Mergers and Acquisitions
There was something he absolutely had to do before leaving for England.
"Senior…?"
Luxury shopping.
They had decided to stop by a department store and pick up some clothes first.
Sora stepped out of the dressing room, her expression awkward and faintly uncomfortable.
"It looks great on you."
"Really?"
"With those fucking huge tits of yours, yeah."
"Why does that have to come up!"
The neckline plunged in a deep V. Everything else about the dress was conservative enough that it wasn't outright slutty—just the kind of outfit that only worked if you had the chest for it. Hers were fucking enormous, so it looked fucking perfect.
I want to shove my hand in there so bad.
He had wanted to do it the entire trip. But cheap-looking clothes made the whole thing look cheap.
"Want me to buy it for you?"
"This is expensive, you know."
"Just let me feel them up."
"Ugh, fucking hell."
In luxury brands, the low point of looking like a pair of clueless kids dropped. Or they looked like a successful man and his woman.
This is peak male-fantasy dating material.
Everyone wanted to do it. Social judgment and women who refused to play along were the only things that stopped most guys.
"Absolutely not."
"What about a kiss?"
"That's… something we already do…"
"I'll take it, then."
Sora was surprisingly generous. He was the one making her that way, too.
Smooch!
He dove right in. Lightly applied lipstick and a soft, wet tongue met him. Sora started freaking out, but nobody here gave a damn.
"In France a kiss is just basic greeting etiquette."
"Still!"
"Still what?"
"Uh…?"
In practice, no one cared. The clerk and the other shoppers were all minding their own business. Her raised voice earned a brief glance, then they went straight back to what they were doing as if nothing had happened.
Get yourself a global standard already.
Sora stood there dazed. Korean-style puritan hang-ups were still baked into her bones.
"Just be my woman for the trip. Then other guys won't mess with you."
"I don't want to decide something like that so lightly."
"I'll buy you tons of luxury stuff. Okay?"
"Money… no. I don't like that."
This was a perfect chance to break her free. Travel made people open up.
Just give her a decent-sounding excuse.
He wrapped it in plausible bullshit. He had planned to lead her gradually, but—
"It's not that I dislike you, senior."
"Then?"
"It's because you keep trying to own me. That's what pisses me off."
She muttered it while looking away. The bright flush on her cheeks refused to hide what she really felt.
She's so damn cute.
Of course he already knew. He had put in serious work cracking open a heart sealed as tightly as Ada's. With Sora's personality, she would never hang around a man she felt nothing for.
Then she threw him a deal he never saw coming.
"So what do you want me to do?"
"I want to own you too."
"You? Me?"
"That would make it fair, wouldn't it?"
She had clearly run the numbers in her own head. It was a method actually used in real corporate M&A.
In Korea it's the classic trick of buying a company with the company's own money instead of your own cash.
It was also why Osung Biologics stock kept climbing. Osung Group already held 75 percent. If that company's share price rose, later—when Osung Electronics stock took a dive—they could scoop it up through a stock-for-stock swap.
"Think about it. Are your value and mine the same?"
"Ugh!"
"You're a pretty tempting little venture, I'll give you that."
"Ah!"
That was exactly what Sora was trying. But for an equal exchange the value gap was simply too wide.
I do want the core technology, though.
He laid his hand on her breast. The moment he applied pressure, a cute little moan tickled his ear. She was clearly holding it in, conscious of the people around them. He wanted to see her more honest than that.
"Then thirty percent…"
"Thirty percent? That much is… wait a second."
The value was more than enough, of course. If he could turn Sora into his bitch for a mere 30 percent stake, it was pure profit.
Did she say that knowing what it meant?
Something still bothered him. She couldn't possibly not understand what 30 percent meant in a control structure.
"How about twenty-nine?"
"No."
"It doesn't have to be exactly thirty, right?"
"Absolutely not."
Minimum controlling interest. The percentage a parent company normally needed to keep stable control of a subsidiary.
Then it's basically the same as owning the whole damn thing!
At least if you measured it by joint-stock company standards. Sora might have said it with that exact point in mind.
"Hmm!"
A critical merger negotiation. A tactless employee cleared his throat. It probably wasn't the couple's bickering that made him uncomfortable. The man quietly handed over his card. Sora took it like she had been waiting for exactly that and practically skipped off to pay for the dress.
"Thirty percent is too much."
"Men being so petty."
"Sexist remarks don't meet global standards."
"Ah—that hurts…"
He tightened the hand already gripping her breast. Soft flesh bulged between his fingers.
Extracting only the core technology is the smart trade.
That was Sora's real body, after all. And if the pain she felt right now could be flipped into pleasure…
"I just want the tits."
"Idiot."
"They're so fucking hot I want to fuck you right here."
"Why do you only like breasts, you stupid dumbass."
It was the classic way big conglomerates swallowed ventures whole—make the target depend on you for most of its revenue.
Just make it so she can't live without me.
Turning Sora into his bitch would solve everything. He would develop her carefully, step by step.
"Just these for five percent."
"No. Ten percent."
"Fine."
