The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 327 Boss Quan (8) - Impromptu Drama "Phew." Acrid cigarette smoke filled the ceiling of the old office in a hazy cloud. Self-proclaimed 'respectable office manager'. In reality, a man who was clearly from that industry no matter how you looked at him, Quan gazed ahead with indifferent eyes while his two legs were slouched crookedly over the desk. Where his gaze reached, there was a man precariously perched on the edge of an old leather sofa, continuously wiping sweat from his forehead. He was the president of that place who had recently tried to scam Quan's organization, got beaten until blood flew (not a metaphor), and was reduced to something like a subcontractor of the office. His real name must be something else, but since neither Quan nor Qiana was interested in his name, they usually just called him 'Raccoon President'. "So... you suspect those MLM guys?" The Raccoon President answered Quan's question. "Yes, it's called Beomyang Global, and on the surface they're disguised as just a decent distribution business. But in reality, they don't have any proper products, just scammers with plausible-looking performance records on paper." "Coming from guys who turn leaves into money and use them, the credibility is just outstanding." Qiana sneered from the side, but the Raccoon President calmly continued the conversation as if he couldn't hear anything. It was truly the thick-skinned demeanor befitting a former scammer. "The problem is the victims' reactions. Usually with MLM scams, they take away victims' means of communication, drag in their families, anyway use various methods to exploit weaknesses so they can't escape, but even so, there are always some who manage to escape and flee in the night or tip off the police. But with Beomyang's victims, there isn't a single one like that." "What about the possibility they just set up a thorough surveillance system?" At Quan's observation, the Raccoon President shook his head. "If they were physically confined somewhere like an island or mountain valley that would be one thing, but most of Beomyang's members are living normally in society—eating, going to work, and retaining their means of communication. They're extremely vulnerable to internal whistleblowing. Yet nobody requests rescue or tries to escape." A situation that defied common sense. That meant, in other words, that something 'not of common sense' was involved. "Our side has made contact with their people several times, and there was a strong tiger scent and sour smell. Like plums." "「Ghosts killed by tigers become slaves to tigers, and to escape this, they must offer victims other than themselves to the tiger. Thus they help the tiger devour others as its limbs. These are called Tiger-Thralls, and Tiger-Thralls greatly love sour things like plums.」" "Yes, it's very similar to the MLM structure. Has this been helpful enough?" "Good work. You can go now." Immediately after Quan's permission was granted, the Raccoon President escaped the office very politely but at lightning speed. Qiana, who had been watching his retreating figure, soon asked. "But why are you so certain these guys have my fragment? They could just be ordinary anomalies." Quan stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and stared intently at Qiana. "As I thought, you don't retain all the knowledge from when you were an anomaly." "What?" "Modern anomalies don't have abilities that are particularly complex or conceptual. If it's a tengu, it creates wind; if it's a nine-tailed fox, it bewitches people; if it's a werewolf, it has monstrous strength—mostly things like that. Even 'Queen' at its core is just transformation ability. It's just that the application is remarkable." "That's... well." "It's not that there aren't anomalies with complex and conceptual abilities, but usually their output is weak. But these Tiger-Thralls have perfect control over victims numbering in the hundreds. No matter how well the Tiger-Thrall narrative matches the MLM narrative, they normally couldn't exert power to this degree. Unless there's a separate external power source." Having heard this much, Qiana wasn't stupid enough not to know what that 'external power source' was. Just as she was about to nod, Quan suddenly opened his mouth and went "Ah." "Sorry. I should have spoken more simply to match your intellectual level. So—" "Shut up." "Not knowing is momentary shame, not learning is eternal shame. You don't need to get defensive. Newbie. Everyone learns like that originally." "I'm telling you I understand without explanation!! Originally, my grades were at the top in school too!?" "If you think so, then that