Ch.7979. Conquest

“Kuh-luk -!”

Spitting out water as dirty as the Ganges River, Haspoon regained consciousness.

Looking at the axe-wielder who had recovered his senses, Amon clicked his tongue.

“How is this even human?”

Despite being left in the river water for hours to make sure, Haspoon was still very much alive. It was truly a remarkable life force.

As soon as Haspoon came to his senses, he assessed his situation. He was restrained in an unfamiliar room, his limbs dismembered with only his head and torso remaining.

“So that’s the face under the mask. I thought it would be a face with a story, but surprisingly, you’re quite handsome.”

The axe-wielder smiled brazenly despite seeing his condition.

He spoke to Amon.

“But will you be alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“By now, headquarters would have dispatched someone after I entered a suspended state. Will you be okay, Mr. Justice Warrior?”

Haspoon wore a confident smile.

He still had no idea what Amon had done to him.

According to his memory, he fell into the water, and when Amon cast some spell, he went blind and lost consciousness.

He couldn’t tell what kind of ability it was. In a world full of implants, procedures, and magic, it was impossible to know everything.

But Haspoon had a countermeasure for such situations.

For any life-threatening situation, regardless of the cause—bleeding, drowning, freezing—he had a device that would put his brain into a suspended state.

A brain in suspended animation could theoretically last up to 72 hours. Before that time was up, headquarters would dispatch someone to fix Haspoon.

Through this method, Haspoon had experienced numerous deaths and returned to the battlefield. And he had no doubt it would happen again this time.

Haspoon looked at Amon with an expression full of certainty.

But Amon’s expression was utterly indifferent. He simply stared at the torso-only Haspoon with his arms crossed, completely unconcerned.

Just as Haspoon was beginning to think this was just bravado, a woman he had been ignoring until now spoke up.

“Let them dispatch someone if they want. Though I doubt that company has such loyalty.”

Turning his gaze, he saw a black-haired, red-eyed office lady.

Only then did Haspoon pay attention to her.

“Sister?”

“You don’t have to call me that.”

Kathy was ice-cold to any man except Amon.

Of course, regardless of that, she would have been cold to someone like Haspoon even if she didn’t know Amon.

Haspoon was the type of man who inspired disgust from his very appearance.

What about those drill horns on his head, and that mask still attached to his crotch?

His dismembered state made him even more repulsive to look at.

Though she felt such revulsion that she didn’t even want to speak to him, Kathy suppressed it and asked Haspoon:

“Which company do you work for?”

“No, miss? I asked you first, didn’t I?”

“Call me Director, not miss. Since that answers my question, now it’s your turn to answer.”

“Haah… strong-willed women aren’t popular with men…”

Flinch.

Kathy’s shoulders trembled slightly at Haspoon’s words. She glanced at Amon.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Just wondering if you think the same as that muscle pig.”

“It hurts to be compared to that pervert. I’m the very embodiment of gender equality.”

“Good. That’s fine then.”

Kathy turned her gaze from Amon back to Haspoon.

“So, what’s your answer to my question?”

“Why should I tell you that?”

Contrary to his appearance, Haspoon seemed to have some company loyalty as he refused to answer.

But Kathy didn’t care either way.

“Then just listen to what I have to say. Haspoon McTile. Security Director of Miller Pharmaceuticals.”

What Kathy was doing now wasn’t an interrogation. It was merely confirming knowledge she already possessed.

“Dispatched by the company when the supply of clinical test subjects was cut off during preparation for a new drug project.”

Haspoon kept his mouth shut.

But his tightly closed lips couldn’t hide anything from Kathy’s eyes.

She continued to confirm information from Haspoon.

Watching from the side, Amon recalled what Kathy had said before Haspoon woke up.

– “The future isn’t invincible.”

There was a fact she emphasized every time she talked about the future.

Even though she could see countless futures and parallel worlds, if she didn’t attempt something, that world line wouldn’t exist.

This applied to her opponents as well.

If an opponent could remain silent in every future, lie, or perfectly conceal something, her ability would be thwarted.

Coincidentally, Haspoon wasn’t that caliber of person.

That’s why this approach was possible.

“Originally the job of the Foreign Intelligence Department, but you forced your way out because you wanted to fight. Correct?”

Kathy’s confirmation continued.

