Surviving Restructuring

“Don’t worry!” Min Yeo-Jin’s voice rang out with confidence.

Don’t worry?

Leira wasn’t naive enough to take those words at face value.

She knew the company too well. She knew just how ruthless it could be. Empty reassurances usually only made things worse. However, it felt different this time.

The Skeleton Knight stepped forward. “You no longer need to worry.”

“Huh?”

Click.

His shoulder bones were worn down and scarred from countless battles. The wooden shield he carried was so battered that its intricate patterns were almost gone. Yet the violet aura wrapping around him radiated a sharp, unmistakable presence.

It wasn’t the hollow comfort people offered just to calm others down.

“Who—”

Leira fell silent when the Skeleton Knight added, “Our Commander told me to tell you not to worry.”

“C-Commander?”

“Yes,” the Skeleton Knight replied calmly. “It’s Commander Lee. Eun. Ho.”

Leira’s mouth fell open.

Wait...

She had seen Skeleton Soldiers following Lee Eun-Ho before. In fact, she had been monitoring the restructuring process at the time. During the mock battle trial, those rattling skeleton troops had even appeared on the headquarters’ observation feed. She had wondered what was going on back then.

That Skeleton is this one?!

Fwaaash!

The Skeleton Knight brandished a blade aura nearly as long as his own height, its edge so sharp it seemed like it could slice the air itself.

Swoosh—!

Like a storm, he tore through the secretary office’s elite guards.

They are the same Skeletons who couldn’t even find their own arms back then?! Leira thought.

“Are you injured anywhere, milady?” the Skeleton Knight asked politely.

Leira stared at him in a daze. “N-no! I-I’m fine.”

The Skeleton who once couldn’t even speak properly had just called her milady.

Milady?!

“It’s a monster! A monster appeared!”

“Wait! They’re fighting the secretaries!”

“Then what? Are they on our side?”

“A Skeleton?”

The Operations Bureau employees were just as stunned as Leira, but the Skeleton Knights remained completely composed.

“We come on behalf of the Labor Union,” one of the Skeleton Knights announced firmly. “Everyone, please remain calm.”

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a poker game. Calm nerves alone couldn’t win a real battle.

“Why did you come here... sir?” Leira asked, instinctively adding honorifics out of habit.

The Operations Bureau building was completely surrounded. Enemies filled every direction. Breaking through the army to reach this place was already impressive, but that was it.

It’s a miracle just to get this far!

The Skeleton Knights were in terrible shape. They had probably drawn the enemy’s attention while forcing their way through. Though their bone helmets slowly repaired cracks and fractures in their skulls, that alone wasn’t enough. Simply holding out wouldn’t magically kill a thousand enemies.

“I get that you’re strong,” Leira said urgently. “But what can ten of you possibly do here—”

Had the Operations Bureau been abandoned? Had the Union decided this fight couldn’t be won and sent only symbolic reinforcements?

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the Skeleton Knight lifted its head. “They’re here.”

Through the curved edge of his tilted bone helmet, past the rippling violet aura, something massive appeared at the edge of her vision.

“What is that?!”

The enemy noticed it first.

“Enemy!”

“Something’s descending from above!”

“Stop it!”

Swoooosh!

A storm of arrows shot upward into the sky. They soared in steep arcs over the skeletons charging across the battlefield and the Operations Bureau employees scrambling to form a defense.

Within that storm of arrows, a massive barrier revealed itself.

Leira finally understood. “No way.”

So that was why the Skeleton Knights charged in so loudly, carving a dazzling violet path across the battlefield instead of approaching quietly from behind.

It was a diversion.

That way, no one would notice the real reinforcements arriving from the sky.

“Focus your fire!” the enemy commander shouted.

If the barrier had descended directly in plain sight, it would have been in serious danger. There was no way that fragile, bubble-like shield could survive the concentrated bombardment of a thousand soldiers. However, the enemy had reacted too slowly and the diversion had worked.

Psssh—!

The concentrated barrage of ballista bolts, flaming arrows, and even artillery shells crumbled into dust the moment they struck the barrier.

“This... huff... this is what you call... a mobile guard post!” the security guard shouted proudly.

