The Demonic Capital: New York
After the short villa vacation with Yukiko ended, I returned to the talent development center house only to find that the firearms ordered from the dark market had finally arrived. I handed them over to her immediately as a gift. Yukiko opened the box, her face lighting up with pure delight, before leaping straight into my arms.
“Use this to protect yourself, Yukiko.”
“This is the most romantic present I’ve ever received…!”
She seemed to like it even more than the ring I’d given her during the trip. Yukiko’s personality was shifting in increasingly strange directions. In my head she had somehow morphed into an eccentric gun enthusiast with a scent fetish who enjoyed dressing me up in school uniforms.
Still, she was beautiful, had an incredible figure, adored me, and I adored her right back, so I didn’t let it bother me. Maybe this was what true love really looked like.
“While Ryuta is away in America, I’ll build a shooting range right next to the house.”
Yukiko declared with complete confidence that she would start construction on a shooting range during the final leg of my vacation. Just how obsessed with firearms had she become?
Well, the plot of land beside the house was huge, and with modern technology a range built inside the talent development center wouldn’t leak any noise outside. The shooting we’d done during the trip must have been incredibly fun for her. That was a relief.
Claiming she needed to handle both the range construction and her regular duties, Yukiko headed straight to the president’s office the moment we returned. I gathered the remaining dark-market goods and retreated to my room.
The items bought from the Seoul and Pyongyang dark markets were cultural-heritage ancient texts and weapon-grade cyber implants, so they had taken a longer route and arrived later than the Juangwa that had simply looked like ordinary fruit.
I examined the manuals purchased in Seoul first.
Unique Sword Art Manual
A sword technique created by a swordsman from Goksan. That swordsman later received the title of Sword Master.
A Sword Master from Goksan? I had no idea what that meant. A quick search revealed that Goksan was a region in North Hwanghae Province back in the old North Korean territory.
When I searched for “Goksan Sword Master,” the meme-famous Choe Jun-gyeong, known as the Sword Master of Goryeo, popped up. Yeah, that tracked.
The manual itself was excellent, but the problem was that no one in my circle actually used swords. The closest was Katayama Junichi of Seruta, who trained in dagger techniques, but firearms were his main focus and daggers only a side skill. It wouldn’t be of much use to him either.
Wait—that’s right! In the game, Alexandra Smirnova had used a sword when she appeared as a mid-boss. Giving her this manual made perfect sense. I didn’t know what style she had used back then, but since the Goksan Pafung Sword Art was Unique-grade, it shouldn’t fall behind.
Heritage Martial Art Manual
A fist style modeled after the forms of eight transcendent immortals. Mastering every form is said to allow one to reach the realm of true immortals.
Ah, so it wasn’t the familiar Palgeuk Kwon but Palgeuk Seonhyeong Kwon. The eight immortals were almost certainly the Taoist Eight Immortals of Chinese legend. It was a Heritage-grade manual, one rank higher than the Goksan Pafung Sword Art. The promise of reaching the “immortal” realm suggested it could elevate a person to superhuman heights.
Fortunately I had plenty of candidates for a martial-arts manual. I could give it to Mimata Chieri, who showed clear talent for fist styles, or to Kiyohira, who was constantly training to grow stronger. I’d skim through it first and decide who it suited better. The classical Chinese characters would take time to translate, but modern programs were so good that once I set my mind to it the work went quickly.
After sorting the Seoul manuals, I checked the Centipede Spine SA-A091SGF, artificial eye R-Z001, cybernetic arm 40F-5044, and cybernetic leg Gap-092 Eul77 from Pyongyang. Since I already understood their functions perfectly, I only verified the names and external condition before returning them to their boxes. They would prove useful someday.
Having confirmed every item from the dark market, I collapsed onto the bed and fell straight into deep sleep. Over the four nights and five days I had spent my days and evenings with Yukiko and my nights and early mornings with Dang Sohwa and Yang Seol-hee, managing barely two or three hours of rest. I desperately needed the recovery.
###
The days before departing for America were relentlessly busy. Most of the work revolved around the mithril mine. At Shinoe Misano’s recommendation I interviewed several mining specialists, hired two of them, and dispatched them to Daisen City in Ikata Prefecture. I also sent Mrs. Jin Mi-ja, the manager of Hatake Investment, along with the experts to recruit new laborers.
Besides the mine matters, I prepared for the American journey and observed Seruta’s training. The kids all looked grimy from the harsh regimen, yet compared to their time under the slave traders they were eating properly; the gauntness had vanished and they had filled out noticeably.
