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Suddenly, I saw the image of our old elders overlap with Bravo Khan, who was sweating profusely. I touched my chest and shouted to the third-rate gangsters.

“Subordinates! Don’t panic. This Bulrai doesn’t die easily.”

The Dark Soul subordinates turned around to see me and gasped in surprise. Even the executives were no exception.

“Br-Branch Head?”

Only Bravo Khan realized what was happening.

I pointed my finger alternately at the burning corpse and the wall and said,

“That’s right. The one who burned to death here was actually a fake.”

“……”

“Don’t believe me? Of course you might not. But whether you believe it or not isn’t important. What’s important is the belief that you believe, and the belief that if you don’t believe, you die. Understand?”

“……”

“But it’s getting a bit hot.”

The flames that had spread to the wall were blazing, expanding their reach. While the subordinates were in a daze, I opened my circle and chanted a spell.

“Exploding water pressure, Water Bomb.”

As soon as the water cannon erupted and extinguished the flames, acrid gray smoke filled the courtyard. I walked towards the center of the courtyard and chanted another spell.

“Expanding wind, Wind Expansion.”

Fwoosh—

A gust of wind started from the center of the courtyard and instantly spread out in a circular motion, blowing away the smoke that had enveloped the courtyard.

“Much better. Hmm?”

When the smoke cleared, the subordinates’ expressions were even more dazed than before.

“….Wh-what is this?”

It was as if they had seen a miracle.

I briefly considered becoming a cult leader, but I changed my mind and slowly walked up the towering building in front of me.

Through the wide-open central door, I sat on the ornate chair and looked down. The loyal subordinates were looking up at me with eager eyes. Of course, they were all sweaty men.

I waved my hand and said,

“Stop staring at me and get to work.”

Bravo Khan, the first to regain his composure, gestured wildly towards the subordinates and gave a passionate speech…

The executives and subordinates nodded their heads with serious expressions.

Before long, the subordinates who had been gathered in a circle quickly lined up in rows in front of me, and Bravo Khan, at the front of the line, bowed his head and shouted,

“Loyalty!”

The subordinates echoed loudly,

“Loyalty!”

As expected, what’s important is the belief that you believe.

Well, it wouldn’t be easy to have the belief that if you don’t believe, you die.

I held back a chuckle and forced myself to maintain a straight face. These third-rate gangsters had picked up something somewhere and were shouting ‘Loyalty’.

Anyway, with so many new subordinates suddenly appearing, it felt like I needed to give an inaugural address. I waved my hand in response and began my speech.

“I’ll skip the inaugural address. Low-ranking members, get to work, and executives, come up here.”

* * *

I sat at the head of the table, with Bravo Khan on my left, followed by One-Eye and Ponytail. On the opposite side, Carrot and Derek took their seats.

Just by looking at the seating arrangement, their relationships were clear.

A brief silence fell, and I looked around and spoke,

“Tell me your thoughts on life, one by one.”

The executives, not understanding my words, all avoided my gaze. They thought I was crazy, and they were afraid of ending up like Bulrai if they said anything.

“You cowards. Where’s all that bravado from earlier? Officer, you speak. When no one else steps up, the one in charge takes responsibility.”

Only then did Bravo Khan sigh and open his mouth.

“….Resisting would have been meaningless. I can see it too. I already know that you possess skills that don’t even consider us a threat. But I don’t understand why you spared us. Perhaps the magic you used earlier was also a deliberate show of power to prevent us from having any foolish thoughts… That would certainly suggest you’re willing to give us a chance. Hmm. It’s not that I have no idea what you might be thinking.”

“Continue.”

“If you, honored sir, truly have a connection to Samael… I thought it might be less troublesome for you to use us alive rather than kill us.”

“Oh, you’re quick-witted.”

As they say, the interpretation is more important than the dream itself. To be honest, it was mostly a spur-of-the-moment decision, but since Bravo Khan was providing a good justification, I nodded. It seems old people get smarter when they’re cornered.

“You can continue being the officer.”

“Thank you.”

“With such a capable officer under a fool, you must have suffered a lot. You’re quite talented, after all. I almost misunderstood you. This is why you need to judge people when they’re in their right mind.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Get a grip. I’m telling you to cut down on the alcohol. It’ll lead to dementia early.”

“Ah, yes…”

Bravo Khan, who hadn’t yet grasped my personality, quickly deepened his wrinkles.

The atmosphere was getting increasingly awkward, so I looked around and saw the gangsters staring at each other, not understanding the situation.

“Why are you staring at each other like that, you’re all on the same team now. You need to get along. Mix up your seats a bit. One-Eye, you stay where you are. And Ponytail… Ah, can I call you Ponytail?”

“You can call me Pony.”

“Okay. Pony, switch seats with Derek.”

Even after they switched seats, the awkward atmosphere showed no signs of easing, and I got annoyed.

“Are you deaf? Do you want to be like this even after you die?”

“I apologize.”

“These bastards, they don’t even know they’re on a sinking ship. Hey, Officer.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know that you’ve been abandoned by your headquarters?”

