Surviving Restructuring

Depending on one’s perspective, life at a company could feel long or short. Over the years, Eun-Ho had occasionally noticed employees slipping small office supplies into their pockets—a pen here, a couple of batteries there, and maybe some snacks. Some even quietly took rolls of the company’s toilet paper. They were trivial enough to ignore, but stealing was stealing.

“Isn’t stealing an entire delivery package going too far?” Eun-Ho asked.

“What?”

“That’s embezzlement.”

The guard flinched. “What kind of bullshit are you spouting?! Drop it and get lost!”

Certainly, it was ironic for someone attempting an illegal break-in to accuse another person of embezzlement. Setting that aside, the fact remained that the guy was blocking his path.

“Just think of it as bad luck,” Eun-Ho said.

“What are you even—”

Swish—

He drew the sword hidden behind his back and lunged. It all happened in an instant. The guard’s face lost all colors. The Hellhound sprang to its feet, howling. A head, boasting fangs sharp enough to chew through steel, thrust itself forward.

[Defeat the Hellish Three-Headed Hound!]

Skimming the ground as if glued to it, Eun-Ho leaned forward and ran, right on the edge of falling.

“G-get him! Tear him apart!”

“Kraaaah!”

Eun-Ho sharpened every sense, tracking the guard’s movements. The slobbering mutt looming overhead could wait.

Bang!

After all, he had expected a golden bullet flying through the air.

“I’ll handle this!” Ji-Eun shouted.

Her gunshot cracked like a starting signal. The first round passed right over his head, arcing through the air.

“Kraaaaah!”

Like a golden arrow, a streak of light pierced the left head’s left eye.

Splurt!

A watermelon-like bursting sound rang out as the head jerked violently. Blood streamed down akin to tears.

Bang!

Then the right eye followed.

She doesn’t miss.

Ji-Eun really was strong. Honestly, Eun-Ho wondered if he even had to use Acceleration.

Should I just stand back? At this rate, she might handle everything on her own, Eun-Ho thought.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, he didn’t stop moving.

“Sword Force,” he said.

Like armor, a smooth, flowing sheath of energy wrapped itself around the blade. The Flame Sky-Shattering Blade hummed eagerly, vibrating as if craving blood. A dark-blue aura rose like a pillar from the blade.

Eun-Ho fixed his gaze on the ruined eyeball hanging in the distance. Seeing a mess of yellow sclera and red gore, he drove the sword aura straight into it.

Crunch!

He then twisted and wrenched the blade.

“Kraaah!Kraaang!”

With a single slash, the guardian of the warehouse turned into a rabid beast.

The once-arrogant guard gaped, his jaw hanging open. “You’ve got to be kidding me! You cut a Hellhound with just a sword?!”

“Man, its head’s tough,” Eun-Ho muttered.

“W-what?”

“I was trying to take down all three at once.”

“What the fuck?!”

Eun-Ho then charged at the stunned guard.

The man stumbled backward, then turned and ran, only for the Hellhound to chase him like a mad beast. “You’re not delivery guys, are you?! What the hell are you people?!”

Three gaping maws lunged at him from every direction. The Hellhound charged, spraying blood, drool, and sweat.

Swoosh—

Thud!

He finished off the already-ruined head and slipped away from another at the same time.

“Hyungnim!” Jae-Hyuk shouted, stepping between them.

As a result, the final head raked its claws across Jae-Hyuk’s arm, shredding it from shoulder to elbow.

“Leave this to—urk! This uh... keeps happening, so it doesn’t really hurt that much anymore...”

“Huh?”

“Ah, maybe not. It hurts... Keugh...”

This guy is getting stranger by the minute, Eun-Ho thought.

“Hoo, it’s healed! Haha!” Jae-Hyuk said.

Eun-Ho’s expression hardened at the sight of Jae-Hyuk’s injuries. “Are you laughing or crying? Pick one.”

Either way, he had to end this fast.

“See?! If you’d just dropped the goods and left, none of this would’ve happened!” the guard screamed, stopping mid-escape. He probably thought he’d regained the upper hand.

“Enough playing around,” Eun-Ho said.

“What?”

Eun-Ho had figured out that the monster relied more on raw physical power than special abilities. In that case, there was no reason to wait any longer.

“Tsk, you’re still acting tough? You don’t even know that your life’s more important than a delivery—”

“Acceleration.”

“Doooooon’t...”

Click.

