I collapsed onto my beloved bed, burying my face into the pillow.
"You seem exhausted. Is writing on the exam papers any different from scribbling on those piles of documents?" my secretary—or rather, the old man's secretary now—asked while setting a cup of coffee on my desk.
"Of course, it's different. That pile of documents is full of trivial cases that get resolved in no time. Exams, on the other hand, require full mental exertion," I replied, sitting up to take a sip of the coffee.
Ugh, why do I always forget this is coffee made by my secretary? My mood soured even more.
"Really? The human world is so strange," she said.
"Whatever. So, what's the situation?"
"Are you my boss or something?"
"..." I stared at her, and she burst out laughing.
"Alright, alright, I'm sorry! Here, take a look," she said, handing me a stack of reports.
I might not be the boss anymore, but the fact remains: the old man is the boss, and his solution to everything is brute force.
So I still help him in a supporting role. I'm not crazy enough to let this organization spiral further into chaos.
I skimmed through the reports.
Currently, 124 people owe money to our organization. Among them, 56 are doing well and will likely repay their debts next year.
As for those who keep borrowing without improvement... they shouldn't blame us for being ruthless.
Yes, if you're curious, our organization deals in loansharking—the quintessential mafia business.
That said, we're somewhat lenient, giving hardworking debtors a chance to pay back.
But those who borrow for gambling and show no improvement? They're on the blacklist. If they repay, fine. If not, we'll sell them as slaves or something.
I'm not kind enough to waste resources on people who don't value money.
"Hmm, a few bars and even some aristocrats have hired us for protection. It seems our members' skills are gaining recognition," I remarked, taking another sip of coffee.
That's when my eyes landed on a particularly intriguing report.
"...The drug dealers' location has been exposed?"
"Looks like it."
"Perfect. We need to deal with them soon."
I stood up, stretched, and glanced in the mirror.
'...These bastards are persistent. No matter how many times we crush them, they always resurface.'
Drug dealers were a major headache for this kingdom before I became boss.
If you're wondering, "Aren't mafias typically involved in drug dealing? Why would you want to eliminate them?"
Oh, you're right. That's precisely why I want to wipe them out.
Imagine a city where everyone is hooked on drugs—rambling incoherently, staggering around, completely out of their minds.
If that trend continued, this kingdom would fall apart. I hated the very idea.
So, when I became boss, I reformed the entire organization. Truthfully, that was the hardest thing I've ever done.
'Back to the matter at hand, the drug dealers are from a rival mafia group… how annoying. And it's even from an organization I know personally.'
That group is called... uh, I don't remember. Let's just call them J97—it sounds like a deadbeat dad who abandoned his child.
This organization has a deeply hostile relationship with us. Why?
Because during my reforms, I "handled" some spies they sent to sabotage my Dark Days organization.
And other incidents like reclaiming land they stole from us, competing with them, blah blah blah.
Whatever, no point ranting about those scumbags.
"Is anyone available for the mission?" I asked.
"Aren't you doing it yourself? Remember last time you personally threw punches?"
"I'm tired."
"That's a lame excuse... Éclair is on a mission, Leo's swamped with accounting work as usual, Ga-Yul went out to play, and Sternruh locked himself in his room and fell asleep."
"...What about the old man? Is he free?"
"The boss is off hunting monsters with his buddy."
Are you kidding me? And you had the nerve to take my position?
"...Irina?"
"Did you just call me?"
Startled, I turned around to see a red-haired girl with golden eyes kneading dough.
It was Irina.
"What on earth are you doing?"
"Baking bread."
"...For what?"
"For you to eat."
Come on, don't make me reminisce about the past.
"...Irina, I hate to interrupt your plans, but… you've got a mission today."
"Oh? It's been a while since you've given me one."
"I assigned you a task just a week ago."
"Exactly, it's been a while."
"Hey, Irina, want some of my coffee?" the secretary offered.
Irina sniffed it, downed the whole thing, set the cup on the table, and looked at me.
"Tell me about the mission, Boss."
"Alright, here's the deal..."
After explaining everything, she nodded and cracked her knuckles.
"Need backup?" the secretary asked.
"No need. I can handle this alone," Irina replied before leaving the room, leaving me and the secretary behind.
"I bet she'll finish it in ten minutes!" the secretary grinned at me.
"I'm not betting."
