Ch.10After Work: Meeting with the Boss (CEO)

My tongue tries to utter words my brain hasn’t approved.

My instinct wanted to reflexively respond, “Why are you putting me in a cage without my consent?” but reason stopped me. Well done, my rational mind.

The chair slowly rotated and stopped precisely facing me. Carisia’s foot in her high heel gently swayed.

“Won’t you share your thoughts with me?”

I hope this isn’t going to end like that guy who got executed after suggesting retreat upon seeing Cao Cao enjoying chicken galbi, all because he mentioned a strange plan without prior consultation. Still, we do have years of history together.

Thinking slowly, I realize we’re currently alone, with everyone else dismissed.

If she wanted to do something to me publicly, she would have done it earlier, not now.

So this question isn’t Carisia indirectly expressing her discomfort. It’s purely out of curiosity about my thoughts.

…Probably.

“Ah. Would you like to sit? Standing must be uncomfortable.”

Only an amateur would accept that offer. If I actually sat down, it would surely lead to remarks like, “How horizontal our company is, when an employee shares a table with the CEO.”

I’m a seasoned subordinate. My time working under Carisia isn’t just for show.

“No, Madam CEO. How could I dare?”

“I’ve confirmed there are no listening devices or anything. Just between us.”

“It’s precisely because it’s between you and me that I must maintain proper decorum.”

Carisia’s gaze sharpened. Was there something offensive in what I just said?

This is why serving under a capricious superior is difficult. One never knows where the sore spots are.

“Why is that?”

I tensed up and formulated a plausible answer.

“You may be essential to me, Madam CEO. But I should never become essential to you.”

***

“Human attachment is a weakness.”

Ortes wore an unusually stern expression. The line he drew between them was like a knife’s edge, never changing.

While feeling reassured by that consistency, yet paradoxically wishing it would waver, Carisia adjusted her posture instead of sighing.

The dignified posture befitting a ruler, just as Ortes had taught her.

“Let me compare your battle to chess, and though it’s presumptuous, myself to the queen. The queen is certainly a powerful piece.”

The chess game against the White Light Tower was not a fair match. While the White Light Tower possessed countless pieces, Carisia had only just acquired eight pawns and one queen.

“But one shouldn’t become attached to a piece, no matter how strong. Sometimes, for the sake of the game, one must sacrifice the queen.”

Carisia’s right arm tensed on the armrest. She didn’t like Ortes’s words.

“Ruining the entire game to protect a single piece is not only ridiculous but foolish.”

Carisia knew well that persuading Ortes when he was this serious was nearly impossible.

“…Hah.”

She finally sighed. Even after years, she couldn’t cross that line.

“Fine. Let’s return to our original discussion. Starting with why you explained a different plan to the directors.”

***

“Madam CEO, you are a heretic.”

Upon reflection, I think the issue was my casual word choice in saying “between you and me.”

There are people like that. They can approach their subordinates informally, but if a subordinate reciprocates, they’ll shout, “How dare you!”

Unless we’re literally wandering through a desert together like in the old days, I should maintain proper etiquette.

Even though she pretends otherwise, she loves being treated with respect.

“A heretic. That’s a term better suited for fanatics who believe in vanished gods.”

“Isn’t that the reality? The Mage King is the god of magicians, and the Ten Commandments are sacred relics he left behind. Magicians’ obsession with ascension resembles religious yearning for salvation.”

Carisia smiled distortedly. It was a sneer mixed with hatred and anger directed at magicians, specifically the White Light Tower.

“In this world, the Ten Commandments are guidelines for salvation. Most magicians consider connecting to the Ten Commandments even once as their life’s goal. In such a context, your plan is too radical.”

“Are you worried the directors might report us to the White Light Tower?”

I nodded. Carisia shook her head as if my concern was unnecessary.

“Madam CEO, secrets become weaker the more they’re shared.”

“Even if the purpose is to create a loyal inner circle that shares the secret?”

Carisia asked with a somewhat mischievous expression. But I could answer without hesitation.

“It’s premature.”

