Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 372: One Sword (3)
“Human, they’re coming!”
“Yeah.”
Cale looked down with an indifferent gaze at the people entering the building below.
Handle it yourself.
The crown prince had left everything to Cale and was too busy dealing with the affairs of the Roan Kingdom.
“Nasujeol,” on top of the affairs of the Roan Kingdom. In truth, the crown prince was currently enduring it by even cutting down on sleep.
“Human, by the way, our Eden Miru’s recovery rate already hit 80%! Don’t you think it’ll hatch within a week?”
Letting Raon’s words pass by one ear, Cale quietly waited for the people who would come looking for him.
Because it’s annoying.
Let’s do this the easy way.
Thinking that—
*****
Transparent Co.
A place where he was still holding on as a senior researcher, but one he would leave as soon as his resignation letter was accepted.
Kim Se Hyun, apparently uncomfortable in a suit he had not worn in a long time, kept reaching toward his tie.
Damn it.
Click. Click.
His gaze moved forward.
...The Vice President.
Vice President Lee Mi Jung was standing in front of him.
You have to do well today.
As she secretly brought senior researcher Kim Se Hyun and operations team employee Park Jung Gyu here today, she had warned them firmly.
Ms. Rosalyn said so. That today, we’ll be meeting the person standing at the center of everything.
Gulp.
Kim Se Hyun’s eyes swept over the surroundings.
Sun Building.
This building, with its excellent exterior standing on prime land, was said not to house any business at all.
But this building belongs to Sun Co., right?
Sun Co.
Kim Se Hyun, who had spent his whole life only doing research, knew nothing about this company.
Absolutely nothing.
Wow. The Vice President’s backing is Sun Co.?
But Park Jung Gyu from the operations team was different.
This might actually be worth trying.
His junior, Park Jung Gyu, had evaluated Sun Co. like this.
I don’t know that much either, though.
This company, which people in the know talked about—saying one of their close friends worked in investment and had told them about it—
They say it’s a gold mine with no end.
That money gushed out of it without limit.
Kim Se Hyun had asked if that meant it was famous as a whale.
A whale? Ah, sure, you could put it that way.
But Park Jung Gyu had shaken his head with a strange expression.
But even that description is kind of off.
Why?
Because from the standards of ordinary people like us, it isn’t a whale. Even by corporate standards—big corporate standards—it’s a whale.
Then—
If Sun Co. ever decided to stop scattering the money it’s been pouring out, and demanded repayment on the money it lent all over the place, or started exercising voting rights over its investments—
It’d get very ugly.
When he heard that, Kim Se Hyun had voiced his doubt.
Then why hasn’t a place like that become famous until now?
Hahaha. Because people who aren’t interested have no reason to know about it. You didn’t know either, sunbae.
That’s true.
Vice President Lee Mi Jung stopped walking.
“Welcome.”
“It’s a pleasure, Representative Choi.”
Choi Sun Hee, the representative of Sun Co.
Seeing Lee Mi Jung greet her, Kim Se Hyun hurriedly followed Park Jung Gyu’s lead and greeted her as well.
“It’s a pleasure to meet both of you.”
After greeting the two in turn, Choi Sun Hee pressed the elevator button.
“I’ll guide you.”
At those words, Kim Se Hyun could see Park Jung Gyu admiring the situation.
He felt something similar.
...So the person we’re meeting is someone the representative personally has to guide us to?
They said that when Choi Sun Hee visited, at most companies someone at least at executive director level would move to receive her.
Vice President Lee Mi Jung had come along as well, but for Choi Sun Hee to personally handle something this simple—
This is driving me insane.
Thump. Thump. His heart pounded.
Kim Se Hyun looked down at the bag in his other hand.
Inside the tablet in this bag was all the work he and the other researchers had achieved regarding “Phase One: Black Castle portal connection.”
In theory—
The answer from the simulation was that it was fully possible.
But—
Mana.
