Chapter 15
Jimmy's incident left Amon sleepless for days.
Every major incident is always preceded by a small omen.
Having experienced the "Light Path Ending" after ignoring a minor headache omen in his past life, Amon was not about to disregard any small signs this time around.
‘This is a quest foreshadowing.’
A graduate threatening someone with a gun wasn't a major incident.
It was merely a precursor.
A sign that something bigger would return later.
The only scenario Amon could imagine was Jimmy going insane, leading a gang, and attacking the orphanage.
Because of this, Amon couldn't let his guard down and kept losing sleep.
‘Damn it. I guess sleep's out of the question tonight.’
Amon got out of bed and scratched his head furiously.
Careful not to wake his roommate, he quietly stood up and sat at his desk.
He turned on his laptop and searched for information related to his future career path.
It had become a routine for the past few sleepless nights.
Until now, he'd been researching information on mercenary associations, Vatican history, and incidents.
Tonight, it was Hickzen Group’s turn.
‘<History of Hickzen Group>’
Amon carefully typed, searching for the Hickzen Group’s history.
‘Founded 38 years ago...’
Based on Part 3, that was 11 years after the True Ending.
After the True Ending, countless mega-corporations had fallen, and rookies had risen. Hickzen seemed to be one of those surviving rookies.
‘Main business is distribution. Expanding globally under the name Hickzen Mart.’
While not the largest distributor in America, it was still a major supermarket franchise.
When Amon heard that Hickzen was on par with other mega-corporations through distribution alone, his first thought was one of doubt.
‘What kind of magic did they pull off?’
Mega-corp wasn’t a title casually given to any large company with a lot of money.
It was a title reserved for companies that were irreplaceable, untouchable even by nations, and reigned above the law.
Mega-corps dealt in businesses like the military industry, which could chew up and spit out law enforcement, the food industry, which was directly linked to life and death, and the media, which could manipulate the government at will.
The fact that Hickzen was shoulder to shoulder with such companies through distribution alone meant they possessed something special, something irreplaceable.
That special something didn’t require much searching.
It was plastered all over their homepage.
<Hickzen Mart: We have everything except nothing! Can't find what you're looking for? Ask an employee! We'll get it for you within 2 hours!>
<Our 24-hour factory, located in the basement of the mart, can create whatever you need!>
They would even manufacture products to fulfill missing inventory within 2 hours.
It was truly a discount mart that had everything except nothing.
They even had a pharmacy and a gun dealer, so you could really get anything there.
At first glance, it seemed like the ultimate in customer service.
However, darkness lurked beneath this overwhelming service.
‘Wow, no unions and no worker’s compensation?’
That's what the wiki article summarizing Hickzen Group information said.
Hickzen Group had no unions.
There were no benefits, like the four major insurances in Korea.
Where was the constitution, you ask?
Mega-corps reigned above the constitution.
‘Classic cyberpunk.’
This kind of thing could only happen in this kind of world.
Anyway, this was Hickzen Group's weapon.
An overwhelming range of products achieved through the exploitation of cheap labor.
In other words, their identity as a one-stop shop with everything except nothing was their weapon.
But looking at it this way, a new question arose.
‘Why would a place like this want me and Sonia?’
Was there any use for Divine Power in the distribution industry?
Even if there was, why would they want it this much?
With these questions in mind, Amon typed two keywords into the search bar.
<Hickzen Group>. And <Mystical Power>.
As soon as he pressed enter, the results Amon expected appeared.
From the top of the search results onward, articles about Hickzen Group and Mystical Power were listed.
<The Curse of Hickzen Group and Mystical Power>
He scrolled through and read the most well-organized article.
And when he reached the end of the article, Amon was speechless.
‘Every Mystical Power user who joined Hickzen Group since its founding has died...’
The story went like this:
The first Mystical Power user joined Hickzen Group, but died during a night shift.
He cursed Hickzen Group as he died, and every Mystical Power user who joined the company afterward died within a year of employment.
Perhaps because ghosts truly existed in this world, people believed that the curse clung to the name of Hickzen Group.
Some said it was sabotage by other mega-corps, and some called it Hickzen Group’s noise marketing.
Even with a little research, Amon could find all sorts of conspiracy theories, showcasing the severity of Hickzen Group’s Mystical Power drought.
However, Amon didn't take this ghost story lightly.
‘There’s no smoke without fire.’
If it had been happening repeatedly since the company’s founding, there had to be something to it.
Perhaps the truth was mixed in with the absurd conspiracy theories.
Amon quickly moved his fingers.
Like a spy uncovering corporate secrets in a movie, he exhausted the search engine, gathering information.
However, he didn't gain much.
No matter how much he searched, it just seemed like a typical black company in a cyberpunk world.
Workers dying every day, police investigating the company dying.
A typical mega-corp.
He couldn't find any information related to Mystical Power here.
Just as Amon, rubbing his tired eyes, was about to end his information gathering, a category in the corner of the homepage caught his eye.
Management.
Amon, as if possessed, checked the management section.
He slowly scrolled, checking the Chairman and executives one by one.
‘Chairman, unknown. Vice Chairman, unknown.’
The scrolling stopped about halfway down.
‘Hickzen Group, Head of Battery Division. Victor N.N.?’
The moment he saw the name, a chill ran down Amon’s spine.
He didn't recognize it immediately, but after repeating it several times, he remembered where he'd heard it before.
‘Why is that crazy man…’
Victor was the Doctor who, in an Easter Egg, had put his consciousness into a robot.
It was just an Easter Egg, so there were no results, but he never dreamed he’d see that man here.
‘The probability of it being a namesake?’
Zero.
Victor N.N.
How many eccentrics would publicly use such a unique name?
