Most of Owen’s followers had disappeared, with the security chief being the last to go.
Now, the only person still loyal to Owen in the company was his secretary.
As they ascended to the top floor where the chairman resided, the mute sniper whistled.
Whiiiuu~
[Do you think we even needed to come here? Honestly, I bet this could’ve been handled by just one director.]
Cassie shook her head.
“A father can make Owen suffer, but he can’t reclaim the chairman’s position.”
Of course, if core personnel like the security chief went wild, the damage would be considerable.
But that was only damage—not a decisive blow.
“From the start, this was planted in people like the white elephants.”
“White elephants?”
“Those guys who are too valuable to give away but too dangerous to use yourself.”
“Oh, you mean like a ‘chicken rib’ situation.”
“Chicken rib?”
“It’s a Chinese proverb.”
“Amon, you sure know a lot about Japanese and Chinese sayings.”
Amon raised the Japanese sword he had received from the chairman’s close aide.
“Their cultures are good at making weapons, so you naturally end up learning a thing or two.”
“That’s true. Anyway, there aren’t many infected with the virus. It’s not enough to take over the company. We had to fight directly when we first got here, didn’t we?”
Although the virus was deadly, the company’s forces still remained strong.
On the other hand, the chairman’s side had only a few executives and one director remaining.
Most of the executives were non-combat personnel, so there weren’t many capable fighters left.
The former chairman simply didn’t have the physical force to take over the company.
“So, have some confidence. Without you all, I wouldn’t have made it this far.”
“That’s also because you had the courage to act.”
At Amon’s words, Cassie blushed slightly and lightly tapped his shoulder.
As he said, Cassie’s courage was ultimately what mattered most.
It was also why the chairman hadn’t activated the virus to annihilate Cassie and her friends in a future vision.
Even if he wanted to help, it would have been meaningless if Cassie was determined to run away.
No one in the company would side with her or even remain neutral in such a scenario.
In that state, the company might suffer some damage but would still retain enough strength to wipe out Amon’s party.
In short, the chairman’s help would have been futile.
Thus, the chairman bitterly chose Owen’s side to ensure the prosperity of the family.
It was a heartless decision as a father, but a rational one as the head of the family and the former chairman of the company.
In this timeline, however, the chairman chose Cassie.
For one simple reason.
“Because in the end, giving up leaves no other options.”
At Cassie’s words, her comrades nodded in agreement, each in their own way.
With their friendship reaffirmed, they continued to ascend the floors.
Cassie anticipated the coming battle with Owen.
***
“Owen is mine to handle—with Amon and Sonia.”
Cassie knew Owen wasn’t just a bookish nerd sitting at a desk.
As much as she hated to admit it, Owen’s talent was genuine.
“That man has always been smarter than me and has a much higher compatibility with enhancements.”
Hundreds of years ago, strength was achieved by training a talented individual over decades.
In modern society, strength was determined by how many procedures you could endure.
In that sense, Owen was born with an exceptional physique.
He had undergone far better genetic enhancements and magical engravings than Cassie, and yet his side effects were limited to mild allergies.
“He may not be on the level of the security chief, but he’ll still be very strong.”
The power of foresight was formidable.
It allowed Cassie, unarmed, to overpower armed assassins.
Unless someone was overwhelmingly fast or had devastating firepower, someone who knew every pattern of an opponent had a natural advantage.
Even though Owen’s computer-aided foresight was imperfect, it was undeniably powerful.
“Would it make sense if I said he used to be a high school running back?”
Her companions nodded, understanding what she meant.
That alone was enough to infer Owen’s physical capabilities.
American football was a sport full of monsters capable of flipping light-armored vehicles or leaping 4 meters in a single bound.
The fact that Owen participated in such a sport said volumes about his physical prowess.
“His secretary is yours to handle.”
The beastman Torso, the mute sniper Vance, the ogre Vox, and the dual-gender magician Henn all nodded in agreement.
Incidentally, Owen’s secretary was also a former high school football player.
“What’s our status?”
Even though they had fought their way through the lower floors, Amon’s party was nearly at full strength.
Thanks to looting gear from the Shaunlai Group, Amon and his comrades had significantly upgraded their equipment.
In terms of raw power, they were equivalent to a top-tier corporate special ops team.
Add their experience, and they were on par with a megacorp security unit.
Clearing out the lower-level guards wasn’t solely due to the former chairman’s help—they were skilled in their own right.
“Shields are intact.”
[Special ammo is still plentiful.]
“The explosive compounds are in good supply.”
“We conserved a lot of mana on the lower floors.”
As if preparing for a boss fight in a dungeon, each member gave their report.
Cassie naturally turned to Amon and Sonia.
“I’m still alive and kicking.”
“I’ve got enough bullets and divine power to go around.”
Satisfied with their responses, Cassie nodded.
“Let’s go.”
***
Owen was waiting sooner than expected.
To reach the chairman’s office, they had to exit the elevator, walk down a hallway, and cross a wide atrium.
Owen had stepped out of the chairman’s office and was waiting for Amon’s party in the atrium.
Seated in a chair at the center, his secretary stood at his side.
As soon as Owen saw Cassie, his gloomy eyes muttered bitterly.
“So, in the end, Father always loved you the most.”
Owen’s voice dripped with resentment, filled with anger at a father who had spent 20 years implanting a virus in the company for Cassie’s sake.
But Cassie denied his accusations.
“Father loved you until the very end.”
As proof, the former chairman had given Owen countless chances.
When Owen failed to awaken the power of foresight, their father had gone so far as to slit his own wrist to push him further.
“No way! Please!”
