Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 234

Answer (2)

With Parden McQueen’s death confirmed, the recent turmoil began to subside rapidly. The Cartel, strictly speaking, was a conglomerate of companies. They were merely a collection of subsidiaries forming a massive capital, and cutting off the tail was not difficult. The Cartel, concluding that all those who had been obstructing Lenok’s business, including in District 49, were the responsibility of First President Parden McQueen and his affiliated subsidiaries, ruthlessly severed the remaining subsidiaries. Simultaneously, with the announcement during the first-quarter earnings report that half of the mages from District 49 had been newly appointed as outside directors of the Cartel, everyone finally realized that the month-long dispute had come to an end, and they breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s turning out as expected.”

“Who would have thought McQueen would suddenly die during the handover process… Am I the only one who smells something fishy?”

“Keep it down. Do you think we’re keeping quiet because we don’t know that?”

“Hmm…”

It was strange not to feel confused by the generational shift that occurred with the death of the chairman’s oldest confidant. Moreover, McQueen was the closest aide who had been leading the execution squad, which was the most directly linked to force among the Cartel’s business divisions. Naturally, rumors began to circulate that Lenok, who had replaced him, would take over the Cartel’s military power.

“Having a mage who wiped out the execution squad in the organization probably means that.”

“But if that’s the case, shouldn’t they have at least promoted him to president?”

“I suspect there might have been checks from the other presidents.”

It had been a while since a mere freelancer had wielded such great influence, not to mention rising through the ranks so quickly. It was only natural that the public’s attention was focused on him. Following the information that Virgil O’Rayden had changed his position to First President and was starting to form a new military force, the rumors solidified into certainty. Public opinion began to sympathize with Lenok, who should have succeeded McQueen as the new president. No one knew the inside story that Lenok himself had refused the presidency.

“Are you really going to be okay with this?” Iola said, staring blankly at the coffee cup in front of her. “If not now, when the command system is in chaos due to McQueen’s absence, the opportunity won’t come again. Especially with the chairman’s direct approval this quarter… If he goes back into seclusion, it will be difficult for Mr. Ban to take the fourth president position.”

“I told you it’s already over,” Lenok replied, resting his chin on his hand by the window. His face was covered with thick bandages, and there were bandages visible under his shirt. The injuries seemed to prove that the battle with McQueen had been a fierce one. In fact, Lenok was still suffering from the side effects of the various doping attempts he had made before the battle to deploy his Self-Domain [a personal space where a mage’s abilities are enhanced]. Not only was the strength in his whole body weakening, but he also had bruises on his shoulder where he had been injected, and his arm was not moving well. On top of that, the burden of directly manifesting his mental image was causing a persistent fatigue that seemed to weigh down his entire body. Using the potions or elixirs that Lenok had developed himself would help, but now that all the urgent matters had been dealt with, there was no reason to rely on medicine again. Rather, this situation was perfect for seeing how much his natural healing ability was. That was why Lenok was enduring the discomfort and wrapping his body in bandages and plasters. Iola, who had never seen Lenok tired or struggling, let alone injured, glanced at his half-mummified appearance with an awkward expression.

“An outside director position is enough. If I take the presidency, I’ll just be tied to the organization…” It wasn’t that Lenok didn’t know how much authority the Cartel’s presidency held. A position where he could directly manage the subsidiaries of that massive conglomerate. The authority that came with it would probably be far greater than Lenok imagined. However, Lenok thought that he didn’t need to be formally incorporated under Oliviera Ron Maze, as he had initially thought. Even if he formally belonged to the Cartel, he wouldn’t be able to have authority next to the chairman, and he would only be getting a new position as the fourth president, which was no different from being a subordinate of the other presidents. Even if Virgil was somewhat favorable to Lenok, the other presidents would not be. Rather than being bothered by the other presidents, it was more advantageous to concede to the extent of having the Cartel as a backer and take other benefits.

“How did the deal I mentioned go?”

“Virgil and Kansoa have already approved it. The only remaining issue is how Merilda will accept it… but there probably won’t be any problems,” Iola replied. “There’s no way they wouldn’t accept the request to have access to the Cartel’s executive vault in exchange for giving up the presidency.”