You and I are the unusual ones. As far as I know, there are no magicians in this world who think about destroying the Ten Commandments except for Carisia.

“Your desire is beyond the directors’ comprehension, and what cannot be understood becomes either an object of worship or fear.”

Most magicians wouldn’t even understand the concept of destroying the Ten Commandments. Not monopolizing them or using their knowledge to attempt ascension, but simply destroying them?

“And the directors are likely to fear your objective.”

The probability that one of the directors, concerned about the permanent disappearance of clues to ascension, would report to the Magic Tower was not low.

The desire for the Ten Commandments and ascension was that strong. Even magicians in the underworld, hardened by reality, couldn’t fully abandon that desire.

“It’s more beneficial to show the directors a plausible alternative goal while advancing the plan beneath the surface.”

“Yes, that’s reasonable. I’m also fairly satisfied with the puppet show using Geryon and Kaicle. But the artificial Ten Commandments…”

Is she going to question its existence? Tension suddenly rises, making the back of my neck stiff.

If even Carisia doubts its existence, I have nothing to do but beg her to believe me with tears.

“Do we really need to use it like the Ten Commandments?”

Fortunately, Carisia didn’t seem to doubt its existence at all. Well, in the original story, Kaicle’s artificial Ten Commandments did end up in her hands even without me.

She might have sensed something like the artificial Ten Commandments’ wavelength as soon as she arrived in this city.

“Like the Ten Commandments? Do you have another use in mind?”

“The magical formulas inscribed in the artificial Ten Commandments might only be knowledge from Kaicle and his tower, but the amount of magical power must be considerable, right?”

The image of Baekmumeong’s massive bomb terror from the original story flashed through my mind.

No way.

“If we process it into a magical bomb and throw it at the White Light Tower—”

Good grief. Your personality really is innate.

“…I’ll explore that kind of utilization as well. But Madam CEO, the artificial Ten Commandments could become an object of desire for the directors.”

If we create something like that, who knows when she might decide to use it for a suicide bombing. If Etna City were to evaporate due to mismanagement, most of my future plans would be ruined.

“It would be a new clue to ascension that hasn’t existed before. Even if the reality is different, what matters is making the directors think that way.”

Let’s steer her thoughts away from bombs for now. Let’s not go there, please.

***

“Feed their desires, and give them small tastes to make them crave more.”

Carisia sometimes thought Ortes’s words resembled a teacher’s instruction.

In truth, from the moment she escaped the White Light Tower’s laboratory until now, she had spent most of her time with Ortes.

“If you also act as though the artificial Ten Commandments hold great significance to you, you can easily guide the directors’ actions.”

The knowledge she could acquire inside the laboratory was limited to fields related to magic.

Of course, in the dim past before being captured into the laboratory, she had memories of learning something different.

But those memories were crushed under the weight of the Ten Commandments’ information that the White Light Tower had injected.

All that remained were fragment-like memories, burned down to ashes.

For Carisia, who had lost her past, Ortes was indeed the one who taught her things beyond magic.

“That way, the lie about becoming a new king will be considered Hydra Company’s biggest secret.”

Her loyal servant, her teacher smiled.

“And no one will pay attention to the real secret.”

Bringing down the name of White Light. Both the Ten Commandments and the Tower.

She listened with satisfaction to the blueprint of the future whispered by her most reliable ally in her quest for revenge.

At the same time, she recognized one problem.

Ortes’s advice at the beginning of their private conversation: “One must know how to sacrifice pieces.”

Carisia didn’t like that statement.

***

“It seems your questions have been answered. May I go upstairs now?”

I need to go up quickly and think of a way to meet Kaicle.

I must complete my plan as soon as possible while Carisia isn’t suspicious. I need to be prepared enough to smoothly talk my way through even if there’s a surprise inspection.

“Yes, go ahead.”

“And you, Madam CEO?”

“I have something to think about for a moment.”

Somehow, Carisia’s gaze on my face feels piercing. I greet her as naturally as possible and exit the conference room.

Then I head to my room at full speed. First, I need to wash up properly and think.