She verified all sorts of information from Haspoon.

Haspoon’s tightly closed lips only opened when she began mentioning confidential information about the pharmaceutical company that he knew.

“The drug you’re experimenting with is a vaccine? A new influenza vaccine? Ah. Once the vaccine is complete, you plan to spread the virus in Europe and conduct a selection process. Certainly, it would raise stock prices and allow you to buy factory sites cheaply.”

“Miss, what are you?”

“I told you, I’m a Director.”

With only his neck able to move, Haspoon couldn’t gather any information except that he was in some kind of laboratory space.

The only thing he could deduce from the conversation was that this place was a Megacorp.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t explain why headquarters hadn’t rescued him yet.

Haspoon made one last desperate attempt at bravado.

“Will you be alright, Director? This could turn into a corporate war.”

“It’s fine. Your name has already disappeared from the site.”

“You’re lying?”

“Believe it or not, that’s reality. Do you think your value is high enough for your company to risk a fight?”

But even that was within Kathy’s palm.

The pharmaceutical company had cut ties with the axe-wielder long ago.

They had cleanly abandoned him the moment his location shifted to Kathy’s company.

“Kugh.”

Haspoon couldn’t refute her words.

In truth, he knew it well.

If this place was truly a Megacorp, the company had no reason to rescue him.

Of course, the confidential information known to the Security Director was quite important, but was it valuable enough to lead to a corporate war? Well…

It wasn’t that the Security Director’s value was that low, but rather that the weight of the term “corporate war” was that heavy.

If by some chance the Security Director was the chairman’s spouse, or if the chairman had an extremely loyal personality, they might have risked war.

But Haspoon didn’t fall into either of these categories.

In other words, he had already been abandoned.

Haspoon immediately gave up on negotiating with his company’s backing.

All that remained was to offer his own body as a bargaining chip.

“Then how about hiring me? I may have lost to that man, but I pride myself on having combat skills that aren’t embarrassing anywhere.”

At his proposal, Kathy’s eyes grew cold.

Haspoon couldn’t understand her sudden change in attitude.

He thought it was a reasonable proposal, so why?

While pondering this question, Kathy spoke.

“There’s something called the banality of evil.”

“?”

“Ah, I suppose asking you about this would be pointless. To put it simply, whether you cooperated with your company or not, you’re still evil.”

“I was wondering what you were talking about, but miss, I know very well. I know what I’m doing isn’t honorable. But what can I do?”

– Everyone lives like this.

Amon’s shoulders flinched.

His hand moved toward the sword at his waist.

At that moment, Kathy stopped Amon’s hand.

Without taking her eyes off Haspoon, she continued speaking.

“American Soul.”

“What?”

“What exactly is this American Soul you’re thinking of?”

Why is that phrase coming from her mouth?

Haspoon wondered, but decided not to dwell on it.

This woman had been listing facts he’d never mentioned before.

There was no point in questioning it now.

Haspoon gladly answered her question.

“American Soul! It’s freedom! The freedom to express my ideas without worrying about others! The freedom to use any means necessary to achieve what I want!”

With an eloquence that belied his previous silence, Haspoon delivered his speech.

It had nothing to do with security anyway, and it fell under his mental principle of the freedom to spread his ideology.

Listening, Amon mentally rebutted.

‘That’s not freedom, it’s license.’

But he didn’t say it aloud.

He didn’t want to waste mental energy talking to a fool.

Meanwhile, Kathy asked instead.

“Isn’t it contradictory to infringe on others’ freedom while saying that?”

“No, no, no.”

Haspoon pursed his lips and shook his head from side to side.

It was truly an unpleasant sight.

“Freedom must be won and protected. If the freedoms of the strong and the weak conflict, isn’t it natural that the freedom of the stronger takes precedence?”

“I see.”

Kathy nodded.

“Then when people were sacrificed by Miller Company until now, you supported that, right?”

“Yes! That’s the American way—”

While Haspoon was speaking, Kathy’s finger twitched.

A spear that had been standing beside Kathy flew up on its own and pierced through Haspoon’s open mouth.

Thwack!

Flesh scattered in all directions.

The upper part of Haspoon’s head above his lower jaw cleanly disappeared.

‘Holy shit.’

Shocked by the scene, Amon almost blurted out a curse.

