Zurich.
Adrian’s death was officially announced.
[Chairman Adrian has passed away. The funeral will be held in five days at Zurich St. Cathedral. Attendance is limited to those who have received invitations.]
Parallax announced Chairman Adrian’s death through an official statement.
They said a funeral would be held.
The message was short and clear.
It did not take long for that message to spread.
[Mateo]
Mateo personally oversaw the funeral preparations.
He coordinated all manner of issues, large and small, with the cathedral,
and checked the seating arrangements.
He personally reviewed the security routes and the list of invitations to be sent.
Whom to invite, where to seat them—
he put his own hand to every single detail.
Not even the smallest matter
went forward without Mateo’s permission.
He was obsessive, almost to the point of fastidiousness.
It was not respect for the dead old man.
It was stage-setting for the “declaration of power” he would soon make.
Mateo did not stay in one place.
He moved from hotel to hotel as he handled his work.
He excluded Parallax headquarters entirely.
Parallax could not be trusted.
The same went for security.
It was not being handled by Parallax personnel,
but by an external organization, the “Obsidian Unit.”
By entrusting security to the Obsidian Unit, which had no points of contact with Parallax, he blocked in advance any information that might leak out.
The Obsidian Unit likewise raised all information related to Mateo to the highest security level and controlled it.
From Mateo’s perspective, the Obsidian Unit was not to his liking either.
The fact that it was Alex’s organization bothered him.
Even so, it was better than Parallax.
There was no helping it.
He needed airtight security.
He was anxious.
He did not know when Rodrigo would come.
That was why this funeral was all the more important.
Here, he had to take perfect control of Parallax.
Here, he had to end it.
“That seat isn’t yours. I lent it to you.”
Alex’s words would not leave his ears.
They surfaced at all hours, without warning.
Mateo clenched his teeth.
That was right.
He was borrowing it.
Mateo was sitting on a board Alex had arranged.
Mateo could only move within the seat Alex had made and the boundaries Alex had permitted.
Mateo could not cross that line.
But this funeral was different.
Mateo was preparing the funeral himself.
Mateo had planned the routes, summoned the people, and was building the stage.
On that stage, Alex would be nothing more than one mourner among many.
It was the first board Mateo had ever set for himself.
He only had to declare it there.
He only had to turn the funeral eulogy into a place to proclaim the beginning of a new power.
Mateo would personally announce Parallax’s future.
Not in Alex’s script,
but in Mateo’s own words, he would redefine how Parallax would be run,
what roles each faction would take, and even Parallax’s relationship with the Alex Group.
There would be cooperation.
But it would not be subordination.
Mateo opened the documents again.
His hands were trembling slightly.
He could not tell whether it was excitement or anxiety.
Each time that happened, his hand went to the signet ring.
He touched the signet ring again and again.
“I will never let it be taken from me.”
********
[Rodrigo]
He was growing impatient.
The situation was flowing in an unexpected direction.
A luxury hotel suite in Zurich.
Rodrigo stood by the window, looking down over the city.
He kept smoking strong cigars.
The ashtray was full.
“Mateo’s location?”
He asked Carlos as he came through the door.
Carlos shook his head.
“We still haven’t confirmed it.”
Carlos’s answer made the tightness in his chest worse.
They could not even determine the location of that mere Mateo.
After long deliberation, Rodrigo had decided to kill Mateo.
There had been one reason he had kept Mateo alive until now.
Mateo had been the link to the Alex Group.
To swallow Parallax and the Alex Group in one bite, he needed Mateo.
Once Mateo had set the table properly,
Rodrigo had intended to devour it all at once.
But now, he had abandoned that greed.
He had realized it was impossible.
First, he had to seize Parallax completely.
He could negotiate with the Alex Group separately later.
The Alex Group would need Parallax as well.
To take control of Parallax, all he had to do was remove Mateo.
He had to kill Mateo and bring back the signet ring.
Rodrigo intended to eliminate Mateo before the funeral was held.
In the midst of the chaos,
it would not be Mateo, but Rodrigo who stood at Adrian’s funeral.
Outside, no one knew anything yet about Adrian’s death
or the internal struggle.
So if he got rid of Mateo,
and Rodrigo stood at Adrian’s funeral, then naturally Rodrigo would become Adrian’s successor.
The funeral had to become Rodrigo’s coronation.
And yet they had not even figured out Mateo’s location?
“Does that make any sense? You can’t even find out where he is?”
“He moves to a different place every day. There’s no pattern. Several locations move at the same time. We can’t tell which one is real.”
“The office?”
“He doesn’t go to work. He hasn’t appeared at headquarters at all.”
“The vehicles?”
“He uses a new vehicle every time. They can’t be traced.”
Rodrigo pressed his forehead against the window.
It was miserable.
Because they could not track Mateo?
