Tom was the director of the External Information Department at Reketio Company.
He had been promoted to the position after the previous director retired.
However, Tom was not pleased.
The former director’s retirement had not occurred under normal circumstances.
Not only Tom but also everyone in the company did not take the director’s retirement at face value.
The reason was clear: the director had been against Owen’s appointment as chairman.
And it wasn’t just the director who faced such a fate.
Dismissals, forced retirements, demotions—though the methods varied, everyone knew this was a purge.
Anyone who had clashed with Owen during his tenure as a department head, or those loyal to the former chairman, were targeted.
In some cases, people were purged without any apparent reason.
Even a single round of purges didn’t ensure safety.
Some of those who remained were purged without cause, and even those who proved their worth were discarded like pawns when they were no longer useful.
Of course, such practices were common in megacorporations worldwide.
But the former chairman had been different.
Once hired, employees were rarely dismissed, and promotions were seldom followed by demotion or dismissal.
Personnel decisions made directly by the chairman were unlikely to cause issues.
Even if problems arose, the chairman was forgiving and often gave second chances, with those forgiven often repaying with even greater contributions.
Owen’s management, however, was far from lenient.
Unlike the former chairman, his company gave no second chances.
Employees’ lives were crushed at the whims of the chairman, like insects underfoot.
While this might have been standard practice in the broader world, it was unfamiliar to those who had worked at this company.
Tom, the director of the External Information Department, detested the tense atmosphere of this company that felt like walking on thin ice.
But there was nothing he could do.
He was newly married and had a wife and children to provide for at home.
Tom quietly continued his work.
***
Even so, he received an order that troubled him deeply.
[Track the location of Cassie Reketio and her associates.]
It was clear to anyone that this was not for a noble purpose.
If a megacorporation could be likened to a kingdom, bloody power struggles among heirs were commonplace.
Even after securing the throne, purging rival factions was seen as basic etiquette.
When Tom received the order, he reluctantly sat at his computer.
He felt a pang of sympathy for her, yet for the sake of his own safety, he did his best to track her.
He was certain this would end in another one-sided purge.
But when Cassie stormed the company building, Tom was utterly shocked.
‘Why this suicidal charge?’
Most employees cheered, thinking it would be an easy victory, and eagerly prepared their gear.
But not Tom.
The Cassie he knew was bold but not reckless.
Even though the company was at its weakest due to aggressive restructuring, it wasn’t so weak as to fall to a mere mercenary group.
No matter how much discontent there was against Owen internally, the chance of them siding with Cassie was slim.
Tom wondered if she might use the building as a rallying point.
But his thoughts changed when he saw entire teams wiped out—teams that had rushed forward, confident of success.
Recognizing Cassie’s capability after seeing the destruction she wrought, Tom admitted to himself:
‘She has something.’
Something that justified this bold assault on the company.
At the very least, those colleagues who had gone ahead wouldn’t have been careless.
Before confronting Cassie and her associates, Tom glanced back at his own team in the External Information Department.
Their morale was on the floor.
They were terrified by the news of other departments’ annihilation.
Tom looked at his subordinates and thought of his children at home.
He made a decision.
‘Damn it. If I fail, it’s treason. If I succeed, it’s a revolution.’
When Tom finally met Cassie’s group, he surrendered immediately.
He even volunteered to escort them to the chairman’s office.
Cassie’s associates were bewildered by Tom’s sudden defection.
But Cassie accepted him without hesitation, as if it were expected.
“You’re wise, Director Tom.”
“I’m just a department head…”
“No, you’re a director now.”
Her words, which could have been interpreted as arrogance, resonated with him.
At that moment, something in Tom’s mind began to change, as if memories were being erased.
As he observed this, Tom knew he had made the right gamble.
His surrender inspired others.
More employees began defecting to Cassie’s side—those quick to sense the tide, those dissatisfied with Owen’s methods, and those who valued legitimacy.
Cassie’s group, which had started as seven, soon swelled to hundreds of followers.
Yet Cassie didn’t bring all of them along.
“Please hold the floors we’ve taken,” she instructed.
This was war.
A civil war confined to a single massive building.
Securing the chairman’s head was important, but so was maintaining control over captured floors.
Thus, rather than keeping her defectors close, she stationed them to hold key areas.
By her side were only her six original associates.
