Acquiring the PMC
A few hours earlier.
After enjoying a passionate rendezvous with Sinoe Misano in an empty office as usual, I submitted my vacation request.
Since it was a whopping 43 days long, Sinoe Misano flinched when she saw the paperwork, but soon wore an expression that said it can't be helped and accepted it.
“Forty-three days? Isn’t that a bit much?”
“I received a lot of vacation days as a bonus. Grandfather even gave me an extra ten this time…”
Since Japanese law set the standard annual leave for new hires at fifteen days, I was essentially getting triple what others received.
“What are you going to do during your vacation?”
“First, I’m planning to go somewhere fun with a friend. After that, I’ll figure it out when the time comes.”
Once the PMC acquisition was finalized, I intended to take Kazuhiro and Kiyohira to some island.
Since Kazuhiro had firmly decided to transfer to America, this might be the last chance for the three of us to go on a trip together this year.
If they retired, we’d have plenty of time to travel, but that wouldn’t happen for at least another fifteen years, so we decided to do it this year.
Thanks to advances in science and technology, athletes’ lifespans had lengthened, and these days most retired in their early forties.
“Will you come see me during your vacation?”
“I basically live here anyway. I’ll drop by often.”
With Sinoe Misano’s permission secured, I could now relax until the investigation mission I’d left to Mimata Chieri was complete.
I had come in briefly after lunch to request the leave, but after yesterday’s rather intense activities, I was exhausted.
Between Yukiko, Mimata Chieri, Suzuki Chisami, Sinoe Misano, and even Kawaji Emiko whom I’d met while working out, I was completely drained.
Truthfully, I could have gone straight to Yukiko and gotten the vacation approved without involving Sinoe Misano, but I still had to protect the team leader’s pride.
After all, we were sleeping together.
I said goodbye to Sinoe Misano and headed home.
Mimata Chieri had gone to Fussa early that morning to gather information, so she was probably compiling her findings by now.
Hmm, looks like I wouldn’t get much rest after all?
Just as I was thinking about Mimata Chieri, my phone rang.
Speak of the devil—or in this case, the cat, since she seemed to belong to the feline family.
“Hello?”
—Junior, if you want to acquire Seryu Military Company, you need to move as fast as possible.
Black Tech, the largest PMC in Fussa, is trying to take them over.
Black Tech?
That name sounded familiar… Oh right!
In the game, they were famous because every member was a modified soldier.
I’d thought they offered good cost performance, but their reputation had tanked because they frequently entered a ‘frenzy’ state where they couldn’t distinguish friend from foe.
Still, they were big enough to rank around twelfth in Japan.
So here, they were targeting Seryu Military Company…
“You mean as soon as today?”
—Yes. The moment I hinted that we were interested in acquiring them, they immediately tried to block us with force. We need to finish this quickly.
“I’m on my way now. Get a grasp of the situation beforehand.”
—Understood. Please drive safely, Junior.
Seryu Military Company was located in Fussa, which sat on the exact opposite side of Tokyo from the Human Resources Development Center in Yokosuka.
It would take about two hours to get there.
When I entered the destination into the navigation system, it showed one hour and forty-five minutes.
Must have been shortened a bit since it wasn’t rush hour.
“Surely nothing will happen while I’m on my way, right?”
I muttered to myself and started the engine.
Today, my unconscious thoughts and words were hitting with unusual accuracy.
The moment I thought about Mimata Chieri, she called.
And the moment I muttered surely nothing will happen, I arrived to find nearly thirty PMC operatives surrounding the shabby office of Seryu Military Company.
“How long has this been going on?”
I got out of the car and asked Mimata Chieri.
“About five minutes, I think.”
“Then Black Tech is probably showing off their strength and trying to force a contract.”
“Probably.”
For some reason, the relationship between Black Tech and Seryu Military Company seemed terrible enough that the former would resort to such blatant intimidation to force an acquisition.
If they were on good terms, there was no way Seryu would refuse an offer from the largest PMC in the area.
“Let’s go in. We need to stop the acquisition.”
“What if those thirty people try to stop us?”
“Want to bet on who can knock out more?”
“What are we betting?”
