Happiness in the Nest
Owen's reign came to an end after just one month. Officially, he was declared dead. Recetio Corporation slowly returned to normal. Another month passed since then.
Kashi's father resumed his role as president, and Kashi became a director at the company. Of course, she could have taken the president's seat right away— she had the justification and the power for it. But Kashi preferred the director position. She wanted to experiment with her abilities in various ways. It came with fewer duties than the presidency, and even if she failed, there was someone to cover for her. That was her choice.
But being a director didn't mean her influence in the company was limited to that level. After all, everyone had witnessed her personally reclaiming the company—no one dared question her power. To exaggerate a bit, the president was practically her puppet now.
Now the true power behind Recetio, Kashi was wrestling with a mountain of paperwork in her office today as well.
"Nyaah~..."
Letting out a meaningless groan, Kashi melted over her desk. It was a far cry from the dignified image one might expect of a director with an office larger than most family homes.
A short distance from her desk, Amon leaned back on the sofa, a proud smile on his face as he polished his sword.
"You like it that much?"
"Of course. TNC-101 alloy body, magic stone-reinforced core, elemental metallurgy..."
Amon's explanation, which she'd heard several times a day already. Kashi gave a wry smile and listened to it all.
'He loves it so much—worth buying it for him.'
Upon her appointment as director, the first thing Kashi did was upgrade her comrades' gear to the highest specs. She lavished them with procedures and equipment that even security chiefs at other companies could only dream of.
Amon had skipped the procedures, so she'd compensated with gear instead—military-grade stuff that civilians couldn't even imagine, obtained through a bit of string-pulling.
The swords he was lovingly stroking in turn were the pinnacle of human craftsmanship. No wonder his smile never faded as he gazed at them.
"Heh heh heh..."
Not to mention the clothes he was wearing now—their performance specs alone would take ten mouths to describe fully. Gear nerd through and through. Kashi shot Amon a wry smile.
Then, a sudden question popped into her head. She finished processing the documents at hand and voiced it right away.
"Come to think of it, didn't you take down a whole megacorp before?"
"Yeah?"
"And in exchange for handing it over to 3 Dollar, you got some key money and a few other deals."
"Yep."
"But why was the key money so low?"
Kashi had heard about Amon's deal: meat, key money, and a few conveniences. But no matter how she looked at it, she couldn't understand. That was it? For handing over an entire megacorp?
She might not have gotten it back then, but now as a megacorp director handling money firsthand, the deal Amon had struck seemed ridiculously undervalued. She even suspected he'd been scammed mid-negotiation.
But Amon denied her suspicions.
"I know. But there's a reason."
"What reason?"
"Huh? Can't you just peek and see?"
"Why would I peek into your past without permission? I only look at the future."
"Aww, thanks. But I can't tell you. Sorry."
"Eh, you're handling it somehow, I'm sure."
Kashi nodded and refocused on her paperwork. The Amon she knew was kind but no pushover. There had to be a reason he'd lowballed the deal—and hidden the real terms with 3 Dollar.
She typed some documents, signed others by hand, processing them steadily. Like a capable career woman, she handled calls and work simultaneously through her earpiece. Her day wrapped up just past 6 PM.
She stood immediately and said to Amon, who had been waiting.
"Done."
"Early today, huh?"
"Had a prior commitment, so I knocked out a few extras yesterday. Let's go."
"Sure. Lobby first."
Amon slipped his sword into his pocket—magically, it vanished inside. The two grabbed their coats and headed to the company lobby.
Sonia was waiting there, her lecture for the day finished.
"Let's go already~."
With Sonia joining, the trio rode the elevator again. They went up to the top-floor atrium where the final battle had taken place, then took another elevator down.
Basement level 8. Accessible only to executives and above.
Amon and Sonia normally wouldn't have clearance, but this was a special case.
After identity checks at the B8 lab, the three headed to its deepest part.
Beyond the glass, a snail the size of a human forearm was crawling around.
Entity Name
Once Kashi's blood kin, who had ruled for a month—now reduced to a mere pest. No pity stirred in her. Owen's karma wasn't just one or two misdeeds. From the moment he'd ripped out human brains for supercomputer upgrades, he'd been no saint, right up there with his mother. A saint wouldn't have strangled his own father.
As Amon, Sonia, and Kashi watched the snail, the others arrived.
"Sorry, we're a bit late."
It was Torso the water buffalo tanker and Bens the mute sniper, both in Recetio security uniforms.
"Overtime confirmed for us."
"Me too."
The ogre and non-binary mage wore lab coats from the research division, not security.
After the incident, the four had landed jobs through Kashi's connections. Commoners might hate corporations, but they didn't turn down jobs there. It was contradictory, but corporate gigs were stable and safe. And with solid connections to boot, there was no reason to refuse.
