NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27 - The Final Push
Renowned global corporations.
An office district lined with the headquarters of Japan’s leading companies.
Among them, a particularly large building.
The building with the prominent “Sugar” logo and sign is the headquarters of Japan’s largest company, Sugar Co., Ltd.
Today, the trading of equipment has become a more significant industry than automobiles.
The largest wholesale company in Japan, and thus the world, is Sugar.
In the topmost room of the skyscraper, two men face each other.
The towering skyscraper is like a dungeon standing tall.
Here, a different kind of battle has begun from that of a dungeon.
“What brings a rising young president with the momentum to ‘drop a flying bird’ here?”
“Oh, I’m just barely hanging on as usual. I’m here to discuss business today.”
“Ah, that is interesting.”
The two men laugh and appear to be in a friendly atmosphere at first glance.
However, their eyes were not smiling.
Because this is their battlefield, a game of fox and raccoon.
Their weapons are not swords or armor, but only their words.
Therefore, they must be cautious with their choice of words.
“First, I’d like you to see this.”
Tanaka shows a video on his tablet.
“Hmm.”
Representative Sato shifts his gaze to the video.
He is astonished.
Because it shows his son beating up an ordinary salaryman in an alley.
“Your son was an explorer, wasn’t he? I can’t believe he would use violence against an ordinary person.”
This salaryman is an employee of Tanaka’s company, Weapon.
Coincidence? Representative Sato knows better.
“Are you trying to blackmail me?”
“And also, please watch this. It’s a video of me stopping an attack on my important explorer, Mikenju Kenya, by your son.”
Next, the video shows Tanaka himself about to be attacked by guild explorers on Sato’s orders.
The equipment is fully materialized, and there’s no way to make excuses.
Moreover, the person in the video is right here.
Representative Sato sighs, leans back in his seat, and gives up.
It seems the winner for today has been decided.
No, it wasn’t even a match from the start; the hands were too different.
A scandal involving his own son using company equipment could shake the company.
If things go poorly, there’s also a possibility of resignation, as Representative Sato is the one who lent the equipment to his son’s guild.
“What are your demands? My resignation?”
“No, it’s not that. Now, shall we begin?”
Tanaka crosses his legs and looks straight at the defeated.
“Let’s talk business, shall we?”
…
Sato regains consciousness.
He is in a hospital room.
It seems he was taken there after being knocked out by Ryunosuke Tendo.
“Damn it! How could that kind of monster be in a place like that?”
Even though it’s not a coincidence, Sato still refuses to acknowledge it.
He still can’t connect the dots between the incompetent and the strongest.
“You’re awake.”
“Dad!”
Hearing his son’s voice, the father enters the hospital room.
“Hey! Give me money! I want to buy B-rank equipment! C-rank is no longer enough for me!”
To gather B-rank equipment would easily cost hundreds of millions, but if you’re the son of Japan’s top company, it might be possible.
If you’re his son, that is.
“You’ve gone too far. Stop dealing with Mikenju Kenya.”
“Wh-what! Why that incompetent fool!”
Smack!
“Can’t you realize that your lack of foresight has led to this situation?”
The son is suddenly hit and yelled at by his father.
Why was I hit?
“Stop calling him incompetent. You should know, he’s special.”
(Special? That incompetent fool?)
He refuses to acknowledge it, doesn’t want to accept it!
The one he expelled and deemed incompetent is special!
Seeing this, the father looks at his son with a look of despair.
There is no way that Tanaka, who protected him so much, is incompetent.
“I’m to blame for leaving it alone, but do you know how much damage your incompetence has caused?”
“I don’t know!”
“Sigh… So, I’ve decided. I have a company and employees I must protect, which are more important than you.”
The father then takes out a document.
“W-what’s that, Dad?”
“I don’t need you anymore! I’m disowning you!”
A letter of disownment with the phrase “disowning Sato Toshio” and a seal is thrust in front of Sato Toshio.
The one who expelled the boy is now expelled by his own family.
Karma; everything, including equipment, has been confiscated.
He’s done with high school and compulsory education, so no more support.
Sato Toshio is left to live alone.
Violent, unruly, poor grades, with only friends tied by money.
When the money runs out, so does the connection.
The guild is disbanded, and nothing remains for Sato.
He has to leave home as if being kicked out.
…
A little future talk.
“It’s so cold.”
Sato, shivering in a cardboard box under an overpass, gets up.
His remaining pride gets in the way, and part-time jobs don’t last, leaving Sato to live day by day.
Still hungry, with no money, he searches through garbage every day.
The former explorer is unrecognizable, his beard grown out and emitting a foul smell.
He looks up from there at the towering tower.
As if clinging to it, hoping to regain past glory.
Sato takes steps toward the tower, one at a time.
…
Where did I go wrong?
Surrounded by goblins, bloodied and collapsed on the ground, Sato lies on the 4th floor of the dungeon.
The goblins keep multiplying, one by one.
Little by little, he is cut apart by the sneering goblins.
His voice is hoarse, and no more cries are heard.
The goblins, supposed to be the weakest, are strong enemies for Sato with no equipment.
Even so, he thought he could win, perhaps due to the harmful effects of his remaining pride.
What Sato thinks at the brink of death is…
Where did I go wrong?
When I attacked that woman?
When I mocked that man as incompetent?
I want to go back to the time when I fired him.
And tell the foolish me.
That person is special; make him a part of your team, be friendly, don’t fire him.
With his remaining pride completely shattered, Sato finally acknowledges that Kenya is special, and he himself is the incompetent one.
But even if he acknowledges it now, even if he wishes it could go back, it’s too late.
Even if he regrets it, it’s too late.
As he bleeds and cries at the brink of death, Sato thinks of regret and…
“I don’t want to die…”
Only the desire not to die.
Slash!
And another one becomes the dungeon’s blood and flesh.
This is a dungeon.
A place filled with much blood, bones, and tears.
Today, another reckless and incompetent fool of an explorer dies here.
How clichéd and ordinary it is.
But it can’t be helped; after all, he…
Made the wrong choices.