Surviving Restructuring

Strictly speaking, this trial could have been ignored. If Eun-Ho hid inside the Secret Room until the commotion died down, the employees’ interest would naturally fade. The stubborn few could be dealt with afterward.

But I can’t afford to leave loose ends, especially not with a direct clash against the chairman looming on the horizon.

That left him with one option: nullifying that damned group trial by either canceling it outright or completing it. And he chose the latter.

Ayasa: If you get promoted, it’s the best.

Ayasa: Your salary jumps like crazy and incentives go way up too.

Ayasa: More than that, the scale of trials changes. Even the same trial gives better rewards.

Lee Eun-Ho: Really? That much?

If he was going to dismantle it anyway, he might as well secure a promotion first. Besides, the old man would probably choke if his scheme ended up strengthening them instead.

Ayasa: That’s why those lunatics are charging in like mad dogs.

Ayasa: I’ll wrap things up here and head over. Wait for me.

Lee Eun-Ho: No. Please handle what I asked first. That’s more important.

Lee Eun-Ho: I’ll take care of things here.

If things did not go as planned, he could simply move up the timetable for his confrontation with the chairman. That had been his thinking.

However, messages flooded in without end.

Kim Ji-Eun: You’re going to sacrifice yourself? Again?

Kim Ji-Eun: Eun-Ho, you really are...

Choi Jae-Hyuk: Absolutely not, Hyungnim! I’ll die in your place!

Yeon Bo-Ra: You lectured me about living selfishly, and now what is this?

Yeon Bo-Ra: I won’t watch that happen. Just run away with me. Please?

...

He had not expected this level of panic. It seemed that an explanation was necessary.

Lee Eun-Ho: I’m not actually planning to die.

Lee Eun-Ho: What I mean is...

Therefore, he laid out his plan while recalling what he had noticed earlier.

[999.]

[Yongsan District survivors: 1,000.]

Thuuuuump.

When he had slowed time with Acceleration before, he had confirmed something important. The System recognized the moment a heart stopped or entered cardiac arrest.

[Royal Honey of the Giant Hornet]

- High-quality honey gathered between trees and rocks by giant hornets.

- Permanently increases strength and stamina by 1 when consumed.

- When applied to wounds, it fully regenerates the affected area.

- Note: It cannot be used if the heart has stopped.

He still had some of that honey left from the previous trial.

Choi Jae-Hyuk: Hieek! Isn’t that way too dangerous?!

Kim Ji-Eun: He’s right, Eun-Ho! If your timing’s even a little off, it’s over!

Of course, matching the timing would be absurdly difficult. Not only did he have to strike during the true death window after the revival triggered, but the required damage would also be substantial.

But it’s possible, Eun-Ho thought.

[92.1%]

He could track his Stamina in 0.1% increments while slowing time to a near standstill. Then, within that slowed world, he alone could move freely. There was no one else in existence who could attempt this method.

Myung Tae-Pyeong: Fuck. So we actually have to attack you, right?

Lee Eun-Ho: Yes, but only you guys.

Lee Eun-Ho: If outsiders interfere, we won’t be able to control it.

Myung Tae-Pyeong: Man. Can we just not?

You have to.

Lee Eun-Ho: This is our chance to shove the chairman’s plan back down his throat.

Besides, it was also a chance to drastically strengthen their team.

Choi Jae-Hyuk: But Hyungnim! It’s going to hurt like hell!

Yes. That’s true. It would hurt enough to literally kill me.

Lee Eun-Ho: Don’t worry. I’ve prepared contingencies.

He planned to begin inside Sol-Ah’s healing field. In case he required immediate relocation, he would also leave a door open to the Training Institute. Eun-Ho continued arranging layer upon layer of safety measures.

Ding!

Then, the message window he had been waiting for appeared.

[Would you like to accept the shared trial, Proof?]

[Y/N]

Of course I would. This entire operation begins here.

Without hesitation, Eun-Ho pressed Y.

Fwoosh—

[Group trial has been activated!]

Just then, a massive trial window appeared before his eyes. It was a loud, garish interface that was bright red like a warning alert, with a flashing white border.

[Trial: Proof]

[Objective: defeat Lee Eun-Ho]

[Reward: promotion]

He could not recall ever seeing that red color used for anything other than warnings. Apparently, defeating him was considered that urgent.

The old man must have been desperate. But things would not go as you intended.

It was Eun-Ho’s turn now. He rose to his feet, imagining the chairman’s smug expression twisting in disbelief. Following that, the thin red border of the trial window flickered.

What was that just now?

The red bled outward akin to watercolor soaking into wet paper. As the once-red window slowly turned white, a blinding burst erupted like a flashbang.

Fwoosh—!

Whirl—

Like a card caught in a fan’s wind, the trial window spun violently back and forth.

[Congratulations!]

Congratulations for what? For being defeated? For becoming the target of every employee?

[Due to the effect of the title Order Opposer, all penalties have become benefits.]

“What?”

[Trial details have been modified.]

[However, the changes apply only to you, the title holder.]