must be how it is. In your mind." Really, how should I kill this guy so that word spreads that he died well. While Qiana was trembling with rage, Quan took out a new cigarette and said. "Anyway, this time we can't just barge in openly and cause chaos. Those raccoon guys had a proper company, so we could just ransack that and be done, but with this, if we miss the core anomaly, destroying the company or not is meaningless." "Then what are you going to do?" "We need to throw out bait. No, in this case, 'undercover investigation' would be a more accurate expression." Quan pointed at Qiana with his cigarette. "Wealthy young lady. Young age. New to society. Rich connections. She'd be a target that makes those MLM guys drool for recruitment." Qiana's expression soured. "Pretending to fall for such stupid tricks hurts my pride." "You seem worried about getting caught acting clumsily? Well, this is quite a task that requires brains. Then let's look for another method." "Ha. You think I'll fall for such obvious provocation?" Qiana snorted derisively. Mimicry and acting are specialties among 'Queen's' specialties to begin with. Whatever Quan blabbered, it had no impact whatsoever. "But you got caught by me right away on your first disguised encounter." No impact whatsoever. "After that, you got caught and beaten when you tried to act friendly and ambush me in the office." No impact. "And then you went around acting all proud and puffing your chest in front of kids? Does it feel good getting beaten in the high-level zone and then showing off in the newbie zone?" There should be... none, but. "Let's be honest. You're scared, aren't you? You're just one fragment, and the opponent is also one fragment, so you feel like you'll be overpowered in strength and beaten in technique?" ....... "I understand everything, kiddo. The tough stuff, this boss will handle, so the newbie should act like a newbie and just go buy some coffee from the convenience store—" "—I'll do it! I said I'll do it!! Whether it's bait or infiltration or MLM, I'll just devour it all!! That innocent and stupid act of getting fooled by those vermin bastards, I'll perform it perfectly!! You trash boss bastard!!" Qiana's enraged shouts rang loudly through the old office. After that, sounds of something breaking and consecutive gunshots echoed, but none of the other office employees paid any attention. It was only natural for cicadas to cry. *** And so, the present. "Consider yourself lucky." While Jun-seok was frozen with a blank expression, Qiana's index finger, which had transformed into something like a long metal cone, precisely pierced the tattoo on Jun-seok's left chest. —■■!! The tiger tattoo, awakened from its dormant state by the external attack, struggled briefly. Qiana absorbed the tiger tattoo as it was, then transformed part of her cells to mimic it as if the tiger tattoo remained intact, then returned her finger to its original form. "Eh? Huh? What?" Toward Jun-seok, who was dazed and didn't even know what had happened to him, feeling around his chest with his hands, Qiana said coldly. "Hey, you. Between safely running away like this and screwing over the guys who screwed you equally—" "I'll screw them over!!" "......" What's with this guy? Normally he should show some other reaction like 'what was that finger just now' or 'what's your identity' or 'get out of here, you monster', shouldn't that be normal? Of course, even if he asked, she had no intention of explaining properly, but his overly enthusiastic response was rather bewildering. At that moment, hearty laughter reached Qiana's ears. More precisely, it was Quan's laughter coming through the bone conduction earphone Qiana had hidden beneath her skin. [How about it. I told you he'd be useful as a local collaborator, didn't I? I had a perfect feeling when I saw his potential.] "Isn't he just a guy with a screwed-up head?" [In this industry, that's exactly what qualifies as talent. Even for you, wouldn't a guy who's quick on his own be more convenient than having to explain everything in detail?] When he put it that way, there wasn't much to say in response. Qiana looked at Jun-seok and said. "Hey, you. Can you meet the boss here?" "I'm at the bottom, so I don't know who the boss is." When Qiana frowned, Quan spoke through the communicator. [Even if it's just body parts, ask if he's ever seen anyone who actually has tiger characteristics, not just the tattoo.] "...Besides the tattoo, have you ever seen anyone who actually resembles a tiger?" "If that's what you mean, yes! That bastard instructor's eyes were tiger eyes!" Letting Jun-seok's advanced skill of answering enthusiastically while keeping his voice low