He could allow major-shareholder status. Sora, not realizing the full implication, accepted it with pure innocence.
She's starting to speak my language.
A relationship measured in clean numbers was far more comfortable than demands for responsibility or marriage. Raising her as an investor was paying off. Now that she was his woman, he would teach her what real beauty looked like too.
"You said your underwear is uncomfortable. Want to go buy some?"
"Underwear isn't even visible, so why…"
"Because I have to take it off later."
"You crazy bastard."
She had never cared much about her looks. She kept herself neat, but as a woman she still hadn't found her footing.
What woman actually hates luxury goods?
It was pure lack of experience. This was the chance to stack up Sora's precious firsts. He would dress her head to toe in luxury. That was the biggest reason for the Europe trip in the first place.
"Oh…"
"You like it?"
"My chest feels so comfortable. Normally every step was a struggle."
No matter how firm they were, gravity still existed. That was why Newton had looked at an apple falling from the sky and discovered universal gravitation.
Yeah. There's a reason luxury costs what it does.
Underwear was about design, sure, but fit mattered more. Great power came with great responsibility; great breasts required expensive support. The pleasure of touching them doubled.
He slipped his hand inside the bra. Warm, soft flesh met him—no dampness, just pure heat.
"It would be even better without this naughty hand."
"So what."
"People can see."
"Yeah, this is worth seeing."
Individualism. Not giving a damn what anyone else was doing—that was European culture, especially Western Europe.
They're just so fucking huge.
Noticing them was pure male instinct. Decent looks, draped in luxury brands. Anyone would want her. But he was the one who owned her, and he made sure everyone could see it.
"Don't like it? Then we stop."
"Just… be a little more careful."
"Nobody here knows us. Sometimes you have to liberate yourself a little."
If she had truly hated it, she never would have let him. Women could get bold on trips.
Smooch!
The shyness only lasted the first time. After that she accepted the kisses easily, and even with his hand on her breast she stood with her back straight and proud.
When a beautiful woman does something filthy, it isn't vulgar—it's charming.
Sora needed to learn that. He would make sure she used every last bit of her natural talent.
She had never even imagined it.
Becoming someone's woman.
The kind of man-and-woman stories that showed up in movies and books. She had never once related to any of them. Following her senior was pure respect as an investor. Someday she wanted to stand on the same level as him.
"Do you touch other women's breasts like this too?"
"Whenever I get the chance."
"Were they better than mine?"
"So far Sora's are the best."
"Don't pinch the nipples."
Maybe that path wasn't the only one. The thought struck her out of nowhere.
This guy has the kind of personality that will get him into trouble over women.
Maybe it would be better if she just accepted him herself. He was a little too perverted, sure, but—
"They're oppa's."
"Still, touch them a little gentler."
"I'll teach you that oppa can finish just from breasts alone."
"Where are you going with this?"
At his core he was a good person. Back in Germany, if it hadn't been for him, things would have gone very badly.
I was furious at the time, though.
It had felt less like worry and more like blame. She had confirmed all over again that he was a psychopath. Looking back, that assessment was correct. He had known it was a no-go zone and still shoved her forward.
"Do you like my breasts?"
"I like them, so I touch them."
"Don't forget I own ten percent of you too."
His entire way of thinking was different. Because she had already expected it, the "no big deal" reaction had come out so easily.
Who else could understand a crazy bastard like this?
If you didn't know that fact, he was pure unhinged. Once you did know, he became a tolerable kind of unhinged. That strange insight was something she had always wanted to learn herself. If it was her, she could accept him.
"And that these breasts are oppa's too."
"You can't do this once we're back in Korea."
"But here it's fine, right?"
"Really…"
That was why she had done it. It was the most roundabout confession she could manage.
It pisses me off that he only seems to notice me.
Senior's sexual harassment wasn't new, but today it somehow irritated her more. Then the irritation melted away. Shopping, meals—it was turning into an actual proper date.
Senior doesn't think of me lightly either.
She had felt it throughout this trip. Every single place they went was something to see, hear, and learn from. Without him she never would have known any of it. She had never planned on dating a man, but if it was senior…
"Where is this?"
"Jewelry shop."
"It doesn't really feel like that kind of place…"
"It's a private shop."
She wanted to follow him anywhere. She was only now realizing how wide and full of sights the streets of Paris really were.
Accessories? No way…
Right before they boarded the flight to England, the last place senior chose was a shop that sold accessories.
Gulp.
A wild thought crossed her mind. If he actually gave her a ring, she had no idea how she was supposed to react.
"Why did we come here?"
"Last time I got Sora a necklace and a piercing."
"Y-yeah, you did."
"I ordered another piece this time. They just finished it."
It hadn't been her jumping to conclusions after all. Senior really had prepared a gift.
The navel piercing was a shock, but…
She still wore the necklace often—carefully, at home, so she wouldn't lose it. If she received a ring on top of that, she wouldn't know how to look at him anymore.
She had been watching his face carefully.
"W-what is it?"
"Hm?"
"What?"
"There's only one place on me that I own, right?"
"Ah."
It was a ring for a completely different part.