Suddenly, Bravo Khan’s eyes started shaking uncontrollably again as he looked at me.

“How did you…”

“Answer me. Do you know or not?”

“I had my suspicions.”

“Why only suspicions? You said you requested support from the headquarters last time, but there was no response. I clearly heard that. Isn’t the situation the same now? The Bayern guys could attack at any time, and without support, you should have come up with a plan. Is setting up a torch brigade the end of it?”

“….You already know, then. Yes. The headquarters is only telling us not to clash with Bayern. But I thought maybe they were secretly preparing for a full-scale war with Bayern in the meantime.”

“Bullshit. This old man is delusional. An officer needs to be level-headed. Aren’t the headquarters and you all part of the same Dark Soul? If they were going to have a full-scale war, they wouldn’t have kept it a secret from the branch. There’s no such thing as ‘secretly’ in this.”

Bravo Khan suddenly fell silent. It seemed even he felt his excuse was flimsy.

“Based on my long experience as a gangster, you guys are definitely abandoned. Full-scale war, my ass. They were probably planning to squeeze you dry and then ditch you. Blame Bulrai. It’s because he acted like an idiot that you got abandoned.”

To be honest, I don’t know if they were abandoned or not. But what’s important is that it sounds plausible. And with Bulrai dead, there was no one left to refute it.

“Do you have a plan?”

At Bravo Khan’s question, I shrugged and replied,

“You’re the officer, aren’t you? Why are you asking me? The officer should be the one coming up with the plan. If you don’t want to be the officer, do you want to be the cheerleader instead?”

Bravo Khan swallowed and said,

“….I’ll be the officer.”

“Good. Actually, I already have a plan. Are you curious?”

“Yes.”

“The plan is me.”

“……”

“But these guys have been slow to react to their leader’s words, just like third-rate gangsters. Everyone, stand up.”

I kicked the meeting table and pushed it away.

“Link arms.”

From Bravo Khan to Derek, everyone awkwardly stood up and linked arms.

“From now on, you’ll sit down and stand up according to my cues. One for ‘third-rate’, two for ‘escape’. Anyone who doesn’t do it properly will get their butt spanked. One.”

“Third-rate!”

“Two.”

“Escape!”

“One.”

“Third-rate!”

* * *

The spankings were distributed equally. In fact, this was a method I came up with because these third-rate guys kept staring at each other.

If they can’t get their act together with words, they need to be hit.

Usually, people get close after getting hit together.

Sure enough, the awkwardness finally seemed to ease a bit.

“Sit down. Let’s continue our conversation.”

Pony and Derek quickly restored the table to its original position, and the four of them sat down simultaneously. But they couldn’t hide the winces on their faces from the stinging on their buttocks.

I asked the one who seemed the most intact,

“Where did I leave off?”

Carrot paused for a moment and then answered,

“Um, you said, ‘The plan is me.\'”

“Right. You haven’t lost your mind. Again, my plan is me. The title of the plan is ‘Preemptive Strike’. Don’t ask for specifics, I don’t know them yet. If anyone has a better plan, raise your hand.”

“……”

“You thought there wouldn’t be any, didn’t you? Now that I’ve told you my plan, make your choice. Die like an abandoned mutt, or be reborn. Third-rate people always have to make good choices. You never know when you’ll die.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the third-rate officer, Bravo Khan, answered without hesitation,

“I’ve already made up my mind. There was no future under the former branch head anyway. And there’s no other way. I’ll serve you, Branch Head Ruin.”

The remaining executives also answered simultaneously, but I immediately shook my head and said,

“You’ve got the title wrong.”

“Yes?”

“You’re still acting like mutts even after being abandoned. Why am I the branch head, you slaves? There’s no branch head here.”

The third-rate slaves widened their eyes and asked,

“….Are you saying we’re not Dark Soul anymore?”

“Of course. From today onwards, we are not Dark Soul.”

“….Then what?”

I had just blurted it out without thinking, so I couldn’t come up with a suitable name.

“We’re not Dark Soul, we’re Dark So…”

Hmm, was I always this bad at naming things?

“Dark So…”

The slaves were looking at me with faces that yearned for liberation, and I started to get nervous.

“Dark So…”

At that moment, I made eye contact with Carrot and blurted out,

“Jung-i.”

“Yes? Dark Sojungi?”

I had a feeling something was wrong, but as the leader, I couldn’t take back what I said, so I glared and said,

“That’s right. Dark Sojungi.”

Seeing Carrot nodding with a satisfied expression, I gained courage and shouted once more,

“From today onwards, we are the Dark Sojungi Mercenary Group.”

“Yes. The Dark Sojungi Mercenary Group.”

“Hmm…”

“Not a bad name.”

Everyone seemed to get the hint and started clapping one by one…

Meanwhile, our quick-witted old officer asked a key question,

“Is there a reason you specifically called it a mercenary group? Do you perhaps have an employer?”

I nodded and replied,

“The employer is Samael.”

———-