With just those six, she continued her conquest of the company.
Even those who didn’t defect were left alone, as long as they didn’t actively attack her.
Cassie respected those who chose neutrality, leaving them untouched if they refrained from aggression.
“However, those who chose neutrality could not expect the same treatment as those who defected.”
Even so, those desiring safety chose neutrality to the very end.
Thus, three factions emerged within the company: the Owen faction, the neutral faction, and the Cassie faction.
Initially, the Owen faction was the majority.
But as Cassie’s momentum grew, the neutral faction gained prominence, and by the time Cassie had seized half of the company, her faction had become dominant.
At this rate, Owen was in real danger.
The Head of Security was not pleased with this turn of events.
“Tsk. Stupid traitors,” Kaden, the Security Chief, clicked his tongue.
Of course, Kaden himself was well aware that he had betrayed the former chairman.
But his criticism wasn’t about loyalty—it was about their foolishness.
‘Of all people to follow, they chose her…’
In Kaden’s eyes, Cassie had proven nothing.
‘In contrast, what about Owen?’
He had successfully managed countless transactions within the company, large and small, all without the former chairman’s help.
Owen’s brilliance was comparable to that of the former chairman, and he had even ousted him from power.
In Kaden’s estimation, Cassie was nothing more than a reckless young woman.
Instead of using the freedom granted by the former chairman productively within the company, she had wasted time with mercenaries outside.
In Kaden’s view, Cassie had achieved nothing and likely never would.
“You arrogant fools, drunk on their own delusions,” he muttered, rising from his seat.
He had hoped his subordinates could handle it, but Cassie and her allies were putting up a stronger fight than expected.
This threatened his reputation as Security Chief, so he decided to intervene personally.
“At least it’s not just blind bravado,” he admitted.
Initially, he had dismissed their assault as youthful recklessness.
But by the time they had breached half of the building, even Kaden had to acknowledge that they had some kind of advantage.
However—
“Whatever it is, I’ll crush it head-on,” he declared.
No matter what tricks the mercenaries employed, Kaden was the Security Chief.
If necessary, he could handle an army, let alone a mercenary group.
His combat prowess was such that he could wipe out a dozen elite squads single-handedly.
Confident, he grabbed his broadsword and grenade launcher, positioning himself at a key passageway.
***
Before long, Amon’s party appeared before him.
Without a word of introduction, Kaden launched an attack.
“I don’t know what tricks you’ve pulled, but this ends here!”
He swung his broadsword, fired grenades, and stomped the ground to create shockwaves, relentlessly driving them back.
As he fought Amon’s party, a grin spread across Kaden’s face.
‘They’ve got some skill!’
He had to admit it.
Amon and his comrades were formidable—each one roughly equivalent to a department head in his security team.
Especially Amon; with the right equipment and enhancements, he might even reach Kaden’s level one day.
But it was only a possibility.
Their current abilities fell far short of his expectations.
“Playtime is over,” Kaden announced, activating his neural acceleration device.
Dodging bullets and ignoring incoming spells were standard for him.
With the device active, Kaden moved so fast that he left afterimages, tearing through Amon’s party with ease.
The tank couldn’t even react before being slashed through his shield.
The sniper was reduced to a lifeless heap after colliding with Kaden’s shoulder.
He pulled the pin on a grenade attached to the ogre’s belt and lobbed it toward the mage.
Only Amon and Sonia managed to track Kaden’s movements, but his blade reached their necks before they could act.
Finally, Cassie stood there, seemingly unaware that her comrades had already fallen.
She stared at Kaden’s afterimages, unable to grasp the situation.
“Farewell, foolish girl,” Kaden sneered, swinging his sword.
***
Kaden lifted what he thought was Cassie’s severed head and turned to leave.
But as he placed a foot on the staircase to report to the chairman, his instincts screamed a warning.
Kaden paused, scanning for the source of the unease, only to realize it came from the head in his hand.
“What?”
As he stared at the head, its features began to change.
Kaden recognized the face immediately.
“Hamms?”
He called his secretary’s name, but there was no response.
Looking back at Amon’s supposedly defeated party, Kaden noticed their equipment and uniforms had somehow changed—now resembling those of his security team.
“What is this…?”
As Kaden struggled to process what he was seeing, his HUD (Heads-Up Display) began to glitch.
