After that meeting in the hospital room, Lee Taebaek and Seong Hayun had made a certain promise.

It consisted of three things in total.

First, they would maintain their cold atmosphere toward each other, just like before—at least outwardly. There was no benefit to word of their shady entanglement spreading. Rather than generating unnecessary gossip, it was better to play the roles of the worthless newbie and the overbearing Team Leader. That ensured freedom of movement.

The second was to meet periodically in the lower districts and share information privately.

Using the company network would just feed everything straight to the higher-ups.

Even using the external comms network from inside the company wouldn’t make much difference. This was Daesung, after all—a megacorp boasting the pinnacle of information and machinery tech.

The Madam’s people are probably gripping the comms tight.

Devices like terminals or computers carried a high risk of leaks. Only face-to-face, verbal exchanges could put both sides at ease.

Lee Taebaek was the one who chose the lower district rendezvous spot. Strictly speaking, his home base was the Eunko Bar. He needed to show his face there regularly to avoid awkwardness.

I still haven’t heard what kind of contract the landlady made with the Heavenly Demon.

Goeun was suffering considerable aftereffects. Minor memory loss was one of the symptoms.

She had barely been freed, but that curse from the Heavenly Demon lingered. He hadn’t expected to purge even the aftermath all at once from the start.

The landlady needs to focus on recovering her memories over time.

Conveniently, a good opportunity had arisen for Lee Taebaek.

While Goeun concentrated on recuperation, he could pave the way in the upper levels. It wasted no time, and it minimized the chances of her getting dragged into incidents when rest was essential.

Jasbi will be by her side to look after her.

Back to the main point.

Finally, they promised to report any progress separately to Executive Director Ryu Subaek.

Team Leader Seong Hayun would brief the Executive Director directly, while Lee Taebaek would relay the situation through Director Ryu Garyeon.

It’s minimal insurance.

This allowed Executive Director Ryu Subaek to cross-verify the information from both. If there were major discrepancies in what they reported? One of them was likely a spy.

It would be foolish to completely dismiss suspicions. They had tacitly agreed to trust each other, but blind faith was unwise. Trust inflated risk in equal measure.

Setting up safeguards at the crossroads of information was beneficial in every way. Only then could they share opinions openly during rendezvous without holding back.

“At this rate, it feels like I’ve become a big corp audit team member.”

Lee Taebaek let out a hollow chuckle while gazing out the window. The cityscape twinkled in patches beyond the double-paned glass.

He had been working overtime and admiring the night view. He’d thought security work would involve plenty of physical action, but that was a miscalculation. Most of his time was spent wrestling with paperwork.

“…And even this overtime is just more paper pushing.”

A megacorp rarely needed to resort to direct violence. If something blew up, they just pushed the City Government out front as a proxy.

Megacorp internal organs, like the Security Team, only stepped in during clashes with peer corps. That’s when shadowy shows of force happened behind the scenes.

I haven’t experienced it yet myself.

He was curious. What if he ran into a Siesta Hound that way? Might he uncover the true nature or origin of this ‘Lee Taebaek’ body?

He had already solidified his identity, so it wasn’t hugely important. Still, curiosity about the roots of his flesh was natural enough.

He shook his head.

Lee Taebaek shook his head.

He brushed off the stray thought and sat back down.

His main goal wasn’t to build a foothold in Daesung Group. Getting tangled in needless fights could twist his fate badly. He might not face dire straits through force anymore, but a mob was another story.

“Fights between megacorps are basically gang brawls by default.”

For now, he’d move according to Executive Director Ryu Subaek’s request. The man had volunteered as his patron. Matching efforts would yield commensurate ‘returns.’

The ‘returns’ here weren’t just money—though that was part of it. A megacorp executive lacked for nothing material. The chairman could juggle two nations without exaggeration.

By his own judgment, Ryu Subaek wouldn’t betray him at the endgame. It was gut instinct-based faith, sure.

But he’d arrived at that conclusion using [Presence Detection] and [Buff] in tandem. It wasn’t lacking as a basis for trust.

The same went for Team Leader Seong. Keeping reason perpetually sharp wasn’t always best. Sometimes actions stemmed from abstracts beyond money. That was how one stayed human. Contradictions and irrationality completed humanity.

It was Lee Taebaek’s creed—the creator of this parched world.

Time slipped by stealthily. A week had already passed since he started.

He now had a rough sense, skin-deep, of how the company operated and Daesung’s work style. The team members still shot him sullen glances.

That was all. Hadn’t Team Leader Seong Hayun been thoroughly thrashed by him? Plus, Executive Director Ryu Subaek had scouted him personally. They might badmouth him behind his back, but none dared confront him openly.

It didn’t matter. Lee Taebaek just did his job. This untouchable ‘worthless employee’ position was convenient in many ways.

Not that he was truly worthless, of course.

Anyway.

