Chapter 31
Water Knew the Answer
***
***
Miyata Ito had already been working at Maximum Noise for thirty years. Perhaps because he had ground up his entire youth and poured it into the job, he had managed to rise to a position of absolute authority, one beneath only a single person and above tens of thousands.
It was inevitable that soone like him would end up eting Allen.
One day, a bastard suddenly appeared and threw himself into his work with fervor, as if he truly believed he could fill the vacancy left by his younger brother.
Unfortunately, the fact that Koln doted obsessively on his biological child, Dobby, was a secret known only to a select few.
That was why Ito imdiately saw through it as a wish that would never co true. And he could also see what kind of catastrophe it would eventually lead to.
So he made the first move and proposed a deal.
An offer that could not be refused.
For Ga-on, who had co running in a panic after hearing the truth from Norman, it was a story that could only dampen his spirits.
In short, they had devised a plan to kill Dobby, the sole heir, and swallow up Maximum Noise while Koln was bedridden due to his chronic illness.
Ito would suppress any disturbances that arose in the process, and Allen, who would beco Chairman based on that foundation, would promise him the Vice Chairman position once again—
“Honestly, it’s pathetic.”
Ga-on acknowledged the ambitions of the two n, but there was one flaw.
“What are you planning to do when Chairman Koln gets back on his feet?”
“……”
Ito answered with silence, but Ga-on was not soone who failed to grasp the aning behind it. He was probably planning to deal with Koln the sa way as Dobby.
“Alright, setting that aside. Why did you make such a loud ss of it?”
“If it looks like soone with a personal grudge against Maximum Noise did it, we can slip off the suspect list.”
“So if you quietly erased him instead, it would’ve been exposed?”
It sounded plausible.
If only Chairman Koln had not collapsed at such a perfectly tid mont.
It was obvious that with the sudden change in his condition, nurous chemical reactions had been set off. Feeling a strange sense of unease was only natural.
But those thoughts did not last long.
Ito glanced at the bodyguards, each of them twisted and crushed in different ways, and asked quietly.
“So, what are you going to do with now?”
“You already know.”
Ga-on gestured with his chin while pointing at the device with his index finger.
“Call them.”
***
After receiving Ito’s report that Dobby had been executed, Allen headed straight for the Tower Palace where he lived. When he first heard that soone had taken Dobby and fled, he had worried that the situation might be reversed, but as always, his fears proved unfounded.
It felt as if an aching tooth had finally been pulled.
With a much lighter heart, Allen grabbed the doorknob and pulled, only to freeze. Inside, an entirely unexpected person was waiting for him.
“You are?”
The face was unfamiliar, yet it was definitely one he had seen at the mansion before.
“You’re late. Didn’t your parents teach you to always keep your appointnts? Ah, right. You don’t have any.”
At the feet of the man who reprimanded him so calmly lay Ito’s corpse. Allen staggered back, his eyes swimming through empty space.
Seeing all too clearly that he was about to operate his device, Ga-on issued a casual warning.
“Even if you try reporting it to the Public Enforcent Corps, it won’t do you any good.”
The inside of the house had already gone through an electromagnetic pulse festival. It was the result of one of the items he had borrowed from Norman putting in so serious work.
“And if you try to bolt, you’ll die too.”
At the sight of Ga-on openly handling a folding knife, Allen could no longer hold back and snarled.
“You bastard…….”
“So you’ve still got so backbone left till the end? Not bad.”
Ga-on kicked a nearby chair. The chair slid across the floor and ca to a stop at Allen’s feet.
“What are you doing, sit.”
An invitation to a grave.
But Allen had no other option. He sat down reluctantly and steadied his breathing.
“You, you were hired by Dobby, weren’t you?”
“So what if I was?”
“Na what you want. I’ll give you anything. There’s a limit to what you can get from a guy who can’t even function in society anyway.”
“Are you trying to buy off right now?”
“You were dragging it out because you wanted that too.”
As Ga-on clicked his tongue and stepped closer, Allen secretly clenched his fist.
Good.
Yeah, in the end, a lowly fixer was nothing more than a slave that could be controlled with money.
Contrary to Allen’s prejudice, however, Ga-on placed the folding knife into his hand and delivered the verdict indifferently.
“Kill yourself. Then I’ll bury your unfilial deeds forever. What do you think? Not bad, right?”
“You filthy piece of trash.”
“Why, I’m just saying what I want, just like you told to, right?”
Enraged at being toyed with, Allen snatched the folding knife and swung it, but Ga-on stopped him by twisting his arm.
Forced helplessly to his knees, Allen shouted as if vomiting the words out.
“So you like that useless guy who’s just like our father? What exactly am I lacking compared to him?”
“At the very least, the difference in character is beyond comparison.”
“Ha, bullshit. If our positions were reversed, he’d be even worse than , not better.”
“Well, people are free to delude themselves.”
If he had tried to resolve things through dialogue, the brothers would not have had to see blood. The one who first thought of settling it without even attempting negotiation was Allen.
There was no room left for redemption.
“You’ve lived however you pleased until now, but it’s ti to pay for your sins.”
“So you’re going to kill ?”
That was one way to do it, but there was one thing that made Allen different from Ito.
“Tell where Chairman Koln is. Then I’ll at least send you off without pain.”
“Oh, now that you ntion it, you don’t know where Father is, do you?”
Heh heh, Allen let out a low laugh and spoke in a mocking tone.