Owen might not have known because he had locked himself in his room in shock, but according to Cassie, their father had been rushed to the hospital for anemia that day.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
“You are my son, even if you fail to awaken the power of foresight.”
Right after the ceremony, the chairman spoke to him sincerely.
Owen claimed his father’s love had faded after the ceremony, but that was entirely false.
Even afterward, the chairman continuously attempted to talk to his son, but it was Owen who rejected every effort.
He refused to engage, choosing instead to leave and live independently, almost as if running away.
“If you’ve already decided you’re unworthy of love, you can’t blame Father for it.”
“Shut up! What do you know? You’re the only one who felt that way! Father didn’t love me because he foresaw my betrayal!”
“Doesn’t that seem strange? If he didn’t love you, he could’ve excluded you entirely. But he kept you close until the very day he foresaw it.”
Owen’s body flinched at her words.
In that moment, a memory of him choking his father flashed through his mind.
Even as his father’s neck was being squeezed, he didn’t lose his composure.
That monster had looked at Owen with sad eyes and gently stroked his cheek.
Owen shook his head, trying to dispel the thought.
If it were true…
He couldn’t bear the humiliation.
“No. You don’t know anything. You don’t know how Father treated me.”
“I lived under the same roof as you for a time, remember?”
Their gazes collided in the air, tense and unyielding.
In the end, it was Cassie who backed down first.
“Hah… What does the truth matter at this point?”
Perception is subjective.
No one could definitively say whether Owen rejected his father first or if the chairman’s love waned first.
Whether the foresight caused the love to fade, or the faded love enabled the foresight, was unknowable.
It was also unclear if their mother went mad because Owen broke down, or if Owen broke down because their mother went mad.
In a family burdened with the power of foresight, causality held little meaning.
Owen gave a bitter smile.
“Just because you know the future doesn’t mean you have the right to choose it.”
The emotions stirred by seeing a future for the first time affect those emotions, which then influence the future itself.
Foresight was never a blessing.
But Cassie disagreed.
“No. The right to choose the future belongs to those who don’t give up.”
Owen was a rational person.
Because he was rational, he gave up quickly if the failure rate was too high.
His computer reflected this trait, excluding such futures from the outset.
Owen was never presented with those choices because he would never pick them.
But the former chairman and Cassie were different.
“Father said that foresight should remain a tool.”
That’s why their father, even knowing an unhappy future, didn’t give up and tried to act.
Keeping liabilities like the security chief and department heads close while giving them opportunities, and even knowing Owen’s betrayal, not dealing with him—all of it was an attempt to change the future.
That effort resulted in options appearing that only they could see.
The same applied to Cassie.
“It’s not the computer’s fault. It’s your fault.”
In Cassie’s view, the paths Owen couldn’t see weren’t due to the computer’s limitations but because Owen always compromised in the name of rationality.
“If the computer was really the problem… then why have all your investments succeeded until now?”
Owen knew the answer.
He was confident in his investments.
It was a talent his parents had always praised.
‘But this confrontation with Cassie?’
It was different.
“No.”
Owen gritted his teeth.
But Cassie pressed on.
“You know it’s true.”
Owen denied it.
“Me? Jealous of you? Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve always proven myself.”
“You’re right. That’s why I don’t understand it either. You’re smarter than me and have a better body. So why does this one thing, the power of foresight, make you feel inferior to me?”
“I told you, I don’t feel inferior!”
“Sure. If you say so.”
Cassie sighed, readjusting her spear.
The conversation was over.
Anyone could see that Cassie had won this verbal duel.
Owen’s eyebrow twitched as he drew his weapon.
As the two prepared for combat, their companions and Owen’s secretary did the same.
When the secretary removed his coat, his body began to swell.
His upper body transformed into that of a massive wolf.
“Is that werewolf surgery?”
The buffalo tank muttered, drawing glances from his teammates.
“What?”
“Didn’t you get that kind of surgery?”
“That’s a pretty speciesist thing to say.”
The tank insisted he was born a buffalo, earning a nod from Amon.
He hadn’t expected much from the question anyway.
The secretary’s modifications didn’t stop with the werewolf surgery.
Under his suit, his entire right arm was mechanical, and violet tattoos on his body emitted a cold aura that surrounded him.
“This feels familiar,” Sonia murmured.
Amon nodded.
It reminded them of a fully armored gorilla they’d met in their youth.
The difference here was that the secretary retained his rationality.
The dual-gender magician glanced at Cassie.
“Just to confirm, the virus didn’t…”
“He’s only been with the company for ten years.”
“Then we’re in trouble.”
Sighing, Amon’s teammates began luring the secretary to another location.
Owen seemed to welcome the idea of individual battles, and the secretary obediently followed.
As the secretary and the party moved to another area to fight, Owen activated his magical engravings.
“Physical enhancement, blood clotting, breathing assistance, dynamic vision enhancement, neural support…”
“So basically, he’s really fast, strong, and tough, right?”
“… And he can cast some spells without incantations.”
“That’s gonna be rough.”
The true value of magical engravings lay in enabling certain spells to be cast without incantations.
Most warriors only used physical enhancement spells, but Owen clearly had talent as a mage as well.
A warrior’s body and a mage’s mind.
Amon grumbled at the sight.
“He could’ve been content with those talents and lived his life.”
“Exactly.”
Sonia agreed with him.
Cassie, however, rolled her eyes.
“You guys aren’t exactly average either, you know!”
Amon wasn’t deterred.
“Honestly, with foresight, you’re in our league too.”
Cassie didn’t deny it.
With that, the three of them charged at Owen.
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