I’d suggested a bet, but I hadn’t actually thought of what the stakes should be…
Since Mimata Chieri had developed a taste for sex, maybe something naughty?
“The loser has to cosplay according to the winner’s preferences, then do whatever position and situation the winner wants.”
“Deal!”
The moment she answered, Mimata Chieri pulled a pistol from her coat and shot the nearest PMC employee.
Something hit him between the eyes and he collapsed.
On closer inspection, it was a tranquilizer dart gun.
“What the—?!”
“Was that a gun?”
While I made my way through the thirty men, Mimata Chieri had already dropped six of them in the blink of an eye.
Just what exactly did she want me to do to her??
Feeling like I absolutely couldn’t lose, I started with the bald guy at the front who was reaching for his gun and began dropping them one by one.
Since anyone trying to draw a weapon became the primary target, the Black Tech operatives clenched their fists and charged at me.
I deflected a punch aimed at my jaw, causing it to slam into the bearded man beside me for a team kill, then used a palm strike to shatter another man’s forearm.
I felt the bones snap against my hand.
While I took down two, a third crept up behind me.
I spun and kicked him in the jaw, dropping him.
As fists rained in from both sides, I tanked them with my body and dropped seven more.
By then, the rest had already been taken out by Mimata Chieri’s tranquilizer rounds.
“I won, right?”
“Y-yeah…”
Had her eyes gone crazy?
I nodded, slightly afraid of what Mimata Chieri might make me do.
“Let’s take care of Seryu Military Company business first, Senior.”
“Ah…! Right.”
I took the lead and entered the office.
A stylish sign with the Chinese characters 青竜軍事会社 (Seryu Gunji Kaisha — Seryu Military Company) hung above the door.
I put on my most likable expression and spoke.
“I’d like to acquire Seryu Military Company.”
The moment I stepped inside, an older man with slicked-back hair and a mustache glared at me.
This was probably Gomisawa Renya from Black Tech.
“You’re too late. Seryu Military Company has already agreed to join us.”
“Really?”
When I looked around at everyone except Gomisawa Renya and asked, they all shook their heads.
“I don’t know who you are, but why would you tell such an easily exposed lie?”
“Then who are you?”
“You don’t need to speak with that man. I am the president of Seryu Military Company, so please speak with me.”
A young woman with a slightly blue-tinted ponytail interrupted Gomisawa Renya and stepped forward.
So she was the president.
Her name was Sawayanagi Azuma, if I remembered correctly.
In The Youngest Son of the Megacorp, she was a useful combat operative with a passive called Precognition that gave her abnormally high evasion and nearly eighty percent trap detection.
I hadn’t realized she was the president.
“I am Sawayanagi Azuma, president of Seryu Military Company.”
“And I am Hata Ryuta, president of Hatake Investment Company.”
Sawayanagi Azuma and I exchanged business cards.
I handed her the one I’d made yesterday that read Hata Ryuta, President of Hatake Investment Company.
I didn’t want the other successors finding out about me, so before receiving the Taira surname, I’d made cards using my original surname, Jin, pronounced in Japanese style as Hata.
I’d also hastily created Hatake Investment Company, seeding it with just enough capital to acquire Seryu Military Company and operate it for a few years.
The name was incredibly lazy—if written in Korean it would literally be Jin Investment Company.
It had only been approved so quickly because I used the Taira name; otherwise it would have taken much longer.
“Ryuta…?”
“Yes?”
Why was she suddenly calling my name?
Sawayanagi Azuma looked genuinely shocked.
“Ah, I’m sorry. My late predecessor’s name was also Ryuta. But the characters are different.”
“Oh, it’s fine. What a remarkable coincidence.”
So her predecessor was also named Ryuta.
Interesting.
With the introductions out of the way, it was time to present the acquisition proposal.
“Here are our terms.”
I took the documents from Mimata Chieri and handed them to Sawayanagi Azuma.
She accepted them and began reading.
“Acquisition price of 300 million yen, with all debts paid separately…
Ah, Mr. Gomisawa, would you please step outside?
We can’t have contract details leaking.”
“Hehehehe…! You dare mock me like this?
You’ll regret this day for the rest of your life.”