Alexandra Smirnova in particular, despite being nineteen and past her main growth years, seemed to have grown a little after receiving proper nutrition. She was slightly taller and her chest had become even more pronounced.
That made sense. In the game she had been a tall, voluptuous Russian beauty, so the gap from her recent cute phase was striking.
Perhaps because I had given them a full day of rest, the children greeted me warmly. When I asked what they wanted to eat their answers were all over the place, so I simply took everyone to a buffet. They devoured everything in sight.
As the investor holding most of Seru Military Company’s shares, I received a report from Sawayanagi Azuma. When I inquired about Sawayanagi Shinya, who was absent on a request from Konoe Akina, he told me the matter was not yet resolved.
I wondered how the war for control of the Konoe family would unfold. Introducing Sawayanagi Shinya had been my way of offering military support through Seruta, but the lack of contact suggested they did not require large-scale force yet.
After the buffet we all gathered for a passionate debate on where to hold Seruta’s first unity retreat. The factions split into luxury hotel vacation, beach, and valley groups. Since I had seen enough ocean with Yukiko and more than enough hotels back in Korea, I cast my vote for the valley.
Oddly enough, the moment I supported the valley side, Sawayanagi Azuma and several former beach advocates switched camps. In the end the first official Seruta unity gathering was set for a valley resort.
I spent the day with the Seruta group, then continued handling work and travel preparations.
Oh, what about Dang Sohwa and Yang Seol-hee? The pair immediately returned to Akita Prefecture, collected the Kurotsuki-do prisoners, and seized every branch across Japan.
After leaving Japan in Yang Seol-hee’s hands, Dang Sohwa traveled alone to Korea, where the Northeast Asia headquarters was located. She transferred all assets, buildings, land deeds, and documents into her own name. With overwhelming charisma she had completely absorbed the remaining Korean Kurotsuki-do forces.
In just a few days she had moved with such speed and precision that she now controlled the entire organization in both countries. It was impressive.
According to Dang Sohwa, any slower and the newly arrived branch head would have absorbed everything first. It had been a pure race of timing.
When I released them and asked how much startup capital they needed, they simply requested modest operating funds, saying they could draw from the Northeast Asia branch itself. I never imagined they would divert the entire branch’s wealth under their own names.
Still, they had handled everything perfectly, so I no longer needed to worry about them and could focus entirely on preparing for America. With everything else already hectic, adding the Kurotsuki-do situation would have left me without a moment’s rest. I was grateful it had resolved so cleanly.
###
The vice-lord of Black Moon Hall, Nikolai Yang, was of Russian descent just as his name implied. A giant standing 215 centimeters tall, he possessed forearms as thick as an ordinary person’s waist and short, neatly styled brown hair. Despite his intimidating physique, he wore gold-rimmed glasses with thick lenses.
His appearance suggested he would solve every problem with his fists, yet he was actually a careful strategist who rarely showed emotion and always thought before acting.
“It appears Dang Sohwa is still alive. Whether she escaped from captivity or hid somewhere, recovered, and resurfaced, I cannot say. However, she has diverted all of our group’s assets in Japan and Korea and eliminated the temporary branch head we dispatched.”
Even at this report, Nikolai Yang’s expression remained completely unchanged. He tapped the desk with his massive fingers, lost in thought.
Dang Sohwa had no powerful backers and many enemies inside Black Moon Hall. Had she returned as a prisoner, she would have been purged on the spot. This seemed like a final act of desperation.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The rhythmic sound of his fingers continued for a long while. Then, abruptly, Nikolai Yang stopped.
“Where is Muyounggui’s execution squad at present?”
“They have gone to eliminate the New York branch head. It will likely take a week.”
Nikolai Yang nodded slowly at his subordinate’s answer, then spoke.
“Then Dang Sohwa has only one week left to live. Once she is dead, we can simply reclaim the Northeast Asia branch’s assets.”
Although Nikolai Yang ranked among Black Moon Hall’s strongest, his compatibility with the poison-using Dang Sohwa was poor. Therefore he intended to entrust her elimination to Muyounggui, whose abilities countered hers perfectly and whose original duty was punishing internal traitors.
“Understood. I will contact the execution squad at once.”
“Then let us move to the next item.”
“Yes. The next agenda concerns the New York branch head that was just mentioned…”
Having decided the death of Dang Sohwa—the colossal leader of the Northeast Asia branch—as casually as taking out the trash, Nikolai Yang immediately focused on the next topic. In his mind, Dang Sohwa no longer existed. To him, she was already a dead woman.
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I don’t usually work with realistic styles, so it’s pretty difficult (T_T)