"Aww…"
***
The sound of fists slamming on the table echoed through the room, startling a few people nearby.
"THOSE DARK DAYS BASTARDS!! WHY DO THEY KEEP RUINING EVERYTHING I TRY TO DO?!" The furious pounding continued.
The source of the commotion was an older, slightly overweight bald man with a few scars on his face.
"FIVE YEARS AGO! BACK THEN, DARK DAYS WAS ON ITS LAST LEGS! THEN OUT OF NOWHERE, THEY ROSE FROM THE ASHES LIKE A DAMN PHOENIX! NOW THEY'RE BOLDLY COMPETING WITH EVERY MAFIA ORGANIZATION, LEAVING MANY BANKRUPT OR DESTROYED IN NO TIME! I WON'T STAND FOR THIS!"
"Please, boss, calm dow—"
"CALM DOWN?! YOU THINK I CAN STAY CALM?! DON'T YOU SEE HOW THEY KEEP RUINING ALL OUR PLANS? WHAT KIND OF MAFIA DOESN'T SELL DRUGS?! DO THEY LIVE BY SOME STUPID MOTTO LIKE, 'A good mafia never sell drug!' LIKE WTF?! WHAT KIND OF LIFE ARE THEY LIVING?! TRYING TO MAKE ME LAUGH OR SOMETHING?!"
"Sir, I'm pretty sure the readers won't read through all your ranting…"
"SHUT UP! YOU THINK I CARE?! GAHHHHHHH!!!" He slammed the table again, this time so hard the furniture looked ready to collapse.
This was J97—no, Eagle Fall. Sounds cool, right? Unfortunately, this organization was nothing but a bunch of greedy, filthy scoundrels—the typical villains who block the protagonist's way only to get crushed in an instant.
Unluckily for them, they crossed paths with Dark Days. Initially, they underestimated the struggling organization, only to watch it revive and beat them to a pulp.
Imagine selling drugs secretly, only for Dark Days to appear out of nowhere and destroy everything, leaving Eagle Fall with massive losses.
To summarize their feelings toward Dark Days in one word: hatred.
"F*** YOUR GIORNO-LIKE LIFESTYLE! YOU DON'T LIKE DRUGS, HUH?! DO YOU BELIEVE I WON'T SELL THEM TO KIDS?! DO YOU THINK—"
"Stop it, boss! You're making this story sound like a fanfic!" One subordinate quickly intervened, preventing him from going any further.
"Hah… hah… You're right. I need to calm down. At least they haven't discovered the new smuggling route we set up," he said, wiping his sweat and standing up to issue orders.
He planned to sell the drugs to bandits. Since these drugs temporarily enhanced strength, they were a hit among thieves and brigands.
"Hehehe, those Dark Days scumbags might earn more money, but they're nothing compared to me! I have to thank you, Dr. Vulac!"
A man sitting nearby smirked while examining a vial. He stepped out of the shadows and approached the boss.
"You're too kind. It's an honor to serve you. You're the only one who recognizes the value of my work."
"Come on, don't say that! Thanks to you, we've survived to this day! If it weren't for those DARK DAYS BASTARDS!! F***! EVEN SAYING THEIR NAME MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL!" The boss slung an arm around Vulac's shoulder.
"Take it easy," Vulac said, smiling softly.
He kept smiling as he returned to his desk, listening to the boss continue cursing Dark Days.
Then, Vulac's earpiece crackled to life. He paused, listening intently.
"Excuse me, everyone, I have to leave now," Vulac said calmly and politely, heading for the door.
"That guy is so weird… Don't you think so, boss?" a subordinate whispered.
"Shut up. If I hear you doubting him again, you're dead meat," the boss snarled.
The room fell silent. Satisfied, the boss turned his chair to face the window.
Truth be told, he also had his suspicions about Vulac. But he did nothing, waiting for the right moment.
As soon as Vulac shared the formula for his drugs, the boss planned to seize everything for himself.
In the underworld, there was no such thing as goodwill—only relationships built on mutual exploitation.
'What a pity for a smart man who trusted the wrong people,' he thought, grinning maliciously as he took a sip of coffee.
"BLAGH! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS DISGUSTING COFFEE?! WHO MADE THIS?!" he shouted, spitting it out and staining his shirt.
…There was no response.
"Huh?"
He stood up, looking around the room. Just seconds ago, there were ten people here. Now, it was empty.
