226. Hostile Takeover 1

When Yoon Tae-ha was staying in the safe house in Busan, Kwon Hyuk had told her a story about Cheon Geon-young's family.

His mother was a dimension-shifter, his father was from a chaebol family, and the child was a bit sickly. It was a group of members that couldn't be called ordinary, but it was clear that the three of them loved each other.

Their family was whole until Yoon Tae-ha's grandfather got involved. Cheon Geon-young spoke and acted by separating her and Yoon Jung-hoon completely. She knew that guilt by association was not a word that would come out of his mouth.

However, the internal guilt was a separate problem that Yoon Tae-ha had to bear entirely. She wondered if she could let go of it even a little if they saved Cheon Seong-beom. It wasn't just Cheon Geon-young who was shaken by what Kwon Hyuk had said a little while ago. Just as she had met Chertan, she hoped that Cheon Geon-young could also meet his family, even for a moment.

Yoon Tae-ha, who soon broke away from the thoughts that had extended to Chertan, patted his chest with her hand, as if lulling a child to sleep. Cheon Geon-young slightly furrowed his brow, as if he didn't understand why she was acting this way.

“You said your health was a mess when I wasn’t around. You couldn’t sleep properly, you didn’t eat. You lost a tremendous amount of weight.”

“The sickness of my heart was too deep, I couldn’t help it.”

He, who she expected to refute, surprisingly admitted it obediently. Yoon Tae-ha, who was the very person who gave him that sickness, felt a rush of affection for him and whispered.

“What am I going to do with you being so sensitive? I guess I'll have to take responsibility and put you to sleep until the end.”

“Didn’t Agent Yoon Tae-ha's job cease to exist in three days?”

From the moment they steal the key, it wouldn’t be strange for a large-scale battle to break out at any time with the Titans and the monsters the Chancellor has hidden. In the end, Ark would lose its function from that point on.

“Are you teasing me right now? I was just worrying about whether I should change jobs to one with higher employment stability. I didn’t know the company would disappear faster than I could get fired.”

Cheon Geon-young seemed to be in a slightly better mood than when he was being briefed by Kwon Hyuk. He changed his position, laid Yoon Tae-ha down, and made her use his arm as a pillow. He pulled the rustling blanket over her shoulder.

“I’m not teasing you; I’m scouting you.”

“You’re telling me to change affiliation without even offering a number? It’s a problem when someone who knows the industry customs so well acts like this.”

She dismissed the argument with a not-at-all aggressive complaint. It was already dawn. All they had to do for the rest of the time was to maintain their condition as perfectly as possible.

Yoon Tae-ha gently patted the curve of his muscular back, lulling Cheon Geon-young to sleep. His thick arm held her in an embrace like shackles, but it didn't feel stuffy at all. As Cheon Geon-young burrowed into her arms to find peace, only a sweet sense of satisfaction filled the space.

After a while, he fell asleep with a low, heavy breath. Yoon Tae-ha also soon fell into a deep, swamp-like sleep.

________________________________________

The Chancellor’s residence in Nautilus City was located on a small, private resort island connected to the main island. Those who had agreed to participate in the Elysion Project gathered there, which was a deep, dark night when all the other residents were asleep.

Seated in the beautiful banquet hall of the mansion, they talked all night about the post-fissure system. There was no need to lower their voices, and no reason to be careful about the sound of clinking glasses.

Geum Gang-seop, who had been constantly conscious of the men who didn't touch the alcohol he provided and only drank from the bottles they brought themselves, got up from his seat. Lee Won-shik, who was standing far away talking to the head of the Titans near a pillar, saw him move and followed him out.

They went out onto the balcony connected to the banquet hall and closed the door. Below the balcony, white seafoam repeatedly appeared and disappeared. After confirming that no one was listening, Lee Won-shik opened his mouth.

“Is it true that a rat seems to have gotten in?”

“How many people do you think enter the city in a day? Just let a few of them wander in and starve to death.”

Lee Won-shik narrowed his eyes and placed the glass in his hand on the balcony railing.

“It’s natural for animals to wander into a place with food. I’m not faulting that. However, the size of the animal is important. We should also consider how sharp its teeth are.”

Geum Gang-seop slightly frowned at the suspicion that his control might be faltering. Lee Won-shik’s expression was also not bright.

