The Eve of the Purge
At lunchtime, in a corner of the company cafeteria, three female employees sat facing one another over their meals.
"Did you hear that rumor?" Lee Juhee from the Marketing Team asked in a low voice.
Juhee loved gossip and stories, and she was always the one who went digging up the latest company dirt.
"What rumor?" Choi Yuri from the Management Support Team asked, lifting her head.
"It’s about the president."
At that, Park Soyoung, who had been silent until now, startled before she could stop herself.
Kang Taeseong.
Just hearing his name was enough to put her in a foul mood.
Her friends, who had joined the company around the same time she had, probably didn’t know. They had no idea what kind of man Kang Taeseong really was. Fortunately, it seemed his reach hadn’t extended to them yet.
At this table, it was only Soyoung who had reason to be wary.
Keeping her true feelings hidden, she forced herself to ask as casually as she could, "What is it this time?"
"I heard he’s started working out lately."
"...What?"
"Seriously. I’m not making it up."
Juhee shook her chopsticks as though she’d just heard the most amusing thing in the world.
"Security said they’ve seen him. He’s been going to the gym every day."
"The gym?"
"Yep."
"I heard that too!" Yuri chimed in, as if she were simply confirming a story she already knew. "They say he comes down every single day without fail."
"What?"
"He goes down there and does nothing but run on the treadmill for two hours straight, until his whole body’s soaked with sweat."
Soyoung furrowed her brow.
It was hard to believe.
As far as she had observed, Kang Taeseong was the sort of man who wouldn’t budge without an elevator.
That man was working out? Every day?
It was absurd.
"And apparently his diet changed too."
"His diet?"
"Salads and chicken breast."
"..."
Soyoung let out a short, incredulous laugh.
"That man?"
The same man who once devoured several servings of meat by himself at a company dinner? No way.
"Maybe he’s sick or something?"
"Yeah. Maybe he got warned during a health checkup?"
"Or maybe he just had some kind of sudden change of heart…."
"A change of heart?"
"Maybe he got a woman he likes-."
"Eek! What’s that supposed to mean!"
Yuri rubbed her arms as if she’d broken out in goosebumps, while Juhee giggled as though she found the whole thing hilarious.
In the middle of it all, Soyoung quietly lifted a spoonful of rice to her mouth without saying a word.
Even so, her mind was full of something else entirely.
No way.
People didn’t change that easily.
She knew that better than anyone.
Several months ago, that man had shown interest in her.
It had been after a meeting, while she was walking down the hallway.
"Assistant Manager Park."
At the voice from behind her, her whole body had gone rigid.
"Ah, yes. President…."
Soyoung had answered awkwardly, and Kang Taeseong had smiled that oily, unreadable smile of his before patting her on the back twice.
Strictly speaking, a little lower than her back.
It was more like just above the hip. She had never expected him to touch her there and had been so startled she couldn’t say a word.
After casually groping her, Kang Taeseong had simply walked away.
And even after she got home that night, the feeling of disgust wouldn’t leave her.
Ugh….
Just recalling it made goose bumps rise all over Soyoung’s body.
Luckily, nothing had happened after that.
But that didn’t mean she could relax.
The rumors circulating through the company were infamous.
It was said Kang Taeseong liked beautiful women who already belonged to someone else.
Whether they had husbands or boyfriends, no one knew, but that was exactly the kind of woman he was said to target.
And every part of that applied to Soyoung. She had a boyfriend, and she was known in the company for being a beauty.
So for a while, she had been anxious.
What if she was his next target?
She had gone to work every day under that anxiety, but she hadn’t even been able to tell her boyfriend, who worked in the Materials Team.
She couldn’t tell her friends, either. She had a feeling it would only make the situation worse.
And then several months passed, and thankfully nothing happened.
Even so, she still couldn’t fully relax.
He changed?
Ridiculous.
If someone had faced that chilling smile the way she had, they’d never believe such nonsense.
Soyoung silently shook her head.
"What’s wrong?" Juhee asked.
"Nothing."
"But your face looks terrible."
"It’s nothing."
Soyoung brushed it off.
"People don’t change that easily."
"..."
"..."
Yuri and Juhee both looked at her at once.
Soyoung set down her chopsticks for a moment, then said quietly, "Especially not that man."
There was a strange weight in her voice.
The other two didn’t know why.
Soyoung had no intention of explaining, either.
At least, not yet.
She didn’t believe Kang Taeseong had changed.
No, she didn’t want to believe it.
Because if he really hadn’t changed at all, then one day she might become his target again.
Back home, I threw myself onto the bed.
Then I stared at the translucent window floating in front of my eyes.
NTR Point System has been unlocked.
NTR Shop has been unlocked.
NTR Points: 0
"..."
Had something like this existed in the original story?
I didn’t know.
I hadn’t exactly dug that deeply into the game to begin with.