Of course that was part of it.
The bigger problem was
that he could not believe the words coming out of Carlos’s mouth.
Carlos was on the list of traitors.
There was no reason.
It just felt that way.
Whenever Carlos was involved, things always went wrong.
When he had gone to the hotel to meet the Alex Group’s representative.
And again today, even though finding Mateo’s location should have been a simple task, Carlos had failed.
It felt too unsettling to call it coincidence.
If Carlos had been that level of person to begin with, Rodrigo would not even have been disappointed.
Carlos was a strategist.
He had an outstanding eye for reading situations, and he came up with measures accordingly.
Yet strangely, recently, he kept making mistakes and failing.
He had also heard recently that Carlos had made a fortune from Candy Coin.
The luxury watch on his wrist was unbearably irritating.
But for now, he let it pass.
There was no other way.
He had no people.
He would have to be satisfied with not handing him more important information.
“Keep tracking him. If possible, move in immediately.”
“Understood.”
After Carlos left, Rodrigo picked up the phone and contacted Pablo.
“Adrian’s funeral is being held.”
There was no reply from beyond the receiver.
“I said Adrian’s funeral is being held. So come back immediately.”
—Do you believe that?
“What?”
—That funeral is fake. They’ll hold it without a body anyway. Adrian is alive. I’ll bring him back myself.
Rodrigo’s expression hardened.
“No, Adrian isn’t what matters right now. I’m telling you the funeral is being held.”
—That’s why Adrian matters even more.
“We’re short on people. You need to come and help.”
—As long as we have Adrian, the entire situation will be overturned. There’s no need to worry about that. Wait just a little longer. I’ll bring Adrian to you.
Click.
The call ended.
Rodrigo stared at the disconnected phone for a long while.
It was simply too absurd.
Pablo was insane.
Utterly, thoroughly insane.
Pablo was not listening to Rodrigo at all.
He was completely buried in the information he had found, in the hypothesis that Adrian was alive.
Was there any chance Pablo would find Adrian and return?
Rodrigo knew it was useless, and yet he still wanted to lean on that hope.
This time, he called Eduardo.
“The recruitment is going well, right?”
“Yes. It’s proceeding smoothly.”
“Adrian’s funeral will be held in five days. That’s D-Day. Make sure all the people you’ve recruited can be sent to Zurich by then—”
“…Yes?”
Eduardo’s dazed voice came through.
“Didn’t you hear me? Send them to Zurich.”
“Th-that’s…”
“What is it?”
“They don’t have passports.”
“What?”
“These guys here don’t have passports.”
“What? They don’t have passports?”
“You know how it is. A lot of these guys weren’t even properly registered at birth, and most of them have never even dreamed of going overseas.”
“Then get them issued.”
“Passports don’t come out in a day or two. How am I supposed to get them made right away and get them into Zurich in five days?”
“Throw money at it. Do whatever it takes, get them made, and send them. Got it?”
“…Yes. Understood.”
The call ended with Eduardo’s weak reply.
It was stifling.
Pablo had gone to Mauritius to find Adrian.
Eduardo was in South America making passports,
and Carlos could not be trusted.
There was no one he could use.
Even so, he could not stop.
There was no time.
The more time passed, the more firmly Mateo would settle in as chairman.
Right now, it looked like they were fighting each other over the throne,
but by then, it might become actual treason.
This funeral had to become Rodrigo’s coronation.
It could not become a place where Mateo celebrated his victory.
That was why he was growing impatient.
He had no people, and he had no time.
If he could not determine Mateo’s location before the funeral,
he intended to kill Mateo at the funeral hall itself.
But the funeral hall was being controlled thoroughly.
Unauthorized personnel could not enter.
Even the operation to seize the funeral hall with Rodrigo’s subordinates would not be easy.
His options were shrinking.
His breath was being choked off.
Rodrigo slowly exhaled.
If he stopped here, he did not think he would survive.
If Mateo seized real power,
he would surely try to kill Rodrigo first.
He had to do something.
If he did not become king, death awaited.
Even if that something was unreasonable.
There was no helping it.
He had to proceed.
********
[Alex]
I was annoyed.
Not a single thing was going according to plan.
“Mateo’s movements are unusual. He is acting differently from the guide we provided.”
Allen of the Obsidian Unit was reporting.
“What?”
“It seems he has other ideas.”
No matter how secretly and carefully Mateo moved,
he could not avoid the eyes of the Obsidian Unit watching beside him twenty-four hours a day.
The Obsidian Unit was already reporting everything about Mateo to Alex.
“How?”
“It seems he is considering independent operation. That content is also included in the eulogy for Adrian that he is secretly drafting.”
“What is that bastard’s problem now?”
I asked in a voice thick with irritation.
“It seems he is truly aiming for the position of Parallax chairman.”