They still had not yet grasped that existence from another dimension with certainty.
That’s something to coordinate with Ms. Rosalyn.
Anyway—
I definitely brought results.
The elevator doors closed and began to move upward.
Watching the floor numbers rise, Kim Se Hyun swallowed dryly.
The same was true for Park Jung Gyu from the operations team, standing beside him.
This is insane.
The operations team’s discarded card.
That was Park Jung Gyu’s position. Compared to Kim Se Hyun, he was in an even shakier situation.
This is a chance.
He had been given a role too.
Hold out in the operations team somehow. And find clues.
Vice President Lee Mi Jung had said that.
I’m not expecting something enough to destroy Transparent Co. A clue that can at least leave a scratch will be enough.
Park Jung Gyu belonged to one of the many operations teams for New World.
So while pretending, as usual, to waste time doing nothing, he gathered every bit of information he could.
And I reported all of it to Ms. Rosalyn.
Originally, it should have gone to Lee Mi Jung.
I’ll look through all of it myself.
At Rosalyn’s single sentence, Lee Mi Jung had lost her strength.
That alone shows the stronger side is Ms. Rosalyn.
No.
It was the person they were about to meet now at Sun Co.
“Whew.”
He let out a deep breath.
The sound that slipped out unconsciously was louder than he expected, but not a single person looked at him.
Park Jung Gyu, who had glanced sideways, flinched when he saw the deep look in Lee Mi Jung’s eyes.
Absolutely.
Lee Mi Jung felt as though she were sharpening a blade right now.
Absolutely.
Either take Transparent Co.
Or—
Gain the foundation to surpass it.
Since she had accepted Rosalyn’s proposal to do business across dimensions, Lee Mi Jung could no longer retreat.
It was no different from having already betrayed Transparent Co.
Of course, Transparent Co. has probably been planning to throw me away at any time too.
Honorary Chairman Han Taek Soo.
He was a man who trusted nothing except himself.
The kind of man who would abandon even his own child, even the current chairman.
Having risen from an ordinary employee all the way to vice president, Lee Mi Jung quietly loosened the tension in her shoulders.
Ding!
Because the elevator had arrived at its destination.
“......”
Slowly, Vice President Lee Mi Jung followed behind Representative Choi Sun Hee.
Click. Click.
Choi Sun Hee did not hide her presence.
A space that took up an entire floor.
A place surrounded on all sides by full-height glass windows.
At its center sat only a desk and sofas, arranged with extreme simplicity.
That person—
And the instant she faced the man seated at the place of honor on the sofa, looking at them—
“......!”
Lee Mi Jung could no longer move forward.
Without realizing it, she instinctively sucked in a breath.
Because it felt as if, for a moment, she might forget how to breathe.
“!”
“!”
She was not the only one.
Kim Se Hyun and Park Jung Gyu both stopped in place.
They could not move a muscle.
What is this? Why am I like this?
Kim Se Hyun, staring at the red-haired man with dark brown eyes looking back at him—
He could not budge at all beneath that man’s gaze.
...What is this?
He truly could not understand the situation right now.
After monsters appeared, there had been ability users. Kim Se Hyun had gathered quite a lot of information on them while creating New World, and had even met some of them.
But this feeling was a first.
How—
How could someone have that kind of, that kind of feeling, no, I don’t know.
I don’t know!
What exactly was he experiencing right now?
That red-haired man sitting far away.
Something emanating from him made Kim Se Hyun feel as though his entire body were being constricted.
No.
It wasn’t a feeling. It was reality.
A sensation that truly existed.
Something like this—
Was possible?
Kim Se Hyun had gone through many things beyond the ordinary by now, speaking with Rosalyn, the mage from another dimension, and with other beings from the Black Castle.
That was why he had been able to believe in the new New World, the possibility of a complete New World, and carry out his research day and night.
But—
Ah.
At this moment, for the first time, Kim Se Hyun felt as though he were facing something from another dimension.