“If I can’t tell you?”
At this point, it was all or nothing. If he couldn’t have Maximum Noise, wouldn’t it be better to destroy it instead? If Koln’s whereabouts were not revealed like this, the company would be left drifting aimlessly.
The rest would be torn apart by the hyenas on their own.
And—
“I’ve already given instructions to report this to the Public Enforcent Corps imdiately if I don’t show up by the ti I specified. Then catching a punk like you would be over in an instant. Even if I die, that is.”
All of a sudden, Ga-on found himself longing for the girl.
If she were here, there would have been no need for pointless verbal sparring. He could have simply skimd through the device’s information.
“Judging by how things look, you couldn’t even get yourself a proper Tuner. That’s your limit.”
It wasn’t a limit. It was just that—
“What I was worried about was whether you’d break before you got a chance to talk.”
“What……?”
He had gone through sothing similar not long ago. Co to think of it, that ti too the target had been a third-generation chaebol.
“You look tense. How about we wet your throat first before we start?”
A single cup of water was good for one’s health, but a hundred cups beca poison. Water intoxication was just that terrifying. This ti would probably be no different.
“Because water knows the answer.”
***
When he stepped outside, he saw Sera waiting in the parking lot. Having rushed over without a word right after getting information from Norman, she looked like she had a lot of questions on her mind.
For example, the carnage that had taken place upstairs, or the battle that had unfolded outside the Seed Colony.
Of course, even if she asked, there was only so much Ga-on could say.
“Miss Sera.”
“Have you concluded all your business?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why did you bring Young Master Allen with you?”
Sera tilted her head slightly as she glanced at the unconscious Allen. Was it just his imagination, or did his abdon look unusually swollen compared to before?
“There must have been a better thod than restraining him.”
Sera spoke such chilling words as if it were nothing, but it wasn’t hard to understand her point. If Ga-on had been in her position, he would have executed him as well.
“Getting rid of him would be the surest way, but there’s sothing that bothers .”
“Are you planning to have him face legal punishnt instead?”
“That depends on Chairman Koln.”
“But the Chairman is……”
“I get what you’re trying to say, but don’t worry. We’re going to et that Chairman.”
***
Cori Clinic, located at the far edge of District 31.
It was a private hospital that Allen had established using his personal funds. Although several years had passed since its opening, there had been virtually no actual cases of dical treatnt.
It was a signboard in na only.
As if to prove that point, the entire hired staff consisted of just two androids.
“So that’s why no one was able to find it.”
“Well, even without trying, you would’ve found out eventually.”
“What do you an by that…….”
Leaving the questioning Sera behind, Ga-on entered inside and moved forward with an indifferent stride.
The scale was large, but there were only a few hospital rooms. That was hardly strange. It was a terrarium prepared solely for one person.
It didn’t take long to find where Koln was staying. There was only one room equipped with an Anima.
As expected, when he poked his head in to check inside, he saw the face of the person whose whereabouts had been unknown until now.
If Dobby were to mature a little more, would he look like this?
The Chairman of Maximum Noise, Koln, was sleeping soundly, seemingly unaware of whatever was happening outside.
After checking Koln’s condition through the display, Sera spoke up.
“Should we call a doctor?”
“Why?”
“Well, the Chairman cannot get up. Wouldn’t we need soone else’s help to make an accurate diagnosis?”
“There’s no need to call anyone. I can wake him up right away.”
Until just monts ago, he had been unsure, but now that he was facing him directly, he understood.
Perhaps it could be said that there was nothing more foolish than pretending to be dead in front of soone who had actually died before.
Ga-on placed his hand on the Anima’s cover and tore it off outright.
Krrrk.
As a warning alarm rang out, the Anima ceased functioning in an instant.
“What are you doing to the Chairman!”
Sera cried out in alarm, but contrary to her concern, Koln’s complexion remained perfectly calm.
“Stop fooling around and get up.”
“So you noticed.”
“You’d have to be a terrible actor for it to be that obvious. It’s hard to pretend not to know.”
“Was it really that bad?”
Retorting to Ga-on’s words, Koln coughed and pushed himself up into a sitting position.
Only Sera, unable to understand what had just happened, alternated her gaze between the two n.
“What is going on?”
“What do you think? He didn’t collapse because of a chronic illness. He was just resting. He was probably receiving reports through another line.”
“You’re quite perceptive.”
“It was a simple deduction.”
He collapses right when Allen and Ito start scheming together?
It was so dramatic it wasn’t even worth shedding tears over. Wasn’t a leader staging a play to glimpse the true intentions of an heir just as common as sibling strife?
“So the son you went through all that trouble to get didn’t sit well with you?”
“Rather than that, I should say the problem was that he developed ambitions beyond his station.”
Koln must have wanted Dobby to live peacefully even after his own death. There was a strong possibility that this was also why he had adopted Allen. In other words, to serve as a second guardian.
But since things had deviated from the original plan—
“If it was a problem bound to explode soday, you decided it was better to use it as a basis to reorganize the hierarchy.”
“I gave him a chance.”
“By pretending to collapse and stepping back from the stage.”
It was cold, but not a subject a third party could easily defend or criticize.
It was then that Sera, who had been listening silently, cut in.
“Even so, this ti you went too far. You didn’t put any safeguards in place at all. If Ga-on here hadn’t been present, Young Master Dobby would have……”
Ga-on stepped in to stop Sera and shook his head. Then he turned his gaze toward Koln.
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