The Irritation of El-Lena
Irua and I left the containment zone and decided to stop by one particular place. It wasn't far. It was that orphanage.
"What? Is this really the place?" Irua asked, looking skeptical.
The orphanage was tucked away in a secluded area, slightly up the mountain from the lake. The building wasn't small, but it was dilapidated, a place whose purpose was impossible to discern from the outside.
"It's so run-down," she noted.
"That’s why it’s the real deal." I approached the building, climbed onto the railing in the back, and gestured for Irua to follow. She climbed up after me. As she peered through the window into the building's interior, her expression shifted.
"Whoa."
Contrary to its shack-like exterior, the interior was clean and modern. It was no less impressive than a high-end private elementary school.
"There are a lot of children here. If the exterior were luxurious, it would easily become a target for crime. In a city like this, it’s designed to be inconspicuous on purpose."
"I see. Do you know the director?"
"A little, from back in the day."
"Hmm."
While Irua was looking around, she made eye contact with one of the children. She looked flustered, but the child ran over to her, delighted. The child pressed their palm against the window. Irua hesitated for a moment before pressing her own palm against the glass to match the child's.
It was time to head back. As I watched the sun slowly descending, Irua spoke up.
"That kid... their hand was so small."
"Well, of course it would be."
"...Zeo, do you want to compare yours with mine?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Just do it."
Irua held out her palm toward me. Is this a contest, too? I opened my palm in front of her. She pressed her hand firmly against mine.
"It's big."
"I suppose it is."
Irua gave a mysterious smile and stood there like that for a long time.
"This counts as one, right?"
"Counts as what?"
"A monologue."
Irua grinned, showing her teeth, then spun on her heel and started walking away.
"Reporting for Genmursa. Q4 revenue is expected to close at a 22.7 percent increase year-over-year, and..."
"Reporting for Yggdrasil. The listing of the subsidiary has been perfectly executed according to the Chairman's instructions. Consequently, the headquarters' stake is..."
A massive conference room. Everyone sitting at the table is an executive over the age of 50. Dressed in high-end suits, they are all CEOs of major corporations. They are the social elite, treated as distinguished guests wherever they go. Yet, their faces are filled with palpable tension. They wipe sweat with handkerchiefs, drink water repeatedly, and fidget with their fingers.
They take turns giving presentations. Every time a presentation ends, the figure sitting at the head of the table gives a slight nod. Only then does the presenter let out a sigh of relief.
"Re-reporting for SmartDrain. Revenue decreased by 42 percent compared to the same period last year, but this is due to the technology investments made since the beginning of the year, and development will be completed within Q2 of next year..."
"Wasn't it scheduled for completion in Q3 of this year?"
The CEO of SmartDrain gulps. The figure at the head of the table scans the documents.
"Effective immediately, SmartDrain is expelled from El Corporation. Terminate funding and recover the investment capital."
"Ch-Chairman! Please!"
The CEO of SmartDrain falls to his knees on the spot. It was a sentence equivalent to a death warrant. In an instant, his company was finished, and he was destined to be obliterated under a mountain of debt. Before he could even beg for mercy, he was dragged out by guards. None of the other CEOs dared to look his way. They knew well that if they displeased her, they would be next.
"Next."
A cold voice that pierced everyone's heart. In a present where government authority has shrunk due to the war between the Hero Association, villains, and the subsequent Dark Kingdom, she is the Queen of the business world who effectively rules this nation. In front of Yoo Chae-mi, the Chairman of El Corporation, everyone had to crawl.
After the brief year-end report concluded, the CEOs only let out sighs of relief once Yoo Chae-mi had left the conference room.
"Summary execution if the performance isn't there..."
"It can't be helped. We are all subsidiaries of El Corporation. Without their funding, we die."
"I don't know how much longer we can hold out. It's already been four years since Chairman Yoo took office, and even if she is the former Chairman's granddaughter..."
"That's why it's even scarier. Originally, she's just a rootless bloodline, an illegitimate child with no succession rights at all."
"She fought her way through that family feud purely on merit, after all..."
"We have to endure; there's no other choice. This city runs on money anyway."
After exchanging a few words, the CEOs stood up. Today, too, they exhaled their shortened lifespans along with their breath.
Yoo Chae-mi walked down the hallway after leaving the conference room.
"We will provide escort."
Two men stuck to her side and walked with her. Heroes in suits. Both are A-rank. They are idiots the Association President forced upon her because he wanted to establish a line with her. Were they crew members of Green Nature?
Yoo Chae-mi suppressed the rising irritation and boarded the VIP elevator. It was refreshing, being surrounded by glass. Seoul, visible at a glance. The tallest building in this city. It was the very symbol of wealth and power.
The elevator descended toward the ground. Mid-way, Yoo Chae-mi witnessed the clouds in the sky parting.