In that frozen moment, he closed the distance, slashing just above the guard’s knee. “Petrify.”

As a finishing blow, Eun-Ho crushed the knee completely. Then he turned and sprinted off.

“Kraaaaaaah!”

Even within the sluggish flow of slowed time, the Hellhound moved with unsettling ease, lunging forward with jaws stretched wide.

Whoosh—

Eun-Ho thrusted himself close, narrowly swerving past the massive claws and razor-sharp fangs. It reminded him of his fight against the Ghost twins, who had nothing but speed to rely on.

Sprint­ing across the barren wasteland felt exhilarating. The slashes, the cuts, and the thrusts—each strike was clean and satisfying. Dodging two heads rushing in from both sides, while counterattacking in the same motion, felt light, almost playful. Vitality surged throughout his whole being.

“Kraaaah!”

“Grrrrrrr!”

His blade fit snugly in his grip, transmitting a heavy, reassuring sensation. Forced to move nonstop, sweat broke out across him, and a sense of euphoria wrapped around him.

I might be enjoying this, Eun-Ho thought.

He quickly erased the smile that had crept up. Then, he stomped on the Hellhound’s forepaw, springing upward. Following that, he drove the sword deep into the crown of its head.

“Electric Surge!”

[Electric Surge has been activated!]

Fwooosh—!

An overwhelming burst of light exploded outward. Radiance tore through the desolate space untouched by sunlight, engulfing it as it spread wider and wider.

Bzzzzzzzt—

Violent vibrations followed, along with the acrid stench of burning. The smell of scorched flesh filled the wasteland. Both the still-living head and the dead, mangled one twitched like crushed insects.

Boom!

The battle ended before the heated blood even had time to cool.

[Congratulations!]

[You have defeated the Hellish Three-Headed Hound!]

[You have earned 2,000 Welfare Points.]

[Please check your first kill reward!]

Swoosh—!

A red box materialized and slowly opened.

[Hardened Blood Droplet]

- A droplet formed from condensed Hellhound blood.

- Grants bones as hard as steel to the dead, and a hardened physique to the living.

- Increases Death Power by ten and Strength by two upon consumption.

It appeared to be a fingertip-sized blood droplet, hardened solid. There were three of them.

“There are three,” he said.

“Ah, three?” Ji-Eun asked.

“Ooh! We have three!” Jae-Hyuk exclaimed.

After all, they were the ones who had fought directly. Jae-Hyuk immediately stepped forward, offering to give up his share.

“Ah... I’m okay. I didn’t really do anything this time,” Sol-Ah said.

“Ugh, Uncle! This smells weird!” Yul complained.

“Wait.” Eun-Ho held the group back. “Let’s finish searching first, then we’ll talk.”

“Huh? Search where?” Ji-Eun asked.

He pointed toward the container sitting alone behind them. “Over there.”

After all, the guard had been greedy enough to steal even packages meant for employees.

***

“Damn! There’s so much food here!”

“Oh wow, this guy must’ve been loaded!”

Amid the commotion, the guard opened his eyes. Well, he tried to, but they wouldn’t open.

Is this a dream? thought the guard.

“This one says it slightly increases the skill range. Want to drink it?” Eun-Ho said.

“Uh, are you sure? Is it okay if I drink it?” Sol-Ah asked.

“Go ahead. If you can heal us from farther away, that helps everyone.”

Just moments ago, the guard had been fighting against unidentified assailants disguised as deliverymen.

“Huh?! What the hell is this?! Untie me! Right now!” the guard finally regained his senses and shouted. “W-who are you! Are you an assassin?!”

“I’m not an assassin,” Eun-Ho replied calmly. “Because I’m not going to kill you.”

Bound tightly, his fingers and palm brushed against cold sheets of paper, over and over. Something stuck, then peeled away.

Paper? thought the guard.

“I’m just taking a few items. Your life’s worth more than some loot, right?” someone asked coldly from overhead.

The guard couldn’t make sense of the situation. More than that, the pain wracking him was so intense that blacking out sounded preferable.

All he could do was scream, “What are you talking about?! I’ll report this! Untie me right—”

“You’d better not report it,” Eun-Ho said.

The guard flinched. Even with his vision blocked, he could feel a chilling killing intent. His toes twitched despite the agony tearing through him.

“I’ve already collected the full list of everything you’ve stolen so far,” said Eun-Ho.

“N-no way!”

“Just take a nap.”

Thud!