The middle-aged man with the slicked-back hair, Gomisawa Renya, laughed like a madman before storming out of the office.
“Thank you. You came to help us, didn’t you?”
“There were a lot of people surrounding the building, so yes, I came to help.
But I also genuinely want to acquire the company.”
“I’m sorry…!”
Sawayanagi Azuma suddenly bowed deeply in apology.
Was she going to refuse the acquisition?
“If you acquire us, someone else will become president, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“My colleagues and I cannot work under anyone else…
Thank you for your help, but today we plan to dissolve Seryu Military Company.”
There seemed to be quite the story behind this.
They would rather disband entirely than work under someone else.
“Wait!”
Mimata Chieri cut in.
Did she have a solution to this impasse?
“The problem is that… I mean, having someone other than the current president become president is an unreasonable condition, right?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm… Then how about this?
Our president will purchase one hundred percent of Seryu Military Company’s shares.
Then our president will appoint the current president, Sawayanagi Azuma, as the professional CEO.”
Would that even work?
Was there no problem with me holding all the shares?
When I looked at her with a doubtful expression, Mimata Chieri winked at me.
“Could you give us a moment to discuss with our colleagues?”
“Of course.”
I also needed time to ask Mimata Chieri what she was thinking, so I nodded at Sawayanagi Azuma’s request.
We stepped outside the office for a moment.
“Japanese law isn’t that lax. Can we really own a PMC through this kind of loophole?”
“Of course not. I’ll hold the shares while Sawayanagi Azuma remains president.
We’ll hide this fact from the Taira family and find a new PMC for me to officially sit as president of.
This is a chance to become the owner of two PMCs, Junior!”
In reality, Mimata Chieri would become the true owner of two PMCs, but whether it was one or two didn’t matter since I trusted her completely.
Besides, her comment about owning two PMCs was tempting.
Having one hidden away to use at a critical moment would be even better.
“Understood. Please take care of this, Senior.”
“Hehe, will you double my salary?”
“That’s easy enough.”
Around the same time our conversation ended, the door opened and Sawayanagi Azuma appeared.
“The discussion is over. Please come back in.”
“Alright.”
Our conditions weren’t bad for them, but I was still a little nervous they might refuse.
“We have a few conditions of our own.”
“Please tell me.”
“We will handle all medical matters ourselves.
Any injuries or health checkups—we’ll take care of them.”
Hmm… This condition was probably to hide the fact that they were espers.
That much I could accommodate.
“Then we’ll provide an annual medical budget in cash.”
“Ah, thank you!
Our second condition is that although the contract states a ten-year no-retirement clause, if I step down from my position as professional CEO, please allow the others to freely choose whether to stay or leave.”
“Fine by me.”
Since I had no intention of firing Sawayanagi Azuma midway, I could easily agree to this.
“Finally, please resolve our debt as quickly as possible.
If it isn’t paid by tomorrow, they said they will seize the office and warehouse.”
“That’s easy. Where should I send the money?”
“I’ll give you the account number once the contract is signed.”
Right. It would be foolish to pay before the contract was even finalized.
“We also have a change to our conditions.”
“A change?”
“The shares will not be held by me, but by my secretary.
Upon review, it seems one must have PMC ownership qualifications to hold shares.
So please just call me Investor.”
For some reason, Sawayanagi Azuma’s pupils trembled when she heard the word investor.
“I-Investor-nim?”
“You don’t have to add nim, haha.”
Why was her face turning red?
We signed the newly revised documents.
At last, the esper unit I wanted was in my hands.
I wouldn’t use them immediately, but I’d have to level them up through various missions.
---
Gomisawa Renya.
I created him because I wanted to try writing a villain, but I feel like I should have made him even more vicious.**Sawayanagi Azuma**
President of Seryu Military Company
Blue-haired young woman with precognitive abilities
Leads a group of war orphans and esper mercenaries
Trait: Precognition — Evasion rate abnormally high. Trap detection approaches 80%.
The more her precognitive ability develops, the bluer her hair becomes. Since she’s a new character, I got excited and made a ton of images lol whoa(The following images show her blue ponytail, various expressions, and combat poses.)
