Chapter 146: Everything As Planned
November 19, 2076, Thursday morning. Im Sua returned after buying up every last scrap of land in the Namdong Industrial Complex. Perfect timing too—yesterday, all the forests on my artificial island had been cleared out, marking the historic completion of two massive projects back-to-back.
"What, you dyed it?"
In the time she'd been gone, Sua's style had changed up. Her blonde wavy long hair was now straight black. She'd always had this bubbly vibe, but now she looked more subdued. She laughs like a wild child around me, but when her face goes blank, her eyes have this fierce edge—and the new hair really brought that out.
"It was for infiltrating the Namdong Industrial Complex as a disguise. It's my natural color anyway. Should I dye it back?"
"Nah, no need."
The blonde Sua was hot, but black suited her too. Felt fresh, even a bit more stimulating. Hugging her and burying my face in it was gonna hit different—I was already looking forward to it. If I got bored later, I'd tell her to switch it up then.
"The acquisition of the entire Namdong Industrial Complex, as you commanded, Master, is 100% complete."
Sua approached with a polite bow, handing over a thick envelope of documents and a single folder. The envelope was stuffed with land deeds, while the folder held just one neat sheet.
"You can merge or split the land as you wish later on. The existing zoning and such will likely all get reworked anyway, so it'll be easier to handle properly once that's sorted."
"This is everything? The whole Namdong Industrial Complex."
"Yes. Approximately 2.8 million pyeong."
Shrak.
I pulled out a couple sheets to check. All neatly finalized. Anyone seeing these would think it was a straight-up legit deal. Impressive, considering the tight deadline. And she hadn't skimped on the cash either. Very satisfying.
"How much did it run?"
"Total of 41.3 billion."
"Huh. Cheaper than I thought."
"Securing such a large volume at once from the Namdong sellers helped a lot."
"I see."
Out of the 100 billion budget I'd given her, just 41.3 billion. Shocking on its own, but per the terms I'd set, Sua could pocket the difference—58.7 billion. Of course, since she delegated budgets to her own subordinates like I do, her actual take would be way less. She had more than a few underlings. Still, it'd be a massive haul.
'Maybe recover it and hand it out with some fancy awards ceremony? Do it myself.'
I toyed with the idea for a second. Set up a stage, throw a big event, hype it up big time. Gather all the secretaries...
But I shook my head.
'Nah. Just let her take it quietly.'
A grand event? Sure, it'd be nice. But with everything on my plate already, adding that would just delay shit. Watching hundreds of billions slip away in the process? Blood pressure through the roof. Plus, the money she was getting now was huge, but soon it'd be pocket change. Holding ceremonies every time for a few hundred billion? Lame. Better to just hand it over straight.
"Set up a Goryeo Enter account, transfer it there, get you a corporate card to use. Or just withdraw it yourself."
Sua bowed at a perfect ninety degrees, her face lit with gratitude.
"Thank you!!!"
Her booming voice nearly shook the room.
"Yeah. Now get back to my side. Hand off whatever happened to Seung-hee."
"Y-yes...! Master!"
"But what's that?"
"Oh."
Sua straightened and glanced sideways. A big black cloth bag, squirming faintly, handles gripped tight—clearly something alive inside.
A person. A woman, from the muffled mmphs.
"It's Danto."
"That?"
"Yes."
Sua bent down, grabbed the bag firmly, and muttered, "Stay still." Her voice was ice-cold—my dick twitched at it—and Danto's frantic wriggling stopped dead.
Ziiip.
Sua pulled down the zipper. Just as Danto's face popped out, she yanked off the cloth gag over her mouth.
"Mmph—ugh...!"
A gray-haired girl stared at me with teary eyes, then dropped her gaze.
"Ooh."
Cat-like, cute as hell. Adorably pretty.
"I secured Danto on Tuesday, but I wanted to bring her along today after grabbing all the overseas land shares too, to report together."
"So you've had her for two days, then..."
What the hell did she do to terrify her like that? From what I'd heard, the kid had survived as a fixer even in that hellhole industrial complex.
For her to be this spooked...
"Hey, what'd you do to her?"
"Pardon?"
"Kid's scared shitless. You didn't do anything weird, right?"
"N-no, no. She's just so ill-mannered, I only... disciplined her a bit. To instill basic manners..."
"A bit?"
Didn't look like "a bit."
"You fed her properly, at least?"
"..."
Why the silence, Sua?
+++
We headed down to the dining room. The Songdo mansion had both floor-sitting traditional rooms and Western chair setups, but my aunt's artificial island villa only had the long-table chair style. No complaints though—plenty comfortable.
"Eat slow. Not gonna steal it."
"Mmph?!"
Huh. Name fits the vibe—total cat behavior.
"Y-you're too faaaast...!"
Every time the chef set down a plate, it'd be empty before her hand even left it. Top-shelf cuisine across the board, so yeah, but damn, she devoured it greedily. Massive portions too.
"How much did you starve her?"
"I-I always fed her dinner properly..."
Even Sua looked baffled. Guess being cooped up in a place like Namdong built up some serious hunger.
Stats were decent enough. But the traits were solid. Infiltration, stealth movement, light steps, silence—four traits perfect for covert infiltration. Her specialty, clearly. No bolded ones sucked, but implants could fix that.
'My secretaries all have basic cloaking and sound dampening. Load her up similar and stick her on intel duty.'
Even her low martial stat could get patched that way.
'But leadership at 34...? Worse than mine??'
Cat trait, maybe. Total Danto material.
Look at that. Sure, I'd grown a ton, but my leadership was double hers. How bad was it?
'Born to be my pet.'
Glancing at her history, she was a lone survivor type—gutter rat. Fine inside that hell, pickpocketing to eat, but the outside world's harsh.
Hey, Danto.
"Tasty?"
"Mmph, mm-hmm!"
"Hmm?"
Sua shot her a sharp glare. Danto finally gulped down her food and mumbled, "Y-yes..." all droopy.
Perfectly tamed.
"Weird name. You pick it?"
Nod.
"Too strange. You're just Danto now. Register her ID that way."
"!"
"What, hate it?"
"..."
She glanced at Sua. Why not me?
"You're my pet now, so I name you whatever. Got it?"
"I-I'm a person!!"
"Yeah, yeah. A person. Person-pet hybrid."
"Ughhh...!"
"Humans are animals too, y'know? That's why you can be a pet."
"So meeean...!"
"Mean? You know how much that food you're scarfing costs?"
"Eep."
Danto's eyes welled up as she quickly eyed me and Sua, then slyly hugged her plate with her arms.
"Jeez. Hey, not stealing it. What do you think I am?"
I snapped my fingers toward the chefs. They rushed over.
"Yes, Young Master. You called?"
"Take her to the kitchen and feed her there."
"Understood."
"K-kitchen...!"
Danto, clutching her plate like treasure, bolted up and followed them like it was nothing. Hilarious sight.
"That's really Danto? Some badass fixer?"
"...She looks like this, but she's surprisingly agile."
"Tch. Assign her a secretary, walkies every day, keep the weight off."
"Yes."
Felt like I just got a real pet.