Looking at Haspoon’s body with only the lower jaw remaining, Kathy said to Amon:

“No need to dirty your hands. He’s not worth it.”

She looked at Amon with slightly softened eyes.

“I’ll go up to the office first. Come in the afternoon.”

Amon stared at her, dumbfounded.

As she boarded the elevator heading to the surface, Kathy said to Amon:

“And don’t hide that burst on the inside of your arm, trusting your regeneration. If it gets infected later, Sonia won’t let it slide. Get it treated before coming to the office.”

With those words, Kathy closed the door.

*

After leaving Amon behind and going up to the office first, Kathy immediately began processing the information obtained from underground into company “profit.”

The pharmaceutical company <Miller> had cut ties with Haspoon.

It was a wise choice as a company, but a foolish one when dealing with Requetio.

If they were going to face her, they should have at least implanted a bomb in Haspoon’s brain.

She immediately contacted Miller.

“I’ve obtained some interesting information.”

She began sharing the pharmaceutical company’s plans that she had extracted from Haspoon.

As if the pharmaceutical company had predicted this move from the moment Haspoon was captured, they immediately presented their terms.

“You want me to remain silent?”

They tried to bribe her with money.

They indicated that if that didn’t work, other conditions were possible.

But what Kathy wanted wasn’t that.

‘I need to do what those two can’t.’

The Amon that Kathy knew was an individual with excellent combat abilities.

Sonia also possessed overwhelming military power and potential that Kathy couldn’t hope to match.

Frustratingly, Kathy had limitations when standing alongside those two on the battlefield.

That’s why she chose a different approach.

Kathy decided to become a nest. That thought hadn’t changed.

‘I need to support those two’s dreams in my own way.’

And the call taking place now was that method.

“The experiment you’re planning in France. Stop it.”

Preventing tragedy.

Though those two pretend not to be good people, they’re not the type to stand by when they see tragedy.

The kind of people often called “suckers” in this world.

But Kathy liked those suckers.

Not only because they wouldn’t have helped her otherwise, but because she had already been influenced by them.

That’s why Kathy wanted to prevent tragedy in her own way.

“Am I threatening you? No. As I said, it’s a deal. Stop the experiment. In return, our company will help you acquire factory sites at a low price.”

[… I’ll speak to the chairman.]

The man on the other end of the line reserved judgment on whether to accept the deal.

But that was enough.

Thinking rationally, there was no reason for the pharmaceutical company to reject Kathy’s proposal.

Not from a humanitarian perspective, of course, but because there was no need to use the dangerous means of a virus.

In fact, in the future Kathy had seen, the pharmaceutical company accepted the deal, so she ended the call with satisfaction.

After hanging up, she checked the time.

One hour until Amon arrived.

She immediately fixed her makeup and changed her clothes.

Into the outfit she always changed into when meeting Amon alone.

While changing, she recalled Amon’s arm.

‘Every time I send him out, he always comes back injured somewhere…’

Suddenly, the word ‘protection’ crossed Kathy’s mind.

If a bluebird keeps returning injured, couldn’t someone who loves that bird at least provide a cage?

Of course, Kathy loves a free bluebird.

That’s why she chose to be a nest.

But maybe just opening the cage door only when it’s confirmed to be safe…

‘No, what am I thinking?’

Catching her thoughts as they tried to wander, she finished her makeup.

She took off her suit coat and deliberately opened her chest.

Finally, a dress that emphasized her proud thighs…

‘Right.’

She lowered her panty strap slightly so it would be visible through the side slit.

She could have hidden it, but she knew Amon’s gaze would drift there.

Some might call it perversion, but who cares?

Only one person would see it anyway.

She checked her appearance and prepared to welcome Amon.

Then, five minutes before the appointed time, a text message arrived on Kathy’s phone.

<Sonia’s finishing early today and wants to come along. Is that okay?>

Kathy was startled when she received the message.

Barely catching the phone she almost dropped, she sent a reply.

<Sure.>

<I’ll come right up.>

After sending the reply, Kathy hurriedly fixed her clothes.

Five minutes later.

Kathy, now transformed into a normal office look, greeted the two.

“Oh… you’re here?”

Hiding cold sweat behind her back, she welcomed them.

Beside Amon, who greeted her cheerfully,

Sonia looked at Kathy’s makeup with meaningful eyes.