Honor
The distance between Uryu and Jinhyuk shrank with every step. Uryu fixed his gaze on the man coming toward him and steadied his breathing. This opponent might be the Runner. But that didn't matter. Even if he was the Runner, Uryu would not collapse so pathetically.
This is my chance to make up for it.
For years he had taken on every dirty job Chairman Judo assigned him. Told to kill a man, he erased the entire family without a trace. Told to steal something, he took everything that came with it. Delivering more than what was asked of him — that was how he had barely earned this trust. And then a single punch from Hiyori had blown it all away. He'd been desperate to recover from that, and now, of all times, the Runner himself had appeared. It was as good as an act of God.
This actually works out better.
Conviction settled in his chest. Capturing the Runner would more than make up for his failure. The unidentified climber known as the Runner. The only nation that welcomed his appearance was Korea, the country that possessed him. Every other nation — Japan especially, as one of Korea's eternal rivals — did not. The Runner shattering high-floor records brought Japan nothing. It only weakened their relative military standing and put them at a disadvantage in future negotiations.
Where does that confidence come from? A little praise from all sides and you think you're immortal?
Uryu clenched his molars. Even with only a few paces left between them, Jinhyuk's hands were empty. If he were the Runner, he should have drawn those iron chains. If not, at least the sword he'd shown at the exchange meeting. To a man like Uryu, who had survived countless real battles, it was arrogance of the most insolent kind.
I won't lose.
There was no way he would lose. The opponent was alone. He was not. Behind him stood the security force that had carried out Hosaka's dirty work alongside him.
The last two steps.
"Suuuuuh."
Uryu drew in a breath. And then he stopped walking. A question mark formed on his face. The air seeping into his nose was sharp. More precisely, it was so cold it felt sharp. When had it started? When had the air in the chairman's office changed? The moment he realized it, he felt it through his entire body — a vicious, biting chill that had swallowed the entire space.
Uryu turned his stiffened neck. His pupils dilated. There was no security force where his eyes landed. There were only ice sculptures, frozen a ghastly blue — the men who, until moments ago, had been his security team.
"Did you think I was alone?"
The voice reached him, but he had no luxury of answering.
"Chairman!"
He didn't know who it was. He didn't know how they could even be here. A white-haired man had his arm slung over Chairman Hosaka Judo's shoulder. The man gave a little wave.
"Relax. I'm not killing this old man. Not yet, anyway."
"Get away from the Chairman this instant!"
"But are you sure that's a good idea?"
The corner of the man's mouth curled up.
"Our commander isn't so weak that you can afford to look away."
A razor-sharp killing intent from behind. Uryu dropped into a combat stance and whipped his gaze around — but Jinhyuk wasn't there. All that existed was a vivid line of sword energy, as if it had just been drawn through the air.
Blood erupted into empty space before he even registered that he'd been cut. Uryu's vision went dark as he collapsed to the floor. Jinhyuk flicked the blood from Salamanca and let out a breath. It wouldn't have ended this easily. Not if the man hadn't looked away and dismissed him.
"You cut down a man who looked away! Have you no honor as a warrior?!"
Hosaka Judo bellowed. Darc, still with his arm around the chairman, wore that mocking smile again. Standing right beside him, Darc could tell. This wasn't the dignity of Ronia's chairman and family head on display. This was a man putting on a tough act because he didn't want anyone to see the terror creeping over him.
"Honor?"
Jinhyuk tilted his head. It was true that his teacher, Seira, was a knight who held honor in the highest regard. But she had told him, time and again: you don't need to keep your honor with everyone. Honor is something you keep only for those who are worthy of it.
"Do you even have the right to speak of honor?"
"What would a brat like you know?! The Hosaka family has valued honor and the martial way for generations! Some nobody who crawled out of nowhere dares to lecture us on honor?!"
"Maybe we just have different definitions of honor. At least in mine, a man who bombs a child doesn't get to call himself honorable."
"You—!"
He wanted to snap back, but somehow his mouth wouldn't open. The truth was, Judo himself knew. All the countless evils he had committed under the excuse that they were necessary for a greater cause — that they were acts that betrayed, utterly, the honor he had spent a lifetime shouting about.
Jinhyuk walked slowly until he stood directly in front of Judo.
"I'm asking this because I'm genuinely curious. Was having your pride hurt at an exchange meeting really such a big deal that it was worth killing a child over?"
"You... our Hosaka honor..."
Judo's face twisted hideously. But he didn't fire back. The grip on his shoulder tightened. The white-haired man was applying silent pressure — a message not to address his master so casually.
"Hooo."
Judo regulated his breathing. He was the chairman of a major Japanese corporation and the head of a prestigious family. No matter how far these people went, they wouldn't dare kill him. So for now, it was wiser not to provoke them further. There would be plenty of chances to pay this back.
