85. Tentacle-Style Expansion (2)

“I’m not asking you to do anything right this second. Just keep doing what you do.”
“Mmmhmm. We’re more or less in the same boat now — sure you don’t want to hand down some kind of policy?”
“You handle things just fine on your own without me saying a word.”

Even before the regression, the Madam had kept East Asia’s Hunter-commission market locked down tight.

Why would I bother coaching someone who’ll work her magic just fine left to her own devices?

‘I don’t know anything about change.’

Lord Constellation.

That’s not something I even want to know about, so please, spare me the emphasis.

There were inconvenient truths it was sometimes better not to know.

“Will Mister Black be all right? He’s the type who keeps harping on about the ‘balance of power’ and whatnot.”
“I’ll keep a suitable distance. He won’t catch on right away.”
“Well, that part — Madam, you handle it as you see fit.”

Yujin waved a hand dismissively.

‘From the black market’s standpoint, the Black Company wouldn’t look all that appealing.’

‘There’s no need to split the world into allies and enemies.’

Mister Black was a man of considerable resourcefulness. He’d made the Paju underground auction house the finest in East Asia, and beyond that he had the shadow world’s money pipelines locked up so tight that even the Guryongbang couldn’t touch him easily.

‘I was one of his major clients, too.’

Unlike South Korea, most of the former North’s territory had turned to erosion-zone, the fallout of a botched initial response when the Great Cataclysm broke out.

The Necropolis I set up in Kaesong was no different. You have no idea how hard it was to build infrastructure there.
‘The one who opened up a trade network in a place inhabited by nothing but undead was the black market.’
And it was through that, too, that I learned Mister Black desperately wanted a passage to the mainland.
There’s no need to go out of my way to make an enemy of him. Coexistence wasn’t a bad option.

What.

What is it.

So I’m a little greedy. Did you ever lift a finger to help, Lord Constellation?

Mid-protest, Yujin let out a sudden “Ah” of realization.

‘History’s already changing.’

The Madam of the Galaxy Pub. She, too, had stubbornly clung to neutrality before the regression, even at a cost to herself.

And now?

After overhearing the Scraps’ story, she’d not only taken an interest in the Black Company first, she’d thrown a counter-offer at Yujin.

‘Just because it’s Mister Black doesn’t mean I can’t draw him in.’

It wasn’t that he meant to fold the black market under the Black Company this very moment. The point was that there was no reason to slam the door even on the possibility of bringing them in.

Yujin had drawn his own kind of insight from Kronos’s remark.

‘There’s no need to be bound by knowledge from before the regression.’

‘Thanks to you, Lord Constellation, I’m walking away with something. From now on, I think I can afford to get even greedier.’

Reading Yujin’s inner workings as his ambition blazed up, Kronos let out a sigh.

The Black Company’s policy ran as follows.

Cheon Yujin: Representative Director.
Shin Junseok: Director, Alchemy Division.
The Scraps: Directors, Mercenary Division, plus a Department Head (Lee Seongmin).
Im Jaebaek: Director, Shadow-Business Division.
The Madam: Director, Commission Brokerage.

“Bro. How many directors does this tiny company even have?”
“That’s why I made you a department head.”
“But the seniors are all directors, and I’m the only one who isn’t.”

Lee Seongmin couldn’t hide the gloom on his face. Kang Minyeong gave his back a sharp thwack.

“Hey. You trying to put yourself on equal footing with seniors who tower over you like the heavens?”
“Must be nice, being a senior. Getting to be a director.”
“Then go get yourself born early so you can start school early too.”
“That system’s been gone for ages — what’re you on about?”

The Scraps grumbled quietly among themselves.

Hm.

Swallowing a groan, Yujin deliberately looked away and ignored the sight.

‘The two of them are already proven, so I made them directors. Can’t be helped.’

The data from before the regression existed only inside Yujin’s head. Lee Seongmin was a figure who needed more proving; he’d performed beyond expectations during the Daegu double-gate clear, but the proving was a long way from complete.

“Director Im. For the time being, you’ll act alongside those fellows.”
“How should I handle the business handover?”
“I’ll be in and out of Ground Zero on a regular basis. Take it over a little at a time, each time I’m through.”
“Understood.”

