Don't Stand in My Way
"We're already tight on budget, and now hospital bills and facility repair costs on top of that...!!"
"Then why are you yelling at me? I don't get it."
"W-what did you say???"
The ponytail leader has a fit.
"I-it's because of you! I got demoted, my team got hurt, and one of them even needs emergency life support surgery and will live half-crippled for the rest of their life! Losing their job was a given!"
"Oh dear."
"With disability assist implants, cyberware, and who knows how much rehab program costs, they're as good as dead! And you're asking why I'm pissed??!"
They got hurt bad, yeah. Baekseol nearly sliced one in half.
But isn't it their own fault? Who told them to point a gun at me?
"Shouldn't your company cover that? Work-related injury or whatever."
"You think money fixes everything...! Even if it did, the compensation's already gone to surgery bills. The monthly pension's barely a fifth of the medical costs. Someone like you, who never worries about money, wouldn't understand!!"
Hmm. Now I get why she's so venomous.
Their company's welfare was total shit.
"Fine, I get it. But why take it out on me?"
"You...!"
"You're pissed at the wrong person. Of course you couldn't stop me—why get demoted for it?"
"Huh??"
"If you'd actually stopped me, that would've been a bigger problem. Imagine if I'd gotten a scratch. You think your company would've survived?"
"..."
"You got off easy with your guys getting half-sliced while I vented my anger, and I didn't even get a single scratch on my precious body as I plowed through. You should be bowing in thanks, not bitching about demotions."
"..."
The ponytail loses her words. My utterly shameless attitude seems to have robbed her of any will to argue.
She looks a bit plain next to the monsters around me, but those stats make her a solid, thrifty talent. Cute face, and her body's built for combat anyway—no need to check. Plus, she's got guts, so I can just snag her under the virgin pussy-house quota, stick her in the PMC, and pull her out whenever I feel like it.
"Your company's a mess, so they'll probably bitch about this too. Just quit and come work for me. I just set up a PMC anyway."
"...You started a PMC?"
"Yeah. Curious? Ask later. Now, mind getting out of the way? Or you gonna block me again?"
Baekseol and Levi step forward a few paces. Those who know Baekseol's nightmarish skills flinch visibly at the sight.
"Ugh, urgh...!"
Ponytail hesitates too. She's not dumb enough to charge when my forces have grown even stronger since last time.
Back then, Baekseol was my only real fighter. Now I've got Levi, security chief Kwon Dam-bi, her sub-team leads, a bunch of guards, and the rest of the secretaries. They couldn't handle one Baekseol—fat chance against all this.
"St-still, as security, I can't just back down...!"
"True. That sense of duty's why you're worth recruiting."
Baekseol and Levi charge. The security team scatters like leaves in the wind, and leader Gong Seo-young gets walloped by the suddenly lunging Kwon Dam-bi, tumbling across the floor.
One notable thing: nobody fired a shot. Progress from last time.
This scoundrel approves.
"Dam-bi, just toss her in the AV. Don't want her seeing anything rough."
"Yes, sir."
"Wha—what the—?!"
Dam-bi and a few guards grab Gong Seo-young and drag her to the AV. She thrashes in shock but can't break free, ending up locked inside.
Bang!
- @#$%#@$#!!
She's pounding on the AV window and yelling something through her injuries, but I ignore it and head through the door Baekseol's holding open.
...
Inside the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, it's much the same. No one tries to block us this time—they all huddle against the corridor walls, scared shitless.
A few floors down, we reach the hallway with the Chief Prosecutor's office.
"Y-you...!!"
The secretary I saw before stands, hands over her mouth. She's actually pretty hot up close. Damn, this world's overflowing with beauties—life's too good.
"If you do this here...!"
"Of course I will."
I grab the trembling girl trying to stop me and kiss her.
"Mmph??!!"
Bam!
Meanwhile, my secretaries kick open the Chief Prosecutor's door and swarm inside.
"Wh-what the hell are you??!!"
"What do you think you're doing!!"
Looks like they were in a meeting—murmurs ripple out.
My secretaries ignore it, fanning out through the room.
"Mmf!!"
After savoring every inch of the struggling chief's secretary and letting go, she collapses, legs giving out.
"The young master is here. Everyone, shut up."
Voice from inside—Seung-hee, who'd gone in first.
I finally step into the Chief Prosecutor's office with Kwon Dam-bi, Baekseol, Levi, In Aeun, and the rest.
"!!"
Chaos everywhere. A middle-aged man who looks like the new Chief Prosecutor is half-rising from the head seat, flanked by about five unknown middle-aged guys on personal sofas.
My secretaries have the room surrounded, menacingly lining the walls—around twenty of them. Basically an invasion.
"Don't recognize any of you. Personnel shuffle? Anyway, nice to meet ya."
I plop onto a nearby sofa. They all twitch, unsure whether to stand, eyes darting around. The Chief Prosecutor shoots desperate glances at the door.
Waiting for security or his secretary to call the cops, probably. Pointless.
"If you're the young m-master, then who...? No, you're Prosecutor In Aeun???"
"This is Go Mu-yeol, young master of the Goryeo Group."
"Goryeo Group...?! Go family???"
The twitchy ones are now half-standing. The Chief Prosecutor too. Shock and wild indecision on their faces.
"Skip the intros—sit down."
I wave them back to their seats. Chief Prosecutor ends up at the head again, but whatever. Wherever I sit is the head.
The Chief Prosecutor wipes sweat with a handkerchief.
"Y-young master... what brings you here...? More importantly, showing up like this without warning...!"
"I told you before—we'd meet around now."
"But I said I didn't have time—"
"I have to schedule around you?"
"Well..."
"I'm a busy man too, Prosecutor."
"..."
"Having a meeting? Quite the crowd."
"..."
The Chief Prosecutor squeezes his eyes shut, then signals the others. They glance at me, hesitantly stand, bow awkwardly, and file out.
Now it's just me, the Chief Prosecutor, and my secretaries.
I nod at In Aeun behind me. She nods back and sits beside me.
"Ahem... young—"
"Oh, right. What's our Chief Prosecutor's name again?"
"..."
He hides his discomfort and answers.
"Jong Jin-hyuk."
"Right. Jong Jin-hyuk, Chief Prosecutor. Got something to say? Spit it out."
"...I had no idea you were so close with Prosecutor In Aeun."
"Would be a problem if you didn't. I wasn't hiding it. Didn't the last Chief hand over the intel? Oh, right—he died, so you got promoted."
"..."
"Anyway, if that's your curiosity, no need to ask. It'll come up in what we're discussing."
"What... do you plan to discuss?"
His face shows some hostility. Thanks to my butterfly effect, the previous Chief died and he got the job—shouldn't he be grateful? Bizarre.
"I heard the new Chief was extra eager to disband In Aeun's special team. It finally happened last week."
"That wasn't my call. By law, special teams can't run over 70 days without City Council Judiciary Committee approval."
"Just get the approval. From the Judiciary Committee."
"...It's not that simple."
"Nothing in life is. You still do it."
"..."
"Upholding social justice, standing straighter and truer than anyone—that's the prosecutors, right? Ignoring justice 'cause committee approval's hard? Useless."
"..."
Getting lectured by a twenty-year-old's got him rattled. His face is priceless.
"Whatever, water under the bridge."
"..."
"What I'm here for is a new special team."
"A new... special team?"
"Can't just leave those Namdong Industrial Complex scum squatting forever, right? Gotta sweep 'em out. Special prosecution on the gangs illegally occupying Namdong. We've got Terminators, after all."