A splitting headache followed.
‘Wait… Why was I fighting them?’
In hindsight, Amon’s party had stopped halfway.
‘Had he really needed to come down and deal with them personally?’
‘Was it the chairman’s order? His own decision?’
His thoughts were fragmented.
Another burst of static overtook his mind, and when clarity returned, he saw the company’s former Executive Director standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at him.
Kaden’s guard went up immediately.
“What are you doing here?”
The man had resigned without hesitation to follow the former chairman, yet here he was, appearing without warning.
As Kaden raised his weapon, the director spoke.
“How pitiful,” the man said with a sigh.
“…What?”
“Even after betraying the chairman, you failed to earn Owen’s trust. No, perhaps it’s only natural—who would trust a traitor?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Did Owen ever tell you anything about the Reketio lineage?”
Kaden struggled to follow the man’s words.
The director continued with a troubled expression, as if talking to himself.
“It doesn’t matter if you listen or not; this will take some time anyway, so let’s chat. The chairman never trusted you—not from the start.
But do you know why he kept you as Security Chief despite that?”
The answer came without waiting for Kaden’s response.
“Because even a tool like you has its uses.”
At that moment, Kaden’s HUD displayed a download bar:
<Downloading…>
It was already 30% complete.
“When did this start?”
Pushing aside his confusion, Kaden activated his neural network’s antivirus.
The program detected something and issued a red alert, but with a wave of the director’s hand, the warning vanished, and the download resumed.
Kaden fired his weapon at the director, but the bullets passed harmlessly through, striking the wall behind him.
“You’re only seeing an illusion. Did you really think shooting at it would harm me?” the director chuckled.
Snapping his fingers, he froze Kaden in place.
With a few more gestures, the director began disabling Kaden’s cybernetic enhancements.
“This is impossible… My systems aren’t even connected to the internet!”
Kaden’s security team operated offline to prevent hacking.
Even their intranet was fortified beyond what the world’s top hackers could breach.
Yet the director had done so effortlessly.
The director shrugged and explained.
“Twenty years. That’s how long the chairman has been modifying the neural networks of people like you—those deemed dangerous.”
Under the guise of equipment upgrades, security checks, and virus scans, the chairman had secretly altered their neural networks over decades.
It had been a gradual process, too subtle to notice.
Kaden’s pupils shook as he realized the truth.
“Don’t tell me… The rebellion was planned from back then?”
“No, it wasn’t about Owen,” the director replied.
This project predated Owen’s rise and targeted those too talented to lose but too dangerous to keep close.
“Ultimately, you were never trusted. This project ensured you could be controlled if necessary.”
As the download completed, Kaden’s vision twisted.
His body moved against his will, seeing employees as enemies and attacking them mercilessly.
Kaden descended the stairs like a puppet, his weapons at the ready.
Behind him, the director’s voice echoed.
“Amazing. Even with all this, you took this long to download. The chairman truly valued you.”
With those words, the director’s presence vanished.
Kaden, partially reactivated, slaughtered Owen’s loyalists.
He wasn’t alone—others manipulated by the director joined in the massacre.
Even the company’s automated defenses turned on their own.
‘It’s all… meaningless…’
Owen’s enhanced security measures, meant to counter Cassie’s foresight, had become his downfall.
But blaming Owen’s incompetence was unfair; he had only been chairman for two months, inheriting chaos.
In the end, Kaden and others cleared the way for Amon’s party, only to kneel before Cassie.
[Confirming: Cassie Julia Reketio.]
Their HUDs displayed a brief message.
Kneeling like condemned prisoners, they awaited their fate.
Cassie hesitated only briefly before raising her spear and slashing at their necks.
With that, Owen’s supporters were gone.
Watching the scene, Amon grimaced.
“This is why I hate hackers.”
No matter how strong a cyber-enhanced warrior, they could be rendered helpless by a skilled hacker.
“It’s why I only use magical tattoos and genetic enhancements,” Cassie added.
Sonia and the party’s mages nodded in agreement.
Naturally, their gazes turned to their cyber-enhanced sniper, a man with more metal than flesh.
The mute sniper grimaced and typed out a message.
[Cassie, I swear I won’t betray you. Please trust me.]
“We’ll see.”
[Please, boss…]
The group burst into laughter, pressing onward.
All that remained was Owen.