This abnormal thing.
This existence that overwhelmed others by aura alone.
Sun Co.’s strength isn’t money.
It’s that person.
No. Is that even a person?
He didn’t know.
But whatever it was, as long as that existence was there, Sun Co. was strong.
Insane!
Inside, Park Jung Gyu kept spitting out curses.
I grabbed the right line!
He was impressed.
But both Kim Se Hyun and Park Jung Gyu felt the same emotion.
I’m afraid.
For some reason, it felt as though even their breath might come under that person’s control.
And along with that, a primal terror began to seep into them, the fear of having encountered some unknown existence with no shape.
It was faint, but it slowly soaked upward from beneath their feet.
Only, Vice President Lee Mi Jung was slightly different from the two of them.
Exultation.
A flash of exultation passed through her eyes.
Secretary Choi’s voice reached her ears.
“I’ve brought them.”
“Thank you, Secretary Choi.”
Secretary Choi.
At that way of addressing the representative, a strange light rose in Lee Mi Jung’s eyes.
“Then I’ll take my leave.”
Secretary Choi left the area.
Cale rose from his seat and slowly extended a hand toward the three of them.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Cale Henituse.”
A gentle smile rested on his lips.
“Ah.”
Kim Se Hyun felt as though the strength suddenly drained from his body.
He could breathe easily again.
The other two felt the same.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Lee Mi Jung.”
Starting with Lee Mi Jung, after shaking hands with each of them in turn, the three sat down at Cale’s gesture.
-He really crushed their spirit right off the bat.
Cale let Super Rock’s words go in one ear and out the other.
He had let just the faintest trace of his dominating aura leak out, and that alone had erased every troublesome part of the process.
Why is a young Cale here?
Who are you in Sun Co., and what position do you hold?
Can Sun Co. be trusted?
Without needing to explain any of that—
Simple.
Cale intended to keep it simple.
They had already joined hands with his side anyway.
“Mr. Kim Se Hyun?”
“Yes, yes!”
“I heard you found a method to connect the Black Castle portal?”
“Yes!”
Kim Se Hyun hurriedly opened his bag and handed over the tablet.
“I recorded everything in here. In simulation, if we proceed this way, it succeeds, but I think we need to carry out a first experiment first.”
“I see.”
Cale did not even turn on the tablet. He simply set it down on the table.
Mm.
At that sight, Kim Se Hyun hesitated and his expression darkened slightly.
“You should trust capable people to do the work they’re good at.”
At Cale’s words, Kim Se Hyun’s gaze turned toward him.
“I don’t know this field. So I decided to trust Ms. Rosalyn and Mr. Kim Se Hyun with it.”
The way Cale spoke plainly was relaxed.
“Run as many experiments as you want, and tell me whatever you need. And if it becomes too hard to stay at Transparent, come out with the researchers. I’ll build you a laboratory.”
Wow.
For a moment, Kim Se Hyun went blank.
“It’ll be treatment that doesn’t fall behind Transparent. And someday—”
Cale’s gaze turned toward Lee Mi Jung.
“New World and Transparent too. Their owners could change. Or a bigger company could appear.”
Grin.
Cale smiled as he said it.
“That’s how you see it too, isn’t it, Ms. Lee Mi Jung?”
He had already taken note of Lee Mi Jung, who had reacted particularly differently to his aura just a little while ago.
So before she answered, he asked her one more thing.
“Vice President.”
Unable to answer at once, she only stared at him, and in her eyes Cale’s interest was visible.
“What did you see from me a moment ago?”
“!”
Lee Mi Jung had never imagined a question like that.
She flinched briefly, but soon smiled and said,
“Have you ever met Honorary Chairman Han Taek Soo?”
“No.”
Cale shook his head.
Meanwhile, Kim Se Hyun and Park Jung Gyu looked at her with puzzled expressions.
Whether they did or not, Lee Mi Jung spoke calmly.
“...Honorary Chairman Han Taek Soo—”
She made up her mind.