Ground Zero was a lawless land. Even after the Red Spider had withdrawn and Yujin had smashed the organizations that stuck their necks up, it had been no more than a temporary measure. It was the spot most sought out by Hunters who’d committed crimes in Korea, and bastards gathering forces while dreaming of becoming the second or third Red Spider were bound to keep cropping up.

“What’s Director Im’s Stellar Rank?”
“3rd Rank.”
“You’ll need to be able to use Aura at minimum to manage the businesses.”

4th Rank.

A wall before which Martial Hunters beyond counting had been left to despair, and Yujin spoke of it all too easily.

Far from feeling pressured by the remark, Im Jaebaek actually drew strength from it.

‘He’s not a man to say things without grounds.’

The time he’d spent acting alongside Yujin wasn’t all that long. A day and change, generously counted.

But.

Im Jaebaek knew that, frivolous as the man before him might sound when he talked, he proved his words through his actions.

‘4th Rank. I can do it.’

Im Jaebaek steeled his resolve. The Scraps shot him a sidelong glance, then fanned their competitive spirit, going, ‘3rd Rank?’ ‘That’s higher than us.’

Those guys.

When will they ever grow up?

“Representative Cheon. I’d like to work too.”
“Jaeyeong?”
“I hadn’t planned anything for the younger sibling, though. I’ll take the enthusiasm, at least.”
“I handled the accounting, of a sort, when Bro ran his business. Please, give me even some small task!”

Im Jaebaek looked back and forth between his sibling and Yujin, then bowed his head deeply right along with them.

“My sibling falls short. Even so, can you take them in?”

Hmm.

Taking in an unproven talent, the same as with Lee Seongmin, is it.

Yujin thought it over for a moment, then nodded.

“Madam. Take this one on for a bit.”
“Looking after people isn’t my job, you know?”
“A few days will do. Once you’re back from the borderlands with Director Im, you’ll take over the handover together.”
“That much should be fine.”
“Ah. And arrange a place for them to stay, too.”
“…That’s looking after them, isn’t it?”

Yujin breezed past the Madam’s complaint as if he hadn’t heard it. He abruptly struck up a conversation with Shin Junseok, who’d been depleting the snacks on the table.

“Partner. How were the borderlands?”

— Hrkk, hk.

Shin Junseok, who’d been cramming snacks down his throat, let out a dry cough.

“It, it was a good experience.”
“You weren’t about to say ‘a shitty one,’ were you…”
“Ahahaha. As if I’d ever use such vulgar language. Yes, yes. Quite so.”

Cutting Yujin’s words off, Shin Junseok laughed awkwardly.

“Good to hear.”
“Sorry?”
“There’s a job I need done in the borderlands. Go have some more good experiences.”
“Ah, that is, well.”

Shin Junseok stammered. Feeling as though he’d tripped over his own feet, he couldn’t get the words out; the plea to be left out wouldn’t rise up his throat.

I’d better drive the nail in here.

“Minho. How was the partner’s skill?”
“Thanks to his golem forging, things were remarkably comfortable.”
“Oh. He’d never been through a real battle, so I figured he must’ve meshed well with the Scraps.”
“At first he was… a bit, well, out of his depth. Still, the golem tanked alongside us, which was a huge help.”

Shin Junseok’s lips quivered ever so slightly.

Honestly, such an easy man to read.

Yujin parted his lips to drive the nail into this borderlands trip.

“With you along, it’d be a great boost to our fighting strength.”
“Indeed it would. If Alchemist Shin — no. If Director Shin lends a hand, it’ll be a tremendous force.”

Kang Minho, catching Yujin’s intent, laid it on thick.

“Mister! You really were the best! Thanks to those golems, it was so easy. More dependable than my big bro, even.”

When Kang Minyeong chimed in too, Shin Junseok’s cheekbones rode so high with pride they looked fit to carry him straight up to heaven.

“Ahem. I’m a man who delivers when it counts.”
“So it’s decided?”
“Uh, that one I’d like to think over a bit.”
“No time, so we leave at once. There’s a mountain of things to be done.”

Yujin gave a strong shove to the back of the hesitating Shin Junseok. The Scraps shot up off their seats at once.

“I leave my sibling in your care.”

Im Jaebaek gave the Madam a light bow of the head, then followed after the group.

The borderlands, returned to after a week or so.

Treading the land blanketed in pale, milky fog, Yujin found the feelings it stirred fresh all over again.