The atmosphere persisted even after Team Leader Seong Hayun returned from the hospital. She gave him no glances, not even lukewarm ones. She treated him like he was invisible.

“She’s nailing the ‘boss humiliated by newbie’ act.”

Surely she wasn’t actually holding a grudge. They were in cahoots, after all? Her performance was so good it nearly tricked him into that delusion.

“Yeah, right. Especially after I hooked her up with a free cybernetic body upgrade.”

As an aside, company insurance had covered Team Leader Seong’s swap to the latest cybernetic prosthetic. It gleamed so brightly it hurt the eyes just to look.

She had to be inwardly grateful, right? Or so Lee Taebaek mused. Some might call that abnormal.

They’d be right. Lee Taebaek was abnormal. Though he constantly appealed to his humanity as an otherworlder, he was a freak blended from brutal concepts. Everyone agreed on that.

The quiet office.

Bam!

A loud crash jolted Lee Taebaek awake from his doze. He whipped his head toward the presence. Team Leader Seong, who had given him a cold glare, silently piled up documents and vanished.

He rubbed the back of his head and turned his eyes forward.

More paperwork. An infuriating amount.

Heh, damn it all.

To outsiders, it looked like she was dumping scut work on her insufferable subordinate. Everyone would think that. Even Lee Taebaek felt the suspicion amid the mountain of files.

Isn’t this way too much?

He eyed the stack nearly scraping the ceiling and sighed. With [Bullet Time], he could finish by end of day. He had to.

A week straight of overtime crosses the line.

Flip, flip.

His hand paused while rifling through the pile. It was the ledger for the Security Team’s total budget.

“Why is the money so damn skimpy?”

Daesung’s security had three teams. As a recent megacorp entrant, the number was low.

Still, after Saber Master Muyachi joined Daesung, the chairman was pouring resources into bolstering forces. Amid fierce share battles, he’d even liquidated some chairman-held stocks to boost the security budget.

Yet.

“Team 1’s budget jumped noticeably… but Teams 2 and 3? Who’s this benefiting? Headcount up, budget barely moved.”

Lee Taebaek felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

This feels awfully familiar.

It echoed the nonsense from his past life’s business division. They spat demands at the executives for dev budget hikes. They sounded like independence fighters.

But the dev team’s cut? A pittance. The change? Lunch menu from spinach kimbap to tuna-mayo kimbap.

Money that should have come to them lined someone else’s pockets. No doubt blown on divisional booze-ups. Pro term: skimming.

Robber bastards.

Seemed Daesung Group had its share of parasites too. Otherwise, how could field allocations be so stingy against the increase?

“You assholes pull this crap in Raken’s too?”

“Ahem!”

He must’ve spoken too loud. The assistant manager across coughed pointedly to warn him. Lee Taebaek ignored it.

“I’m working, working.”

“Who… said what… jeez.”

“You coughed.”

“What are you, Gung Ye?…”

If you’re gonna grumble, at least wipe your sweat first. Lee Taebaek tuned it out and scrutinized the documents. His expression soured deeper. The more he examined, the more the ledger resembled Swiss cheese riddled with money holes.

The methods were devilishly subtle—easy to miss without close inspection. Without his desire to leave on time, which made him use [Bullet Time], even he’d have skimmed past.

Plus, past-life skimming trauma had honed his ledger-reading eye. Who knew that suffering would pay off here.

Team Leader Seong didn’t assign this on purpose.

The volume was “fuck my life” levels, and the sign-off line was blank—pre-approval. Pure coincidence.

Then lightning struck his mind.

If I play this right…

He could make real waves in Daesung’s ongoing power struggle.

The skimmed sum was substantial. It wouldn’t flip the share war, but it’d ripple effectively.

Gotta consult Team Leader Seong at the next meet.

First, verify facts.

Lee Taebaek pulled his device from under the desk. He subtly thumbed a message to Jasbi.

Jasbi’s skills could breach Daesung’s intranet. With him inside, a pincer hack would expose firewall gaps. Why do voice phishing scams send links otherwise?

Tap, tap, tap.

Immersed in real industrial espionage vibes, his peripheral caught gleaming shoes crunching closer.

Team Leader Seong?

Better stay put.

They were uneasy colleagues here. Lifting his head to respond would break character.

Head down, fiddling with phone—that’s the play.

Lee Taebaek casually toyed with the device. The other stood rooted like a totem.

After a bit, the shoe’s owner spoke.

“Is today’s work done?”

It was odd.

A man’s voice.

And familiar. That parched yet leisurely tone…

Dread crept in. Lee Taebaek looked up sharply.

“If it is, spare a moment?”

Saber Master Muyachi.

He nodded toward the door and spoke politely.

“If you’re amenable.”

Before answering, Lee Taebaek swept the office. Team members stood like meerkats, aghast. Team Leader Seong Hayun was among them.

No—she wore the most shocked expression.