The Spy and the Purge
In the bed still warm from the whirlwind of passion that had swept through it, Yukiko rested her head on my arm as a pillow and spoke softly. She had spent the weekend looking into Nadachi Tojo. According to her, she hadn't found any concrete evidence that he belonged to Jiro's faction. There were a few suspicious circumstances, but she said that alone wasn't enough to transfer him elsewhere or fire him. We needed something more decisive.
"Should I dig into it myself?"
"Can you manage that?"
There was a hint of doubt in Yukiko's voice. It was only natural. As the youngest member of the family who'd joined straight out of high school, she probably assumed I didn't have any special skills. But I had quite a few. Just like the ones displayed in the translucent window floating before my eyes right now.
Shin Kaiyatsude
Golden Pillar Bangjung-sul
Shadow Control
Telekinesis
⟨ Four Skills ⟩
Only four skills, but none of them were ordinary. Shin Kaiyatsude was a Mythic-grade martial art, and Golden Pillar Bangjung-sul was the sexual cultivation technique that formed the foundation of my power. Shadow Control and Telekinesis were already supernatural abilities that surpassed human limits. Any other person would have been overjoyed to possess even one of them, feeling as if they owned the world.
I'd been grinding proficiency on all of them recently, so they were all at a decent level. Among them, Shadow Control had seen the biggest increase lately, and I'd been wondering how to put it to use. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to test it out on Nadachi Tojo.
"I'm just a new hire, after all. He might let his guard down around me and leak some information, right?"
"If you want to try, I won't stop you. But be careful. Understood?"
I had no intention of revealing my supernatural abilities to Yukiko just yet, so I kept it vague about gathering intel. She pulled my face into her chest and murmured words of concern.
"I'll be careful, Yukiko."
It felt like her breasts were coated with sleeping pills. Just lying against them made my eyes grow heavy. I thought I heard her whisper that she would protect me.
###
"Sinoe Misano is trustworthy. She became team leader before the current HR manager was promoted."
"I understand. I don't think she's working for another faction either."
I nodded in agreement with Yukiko's words. Thanks to the effects of the Golden Pillar, her favorability toward me was extremely high, so I trusted Sinoe Misano to a certain degree. If I asked her strongly enough, she would find it difficult to refuse anything. I wondered if she'd spent quality time with her husband, though. I knew she'd taken a few days of vacation. Given her usual sexual appetite, her husband might have been found as a dried-up mummy.
"See you tonight, Yukiko."
"Mm. Be careful out there."
I gave her a light kiss and left the house. Since Mimata Chieri was the one who'd first given me information about the HR manager, I decided to start by talking to her.
"Good morning."
After the formal greeting, I entered the office and immediately spotted Mimata Chieri. She smiled brightly and waved at me. I smiled back and gave her a polite nod.
"Hubae-gun, did you have a good weekend?"
"Yes, I did. How about you, sunbae-nim?"
"The training ended last week, so I got to rest properly."
Since the training had wrapped up last Friday, the Human Resources Development Center wouldn't be too busy for a while. The center typically split vacation time between June through August and November through January after the second half of the year’s training ended. Most people took leave in August when it was hottest, but a few had already used theirs and were off starting this week.
"Did you rest well over the weekend?"
I was about to talk with Mimata Chieri when Sinoe Misano entered with a seductive smile. The way raw sexual frustration practically dripped from her smile told me her husband hadn't satisfied her properly. For the sake of team harmony, I'd have to put in some effort later.
Throughout the morning, I didn't get a chance to speak with her because of the follow-up work from the new employee training. Still, since we always ate lunch together, I wasn't worried about missing my opportunity.
Finally, lunchtime arrived and we could be alone.
"Today it's Nagasaki champon and dongpo pork set. What are you having, hubae-nim?"
"I'll go with the dongpo pork set."
Meat over noodles, of course. I naturally didn't bother asking for portion size anymore and simply gave the lunch lady a nod as she served me the largest portion. Mimata Chieri received her Nagasaki champon and sat down across from me. We exchanged a few side dishes and began eating.
Nagasaki champon wasn't really my style. I preferred the fiery red broth of Korean-style champon. As for dongpo pork, the authentic version was incredibly labor-intensive, so what I'd received was really just braised pork in soy sauce with a fancy name. They had at least cut the pork into large chunks like the real thing. It was a bit of a cheat dish, but it tasted good. Wrapping the bok choy drenched in reduced soy sauce with the meat made for a pretty decent combination.
"The dongpo pork is tastier."
"Right? It's delicious~!"
"Want some more?"
"No, I'm full, hubae-nim."
In the end, Mimata Chieri couldn't finish her Nagasaki champon and patted her belly with a happy expression. I, of course, cleaned my plate. Just the right amount.
"You'll have coffee too, right? I have something to ask you, so this time I'll treat, sunbae-nim."
"Then I'll have an iced chocolate~!"
After the meal, we sat in the company café and drank our coffee. After a few sips, I brought up the main topic.
"That time you mentioned that Assistant Team Leader Suzuki Chisami and the HR manager were part of Jiro's line—where did you hear that?"
"Oh, that? Where did I hear it..."
Mimata Chieri touched her chin with her index finger and thumb, looking like she couldn't recall right away, and tried to remember the source of the information.
"Ah! I remember! One of my classmates works at Taira Steel, where Taira Jiro is the president. She said she often saw Nadachi Tojo, the HR manager. At the time he was still a deputy manager, and my friend wondered why someone from another subsidiary kept visiting so frequently. She even memorized his name because of it."
"I see."
It was fairly direct testimony, but it still wasn't enough to attack Nadachi Tojo with. To get real evidence, we'd need the visitor logs from the steel division, but that was Jiro's stronghold. There was no way they'd hand over materials to us easily. Still, Mimata Chieri's story had completely solidified my suspicions about Nadachi Tojo. It was time to take direct action.
"And how did you find out that Nadachi Tojo was looking after Suzuki Chisami?"
"Ah, that was... When you were away as a mentor, Assistant Team Leader Suzuki made some mistake and was getting scolded by the team leader."
She was probably referring to the time when everything had been dumped on me.
"Not long after Suzuki got chewed out by the team leader, HR Manager Nadachi came to see her. They talked privately, but afterward she completely ignored the assistant team leader. It seemed like she'd heard something about her from the HR manager."
The HR manager personally visiting another team's leader to speak with her... This was quite useful information. I could use it as ammunition to attack him for overstepping his authority. I'd discuss this with Sinoe Misano later. For now, I needed to break into Nadachi Tojo's house this afternoon and find direct evidence.
I sent the message to Yukiko while the thought was fresh. After finishing our coffee and returning to the office, Sinoe Misano called me over. It seemed Yukiko had already contacted her.
"Ryuta-kun, the director wants to see you. You can handle whatever she assigns and head home right after."
"Is that so? But you don't look well, Team Leader. Are you okay?"
I pretended not to know and asked with a worried expression. Sinoe Misano's eyes wavered for a moment, but she quickly shook her head.
"I'm still fine for now."
For now. She wasn't calling me over because she felt guilty about her husband being back, but it wouldn't be long before she pulled me aside again.
"Let's play tennis together next time, Team Leader. I'll be waiting for your call."
"T-tennis?"
Sinoe Misano repeated the word, but I didn't answer and simply walked out. I stopped by the house briefly to gather what I needed, then got in the car and headed for my destination—Nadachi Tojo's residence.