Zurich Parallax Headquarters.
Overlooking Lake Zurich,
a car stopped in front of a palace-like building.
The door opened.
I got out first,
and Mateo got out after me.
Mateo took the lead.
I walked one step behind him.
As if I were Mateo’s secretary.
It was intentional.
The main figure here today had to be Mateo, not me.
Mateo walked with confidence,
and I silently followed behind him.
As we entered the building lobby,
the employees’ gazes fixed on us all at once.
A brief silence.
No one moved, as if time had stopped.
They had recognized Mateo.
A man who had been out of contact.
A man they had thought dead along with the Singapore employees.
That man had returned as if nothing had happened.
And with an unfamiliar man in tow, no less.
A subtle ripple spread among the employees.
Their eyes wavered.
They tried to have conversations with the shapes of their mouths, without sound.
Someone moved away to make a call,
and someone remained frozen where they stood.
But Mateo did not stop.
He did not even give them a glance.
He simply kept walking.
As if it were only natural.
As if he had been the owner here from the very beginning.
Inside the building, a security guard greeted Mateo with the utmost courtesy.
“It has been a long time, sir.”
The security guard’s gaze passed Mateo and shifted to me.
The temperature changed.
Cold.
I said nothing.
Mateo spoke briefly.
“He’s my secretary. It’s fine.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The security guard answered reluctantly.
“And tell them to convene an emergency meeting now. In the main conference room in ten minutes. All executives are required to attend.”
“...I will relay it immediately.”
Having given the order, Mateo headed confidently toward the conference room.
As I followed behind him, I took in the structure of the building.
Corridors, entrances and exits, the location of the stairs, escape routes.
I also memorized the positions of the security guards.
It was a habit I found myself falling into whenever I went somewhere new.
On the way to the conference room.
Beyond the glass windows, Lake Zurich looked down below.
It seemed very calm,
but the atmosphere here was anything but.
In front of the conference room, Mateo steadied his breathing once, then hesitated briefly before the door.
“Don’t worry. I’m right behind you.”
I whispered to Mateo.
Mateo nodded and flung the door wide open.
.
.
.
The conference room.
The moment the door closed.
The air became completely fixed in place.
A long table stretched out before us.
Around it sat Parallax’s executives.
Weapons, logistics, intelligence, finance, mercenaries, smuggling, and more.
All of Parallax’s “instruments” in charge of each division had gathered.
More than thirty people were seated there.
Those people sat in their chairs, staring at Mateo as he entered.
Their gazes were so chilling that even I, standing behind him, felt as if I could not breathe.
“...So you were alive.”
Someone muttered in a low voice.
That single sentence spread like a signal.
“I thought you died in Singapore.”
“What happened?”
“Shouldn’t you have explained yourself before coming here?”
“Instead of convening a meeting, shouldn’t you be investigated by the audit team first?”
Words poured out.
There was mockery, and there was open hostility.
But Mateo did not respond to any of it.
He simply walked forward slowly and stopped before the seat at the very center.
The seat Adrian had used.
Thud.
He sat down in that chair.
At that moment.
The murmuring noise vanished.
Someone narrowed their eyes,
and someone wore an openly displeased expression.
Everyone gathered in the conference room knew what that seat meant.
And yet Mateo had sat there.
“Mateo. You must not have come to your senses after barely surviving, but that is not your seat.”
The voice was cold.
No, it was chilling.
But Mateo answered leisurely,
even crossing his legs.
“That’s right. It’s my seat.”
At that answer, the executives’ expressions twisted further.
The temperature in the conference room dropped even lower.
“You know better than anyone that simply declaring it with your mouth does not make that seat yours.”
“I do. All too well.”
Having answered, Mateo wore a strange smile
and took something out of his pocket.
Clink.
Mateo placed a small ring on the table.
“Th... that’s.”
Someone swallowed their breath.
It was the signet ring Mateo had placed on the table.
The proof of ownership that only Adrian had possessed.
Within Parallax, it was something only one person could hold.
Contracts, approvals, even executions.
It was an object that symbolized all authority.
And Mateo had it.
Mateo continued.
“The Chairman has declared his retirement.”
A brief silence.
“What?”
“Impossible.”
“What kind of lie is that?”
“Adrian is not someone who would let go of power.”
“I won’t believe it until I hear it from Adrian himself.”
“I agree.”
Protests burst out from all sides.
It was not suspicion, but rejection.
They were people who had been with Adrian for a long time.
They could not believe that Adrian had retired of his own will.
But Mateo paid them no mind.
“No matter what you all prattle on about, it doesn’t change the facts. I have formally received the succession from Adrian, and I only came here to inform you of that. I have no need to seek your permission.”