Opening the door, he was greeted by a familiar, metallic scent—blood.
Sensing danger, he grabbed his favorite weapon, a hammer.
It was a low-tier Magic Gear, but more than sufficient.
"Which bastard dared to infiltrate our base? You've got a death wish!"
He stepped cautiously into the hallway, eyes scanning for any signs of movement.
But something felt terribly wrong.
The further he walked, the more blood stained the walls and floor, and now there were even a few corpses scattered around.
For some reason, the lights weren't working, shrouding everything ahead in an ominous darkness.
"...What the hell is going on here?!" he muttered, sweating as he continued cautiously forward.
The number of corpses increased with every step, a grim scene that left him with an intense sense of unease.
"...Maybe I should turn back."
Just as he decided to turn around, he bumped into someone.
"Oh! You're still alive! You scared the crap out of me!"
It was one of his subordinates.
But the subordinate just stood there silently, staring at him.
"W-Why are you looking at me like that?"
The man's eyes began to bleed, and before the boss could react, his subordinate's body was torn apart into pieces.
Blood splattered across the boss's face as he stood frozen, staring in shock at the figure before him.
"Four hundred and fifty-six! Yahoo! I didn't think I'd get to kill that many today. Teehee!"
The voice came from a woman with red hair and golden eyes, holding a blood-red spear radiating ominous energy. Her rabbit ears twitched playfully atop her head.
"How was my coffee? I learned it from the boss's secretary!" she asked with a cheerful smile, even as blood dripped from her face and clothes.
Instinctively, the boss swung his hammer at her.
In a blink, she was behind him.
"Heyyy, that's not very nice! If you keep doing that, you'll lose all your friends!" she teased, poking his cheek with her finger.
Panicking, he swung the hammer wildly, but it struck nothing but air.
"Hmm! So rude! Maybe that's why my boss ordered me to kill you," she said with a pout, stomping her foot as if dissatisfied.
"DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME!!" the boss roared, activating his Magic Gear.
The ground exploded beneath him, catching her off guard.
"DIE!!" he seized the moment, swinging his hammer with all his might.
CLANG!!!
It felt like he had struck something unnaturally hard.
When he looked again, she was wearing a green cap and had a turtle shell strapped to her back.
"So... dis... re... spect... ful... to... elders..."
Her speech slowed to a crawl, and her tone mimicked that of an old lady.
Then, her rabbit ears reappeared as she puffed out her cheeks in exaggerated annoyance.
"Super rude! Totally rude! You're not fun at all! I hate you!"
Spinning her blood-red spear at an unimaginable speed, she lunged at him.
Terrified, he raised his hammer to block, but she planted the spear into the ground and vaulted over him. In an instant, she delivered a powerful kick to the back of his neck.
The force launched him forward, his neck heading straight for the spear.
"DAMN IT!!" he tried to pull away, but her hand grabbed his head.
With brutal force, she slammed his head down onto the spear, impaling his neck.
Blood gushed everywhere as she wiped her forehead with a casual sigh.
"Huh? I thought there were supposed to be 458 of you, right? Where's the last one?"
Looking around, she shrugged and put her hands behind her head.
"Oh well! The boss probably won't notice!"
Grabbing her blood-soaked spear, her rabbit ears and tail slowly faded away, leaving her with the usual blank expression.
She sat down on the ground, covering her face with her hands, and froze in place for a few minutes.
"...So embarrassing," she muttered, before standing up and leaving the gruesome scene behind.
When the girl left, a shadowy figure quietly emerged from the dark corner of the room, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.
"Terrifying... If it weren't for the invisible Magic Gear, I'd have met the same fate as these fools," he muttered, his eyes fixed on the scattered corpses.
It was Dr. Vulac.
Suddenly, a sound came from his communication device. Startled, Vulac quickly answered the call.
[Still alive?]
"Alive."
[What happened?]
"She's ridiculously dangerous and has multiple personality disorder... Truly a psychopath," Vulac replied, his tone filled with frustration.
[I told you, the Lotus Kingdom is not easy to conquer. But you wouldn't listen.]
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'll be more careful next time," Vulac interrupted.
He ended the call, his cold gaze lingering on the horrifying scene caused by the girl.
"Sigh... This is going to be a long journey..."
With that, Vulac turned and stepped into the darkness, his figure gradually blending into the night.
*****
I have my exam on this week so next chapter will take a long time