Allen answered carefully.
“I made him chairman, didn’t I? I even said I’d hand it over completely if he just listened properly, so why is he doing this? I really can’t understand the reason.”
“…”
“Why does he insist on taking the thorny path when I’m saying I’ll escort him down a flower road? Why is he so determined to drink the punishment wine?”
Had I been too greedy?
It made me reflect.
Honestly, I had never been greedy.
I had only wanted to stop someone from dying.
I only did not want to lose someone precious, like Dennis.
I only wanted us to live happily among ourselves.
But if anyone learned that we had the Phantom Grid, someone would come.
That much was certain.
If I left Parallax alone, they would come for the Phantom Grid one hundred percent.
They would have needed the Phantom Grid,
and in order to unite their chaotic internal atmosphere, creating an external enemy would have been convenient.
The Alex Group was a perfect target for Parallax’s tastes.
It would bring in money, and it could unite the organization.
That was the only reason I had tried to take it over.
I had wanted to avoid a pointless war.
I had wanted to prevent this exhausting situation.
I had chosen the simplest method.
I had tried to take over Parallax with Mateo at the forefront.
Mateo would stabilize Parallax from the front,
and from behind, we would crush the bastards who were thinking other thoughts.
But was that really so difficult?
Was it hard to live humanely, sensibly, like a person?
Did they absolutely have to have ulterior motives and indulge their greed?
“And…”
“And what else?”
My voice grew sharper.
“It seems Rodrigo may also cause some sort of incident.”
The moment I heard that, my temples throbbed.
I had hoped it wasn’t so, but this bastard was causing trouble too.
“Haa… He’s going to kill Mateo?”
“That is our assessment.”
“What’s that bastard Rodrigo’s problem now? Can’t he just keep living the way he was?”
“Doesn’t a change in circumstances mean a change in thinking as well?”
I agonized over it for quite some time.
What I’d expected to end uneventfully and moderately had grown far bigger than I had imagined.
No, more than anything, it had gone beyond the design.
A character who should have remained faithful to his original role had begun moving on his own, and started to grow greedy.
Mateo had broken away,
and Rodrigo was preparing a coup.
Both were unnecessary variables.
There was no need to carry such variables with me.
I closed my eyes and sank into thought.
I thought about how I should settle this situation.
Whether to take Mateo along,
or else throw my weight behind Rodrigo entirely.
I thought for a long time,
but no answer I liked came to mind.
Neither choice appealed to me.
All that surfaced in my mind
were two people who were utterly beyond control.
After keeping my eyes closed for quite a while,
I finally made a decision.
“Then capture both of them on the day itself. Dispose of them both.”
“Pardon? Dispose of them?”
Allen asked back, sounding somewhat surprised.
“Yeah. Dispose of both. There’s no need to bring along pieces that won’t move as intended. This has crossed the line by far.”
“…Understood.”
“We’re pulling ourselves out of the scenario. Draw up an operation so that Mateo and Rodrigo can kill each other—or at least make it look that way.”
“Understood.”
Allen looked slightly flustered, then left the room with those words.
I sat in the chair and leaned back.
It was clearly a comfortable chair, but I didn’t feel comfortable at all.
I felt uneasy.
I didn’t know whether my body was uncomfortable,
or my mind was uncomfortable,
but this entire situation was extremely stifling and irritating.
Even so, there was nothing to be done.
I couldn’t plan for the future while trusting people full of variables.
What I needed were people I could trust.
Not ability—trust came first.
To resolve another discomfort in my heart, I picked up the phone.
I contacted Chen Zihao.
“Have you pinpointed Sin Junggi’s location?”
- No. It’s certain he’s somewhere in Europe, but we haven’t been able to determine exactly where.
“Do you think Sin Junggi got hold of the funeral hall information?”
- We can’t confirm that either. I think he probably has.
“Will he come?”
- I don’t know. Right now, Sin Junggi has completely moved beyond our expectations. He’s impossible to predict.
And another variable.
We couldn’t even determine Sin Junggi’s location.
More than Mateo, more than Rodrigo, Sin Junggi made me uneasy and afraid.
Mateo and Rodrigo, crossing the line because of greed.
And Sin Junggi, who couldn’t be predicted at all.
Sin Junggi did not move according to reason or greed.
He already had his own sense of justice, his own conclusion firmly established.
That was why he couldn’t be stopped.
If Sin Junggi tried to wipe out all of Parallax,
should I stop him?
Or should I help him?
I didn’t know.
But one thing was certain.
The operation I had devised to avoid death
would bring about even greater harm.
It seemed that something begun with good intentions
did not necessarily lead to good results.
I shifted from the position I had been sitting in on the sofa.
I changed my posture because I was uncomfortable,
but the discomfort did not disappear.
I still felt uneasy, continuously so.