Mateo calmly picked up the signet ring he had placed on the table and slipped it onto his finger.
Those who saw it were so shocked their mouths fell open.
They had never imagined that signet ring would ever be worn on the hand of anyone other than Adrian.
It was that irreverent, and that shocking an act.
It was then.
“You bring one signet ring and expect us to believe Adrian has retired? Hah. Would you believe that if you were in our place?”
A low, heavy voice pressed down on the conference room.
The owner of the voice was Rodrigo Ruiz.
The head of a Mexican cartel, and a man who, for all intents and purposes, held all of South America in the palm of his hand.
If Adrian were gone, he was the strongest candidate to become the next chairman.
He was known by the nickname El Carnicero—the Butcher—
and was a man of merciless and brutal temperament.
Rodrigo looked at Mateo,
and Mateo likewise stared back at Rodrigo without a word.
It was as if electricity crackled in the air between them.
Rodrigo continued with a fishy smile.
“For all we know, you killed Adrian and stole the signet ring, didn’t you?”
At those words, the conference room stirred.
“Then are you saying Mateo killed Adrian?”
“Surely not...”
“Would that even be possible with Mateo’s skills?”
“Adrian, killed by Mateo? Ridiculous.”
Whispers spread everywhere.
Most of them were close to mockery.
They leaned toward the idea that it would be impossible for Mateo to kill Adrian.
But unexpectedly, Mateo nodded.
“Perhaps? It could be.”
In an instant, several people stopped speaking.
It was an unexpected reaction.
Mateo looked around at the people in the conference room.
“So what?”
Silence.
It was an unmistakable provocation.
“So... what’s the problem? The important thing here is just one thing. Who has the signet ring? Who was legitimately handed power? That’s all.”
It was short and simple logic.
There was no room to refute it.
“Hahahahaha. Interesting.”
Rodrigo burst into a mad laugh.
But his eyes were not laughing at all.
“Then if I kill you here and take the signet ring, can I become the owner of Parallax too?”
Several people looked at Rodrigo in shock.
It was not a joke.
This man was truly capable of doing it.
He was a man who could pull out a gun right now, put a bullet in Mateo’s forehead,
and take the ring.
But Mateo did not seem frightened in the slightest.
He did not even flinch.
“If you can, then try it. Do you think you can?”
At Mateo’s arrogant reply, Rodrigo’s laughter vanished.
His temple twitched, and the veins stood out.
At that moment, one person slowly raised a hand.
It was Felix, who was in charge of Europe.
“I’m in favor.”
Felix was not a talkative man.
He was always cool-headed.
When such a Felix lent Mateo his support, the conference room stirred with yet another mood.
“““What?”””
Voices filled with shock burst out from all sides.
Rodrigo glared at Felix,
but Felix did not budge.
“We need a center right now. If there is no center, we will have no choice but to split apart immediately.”
Felix explained his reasoning.
“So you want to seat that bastard as the center? An unverified bastard? A bastard who only followed behind Adrian?”
Those who could not accept it voiced their opposition.
“Would that not be better, actually? Better than us, who were stuck out in the middle of nowhere. At least he should know the most about the Parallax system.”
“......”
“And verification? When will you verify him? If verification is completed, will you acknowledge him then? And what about the countless incidents and accidents that will happen during that verification? Can you handle them? That is why, right now, someone has to hold the center. And I am in favor of Mateo sitting at that center.”
At Felix’s clean logic,
several people nodded as if in agreement.
But there were also those who did not agree.
Smack.
“Don’t make me laugh.”
Jamal, an executive on the Middle East side, slammed his palm down on the table.
“What does that bastard know, climbing up above us?”
“Then will you do it?”
“Gladly. I’d do better than that bastard.”
“But if you said you would do it, would people acknowledge you? Would anyone follow the fool of the Middle East?”
“What?”
Jamal growled as if enraged.
“I’m asking if you think others would acknowledge you, when you can’t acknowledge Mateo.”
Jamal’s expression hardened.
Judging by the atmosphere, it did not seem there was anyone who would support him.
“Tch. Even so, I can’t serve that bastard.”
The Middle Eastern executive spat out in a voice full of dissatisfaction, as if it did not sit well with him.
At that moment, Mateo opened his mouth again.
“Were we ever an organization with a hierarchy?”
“What?”
“We are nothing more than a consortium, a syndicate gathered for profit. I am not trying to become your boss. I am merely creating a system so that all of you can take greater profits, more safely and more comfortably. We need someone to coordinate things, don’t we? Just as Adrian did.”
