chairman.]

They burst into laughter and moved forward.

All that was

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