"Oh?"
It was a disgusting sight. Combatant monsters were leaping down to the ground from an assault airship of the Galactic Empire that had appeared in an instant. And they were right above her head.
"Chairman! It's dangerous!"
"We will protect you!"
The two heroes on either side blocked Yoo Chae-mi's path. As if pressing their bodies against her in this cramped elevator would have any effect. Yoo Chae-mi wasn't so foolish that she didn't realize they were pressing their bodies against her with impure intentions. Finding even the inhalation of their breath disgusting, she unfolded her fan to cover her mouth.
The irritation finally broke Yoo Chae-mi's threshold.
"You two, what are your names?"
"Ah, A-rank hero, Water Master!"
"I'm Sand Bomb!"
The men just giggled, turning to look at Yoo Chae-mi, forgetting their duty as escorts. Yoo Chae-mi shook her head.
"There is no aesthetic in your names, either. That will do. Just 'burst'."
Pop!
Blood sprayed from the temples of the two heroes. The two corpses collapsed, decorating the elevator wall with red paint. Yoo Chae-mi activated her facial recognition-disrupting device and began unbuttoning her suit coat, which had been splattered with filthy blood. Beneath it, a violent physique and a neat uniform were revealed. Yoo Chae-mi—no, El-Lena—licked her lips.
"How dare you turn my nest into a pile of filth."
A light contempt settled in her eyes.
"'Shatter'."
The elevator glass shattered. El-Lena jumped out without hesitation. The gravitational acceleration rushed to cover her. Violent winds shot through her ears. Just before the gravitational acceleration and the concrete could tear her soft body to pieces—
"'Decelerate'."
Her body slowed. She landed on the ground as lightly as a feather. El-Lena lowered her long eyelashes and looked at the monsters.
Disgusting. I promise you. I will not let a single one inside. I will take all your lives right here.
Just as she thought that and was about to speak the incantation—
BOOM!
Something fell in front of her, kicking up dust.
Apocalypse
The red dragon-kin that appeared in an instant began to burst the monsters apart in an instant.
"Zeo, you're too excited! We should fight together!"
"Haha. I played around for days because of that damn sloth, so concede this much to me."
Following them, the members of Dark Matter and Vengeance landed. They began to hunt the monsters excitedly, as if El-Lena didn't even exist. El-Lena looked up with an unpleasant face. There was flickering noise in the transparent sky.
'Optical camouflage? On an airship that size?'
Optical camouflage was a technology still under development among all of El Corporation's subsidiaries. Even then, the size applicable to a suit was the limit. It wasn't even at the practical application stage. A technology of this magnitude was in the hands of a mere fledgling organization like Vengeance? El-Lena was bothered.
'To draw my attention...'
The sight of him digging into her mind at will was so insolent. Georgius. What on earth is this man who has been a thorn in her side since their first meeting?
"Zeo."
El-Lena decided to show mercy. She calmly called out to Georgius. However, Georgius ignored El-Lena's call and remained absorbed in hunting monsters. El-Lena crossed her arms and tapped the tip of her high-heeled foot.
"Hey, Zeo!"
When she raised her voice, Georgius finally turned his head.
"Hmm? It's El-Lena. Ah. So this was it. The headquarters of El Corporation."
El-Lena was getting annoyed. Why does this man act like he knows everything? The Sky Lens project she poured everything into. The Galactic Empire that was supposed to invade on the 30th day, not the 50th. Even that tone—doesn't it sound like he knows her identity is Yoo Chae-mi, the Chairman of El Corporation? Although many organization executives or company officials know that because the Divine Tree and El Corporation have a close cooperative relationship.
"Come here. I have something to ask."
"I'm busy right now. Make it short."
Georgius stood in front of El-Lena. He was still a large and sturdy physique.
"How did you know the invasion date of the Galactic Empire?"
"Is that all you want to ask?"
What an annoying man. El-Lena raised the end of her eyebrow.
"Looking at that expression, I guess not. Don't worry. It looks like you came out to protect the Sky Lens here. Anyway, we, Vengeance, were planning to handle all the monsters. Leave it to me."
El-Lena didn't like the situation where she had to use her brain's resources to figure out Georgius's true intentions. Because the place where the Sky Lens was located was not here, the headquarters building. As if he had read even that, Georgius let his tongue run smoothly.
"Was it not here? Well. It's not like I know everything. I only know what I know."
He was a man who made her increasingly angry. El-Lena wanted to make him submit.
"Zeo. 'Kneel'."
El-Lena swung her fan at Georgius and commanded with 'Word Magic'. However.
"..."
Georgius just stood there, upright, in that spot.
"I'll be back."
Watching Georgius's back as he ran back to the monsters, El-Lena made up her mind.
"Zeo. I will definitely kill you."