“It may be because my worries have increased with age, but I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I’m also concerned because a lot of unfamiliar faces seem to be coming and going at the mansion.”

“You’ll be fine after a blood transfusion. I’ve already told the center to prepare the blood of the healthiest and youngest test subject.”

Only then did Lee Won-shik’s lips twitch upward. Even he was powerless in the face of an old and decaying body. Geum Gang-seop thought so and hid his sneer. Lee Won-shik, who had been a practical and sharp thinker, was at some point beginning to resemble Yoon Jung-hoon, who was trapped in his own stubbornness.

“I’m always grateful to the Chancellor for that. You’re doing something my own child can’t do for me. But, I’m really shameless, but may I ask for one more favor?”

“What is it?”

The old man asked to add one more person to the list of people to be attacked with monsters.

“Did you gain a new grudge?”

“It's not that, it's a request from the family my granddaughter recently got involved with. It's a young president of a rapidly growing rival company, and they said that if we don't suppress him now, the market share might be overturned.”

The people gathered at the mansion were not there to play king and nobles on a ruin. Therefore, the regions and people to be attacked were decided after fierce debate and discussion.

The rival company's data center, the rebel military base that the dictator finds offensive, the home country of pirates who interfere with corporate material transport and are rampant. The list to be purged was long. Adding one more line to it at Lee Won-shik’s request would not harm Geum Gang-seop.

“I will do that for you.”

Lee Won-shik wore a satisfied smile after getting permission.

“Thank you. As technology develops, coincidences are becoming less and less common, so old people like me, who are used to the old world, can’t help but be impatient.”

A moment later, Lee Won-shik turned back, looked inside the banquet hall, and said.

“I met him on the cruise, and Cheon Seo-wan's son has grown up so well. He's the spitting image of his father’s features. The atmosphere was subtly more similar to Chairman Cheon in his youth. The Cheon Seong-beom from the days when he was called the tiger who led the fire.”

Geum Gang-seop’s expression, which had been standing tall like a statue and staring straight ahead, gradually grew cold. Lee Won-shik did not sense the change because he was carefully observing what was happening inside.

“What are you going to do with him? The damage that audacious young man caused is not insignificant. The size of the Chimera corps has been halved because of Cheon Geon-young.”

“It will be helpful for research, so we will capture him alive and dissect him piece by piece. If we announce that his body could not be found due to a fissure, even the uncooperative people will not be able to hold us responsible.”

“Well, dead men tell no tales, so that doesn't matter, but the leakage of our power…”

Geum Gang-seop cut him off sharply.

“The reduced Chimeras can be replaced by monsters.”

“But they are less sophisticated. Moreover, monsters are Kali’s jurisdiction. That snake… To be honest, we should get rid of him after this grand undertaking is successful. That side might be a more difficult fight.”

“Are you still claiming that the snake and Yoon Jung-hoon have a close relationship?”

“I’ve been in the organization for a long time. I was there when Yoon Jung-hoon persuaded his superiors and gave the sky back to the snake.”

Lee Won-shik, taking his eyes off the interior, advised in a grave tone.

“That was not a loyalty that would be easily broken just because the master he served was dead.”

“What you’re worried about won’t happen. You know better than anyone how long I’ve been preparing this plan.”

Lee Won-shik finally noticed the anger in Geum Gang-seop’s voice. He skillfully backed away and cleared his throat.

“Of course I believe that. Hasn't the Chancellor always been excellent at handling multiple things at once? I knew it from the moment you pushed Yoon Jung-hoon out. The decision to provoke Cheon Seo-wan was a bold move.”

“If we had maintained Yoon Jung-hoon’s plan, Ark would have gone bankrupt.”

“Everyone would agree with that. Thanks to the Chancellor’s judgment, the foolish researchers who were clinging to Yoon Jung-hoon’s granddaughter were also able to accelerate new projects. That woman only looked plausible on the outside; she was like a rotten fruit on the inside.”

After briefly soothing the Chancellor’s bad mood, Lee Won-shik left early, saying he was getting ready to visit the medical facility.

Geum Gang-seop, left alone on the balcony, briefly glared at the sight of him disappearing down the path, guarded by the Titans. On the railing, the glass that Lee Won-shik had left was still precariously standing.

Geum Gang-seop flicked the glass, which was still filled with alcohol, with his finger, causing it to fall. The sound of the glass breaking was drowned out by the noise of the yacht.