Chapter 42 : Possession

After finishing the broadcast, I ended the virtual reality session.

The virtual space that had filled my vision moments ago disappeared, revealing the softly lit interior of the virtual machine.

I took a few deep breaths without opening the machine.

And then quietly.

Very quietly, I laughed.

“Heh, heehee. Hehehe.”

Honestly, I felt quite good today.

I couldn’t help it.

The fact that I couldn’t endure the endless stream of bad luck from the Scam Luck Roulette, so I bought and chugged some cider myself, was one element of this refreshing joy.

But mostly, it was because today, I felt like I truly carried the show on my own.

Completely, with my own strength alone, I controlled the broadcast. I took my idea and pulled up a broadcast that could have collapsed. This… um, what should I call it?

‘A desire for dominance? A need to control?’

No, those are a bit too aggressive.

It’s more like, simply, a sense of accomplishment.

‘A sense of accomplishment.’

Or… a sense of liberation.

In a situation completely untouched by the God’s influence, I achieved success on my own. I proved it.

Once again, my ability, my value, my achievement!

“Ah, ahh.”

My lips curled upward at the tingling sensation.

I inhaled and exhaled a heated breath.

After calming down a bit, I opened the virtual machine.

The lid slowly opened, and I sat up.

Then, Miley, who had been waiting in the distance with a towel, approached me and flinched in surprise. It seemed to be because of my face. Tsk, my expression must not have completely settled yet.

“M-Master? Are you alright?”

“Ah, don’t worry. It’s nothing.”

“B-But.”

“I guess it’s just because I saw some blood. Yeah, it’s true that people need to see blood, isn’t it? If you’re on the battlefield, you know? You have to see some blood, and some bone fragments and brain matter!”

“…….”

“In that sense, support roles are a sin.”

I rubbed my face vigorously with the towel Miley gave me. Inwardly, I chanted a spell. Expression, disappear! Presto!

“Support? A support-type character? That’s ridiculous. How can someone who only supports others without fighting on the battlefield survive?”

Take Miley, for example.

Despite her title of Saint, which sounds like someone who only prays and gives heals and buffs from the back, Miley has also personally killed thousands of demons with her own two hands.

This is what you call a martial Saint.

Hmm. Martial Saint, martial Saint. What would be a good abbreviation? MuSeongNyeo? MuTuSeongNyeo? I can’t think of a good name.

Anyway, people who only help others can’t stand on the battlefield. Even if they support others, they must know how to fight, what kind of support specialist is that, support specialist!

“You have to know how to fight to be on the battlefield. Yes.”

That’s why I played Minder.

I also did support.

In any case, I ‘supported’ my allies, so it counts as support.

‘That’s right.’

Thanks to that, my whole body was drenched in sweat, but it seemed like I prevented the broadcast from going down the drain. Actually, apart from my annoyance, I had a strong uneasy feeling, so I turned it around.

‘Well, Cha representative will make a good picture out of it, since I cut it off at the right time, rewound it, and played tug-of-war.’

As I finished wiping the sweat off my body, the door to the broadcast room opened cautiously. Then, Cha representative entered with a gloomy face.

“Ah, Cha representative. You’re here. I think today’s broadcast was pretty good. What do you think, Cha representative?”

Instead of answering my question, Cha representative apologized.

“I’m sorry, Chairman.”

And he did not just bow his head butwhatishegettingonhiskneesagainthisshitdidhefaintagainIdidn’tdoanything?

“I was too hasty in my thinking.”

…… Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Cha representative knelt, bowed his head, and murmured.

“I just checked the metrics with Team Leader Lee. Before you intervened, everything from the chat logs and viewing data to social media indices was in a dangerous state.”

Hmm, was it that bad?

“Of course, it wouldn’t have been a big problem immediately. Because of all that you’ve built up so far, Chairman.”

A voice that seemed devoid of strength. There seemed to be a hint of gloom mixed in. I listened to his words quietly.

“But, no one in the company could handle it, and the representative, this person, was just whining about wanting to do some useless monetization. As soon as I got permission, I gathered the team leaders for a meeting to brainstorm ideas to make money.”

Cha representative finished his words with a bitter smile.

“It felt like the cart was put before the horse. My job from the beginning was to support the Chairman’s broadcast.”

This conversation is really, devoid of any substance.

And, it’s quite unpleasant.

It’s a story I dislike.

My mood, which had soared earlier, plummeted straight down to the deepest pits of hell. I sighed and lowered my head. My long hair covered my eyes.

Expression, I need to manage my expression.

After a moment, I swept my hair back and looked up. Then, I glared at Cha representative, who was still kneeling, and asked bluntly.

“Cha representative. What is it that you want to say?”

Then, Cha representative was startled and flustered. My voice must have come out a bit irritably, as my annoyance hadn’t subsided.

“Yes? Uh, um.”

“If you have something to say, say it.”

Cha representative hesitated at my declaration.

I casually sat down on the high-end virtual machine, which cost over 300 million won, and tilted my head, asking.

“Are you, by any chance, saying you can’t do it and calling me to fire you?”

At those words, Cha representative flinched in surprise.

He hesitated for a moment, then, as if he had made up his mind, he tried to take something out of his pocket.

“Stop.”