At the center of the defensive dome, he stood with one hand raised high, maintaining the shield. He was sweating bullets and even coughing up a mouthful of blood.

The healer standing firmly behind him placed a hand on his back. “Rapid Heal!”

Color returned to his face almost instantly.

“Drink this!”

Then, he accepted a potion from another man beside the healer and downed it without hesitation.

“Isn’t that the Labor-Management Cooperation Team?”

“The Labor-Management Cooperation Team? That looks more like combat cooperation. How do they coordinate so well?”

It was a perfectly executed three-step combo designed for maximum efficiency with minimal manpower.

“All at once!”

“Pain reduction.”

“Carpet Bombardment!”

“One hundred percent output!”

Booom—! Baaaaam!

“Is that all you’ve got?! Is that seriously everything?!”

“He used Carpet Bombardment by himself?! What kind of lunatic—”

“Hahaha! That barely tickles!”

Apparently, it wasn’t a three-step combo but four.

“Mister! Behind you!”

“I’ve got it!”

Bang! Bang!

No, it was five steps.

“We’re landing!”

Dozens of reinforcements led by Choi Jae-Hyuk and Kim Ji-Eun landed safely. Safely here meant both feet had technically touched the ground.

“Cease fire! Charge!” the enemy commander shouted.

Realizing their long-range attacks couldn’t break through the shield, the enemy troops changed tactics and surged forward like a tidal wave.

“That’s dangerous! Everyone fall ba—”

“Advance!” Choi Jae-Hyuk shouted.

“Yes, sir!”

“Bring it on, you bastards!”

Instead of retreating, the newcomers pushed forward as if they had expected this all along.

“You think everything works out just because you corporate lapdogs put your heads together?!” Swear-Master yelled through a loudspeaker. “Stack a hundred dumb skulls together and all you’ll get is a bigger mess, you idiots!”

A dark fog surged out from beneath the protection of the barrier, clinging to the enemies’ legs.

Craaaack!

Then came a spinning kick that sounded less like a ball strike and more like a building collapsing.

Eun-Sol gripped a palm-sized needle in one hand and swung the tattooed arm. “Cha Eun-Sol! Now!”

“Materialize!”

At the command, countless summoned creatures burst into existence.

“Isn’t that the guy who always yelled insults through a megaphone?!”

“What’s with that vest? Why are steel balls shooting out of his chest?!”

“That team is ridiculously strong!”

Everyone had always known Lee Eun-Ho was powerful. Honestly, most people had believed the Labor-Management Cooperation Team and even the union itself was basically a one-man show built around him. That was how overwhelming his strength was.

How wrong they were.

“We’ve taken down dragons before!” Swear-Master shouted. “You think this is scary?! We even killed a teleporting vampire once!”

These people used to be completely ordinary, Leira thought.

She knew that better than anyone because restructuring candidates were constantly monitored. Having watched them from the start, she knew none of them had been exceptional. However, there was one thing they had now, something none of them had before.

A Pathfinder.

They had someone who told them they were heading in the right direction, promising that this suffering wasn’t endless, that there was a place of rest waiting at the end of this brutal run. Someone who said that if they followed him, no one would be left behind.

It’s Lee Eun-Ho.

In barely a month, he had turned these people into monsters and made a troop.

“Don’t worry, everyone from the Operations Bureau! The contract workers will be arriving soon too!”

“So t-this isn’t the end of the reinforcements?”

“Of course not! Hang in there just a little longer!”

Now he was even showing them a future to walk toward.

“We can do this too!”

“Y-yeah! This is our building! We should be the ones protecting it!”

“Hang in there! Even the new recruits are risking their lives out there!”

Leira watched as hope bloomed across the faces of her exhausted coworkers. The people who had seemed like lifeless corpses just moments ago now burned with determination.

What if Lee Eun-Ho had been on the company’s side instead?

A chill ran down her spine. The mere thought was terrifying. She hurriedly wiped her face with both hands, trying to shake the thought away.

Just then, Yeo-Jin came sprinting toward her, panting heavily. “Unnieee!”

“Yeo-Jin! You came too?!”