"I express my regrets regarding the child. I never intended to go that far. That man lying there did it out of misplaced loyalty. I never imagined he would take it to that extent."
Judo looked around the wrecked chairman's office.
"We'll treat today's events as if they never happened. There are no cameras or listening devices in this office, so you need not worry. If I keep my mouth shut, this never happened."
"I know. There aren't any."
Using Card Manifestation to summon Kancho and search the entire chairman's office — that was the first thing Jinhyuk had done upon arriving.
"I'll compensate the child more than generously. So leave. If you take the VIP elevator, you can exit the building without running into anyone."
A few seconds passed after Judo finished speaking.
"Heh!"
Darc let out a hollow laugh. His hand slid from Judo's shoulder to his throat.
"Hey, old man. Why are you shaking so hard? Scared we'll find out you were lying?"
Judo's pupils trembled. The truth was, he had never had the slightest intention of letting them walk away. The moment his safety was secured, he was going to use every connection he had to kill them in the most horrific way possible.
"Chairman Hosaka Judo."
Jinhyuk called his name with a smile.
"No need to work so hard at lying. Because from the very beginning, we..."
Jinhyuk raised Salamanca.
"Wai—"
Judo threw up his hands in terror, but the sword did not stop. It swept through, carving apart a body stained with ugly greed.
As expected.
Watching it, Darc's mouth stretched into a long grin. A clean motion without a shred of hesitation. Eyes that never wavered. That was only possible for someone who harbored no doubt about his own judgment and his own justice. He understood it once more. Only the Jinhyuk standing before him. Only this man could be the master he would serve.
"MOMOOOO!"
"Huh?"
At Jinhyuk's shout, Darc turned his gaze. When had she been manifested? Momo was rummaging through the pockets of the fallen.
"This axe is expensive!"
"Oh?"
"The watch too!"
Jinhyuk had been about to pick her up, then froze. Momo was picking things up one by one and stashing them in her inventory, looting them as if they were monsters. After watching her for a while, Jinhyuk swallowed.
"Mo-Momo. You only take the items. You can't just start cutting them open and pulling things out like they're monsters."
"Huh? They're not monsters, so if I did that it'd be too cruel!"
Jinhyuk let out a sigh of relief. He'd been briefly worried the already chaotic scene would turn into a grotesque slaughterhouse.
"I'm gonna try this watch on! Momo breathed on it — haaah — and polished it all squeaky-clean!"
"Ugh... let's just sell it."
"Yeah! That's even better! We'll have so much money!"
Watching the pair of them — a regular Dumb and Dumber act — Darc chuckled. The more he looked, the more interesting his master was. And the more interesting his friends were.
Two hours later, the Hosaka heirs arrived at the Ronia building and raised their voices.
"It's been hours since we lost contact with the Chairman! What the hell have you all been doing?!"
"S-sorry, sir. We'll go up and check immediately."
"Out of the way! We'll go ourselves! And why aren't the chief secretary and those secretary bastards answering? Weren't they supposed to be on standby twenty-four seven?"
Had they all gone mute? Rito let out a contemptuous sigh and started toward the elevator. And from the elevator that opened—
"P-please save us!!"
Secretaries with deathly pale faces came bursting out. Rito and his brothers, about to step in, recoiled in shock and landed on their backsides.
"What the hell?! You don't pick up when we call, and now you show up from whatever hole you were hiding in?!"
There was no way they could answer that question. They'd lost consciousness in an instant. And that wasn't even the important part.
"The Ch-Chairman...!!"
The eyes of the scolding Hosaka heirs went wide. You could read it on their faces. Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.
"Move!"
They shoved the fallen people aside and boarded the elevator. On the way up to the chairman's office, Rito chewed his nails. This was the building of the corporation Ronia. They were the Hosaka family. There was no way something had gone wrong. Even the Japanese government didn't dare act rashly — who would dare lay a hand on the Hosaka?
Ding.
They finally arrived at the top floor. The people who stepped out of the elevator stood with their mouths hanging open. An impossible scene stretched before them. A horrific sight they had never even imagined in their worst dreams.
Ding.
Executives who had rushed over after hearing something had happened also froze in their tracks. Not a single person opened their mouth first. Because they could see it clearly. The corpse of Chairman Hosaka Judo, already dead.
"Grandfather!!"
While the Hosaka heirs ran to Judo, the executives' minds began racing. To find out who had killed the chairman? No. That hardly mattered in the current situation. What mattered was something else. Judo's sudden death, and the chairman's seat left vacant because of it. All the Hosaka family had left were a handful of mediocre sons and grandsons.
One of the executives turned to his secretary.
"Contact the Japanese government. Inform them that the Chairman has passed away."
"Y-yes, sir!"
The secretary who received the order swallowed dryly. By tomorrow, everything would be turned upside down. The whole of Japan.