I swiftly lifted my left foot and pressed down on Cha representative’s hand, which was rummaging through his jacket pocket. Wow, these dolphin pants, or whatever they’re called, are really easy to move in. Jeans were uncomfortable.

At my sudden action, Cha representative flinched and looked up, then quickly averted his gaze in surprise.

“Cha representative.”

“Y-Yes.”

“Look at me. Why are you avoiding my gaze?”

“W-Well. That’s…….”

Just as I was thinking, ‘What is it now?’, Miley rushed over and wrapped a large blanket around my waist.

Only then did I realize that Cha representative, from his kneeling position, might see something a bit strange, and I cleared my throat.

“Ahem. Okay, now it’s safe, so look at me.”

Only then did Cha representative cautiously turn his head.

Then he flinched in surprise.

I murmured with a casual smile.

“You know, contrary to how I look, I don’t trust people easily. Really.”

“Yes? You, Chairman……?”

“Yes. Well, it might not seem like it, but that’s how it is.”

Then Cha representative hesitated.

“But didn’t you trust Representative Kim and Butler Mackey from the first meeting? That’s what I heard…….”

“I gave David my heart only after judging that he was trustworthy to some extent after the first meeting, and Miley…….”

Miley’s eyes seemed to sparkle at those words. If she had a tail, it would be spinning and flying in the sky.

“Let’s leave that one out of the discussion.”

Then Miley became sullen.

I’ll comfort precious Miley later.

“And, it’s the same with Cha representative.”

At those words, Cha representative trembled slightly.

“I judged that Cha Eunho was reliable, trustworthy, and sufficiently capable, so I put PD Cha Eunho in the position of CEO of TS Media. Are you saying my judgment was wrong?”

“……B-But. There are many people in this world who are more capable than I am. Just looking abroad…… Ugh!”

Oops, a mistake.

I slightly loosened the pressure on my twisted left foot and shrugged.

“Sorry. I put a little too much force.”

“…….”

“Cha representative.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t easily abandon people I’ve once trusted. Unlike a certain someone who lives somewhere.”

As I gritted my teeth and murmured, Cha representative looked at me with a puzzled expression. He wouldn’t know. He couldn’t know.

Because it’s a story he doesn’t need to know.

“So, I have no intention of abandoning Cha representative.”

“Ha…….”

“Cha representative!”

Don’t say useless things.

It makes me feel bad.

“Listen carefully. I, have decided so.”

Cha representative’s mouth, staring into my eyes, opened slightly. I looked directly at Cha representative’s face and said softly.

“And, I have no intention of letting go of anything that comes into my hands. I never have, and I never will.”

“…….”

I took my foot off Cha representative’s jacket. Then, I got up from the virtual machine and put my hand into his jacket pocket. I grabbed something that felt like paper. No, this is just a bunch of receipts. From now on, it’s decided.

I took it out and immediately ripped it to shreds.

Then I scattered it on the virtual machine.

To Cha representative, who was looking at the scene with a dazed, unreal expression, I said again with a casual smile.

“Cha representative.”

“Y-Yes.”

“If you want to take responsibility, I recommend you do it in a different way. Bring a better plan, support me better, or… wear my gift.”

“Yes?”

“There is such a thing.”

I patted Cha representative’s shoulder and was about to walk out of the broadcast room, but I turned my head, remembering something I needed to check.

“By the way, Cha representative. What is your shoe size?”

◈ ◈ ◈

Team Leader Lee Jonghan thought the tie strangling his neck was like a rope on a gallows. Because he clearly remembered what had happened yesterday.

‘I almost screwed up.’

It was fortunate that the Chairman reversed the atmosphere with appropriate action at the appropriate moment, but if they had continued to follow TS Media’s support, there might have been quite a commotion by now.

‘Looking at it that way, she definitely has a sense for broadcasting.’

I don’t know why that broadcast is an internet broadcast and not a movie or a drama… Well, that’s a matter of taste.

The problem was that Cha representative’s mental state exploded after checking the index values. Cha representative, with a dark, dead face, agonized and eventually went to report to the Chairman.

He even had a resignation letter in his pocket.

‘Shit, isn’t the company atmosphere going to be destroyed?’

No, maybe the company might actually be physically destroyed. Like a complete staff turnover, or abandonment, or something bad in many ways.

‘Considering how fickle super-rich people are…….’

Team Leader Lee Jonghan swallowed hard.

‘Maybe, starting tomorrow, I won’t have a company to go to…….’

But, Team Leader Lee Jonghan’s prediction was wrong.

No, to be precise, it was somewhat correct.

The company atmosphere was a bit, destroyed.

In many ways.

“……Hey, what the hell is that?”

“I-I don’t know either. I came to work and it was like this.”

“What the hell is that on the representative right now? What does that mean?”

“How would I know? More importantly, senior. Lower that smile! What if the representative sees you…!”

Team Leader Lee Jonghan looked blankly at his colleagues, who were whispering with strange expressions.

Then, he saw Cha representative walking around in the distance with a very bright face. The dying face he had seen yesterday was nowhere to be seen, he looked very refreshed.

And…….

–Ttubangttubangppyokppyokkongkong!

Following Cha representative’s movements, he heard…….

‘Uh, um…….’

Anyway, it was a company atmosphere that was very, very broken in many ways.