“Operations Bureau landing operation, success!” Min Yeo-Jin grinned brightly, flashing a V-sign with her fingers despite possessing zero offensive skills. “See? I told you not to worry.”

Leira felt tears sting her eyes.

“Huh? Unnie, are you hurt? Why are you crying? Should I call Sol-Ah?”

“No. I’m fine.”

She wasn’t sure why she felt this way. Maybe it was Yeo-Jin’s carefree smile. Maybe it was the fact that the Operations Bureau, once dismissed as nothing but a department for menial tasks, finally had powerful allies. Or maybe it was simply the release of all the tension. Whatever the reason, she didn’t care.

Ignoring Leira’s protests, Yeo-Jin started lifting her arms and legs to inspect them like a concerned doctor. “Wait, where are you hurt?”

It seemed like she would soon start bending her joints like a doll just to check.

Leira quickly changed the subject. “Wait, if all of you came here, what about the Castle?”

“The Castle?”

“Your office! Who’s protecting it?”

Yeo-Jin blinked and broke into a mischievous smile. “Oh! As you can see, some didn’t come.”

***

“This is madness,” Mu Ah said quietly.

“Yes. Complete madness,” the former chief secretary replied calmly.

“If you know that, why are you siding with him? You’re not a foolish person,” Mu Ah asked sharply.

The question was direct, but the former secretary avoided answering it.

“Do you know my name?” she asked instead.

“Your name?”

The question was completely unexpected.

Mu Ah frowned, but he couldn’t answer as he didn’t know. “I’m sorry.”

She had always simply been “the Chief Secretary,” “Chief,” “Hey, you.” That was how everyone addressed her.

She smiled gently, as if it didn’t matter. “My name is Mirabo.”

It was a name granted to her during her promotion, yet no one had ever cared enough to remember it.

“It means someone who wanders for a long time, but eventually finds the widest and best path.”

“That’s a good name,” Mu Ah said.

Mirabo nodded in agreement, then gazed off into the distance. “Ever since I received that name, I’ve always wondered something.”

“What?”

“My life was already decided. I was supposed to spend the rest of it assisting the chairman.”

For the first time, Mu Ah saw an expression on her face that he had never seen before.

The woman who always smiled calmly now appeared bitter.

“I kept wondering,” she murmured. “Is this truly the path I found after wandering?”

Mirabo had never possessed the abilities required to become a bureau director, but she had risen as far as any ordinary employee could possibly go. Still, that wasn’t what she meant.

“So, you believe Lee Eun-Ho is your path?” Mu Ah asked.

“That could be the case,” Mirabo replied calmly.

“Or maybe not?”

“I suppose I’ll find out.” She turned her gaze back from the distance and looked him straight in the eyes. “I won’t know until I go and see for myself.”

You won’t know until you walk the path...

Mu Ah fell silent.

“That’s true,” he finally admitted. “You can’t know whether a road is right or wrong unless you walk it to the very end.”

For some reason, he felt as if the pink haze that had filled his mind for so long had suddenly cleared away.

Mirabo noticed his expression and her eyes sparkled. “And you, Director?”

“Me?”

“Yes. Why are you still here?”

Mu Ah snorted lightly. “I’m a prisoner, remember? I’m being watched by a trusted inmate like you.”

She laughed then, her voice light and bright, like marbles rolling across a floor. “Oh, come on. You could escape if you really wanted to. If you did... I could pretend not to notice.”

Mu Ah blinked. “I’ve never seen you smile like that before.”

“Well, this is the first time we’ve ever had a real conversation, isn’t it?”

“True enough.” He chuckled. “And we’ve known each other for a few hundred years.”

“That’s probably why. We were too used to each other. Like stagnant water that’s been sitting too long.”

“Stagnant water...” he murmured.

Bang!

Just then, the prison door suddenly swung open.

Whoooosh—

Wind rushed down from the surface above. The heavy, stagnant air that had filled the prison lightened instantly, swirling like boiling water poured into a basin of icy cold.

“He’s here,” Mirabo said softly.

Eun-Ho had returned.

“Did you wait long?” he asked casually, a pair of massive wings folded behind him.