‘Lately I haven’t been able to stay at the Necropolis at all.’

Recently there’d been Im Jaebaek’s rescue and the Yeonpyeong naval battle, and going a little further back, the Daegu double-gate clear and the like; there’d been no spare moment to mind the borderlands Necropolis.

‘I was even prepared to give it up if it came to that.’

He’d raised the 5th-Rank Hunters Choi Hyeongtae and Lee Seungyeon as the dead, but if Eye-Patch came barreling in there’d be no way out, so he’d left it half to luck.

Now the situation was different. He’d squared off with the Kaesong man-hunters at Yeonpyeong, so a clash was unavoidable.

‘If they push down below the Imjin River, the damage on this side will be heavy too.’

The Black Herb farm, of course. The various businesses seized from the Red Spider would take damage as well, and it would become hard to lay claim to a stake in Ground Zero any longer.

‘I’ve spread the business out big, so I need to build the fence strong.’

The city of the dead, the Necropolis. A Necromancer’s domain would make a stout perimeter to protect the Black Company, which had begun its expansion.

‘The man-hunters are a somewhat tougher opponent, though.’

‘Roughly. I can’t guarantee it’ll work a hundred percent.’

Tch.

Not bad.

He’d tried acting weak for a moment, but Kronos wasn’t about to let it slide.

‘I’ve got a fair bit of fighting strength in place. With enough preparation, even the man-hunters are doable.’

The problem was the other one. The tyrant of the borderlands, Eye-Patch: a mutant Ogre that had reached the tail end of the 7th Rank, a monster that could even wield magic.

‘If that thing shows up, I’ll barely manage to hold the line, that’s all.’

‘I think it came up during the naval battle, too.’

In the original timeline, the man-hunters tamed Eye-Patch after immense effort. At the time, Korea’s strongest Hunters were Arahan’s Lee Shinwoo and Phoenix Guild Master Kim Yeongsu, and Eye-Patch was a foe formidable enough that one of the two would have to step up and risk his life. It was hard for the pair to set out merely to hunt a borderlands monster.

‘The man-hunters ruled the north of Paju for several years.’

The gateway leading to the borderlands had collapsed. Man-hunters with monsters in tow raided the nearby villages from time to time, carrying off the residents.

‘Well, that’s about it.’

This time it would be different.

Was this for the sake of the people of Paju and Yeoncheon? No.

It’s simply that I have no wish to watch bastards who’ve abandoned even the bare minimum of decency thrive.

And clashing with them was unavoidable for the sake of the Black Company’s freshly declared business expansion, too.

What.

What is it.

It’s only that I can’t tolerate someone else messing with my rice bowl.

When Yujin bristled, Kronos laughed with gusto.

Pushing Kronos’s thoughts back, he summoned Shin Junseok.

“You called?”
“I’m going to need your help.”
“Do I just boil the iron the way I did last time?”
“This is exactly why I like you, partner.”
“I would very much like to firmly decline a man’s affection.”

Grumbling, Shin Junseok lit the fire beneath the Witch’s Cauldron.

— Bubble, bubble.

Drawing out the Lump of Iron Steeped in Obsession he’d boiled for the set time, Yujin summoned the two undead that had been guarding the Necropolis.

“Hold still.”

Lee Seungyeon, now promoted to a Dark Minion, was no different from Jo Seungcheol, who’d become a Dark Minion before her. Choi Hyeongtae, on the other hand, had thin armor plating; rather than covering his whole body like Song Myeongseok, he was armed only minimally, so as not to hinder his movements.

‘I matched it to his combat style in life.’

Because the union of body and soul had been achieved, he’d been able to leave behind a good portion of his living habits and abilities. To make proper use of the skills he retained, he had to be shaped into a form suited to them. Both undead reinforcement and the procedure called for delicacy.

‘A Tyrant is an undead specialized for close-quarters brawling, like Fafnir. It’ll be useful.’

After cackling to himself, Yujin shot Shin Junseok a sidelong glance.

“Hah. Thanks to my capable partner, the work wrapped up fast.”
“You think praising me is going to put me in a good mood?”

Yes.

Looks that way.

“Oh, right. Partner.”
“I’m not doing any more work.”
“It’s just that there’s something I want to show you.”

After the mid-grade potion, we ought to make a new product too, no?

Cackling all the while, Yujin led Shin Junseok off to the Black Herb farm.