to avoid being overheard go in one ear and out the other, Qiana smiled. Originally she would have had to hang out with that clingy guy Sang-hyeon or whatever to conduct internal investigation, but didn't a shortcut course just appear out of nowhere? "Take me to that guy." "Uh, that's difficult. Private contact is only possible for a few people even within the Gold rank, and I'm at the very bottom..." "......" "...But! If you would just do one act with me, miss, I'll somehow create an opportunity!!" "Do it well." "Yes." Some time after that. The members of Beomyang Global witnessed a strange scene. "J-just wait a moment please!! Miss Qiana, if you calm down and listen to what I have to say—" "I'm done. After listening, there's no substance, and your gaze was rather lecherous throughout the contract discussion..." "L-lecherous!? I absolutely did not do that!!" "Then are you saying I'm being overly self-conscious right now?" "No, I didn't mean that..." Kim Sang-hyeon. Beomyang's ace who had thrown exciting backstabbing parties and life-draining techniques against his acquaintances, building up achievements in record time even within the Silver rank, and was almost certain to be promoted to Gold rank soon. He, who had a tendency to subtly look down on not only Bronze ranks but even fellow Silver ranks, was breaking out in cold sweat dealing with one woman. When the members looked at the woman after hearing talk about lecherous gazes and scheming, they immediately understood. Hmm, with looks like that, gazes would naturally become lecherous. Still, he should have held back at least until getting her to join, tsk tsk. Feeling the understanding and subtle contemptuous gazes flying from around him, Kim Sang-hyeon felt like he could die from injustice. After all, Qiana, who had been nothing but naive and docile when she followed him to headquarters, had suddenly started causing a ruckus as if she had eaten something wrong. For a moment, he felt an impulse to just subdue her by force, but that was something he shouldn't do. Qiana hadn't signed the contract yet. That meant control through the tiger tattoo was impossible, and for a precious young lady of her caliber, it wouldn't be strange if she had a personal GPS tracker or alarm for self-defense. If Qiana succeeded in using such a device during the subdual process, and outsiders considered this an incident? 「Never, absolutely never create a situation where police get involved. Even if you do, absolutely nothing that would draw media attention. Those who violate this will see hell regardless of rank.」 Sang-hyeon, remembering the chilling warning the 'instructor' had uttered, could absolutely not take the gamble. Just as he was about to reluctantly let Qiana go quietly. "Please wait a moment!! Miss! I'll explain everything!!" Seeing Jun-seok's face as he suddenly jumped out and blocked Qiana's path, Sang-hyeon's eyes bulged. What is that crazy bastard doing now! There was no chance to stop him. Because Jun-seok suddenly started slamming his forehead against the ground. Thud! Thud! Thud!! The Beomyang Global members who had been murmuring and watching the farce all held their breath at once. It wasn't just some show-off performance. He slammed his head down with such vigor that blood immediately burst from his forehead, and soon red liquid began spattering across the hallway. "Miss Qiana!! Please, please give us just one more chance! Our company's business model is real! If you give me just 10 minutes, I'll explain it perfectly!! So please!!" How deep a grudge must a person harbor to do something like that? While other members were all backing away from the ominous aura Jun-seok was emitting with his whole body, Sang-hyeon was horrified. No way, is that bastard determined to destroy the company's image right now!! It was just as Sang-hyeon was about to shout loudly about what kind of rudeness this was toward a customer. "Fine. I'll listen to what you have to say. So, please get up." Qiana let out a deep sigh and looked at Jun-seok with strangely admiring eyes. More precisely, she acted so that such emotion could be recognized. "Let's go to that room. I'll give you exactly 10 minutes, so prove the worth of stealing my precious time." "Thank you!! Thank you!!" "And wipe the blood with this." Qiana handing over a handkerchief, Jun-seok receiving it while guiding her, and Sang-hyeon left alone in a daze. Witnessing the vivid scene of robbery(?) unfolding before their eyes, the Beomyang Global members momentarily forgot even about performance and felt the temptation of popcorn. [Ha, haha, puhahahahahaha!!] They didn't know that somewhere, a boss was rolling around on a sofa clutching his belly.