His eyes widened.

Wait. If that’s the case...

He immediately typed into the team chat.

Lee Eun-Ho: We’re revising the plan entirely.

***

His mind returned to the Character Evaluation project

[The second trial, Cooperation, is about to begin!]

[Defeat the White Serpent and survive!]

He had to choose between fighting the White Serpent descending from the ceiling alone, or working together with his assigned partner to endure it. However, instead of following the script, he went and killed the very creature they had intended as the centerpiece of the trial.

[The match cannot continue!]

[The Cooperation trial has terminated early!]

[Penalty has been applied to you to resume proper operation!]

As a result, he had been struck with penalties. He could not see, hear, nor speak.

[Congratulations!]

[You have acquired an exclusive trait-related title, Order Opposer.]

That was when he earned the title Order Opposer, a grandiose name for an ability that turned penalties into benefits.

[Status effects, blind, deaf, and mute have now been reversed.]

[You can see the core of things.]

[You can hear what cannot be heard.]

[Your words gain power.]

Thanks to that title, he had obtained the White Serpent’s Ten Thousand People’s Bloodstone. It had even granted him a decisive buff when he leaped from the arena’s control room to confront the Flame Dragon. However, after joining the company, the title never activated again. He actually almost forgot about it.

This trial must have been unfair enough to trigger it.

Thanks to the chairman’s personal touch, Eun-Ho could proceed safely.

[Trial details have been modified.]

[However, the changes apply only to you, the title holder.]

The changes applied only to him, but that was fine. He could share them. It would be complicated but still possible.

[Kim Ji-Eun has been registered as a Sub-Sales Agent.]

[The effect of Employee of the Year Discount Benefit has been shared.]

Eun-Ho could list them beneath his name in the system’s hierarchy, then extend the effects of Order Opposer to them. In fact, he had done it before with Ji-Eun and the wandering navigator during their OJT at the Management Bureau.

[The effect of Multi-Level Marketer has been shared.]

[Your voice gains increased credibility.]

Min Yeo-Jin: This is insane! It worked!

Choi Jae-Hyuk: The trial actually changed, Hyungnim!

The team members who had already been registered under him were resolved.

Kim Ji-Eun: So now we just need to gather everyone else, right?

Kim Ji-Eun: Should we tell them to come inside the Castle?

Lee Eun-Ho: No.

If he had gone with the original plan, he would have limited the promotion benefit to his own team. However, with the change, he was ready to use the resources the enemy had prepared for his own show of generosity.

Lee Eun-Ho: Anyone who comes under me gets promoted.

Lee Eun-Ho: All union members will receive promotion upon joining. Not bad, right?

Yoon Sol-Ah: But don’t they have to register under you first for the trial to change?

Yoon Sol-Ah: Will people really believe that?

Of course, telling people to join him in the middle of a standoff would look like an obvious trap.

Kim Ji-Eun: You have a plan, don’t you?

Lee Eun-Ho: We have the chief secretary with us.

Originally, he had planned to use that card after resolving the trial, but perhaps he could catch two rabbits at once.

Lee Eun-Ho: I’m thinking of having a drink with her.

Kim Ji-Eun: What?

It seems like the right time to uncork something rare, Eun-Ho thought.

***

The chief secretary was dumbfounded. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

She had been hauled into a strange underground chamber, a restraining gag forced into place, abandoned without explanation. Then, her captor reappeared out of nowhere and suggested they sit down for a conversation.

“I’d like you to become one of my people,” Eun-Ho said calmly.

“Excuse me?”

A recruitment offer?

“I’ll be taking on much bigger ventures soon,” Eun-Ho continued, “I’ll need capable talent. You have both competence and strength.”

Recruit me? What is he scheming?

“I know better than anyone how exceptional you are,” Eun-Ho said. “How long will you stay in the secretary’s office, assisting others?

“What? Ha.”

“How high do you want to climb? Name it. I’ll make it happen.”

The chief secretary scoffed and threw out a reckless challenge. “What, will you make me a director?”

“If you prefer, the vice chairman. How about that?”

It was an even more outrageous counter.

“There’s no such title as vice chairman in this company,” she replied flatly.

“Not in this company,” Eun-Ho agreed and smiled. “But in my company, there is.”

My company? Has he lost his mind?

It was the kind of statement that would make heaven tremble and earth quake. However, she saw the same eyes that had calmly severed throats in a burning forest. There was no jest in them. He meant it.

The chief secretary felt a chill. She had thought Eun-Ho was just monstrously strong. It seemed she had to revise that assessment.

He’s not just monstrously strong, but also insane.

“I don’t think it’ll take long,” Eun-Ho added lightly. “Choose your side carefully.”

She let out a dry breath.

Trying to recruit the very woman who had just attacked him?

That audacity alone was worth acknowledging. From a purely strategic standpoint, stealing the chairman’s strength would be double profit.

He’s naïve.

She had seen it happen time and again. Men mighty enough to bring the world to its knees, only to be dragged down and broken by the mire of politics.

Is he just another one of them?