The changes in daily life didn't end there. Amon's gaze drifted to his comrades' fingers.
Torso and Bens, Vox and Hen—each pair wore matching rings on their ring fingers.
He'd been briefly shocked when he first heard, but adapted quickly. From a conventional view, the non-binary mage and ogre pairing was a bit startling, but...
'Whatever, if they're happy.'
Amon decided to respect them.
Anyway, it had been ages since all six gathered. (They called it the Kashi Expedition for convenience—Kashi hated the name.)
Amon had acted as a go-between for updates over the past month since he had free time, but schedules hadn't aligned for a full reunion until now.
The expedition leader, Kashi, brought up the topic.
"Alright, long time no see— I'd love to head straight to dinner, but let's handle the snail business first."
She tapped the glass. The reason she'd called these six was simple. Backup in case the experiment went wrong and spawned a dungeon—though that seemed unlikely. The snail didn't look capable of much.
More importantly, they were the most trustworthy.
The snail had future sight—the Recetio family power. Still under research, but if it leaked, it could cripple the precog-dependent Recetios. So experiments were limited to the bare minimum trusted personnel.
Amon shook his head to clear his thoughts. The lab-coated non-binary mage stepped forward and began the snail experiment.
Today's test: confirm if the snail and Kashi saw the same futures.
Vox delicately inserted a thin needle into the snail with movements unfitting his massive hands. He adjusted his microscope-equipped mechanical eye intently.
Finished, Vox wiped sweat from his brow.
"Phew. Been doing nothing but this for a month. No one in the lab handles it better than me now."
The device linked wirelessly to the needle began displaying output. The snail's futures appeared in an 8-way split.
"Still only reading 8. More neural research should unlock extras."
"No rush. Take it slow."
Kashi encouraged Vox's report and sat down. A display sat before the snail, linked to the body cam on Amon's chest.
Amon, with Bens and Torso, entered the sparring room.
The setup: show Amon's POV combat via body cam to the snail and Kashi. Kashi checks which of the snail's futures match hers.
Crack, pop. As the combat team warmed up, Hen gave the signal. Sparring began.
The comrades' combat prowess on screen was leagues beyond a month ago—thanks to Kashi's procedures and gear.
A bit anticlimactic, maybe, but in this world, personal effort and time didn't equate to strength. Capital for top procedures and the constitution/mentality to endure them decided it. Training and meditation could raise limits, but physique and talent were key.
That's why a street punk suddenly returning as megacorp security chief-level monster wasn't odd here.
'Though they're not chief-level yet.'
Body parts for procedures had limits at once. They hovered at upper mid-manager level for now.
Kashi wanted someone reliable as security chief, but no hurry.
'They had plenty of procedure compatibility margin.'
Upgrade gear slowly, and chief-level was feasible. lost in such thoughts, Kashi watched the screen. Time passed, results came...
"Match rate: 0%."
"Whoa, that's surprising."
Amon's eyebrow twitched at Hen's report. Everyone had expected it—prophets saw different futures, and precog shifted with observation.
But they found a pattern.
"This snail—Owen through and through—is a total safety nut, huh?"
The snail always showed draws. From Amon's view, paths where he absolutely wouldn't lose.
Kashi's visions zeroed in on win or lose extremes—totally opposite direction.
Kashi cheered at the result.
"Great!"
She'd hoped for mismatches, and got them. More futures visible overall.
One more oddity.
Bens was impressed too. The snail's method minimized damage always. Even if slipping into a loss path by mistake, it led to minimal-damage draws.
Sure, victory came to the unrelenting, but...
"Not every employee's got ironclad mentality."
Everyone agreed with Kashi's cool assessment. For mentally fragile staff, the snail's precog was superior.
Satisfied, Kashi wrapped the experiment.
Splat. Right after, the snail spewed green byproduct.
"Eww!"
Sonia bolted from the room in disgust. Even squeamish Torso grimaced and walked out.
Researcher Vox and Hen grumbled as they collected it.
Its effects were unknown, but entity byproducts often had uses, so they stored it.
Amon, eyeing the goo, muttered.
"That ain't poop, right?"
"Entities don't eat."
"True, but..."
Amon trailed off, then turned serious to Kashi.
"Anything else, but if you tell someone to eat that, they'll run."
"Don't worry. I wouldn't. What I hate, I don't force on you. We'll feed it to rats first—no poison, then maybe other employees later."
"What'd those poor souls do?"
"You wanna eat it?"
"No, ma'am—er, President."
"Amon. I'm a director."
"Yes'm. Shadow boss Director, sir."
"Amon."
"Sorry. No more jokes."
Amon silently prayed for the unnamed employees' souls.
'At least Kashi treats staff well and perks are good. One drink for that.'
He rationalized to no one.