Hmm?

Between the dark feathers, a refreshing scent spread through the air. Tiny green particles shimmered faintly, carrying the aroma of fresh herbs. However, from the feathers on the other side came a faint chemical scent, which was something like gunpowder or medicine.

That smell feels oddly familiar, Mu Ah thought.

Eun-Ho then gently set down the small child he had been carrying in his arms.

“Good work, Yul.”

The little girl appeared refreshed, as if she had just woken from a pleasant nap. “Yes, sir!”

“You seem to have taken a quiet trip somewhere,” Mirabo remarked.

“Ah, I had a few things to take care of.” Eun-Ho brushed back his wind-tangled hair. “Where’s the chairman?”

“Wait,” Mu Ah interrupted, frowning. “You were actually waiting for that old man?”

“Hmm. If he wants his son back, he’ll have to come eventually.” Eun-Ho shrugged. “Let’s wait and see whether the chairman is among them or not.”

His tone made it sound almost like a certainty.

“Among them?” Mu Ah repeated. “You mean troops are coming? How many?”

“Rough estimating, about ten thousand,” Eun-Ho replied casually. “About a thousand per unit. I counted roughly a dozen officers who looked like commanders.”

“That many?!” Mu Ah blurted out in shock. “What are you planning to do?”

“What else is there to do? I’ll have to fight them.”

“Then you should’ve kept your forces back! Why did you send them away?!”

The team’s core combat strength had been deployed to defend the Operations Bureau. There were no troops left at the castle.

Mu Ah had seen it happen many times, where someone rushed to save others while their own base was destroyed behind them. This was exactly that situation.

“You should have at least kept the contract workers here!” he snapped.

However, Eun-Ho remained completely calm.

“A martial god who has mastered every weapon in existence,” he said thoughtfully. “Footwork so fast it’s practically teleportation. And on top of that... time stop, right?”

He listed the chairman’s absurd abilities one after another.

“Exactly!” Mu Ah said. “That’s why you need more troops!”

“Even if we had them, they wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“What?” Mu Ah’s face hardened. “Are you saying you’re giving up the fight?”

“Of course not.” Eun-Ho smiled slightly. “Why do you think I built this castle?”

His gaze shifted toward the system window.

[Warning!]

[Defense protocol has been activated in the Wailing Forest!]

[Switching to Defensive Stance.]

Mu Ah knew that wouldn’t be enough because he knew the chairman too well.

“You think that kind of protocol can stop the chairman’s personal combat secretaries?” He snapped. “With their special abilities, they could tear through a barrier like that with their bare hands!”

He hadn’t even meant to say all that, but the words had simply spilled out. It wasn’t as if he was trying to help Eun-Ho. His tongue had just moved on its own.

“Well then,” Eun-Ho said calmly. “Chief.”

The person he looked at next wasn’t Mu Ah but the former chief secretary.

“I lost that position a long time ago,” she replied.

“Mirabo.”

The name hung in the air.

“You knew my name?” she asked quietly.

Even Mu Ah, who had known her for centuries, hadn’t known it. Yet this man, who had only met her as an enemy, spoke it without hesitation.

“How—ah.”

Eun-Ho raised something in his hand. It was the ID card she had dropped while intoxicated on Ghost-Weep Liquor. “Did you really think I wouldn’t know the name of my person?”

Silence fell and Mirabo appeared stunned. “W-why would I belong to you? I’m independent now—”

“Anyway.” Eun-Ho cut her off and snapped his fingers. Dozens of floating screens suddenly appeared. “These are the commanders I photographed on the way here.”

“What?!”

“I’d appreciate a briefing,” Eun-Ho said calmly. “Their abilities, weapons, signature moves... and if possible, how to counter them.”

“You want me to do what?”

The enemy army was already close enough that they would arrive at any moment. There wasn’t even enough time to recall the allied forces currently moving elsewhere.

“A briefing? Didn’t you say they’d arrive in about ten minutes?” Mirabo asked incredulously.

Eun-Ho simply shrugged and said, “I did. But I’m pretty good at cramming.”

Mirabo stared at him.

Since when could you cram for a war?