With that single, merciless line,the guard’s world went dark once more, leaving him unable to even make excuses.

***

“Did you spare him because you needed his signature?” Sol-Ah asked.

“More or less,” he replied evenly. “A dead man’s signature isn’t worth anything.”

Sol-Ah nodded just as calmly as if she had expected it, muttering, “I knew it.”

“Alright, shall we wrap things up here?” he said.

“Sounds good, Hyungnim!” Jae-Hyuk replied.

“I like that too!” Yul answered while sucking noisily on her lollipop.

“That makes four each.”

They had found thirteen usable items while searching the container. After adding in the earlier Hardened Blood Droplets and dividing everything evenly, he ended up with four items.

For permanent stat boosts, we have Strength plus two and Vitality plus one. And I guess the rest are buff items, Eun-Ho thought.

Crunch—

He popped one of the Hardened Blood Droplets into his mouth and bit down. Thick liquid seeped across his tongue. Eun-Ho couldn’t help but frown at the spreading metallic, bloody taste.

[You have consumed the Hardened Blood Droplet!]

[Your muscles are hardening.]

[Your Strength stat has increased by two.]

Satisfied as his stats rose reassuringly, he washed the taste down with something sweet.

[You have consumed the Heart Rock Candy!]

[A sweet protective barrier envelops your heart.]

[Your Vitality stat has increased by one.]

“Uncle! Is it good?” Yul asked.

“Yeah. It’s good.”

“You look happy!” she chirped.

Of course he was. More importantly, they had found the most crucial document of all inside a drawer in the security office.

Operations Center - Internal Monitoring Department Work Schedule

It detailed employee work information, perhaps meant to control access. Calling it an encyclopedia wouldn’t be a stretch, as it had everything they could possibly need. There were employee names, photos, work dates, shift hours, rotation schedules, and even the building and room numbers of each employee’s dormitory.

“Uh, is it okay to write all this down?” Ji-Eun asked, covering her puffed-out cheek with one hand because she was still eating the oversized candy. “I mean the personal information.”

She could have waited until she finished, but she was of course so diligent.

“Seriously,” Eun-Ho agreed. “It’s convenient for us, but these employees have zero privacy.”

No matter how one looked at it, no normal company would ever allow this. Back home, even customer names and phone numbers had to be fully masked under personal data protection laws.

“They don’t see them as people,” Eun-Ho said.

“Yeah, they are more like machines that are strictly managed,” Ji-Eun agreed.

That wasn’t all.

“They barely get any rest time.”

It even went against both privacy laws and labor standards.

After swallowing the rest of her candy, Ji-Eun asked carefully, “A week is one hundred sixty-eight hours in total, right?”

Seven days at twenty-four hours each made one hundred sixty-eight hours. Out of that, they worked an average of eighty hours per week.

“At this point, aren’t they working every moment except when they sleep or eat?” Jae-Hyuk asked.

They couldn’t even choose their breaks freely. Since the system had to operate around the clock, they rotated through three shifts, grabbing rest whenever they could.

“This is worse than the military!” Jae-Hyuk muttered blankly.

He gave Jae-Hyuk a light pat on the shoulder. “For now, let’s find the employees who are off today at noon.”

“Yes sir!”

“And since break time is only ten minutes, we’ll just pick those on full rest days.”

“H-huh?! Understood!”

At last, the final list came down to six people.

“It’s just six people,” Ji-Eun said.

Sol-Ah scoffed. “That’s it?”

As Ji-Eun laid six sheets of paper onto the desk, Sol-Ah let out a disbelieving snort.

So that’s why Employee A showed up here, he thought.

He was about to read through the documents, only to stop at the very first page. “Huh?”

“Hmm? What is it, Eun-Ho?” Ji-Eun asked, tilting her head.

Beside her, Yul who was still sucking on the nearly finished lollipop looked up brightly. “Uncle! You like pretty Unnies?”

Porcelain-like skin stood out even in a photograph. She had platinum-blonde hair, large eyes, and a sharp nose, representing a striking Western beauty.

“She’s incredibly beautiful,” Sol-Ah muttered.

As Eun-Ho stared into the transparent green eyes in the photo, it felt as if a dry wind scraped down his throat.

“Yes. Extremely beautiful... No, that’s not it,” he said, coughing slightly.

“She can’t be someone you know... So does that mean she’s your ideal type, Eun-Ho?” Ji-Eun teased.

“Ah, Ji-Eun, it’s not that.”

But why is this woman here?