When she met Rosalyn and Choi Sun Hee, she had already thought she needed to find her path.
But now she felt she had found real backing.
I should throw out one hidden card.
That was how she would be acknowledged.
She slowly continued.
Honorary Chairman Han Taek Soo.
“...That thing.”
That thing.
Lee Mi Jung, who had unmistakably referred to Han Taek Soo that way, recited the secret she had seen when she was just a low-level employee, the secret she had carried ever since.
“He’s not human.”
Han Taek Soo was not human.
“......!”
For the first time, Cale’s eyes widened.
“I heard you were looking for Transparent Co.’s corruption. The information Assistant Manager Park Jung Gyu found here will likely be of quite a lot of help.”
Park Jung Gyu had been pointed out by Lee Mi Jung, but only stared at her blankly.
Kim Se Hyun was the same.
Ignoring them, Lee Mi Jung spoke to Cale.
“I don’t have information, but I do have a suspicion. Because I saw something. Of course, after more than ten years, without finding any proof at all, it may only be my delusion.”
To be exact, she had only seen a shadow.
Honorary Chairman Han Taek Soo.
She had seen that man’s shadow, and that shadow had not been human.
It had definitely been a monster.
The monster had gradually been changing into a human.
After seeing that, Lee Mi Jung had kept it buried.
There had been no way to prove it, but—
That aura—
Han Taek Soo.
The aura pouring from that shadow had been tremendous, enough to leave Lee Mi Jung breathless.
And she had just faced an aura like it.
That fearful power that stimulated primal terror.
But—
Stronger.
Today she had faced an aura even greater than back then.
It wasn’t a delusion.
What I experienced then was not a delusion.
If that was true, then this really was a chance.
“That thing is a monster.”
A monster.
It °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was the word used in District 3 for the beings that had invaded Earth.
Most of those monsters were currently being stably exterminated.
Kim Se Hyun, Park Jung Gyu, and Cale all knew that, but Vice President Lee Mi Jung said,
“A monster wearing human skin, an unidentified monster that still hasn’t been confirmed. Or perhaps a devil or a god. That’s my judgment.”
Ding!
At that moment, the sound of the elevator arriving rang out.
Cale opened his mouth.
“Originally, today I was going to talk about how we should spread rumors about Transparent Co.’s corruption, drop its stock price, have our side buy it up, increase our stake, gather shareholders, and exercise voting rights. Something along those lines.”
Haha—
Cale laughed and looked toward the opening elevator doors.
Secretary Choi Sun Hee lowered her head to Cale and said,
“I’ve brought him.”
There’s someone else?
Startled, Lee Mi Jung turned her head and saw one person.
Mm.
She was not pleased to see him.
A being who deserved to be called Earth’s hero.
The greatest specialist in monster extermination.
“What interesting story are you discussing?”
President Ahn Roh Man.
The man who was all but certain to step down from that position in the next term was standing there.
“I brought some pretty interesting news myself.”
He had told Alberu, Cale, and Rosalyn before.
That he was investigating something that could become corruption on Transparent Co.’s side.
People enter Transparent Co.’s laboratory in large groups once every two months. But they never come back out.
And Alberu had passed the word to Cale that it looked like they had secured evidence related to that.
“Hk!”
“Huh—!”
The moment Kim Se Hyun and Park Jung Gyu recoiled in shock, realizing just how far the strings of this matter reached, Cale welcomed Ahn Roh Man and said,
“It’s a very interesting story. Since it’s about buying up Transparent Co. and dealing with Honorary Chairman Han Taek Soo as well.”
A smile formed at the corner of Ahn Roh Man’s mouth.
“That really is a thrilling story.”
*****
That night, Lee Mi Jung called in one of her own people.
“...Leak that Transparent Co. is kidnapping people and using them for experiments.”
“Yes?”
“Leak it to the securities side first—no, to the private lenders first. Let it spread naturally throug