+++

    +++

    “Huff...! Huff! Gah!”

    He ran with all his might.

    Branches and leaves scratched his face and body, leaving numerous wounds, and running barefoot meant he was stepping on sharp objects.

    But even so, he didn’t stop.

    Whizz - !

    “Eek!”

    The sound of something slicing through the air came from far behind, causing him to panic even more and push himself to run faster.

    But no matter how fast a person could run, they were no match for an arrow.

    “S-Someone... help me...!”@@@@

    Thud.

    “...!”

    In the end, an arrow pierced the back of his head, causing him to fall forward.

    “Guh... urgh... ugh...”

    He lay there lifeless, his eyes staring at the arrowhead that had punctured his forehead, taking his last breath.

    Moments later, a man in a black suit emerged from the direction the man had run.

    He examined the body and checked the location of the arrow, then immediately reported in.

    “Direct hit to the center of the forehead. Death confirmed.”

    Without offering any form of respect to the dead, he roughly stuffed the corpse into a body bag.

    Beep - !

    “Direct hit to the center of the forehead! 11 points!!”

    A man shouted from atop a large vehicle specially designed for hunting.

    At that, the men in suits, who had been cautiously watching, all clapped and cheered loudly.

    “Nice shot, Director!!”

    “As expected of the Director! Truly amazing!!”

    Clap clap clap clap.

    The scene of nearly ten people cheering and clapping with all their might was bizarre and grotesque.

    Especially their expressions.

    Though they were smiling and cheering, it was all so forced that it came off as pitiful.

    Nevertheless, the star of the show, the woman who had shot the arrow, laughed heartily as she continued to pull her bowstring.

    “Oh, you’re all too kind. It’s all because my teacher is so good.”

    She smiled brightly, placed her large bow and arrows down, and twisted open the cap of a chilled drink.

    Fssss!

    “To my invincible gold medalist teacher, let me offer you a drink~.”

    “Ah... th-thank you, thank you....”

    A woman in a uniform, her hands trembling, lifted her glass.

    She was trying her best to suppress her trembling, terrified of spilling the drink.

    “Cheers!”

    “C-Cheers...!”

    Isn’t he your stalker? It feels like he is.Won’t he come out if we do this?Hmm, not coming out?

    The non-brainwashed man standing by hesitated before replying.

    “...Understood, Director.”

    +++

    “You’ve arrived, Young Master.”

    “Ongya.”

    We arrived at the house in Ganghwa.

    Though calling it a house is an overstatement—it’s really just the top floor of Koryo Entertainment’s office.

    Thanks to the AV, the trip took only about an hour, but the distance still left me feeling a bit tired.

    ‘Or maybe it’s because of the sex?’

    “Ah. Let me introduce you. This is my exclusive knight, Baek Seol. And this is Seo Eunmi, my secretary.”

    “Baek Seol, at your service.”

    “...Seo Eunmi, sir.”

    Baek Seol introduced herself confidently, while Eunmi looked somewhat uneasy.

    In fact, she seemed tense upon closer inspection.

    ‘Is she being cautious? Well, of course, she’s a National Intelligence Service spy. She has no choice but to be on guard when there’s suddenly a knight around.’

    Now that I had a loyal knight whom I could trust completely, it was time to deal with Eunmi.

    Up until now, Seo Eunmi had been the most qualified among my subordinates, including Sua, which made her the only person I could entrust with certain tasks.

    But turning her over to Prestige would have caused too much of a stir.

    Now, however, I had a knight.

    I had someone I could fully confide in and give any order to.

    After introducing Baek Seol to several people, I brought her to my room alone.

    “There’s no wiretapping or anything like that, right?”

    Baek Seol scanned the room before answering.

    “No, there’s nothing.”

    I patted the spot beside me on the bed.

    Whatever she was thinking, Baek Seol blushed as she approached, starting to undress—

    “Just sit down.”

    “Ah, y-yes, sir.”

    I had already slept with her in her room and the AV, so now she seemed to think of me as some kind of sex-obsessed maniac.

    I wasn’t that bad, though.

    “Do you remember the woman I introduced earlier? Seo Eunmi.”

    “Yes.”

    “She’s a spy.”

    “??”

    “But I have no evidence. Keep an eye on her and report to me if you notice anything suspicious. If you think you can get solid proof, then act at your discretion.”

    “Shall I kill her?”

    “No. Once we have the evidence, we’ll capture her and retrain her.”

    “....”

    She seemed confused.

    “If you’re so sure, couldn’t you just capture her now? There are plenty of ways to get her to confess.”

    “That’s true, but if we arrest her without any visible cause, it’ll unsettle the others. They’re already nervous enough.”

    “Ah.”

    “Like I told you yesterday, they’re basically slaves. Unlike you.”

    “Yes, you did mention that.”

    “Exactly. So keep a close watch on her. And don’t tell anyone about this. I’m only telling you.”

    “Yes. I will remember.”

    After we finished our conversation, I called for Sua.

    “You called, Master?”

    “Baek Seol will be setting up the mercenary company. As a knight, she’ll have a lot of free passes in that area, right?”

    “It won’t be entirely free, but things will definitely be much easier. Basic training, at least. I’ll need to check the details.”

    “Baek Seol will establish the mercenary company, and I’ll hire the mercenaries. That sounds perfect. Start preparing now; once I sell the stocks, we’ll set up the corporation.”

    “Yes, Master.”

    “And get ready for a trip to Sinan this Saturday. We’re taking all the slaves.”

    “Sinan? You’re taking everyone?”

    “Yeah. I have something I need to find. Plus, it’ll be good for bonding with the slaves.”

    “....”

    Next week is Chuseok.

    Grandfather gave me a knight as a gift, and my sister gave me an AV, so I can’t just show up empty-handed, right? I need to bring something too.

    Grandfather loves Go, so I’m thinking of getting a Go board made by a master craftsman from Sinan. As for my sister, I’m not sure what to get her yet, but I’ll figure it out during my conversations with the women.

    ___________________

    TL Notes: Go is an ancient board game that originated in China over 2,500 years ago. It''s a strategy game played by two players, with the objective being to control more territory on the board than your opponent.