Besides, Amon didn't believe in coincidences.
He wasn't so naive as to take a dangerous figure appearing in a serious situation lightly.
Above all, connecting Victor to the curse of the Mystical Power users explained everything.
Amon knew that Victor's ultimate goal wasn't simply transferring his brain to a machine.
That was just a way to overcome the limitations of lifespan. His real goal was different.
<Project Artificial Saint - Divine Power Impartation Technology>
His ultimate goal was a technology that could artificially create Divine Power users.
A technology that could propel him to the top tier of mega-corps if successful.
The problem, however, was the process.
‘Compression of Divine Power…’
The method he proposed was to gather the Divine Power of multiple users into a single shell, creating an artificial child of God.
Like the Holy Son or Saint in the Bible.
Concentrate Divine Power into one person, transform them into such a being, and then, just as the Saint in the Bible transformed the 12 disciples into apostles, artificially produce Divine Power users.
The only issue was that during the compression process, the shell loses its humanity, and those who have their Divine Power taken away also lose their lives.
As his thoughts reached that point, the scattered fragments of truth fell into place.
‘Crazy…’
He was wide awake now.
Knowing the truth, joining that company was no longer an option.
Amon immediately removed the company from his career prospects.
‘This isn't enough.’
He also removed mercenary work from his options.
To a corporation, orphaned mercenaries with no connections were nothing more than easy kidnapping targets.
In the end, there was only one option left.
‘Damn it… The Vatican…’
He wasn't thrilled about it.
To Amon, who believed the corruption of those who served God was the ultimate insult to God, the Vatican was a city of sin.
However, realistically, there were no other options.
‘Lord, forgive my cowardice.’
After praying, Amon organized his thoughts.
‘I need to tell the Priest tomorrow morning.’
He didn’t know his true identity, but the Priest who taught Amon and Sonia seemed to be a prominent figure in the Vatican.
If he expressed his intention to join the Vatican, the Priest would likely be able to protect them from the corporation’s clutches.
The next day, after Amon had strategized as best he could, he was met with the world's unfairness.
“What? You already applied for the field trip?”
By a single day, Sonia had already signed up for the trial run.
She had chosen the field trip option as a way to test the waters before making a final decision.
She had already informed the headquarters.
Caught off guard by this sudden development, Amon couldn’t help but ask,
“What about me?”
Was he being left out?
However, Sonia simply shook her head.
“They said it’s their busy hiring season and things are hectic. They said they accidentally only sent the invitation to me. So I'm going alone.”
Her answer, instead of satisfying Amon, only confused him further.
‘Alone?’
Why?
There were two Divine Power users, so why invite only Sonia?
What was Hickzen Group thinking?
But that wasn't important right now.
What mattered was that Sonia was in danger.
‘Should I tell Sonia the truth?’
The thought crossed his mind, but he immediately shook his head and dismissed it.
There were too many ears listening and eyes watching.
If Amon revealed Hickzen Group’s secrets, the orphanage might get bombed.
The secret, their holy grail, was worth that much to them.
Amon's first step was persuasion.
"You know that Mystical Power users have joined Hickzen Group multiple times, right?"
"Yeah. They've all disappeared."
"Then why are you going?"
"That's..."
Sonia’s eyes darted around.
She couldn't tell him that it was a ploy to raise her value with the Vatican by pretending to join the corporation.
She had no intention of actually going, but even pretending would force the Vatican to offer better terms.
Not wanting to appear greedy in Amon's eyes, she deflected the question with a lighthearted remark.
“While I’m at Hickzen Group headquarters, you can go to the Vatican. How efficient is that?”
Amon didn't have time to respond to Sonia’s optimism.
Hundreds of strategies to save her were being formulated in his mind.
‘Damn… If only I were the Purple Doll, I could do something…’ [1]
At least as the Purple Doll, he had the specs to take on a mega-corp, even if he had to twist himself into a pretzel.
Compared to that, Amon's current specs were barely enough to handle a single crazed gorilla.
It was a completely different level.
Of course, transformations didn’t exist in reality, so Amon was utterly powerless in his current state.
Finally, after much deliberation, he came to one conclusion.
‘Stop Sonia from going.’
He had to keep her away from the corporation somehow.
At least until she went to the Vatican.
Amon firmly grasped Sonia’s shoulders, looked her in the eye, and said,
“Let’s go somewhere together instead of you going there. Let’s make some memories before graduation.”
“Where to?”
“Uh…”
Naturally, he hadn't thought of a destination since he'd come up with the idea on the spot.
Amon rolled his eyes, desperately searching for an answer.
“Res…ort?”
Sonia’s face lit up at Amon’s strained suggestion.
“Just the two of us?”
Amon nodded without thinking.
Sonia’s face flushed crimson.
Her younger sisters and the nuns who overheard the conversation shrieked and punched the shoulders of the people next to them.
The Principal, who happened to be passing by, nodded with a benevolent smile and murmured,
“Hoho. Young love.”
***
That afternoon, the Director of Hickzen Group received a phone call.
[Hello. I’m so sorry, something came up suddenly…]
“Not at all. Please let us know whenever you’re free next time. We’ll come pick you up.”
The Director responded to Sonia in a gentle and considerate voice.
After a few more apologies from Sonia, the call ended.
Click-
The Director casually placed the disconnected phone back on the receiver and seemed to ponder something for a moment.
After a while, he picked up the receiver again.
“Hello? Connect me to Special Operations. Yes, hello. It’s me. I’d like you to send me a report on the Vatican religious zealots. I’m making this request as acting Chairman.”
The Director’s glasses glinted ominously under the light.
[1] Purple Doll here seems to be a reference to the Purple Tinky Winky???? lol