For all his overwhelming force, perhaps he was still just a reckless youth. Strength alone was never enough.

Suppressing a hollow laugh, the chief secretary lowered her gaze. “What would you have me do?”

For now, I will bow and pretend to yield. Then, I will report everything to the chairman including his plans, his abilities, his thoughts, and every move he makes, shethought.

“Return and report that you’ve detained me,” Eun-Ho instructed. “Tell him you kept me restrained.”

“And after that?”

“Bring him to this forest at the appointed time.”

She thought this was an opportunity and a chance to prove her loyalty. “Understood.”

The fool’s decision to trust her would become the cause of his most crushing defeat.

“Then how about a drink as a token of our agreement?” Eun-Ho suggested lightly.

“We’re hardly close enough to share a drink,” she replied stiffly.

He smiled faintly. “In my hometown, people always drink when they make peace.”

Fine.

She did not like it, but if a single glass would earn the man’s trust, so be it.

“Just one then,” she said at last.

She accepted the cup, hiding a dagger behind honeyed words. The liquor shimmered against the rim. It slid down her throat, and warmth bloomed in her stomach.

“I’ll remove the restraints now,” Eun-Ho said.

What followed happened in an instant.

Fwoosh—!

They exited into the ravaged forest, and from there, the chief secretary hurried straight to the chairman’s office. Careful not to draw attention, she kept a brisk but controlled pace, avoiding the other employees’ eyes.

Thus, she arrived in a flash. “Chairman!”

“You’re late.”

“I-I failed to defeat Lee Eun-Ho,” she reported, still catching her breath, the words pouring out in rapid succession. “He was strong. In the blink of an eye, he slit the shaman’s throat. He even cut down two assassins in a single stroke. Moreover, he’s acquired the Armament of the Sun God. Above all, he tried to recruit me! He wants me to lure you to the Wailing Forest! It’s clearly a trap.”

“A trap?” the chairman repeated sharply.

“I’m certain of it. You must not, under any circumstances, go there in your true form.”

“Hmm. So I must not go there in my true form.” The chairman raised his brows. Nodding slowly, he offered her a benevolent smile. “Thank you for telling me.”

“How many years have I served you?” the chief secretary replied fervently. “Even if I were reborn, I would serve only you.”

“Ah, yeah right,” he murmured, his smile deepening with meaning. “First, there is something I need you to do.”

“Yes, sir!”

Then, the chairman handed her a stack of papers. “Make this announcement.”

“An announcement?”

At the top, in bold lettering, it read: Chairman’s Office Official Statement.

“I understand,” she said quickly. “I’ll book the studio right away and—”

“There’s no time,” the chairman cut in. “Do it immediately. Broadcast it live.”

“Pardon?”

Live? That means I wouldn’t even have time to review the script.

“I’m saying this because I trust you,” he continued evenly, “begin at once.”

“Understood.”

His urgency was unlike him, and it unsettled her. However, as a professional, she could not afford to irritate him by hesitating.

Fwoosh—!

[ON AIR]

Therefore, she started the company-wide broadcast system faster than anyone else could have.

“This is an announcement from the chairman’s office,” she said, her voice steady and controlled.

The red ON AIR sign flickered strangely. The floor beneath her feet seemed to ripple, as though she were standing on unstable ground. Even so, she maintained her composure.

“The Proof trial currently being circulated within the company was initiated under the chairman’s special directive.” Her eyes moved down the script. “We would like to inform you that it was clearly intended to undermine the Labor-Management Cooperation Team, particularly Team Leader Lee Eun-Ho... and we sincerely repent for the operation of the Arena, the illegal experiments, and the surveillance and attacks carried out against employees...”

Her breath caught.

What’s wrong with the script? We’re admitting all of these? Something’s not right. I must have been handed the wrong script.

A cold sweat broke across her back as she realized what she had just declared to the entire company. It was an irreversible bombshell. She knew she had to stop and call it a mistake or a technical error.

Her trembling head turned toward the chairman.

Yet his eyes blazed with a sharp, wordless command. “Do not stop. Continue. Are you trying to cause a broadcast accident?“

But...

His eyes urged her once again. “Do you dare question me?”

“Hieek!” A small, strangled sound escaped her throat as she continued. “Accordingly...”

What came next was even worse.

“Accordingly, we hereby present the chairman’s office’s official guidelines to all employees.”

Yes. That’s right.

“First, all attacks against the Labor-Management Cooperation Team and Team Leader Lee Eun-Ho are to cease immediately.” Her heart pounded violently. “Second, all employees are to join the labor union under Union Leader Lee Eun-Ho.”

What am I reading?!

With his gaze, he seemed to command her, “Keep going!”

“Third...” Her fingers trembled against the paper. “...All employees are to protect Team Leader Lee Eun-Ho from the company, the chairman’s office, and any other hostile forces.”

An alarm was ringing at the back of her head.

She nearly bit her tongue to stop herself. “Employees who fulfill all three conditions will receive immediate promotion.”

This is insane. Is this script actually real?