I’d only skimmed the prologue video, read a few lines of character introductions, and then plunged straight into the gameplay.
Maybe I’d put in about twenty hours? That was probably about right.
So I couldn’t say whether this kind of system had existed in the original version.
But there was one thing I could say with certainty.
"This wasn’t there."
It was instinct.
Status windows.
Points.
A shop.
If any of that had existed, people on the community boards would have been talking about it for sure.
But I had never seen anything like that.
So then this was probably…
A transmigration bonus?
The corners of my mouth lifted before I realized it.
A smirk.
The signature sinister smile of Kang Taeseong spread across my face.
"Ah."
Snapping back to my senses, I immediately wiped the expression away.
That was one of the biggest things I’d been working on lately.
Why did I look like I was plotting a crime whenever I smiled?
I headed into the bathroom.
Then stopped in front of the mirror.
"Smile."
I smirked.
"...No. No. Let’s soften it a little."
Again.
Just a bit sweeter this time.
After repeating it several times, I finally managed a face I was satisfied with.
Lift the corners of the mouth, soften the eyes as much as possible. Make it look as friendly as I could.
It was awkward and stiff, but at least it was much better than before.
"Good."
I nodded to myself and returned to the room.
Now it was time for the really important work.
Time to investigate the shop.
"Shop."
"...."
I fell silent for a moment.
The skills themselves honestly looked good.
Lie Detection?
That would be pretty useful when running a company.
Blackmail/Threat Art sounded shady as hell, but if it worked like some kind of negotiation boost, it might be useful. Same with Snake's Tongue and its effect on eloquence.
The problem was…
"So how do I buy them?"
I had no points.
Of course I didn’t. The system had just opened.
But the real question came next.
NTR Points.
How, exactly, was I supposed to earn those?
I propped my chin on my hand and thought it over carefully.
"No way."
I had a pretty good guess.
NTR Points.
The name itself was NTR Points.
There had to be a reason for such an ominous label.
Could it be that, just like in the original story, I’d have to steal someone else’s lover or ruin a relationship to earn them?
Was that the kind of villainous bullshit required here?
"That’s insane."
No matter how I thought about it, that seemed the most likely possibility.
If it weren’t, there’d be no reason to give it such a disgusting name as NTR Points in the first place.
My excitement at what I’d thought might be a transmigration bonus faded a little.
"This is going to be hard to use."
I let out a sigh.
Why was I going through all this trouble?
To survive.
To lose weight and get healthy.
And to normalize the company.
That was all for survival.
And yet I was supposed to commit atrocities like the original Kang Taeseong?
Destroy someone else’s family.
Threaten employees.
Collect people’s hatred and resentment?
That had been the road to ruin for the original Kang Taeseong.
I had no intention of following it, not even a little.
"Should I just give up?"
It was a shame.
The skills did look pretty good.
Especially Lie Detection. I wanted that.
It seemed like it would be a huge help in rooting out scammers and embezzlers if I was running the company.
But if I couldn’t earn points, then the shop and everything else were meaningless.
"Isn’t there another way?"
I dug through the item list, poked at the description window, fiddled with the point display, and even prodded the system window itself.
But—
This feature is not supported.
This feature is not supported.
This feature is not supported.
"How unfriendly."
Would it really hurt to include a manual or something? Like, at least tell me what kind of actions earn points.
I clicked my tongue.
In the end, I hadn’t learned much of anything.
There was a shop.
The shop sold skills.
Skills required points.
That was about the extent of it.
"Well."
In the end, a system was just a system.
It wasn’t the important thing right now.
The company came first.
From what I remembered of the original story, the current KJ Group looked fine on the surface, but inside it was already rotting away.
Embezzlement.
Nepotism.
Cooking the books.
There wasn’t a department that wasn’t infected.
I sat up from the bed.
Come to think of it, I’d neglected the company for too long.
My health was finally on the right track, so now it was time to move.
I picked up my phone.
The recipient was Chief Secretary Kim Seoyeon.
After a moment, the call connected.
"Yes, President."
"Secretary Kim."
"Please go ahead."
"Tomorrow morning."
I looked out at the night view through the window as I spoke.
"Set a meeting with everyone from team leader level and above."
"...Pardon?"
I could hear the startled voice on the other end.
Fair enough.
The original Kang Taeseong hated meetings.
He was the kind of man who dumped every bothersome task on his subordinates.
He hadn’t held a proper meeting even once since I’d come here, so of course she would be shocked that I was suddenly scheduling one formally.
"I’ll say it again. Get everyone from every department together."
"Understood."
"And."
I thought for a moment, then added, "Prepare all financial records from the past three years."
There was a sharp intake of breath over the phone.
"...Yes, President."
The call ended.
I slowly lowered the phone.
This was the beginning.
For survival.
And to save the company.
Tomorrow, I was going to start tearing KJ Group apart for the first time.