“…Good.”

From the beginning, he had no attachment to the presidency, but that didn’t mean he was going to just smile and be nice. He had to take all the rewards he could get from that massive organization. The Cartel’s executive vault. It was rumored to be an artifact warehouse accessible only to the core executives of the massive Three Heads organization. As the vault of the Cartel, which was known to be the wealthiest of the Three Heads, there would surely be items useful to Lenok. ‘The best thing would be to get more of Enakphil’s five fingers…’ There was no need to explain how useful a space-movement artifact could be. Enakphil’s five fingers were made to evacuate VIPs in an emergency, so they had the disadvantage of not being able to precisely adjust the desired location of movement. However, Lenok’s magic manipulation ability could easily modify such a disadvantage. It was an item he had received in exchange for perfectly resolving Dyke’s request, but the more he used it, the more he realized the true value of this artifact. That was why Lenok had been carefully using this artifact only in truly necessary moments. It was a rare item that made him realize how much effort Panoa had put into persuading Lenok back then. The artifact, which was originally made of five pencils, now had only three left. If he could find something similar or even the same artifact in the Cartel’s vault, it would be ideal. Or maybe he could just get one or two items from Virgil as compensation for this incident…

“Why… what’s wrong?” Iola flinched at Lenok’s sharp gaze and slightly averted her eyes. She still seemed to be suffering from the pain of the lightning strike she had endured back then.

“…It’s nothing. If you give me the vault access pass and a few of the requests I mentioned, I won’t have any further complaints.”

“T-that’s a relief.”

“Rather than that, I think you should be more worried about your side. Isn’t it quite a precarious situation, contrary to what it seems?”

“…”

Iola shut her mouth at Lenok’s words, which had hit the nail on the head without any hesitation. Lenok looked down at her and chuckled.

“Your chairman, despite exuding such a strong sense of pressure, has never once shown himself to me in his true form…”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

“It’s obvious even if you don’t say it. He’s probably bound by some means or weakened. Then, it’s true that a lot of the things that happened this time can be explained.” This matter had been resolved somehow, but there were still some suspicious parts, no matter how much he thought about it. The Cartel’s response had been strangely slow, and even considering the internal strife, the chairman’s reaction had been lukewarm. The formality of holding an executive meeting, even at the risk of attracting attention in the middle of the city. And even going so far as to turn a blind eye to McQueen’s betrayal, and even trying to bring Lenok in to handle the matter. At first glance, it seemed like the play of a transcendent being whose intentions were difficult to grasp, but if all those things were due to a lack of ability rather than simple enjoyment, it made sense. He didn’t want to involve his subordinates in dealing with McQueen. Conversely, that meant that he wanted to avoid the Cartel’s president-level forces being consumed at this point. Even if it meant turning a blind eye to McQueen’s betrayal for the time being, he had tried to prevent the president-level forces from directly deploying. The fact that this incident thoroughly excluded McQueen and his subsidiaries, and that Virgil had cooperated with Lenok, must have been for that reason. Only after everything was over could Lenok step back and read the unseen circumstances of this incident.

“I don’t know much about the internal affairs of the organization, but if your chairman can’t easily reveal his true form, and if the First President is directly betraying him, it must be quite precarious, right?”

“…”

“Considering the guys trying to climb up from below, it’s probably…” Lenok muttered that, then stopped talking and turned his head towards Iola. She was sweating on her forehead and slightly lowered her gaze. She knew that she shouldn’t show her expression now because she was quick-witted and had been in this business for a long time. However, that reaction alone was enough to discern the truth. Lenok grinned.

“Well, if you don’t want to say more, let’s stop here. Virgil must be having a hard time.”

“That’s…”

“Let me give you a piece of advice, it would be good to keep an eye on the organization that McQueen was trying to get involved with. If the board of directors has to step in again, it will probably be closely related to them. What does it mean that they stuck their necks out even though they knew they would get caught?”

“…The talks with Ten Counts are already over. They showed their willingness to negotiate first, so we reached an amicable agreement…”

“Ten Counts, you say.”