At Mateo’s words, several people looked at him with eyes full of interest.
New calculators were turning in their heads.
The subject of the conversation had shifted from domination to profit.
Mateo added flesh to that point.
“Have any of you heard of the ‘Alex Group’?”
At Mateo’s question, everyone tilted their heads.
“Alex Group?”
“What is that?”
“Wasn’t that something without any actual substance?”
“You don’t know the Alex Group? It refers to the Alex Corps, which took control of the Philippines and wields enormous influence over the yakuza, the triads, China, and even Korea.”
Someone explained.
Only then did exclamations break out here and there.
Once it was put that way, they seemed to know.
“Ah, that place.”
“That place was called the Alex Group?”
“There’s no official name, so it seems people just call it the Alex Group.”
“Wasn’t this person Alex a fictional figure?”
Whispers continued.
But it was not an organization they knew nothing about.
Its name, scale, and fields all varied depending on who spoke of it,
but they shared the perception that it was “the biggest, most successful power in Asia.”
As if confirming that reaction, Mateo slowly opened his mouth.
“I have established an exclusive cooperative system with the Alex Group. That is why Adrian entrusted Parallax’s future to me.”
The conference room shook.
Mateo’s logic had changed.
It was no longer a simple claim to power, nor greed.
Mateo had brought out “the future” and “Asia.”
Feeling their reaction, Mateo spoke with even more force.
“Africa has reached its limits. Compared to the costs going in, the results are far too lacking. How long are we going to keep getting paid in bloodstained diamonds? But what about Asia? Population, capital, infrastructure—everything is perfect. Is it not a land flowing with milk and honey? We will enter the Asian market together with the Alex Group.”
Flames of greed flickered in the eyes of several people.
To them, Asia was an unexplored land and a goose that laid golden eggs.
At that moment, Rodrigo spoke again.
His voice was low.
“The Asian market, is it... That is attractive. But how are we supposed to believe that?”
In an instant, the atmosphere went cold.
The anticipation and greed that had been spreading only moments ago were snuffed out in a flash.
Everyone returned to reality.
“Shouldn’t you at least offer something if you’re asking us to believe you? Even if it’s nothing more than a scrap of paper, shouldn’t you have brought that?”
Rodrigo spoke.
It was an accurate point.
In this world, a “promise” meant nothing.
When circumstances changed, even yesterday’s contract could be hurled into the trash in an instant.
And yet, a single word without substance?
It was worth less than a scrap of toilet paper.
Only then did Mateo look at me.
“This friend here. He’s the one they sent.”
Every gaze in the conference room turned toward me.
Sharp stares fixed on me.
Heavy, cold, and blatant.
I stepped out from behind Mateo and stood before the table.
“I’m a representative from Alex Group.”
I gave a light greeting, but no one returned it.
“You asked earlier, didn’t you? How you were supposed to trust us. You asked for faith.”
“We are not merchants who sell faith.”
“We sell risk, instill fear, and make money by using anxiety as collateral.”
“And yet you speak of ‘faith.’ It seems business is conducted rather tenderly here. I’m envious.”
It was blatant mockery.
Rodrigo’s expression hardened.
“Instead, I’ll show you. Here.”
I took out a tablet and placed it on the table.
“Trade lines in Asia, logistics routes, and… a list of ongoing conflicts.”
Their eyes widened.
They looked as if they were drooling.
“This is territory Parallax has yet to touch.”
“If you can look at something like this in front of you and still talk about faith, then I don’t think we have any particular need to do business with Parallax either.”
“We’re looking for partners to work with, not parasites to suck our blood.”
Rodrigo’s face twisted.
Then he threw out a question.
“Then Mateo won’t be able to become chairman, will he?”
“I think you misunderstand. Mateo and we are merely in a cooperative relationship. We are simply an existence that can grease the wheels and make the process a little smoother. But if cooperation itself is impossible, what use is greasing anything?”
I could see Rodrigo growing flustered.
Rodrigo did not like this situation.
He coveted the Asian market,
but putting Mateo in the chairman’s seat made him uneasy.
And he hated being dragged along like this even more.
Those three things were clashing within him.
Rodrigo thought for a moment, then spoke.
“What does Alex Group want from Parallax? We need to know that before we can cooperate or put Mateo in as chairman.”
I smiled faintly.
“Now you’re asking the right question. We want a bigger board. A very big one. If we join forces, we can take a larger share. Is there any need for us to fight among ourselves?”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Rodrigo slowly drummed his fingers on the table.
“Interesting.”
It was neither agreement nor refusal.
But he no longer looked hostile.
“Think it over and contact us.”
I picked up the tablet.
And left the conference room.