“…”

Iola, realizing that she was completely being played by Lenok, shut her mouth. In fact, that one word was as good as admitting all the previous assumptions. Lenok, who had returned the magic eye she had previously pawned, threw his gaze out the window at Iola, who was silent as if she would rather not say anything. It was interesting. One of the Three Heads of the underworld. Were the relationships of the big shots who had been dominating this world for decades starting to change little by little? The stagnant power and factions of long years were bound to rot, and it was not strange that new rookies would fill their places. The power and money that still overflowed in the megacity were constantly flowing. The shadows cast over the underworld could not remain still forever. Lenok had one foot slightly in the Cartel, and he would just watch how the situation unfolded and make the best choice. Wasn’t that why he had refused the presidency and accepted the title of outside director? Lenok, resting his chin on his hand and looking out at the street scene, muttered blankly.

“I need to make a nameplate.” The management planning department of Dyke Corporation. An external advisor for the agent. Now, an outside director of the Cartel. It wasn’t the first time he had received a meaningless nameplate, but as a result, Lenok had always made good use of even those nameplates. His relationship with the Cartel would eventually have to be like that as well. Lenok thought so and slowly closed his eyes. His body was heavy, and his eyelids kept getting heavy as well. He didn’t bother to resist the sleep that was pouring in. Hadn’t he been running breathlessly in the Autonomous Territory until now? Now, even if he rested for a day, his colleagues would help him not to fall behind. It was a long-awaited rest in this city where he had no one to trust.

* * *

“So, instead of getting anything from that guy… you just came back after telling him all about our internal affairs?” Grrr…! A sharp, feral breathing sound, like that of a stray dog, filled the room. A huge canine beast with abundant white fur and a body almost the size of a truck. Iola’s shoulders trembled slightly as the unique-looking mythical beast, which resembled a wolf but had a tail with more than three branches, growled. Virgil, who was watching the scene, sighed deeply.

“Merilda, enough is enough. Then why didn’t you go and negotiate yourself?”

“Shut up, Virgil. I don’t like that slick mage anyway,” Merilda, in the form of a huge beast, growled. The fangs that protruded from her mouth gleamed sharply. “I don’t like that he’s becoming a president, but he refused it and asked for an executive vault access pass… that’s even more annoying!!” Kuhung!

“…” Virgil and Kansoa looked at the beast, which was suddenly roaring into the air, with a pathetic expression.

“Merilda, be quiet. It’s still the time when the chairman is asleep, what kind of rude behavior is that?” Kansoa, a middle-aged woman with a nervous impression, waved her hand, and instantly, crystals of cold air gathered and put a muzzle on Merilda’s mouth. Merilda, belatedly realizing that she had a dog-like muzzle on her mouth, went berserk, but eventually returned to her human form, as Kansoa had said, because she was aware of the chairman. Fluorescent hair. It was a strong impression that didn’t match her fur color at all, but the aesthetics of mythical beasts were far removed from those of humans. Virgil and Kansoa were well aware of that, so they didn’t say anything.

“It’s a difficult situation. I deliberately didn’t say anything about the chairman, but he noticed it all by himself…” Virgil, with his arms crossed, smiled bitterly, and Iola lowered her head silently.

“It’s not your fault,” Kansoa offered gentle comfort. “It’s just that the mage is too sharp. To deduce such things just by looking at the chairman’s actions and words… it means he’s not just a strong opponent.”

“Tch…” Merilda also reluctantly turned her head away. Iola was a talent who was impeccable in terms of work, to the point that she had volunteered for Oliviera’s ‘research’. There was no particular benefit to questioning her, and Virgil and Kansoa were quite fond of her.

“It’s best to recruit him. Everyone agrees on this, right?” “…” He had single-handedly inflicted hundreds of billions of cells in losses on the Three Heads, and in the process, he had noticed the Cartel’s internal strife and had proposed a deal to Virgil in return. He had killed the level 7 mage McQueen, who was old but still powerful, and had gathered his past actions to approach the chairman’s secret. Among the new stars who had appeared in this world in two years, where was there anyone who had proven themselves so perfectly in both strength and intellect? Now that it had been revealed that the order within the organization, which had been controlled by the chairman’s power, was unstable, turning him into an enemy was out of the question. Rather, it was best to steadily give him authority and privileges within the organization and draw him to their side.