In the executive meeting room in HoPa Group of Companies’ Building, twenty two people can be seen inside. Nine of them are seated around a long rectangular table. Five males and four females. An elite aura can be sensed from all of them, most seems to be middle aged. Each of them have someone waiting in their backs, either a butler, a secretary, or a bodyguard. They are all facing in the front where you can see a rather young individual, probably twenty five years of age, presenting a slideshow of various graphs and tables. Unlike everybody else in the room, he is not wearing formal wear, but only with a green lantern t-shirt, dark blue jeans, a hoodie jacket tied to his waist, and a pair of rubber shoes. Although this seems odd for a corporate meeting, it seems everyone else in the room is fine with it. And if you look closely on the side, 3 other individuals can be seen. They seems to be there in standby and from the looks of it, they are the subordinates of the young man presenting.
“As you can see here, our total net income has increased on a staggering nineteen percent from the last annum. This resulted to a spike of our stock prices. This has got to be our greatest gain since we were established.”
The ecstasy can be seen in the young man’s face as he reports these statistics. And it seems that his happiness is contagious, because everyone in the room has a hint of joy in their expressions. Who can blame them? They have just earned a lot more money than they can possibly imagine this year. And the one responsible for it is the young man in front of them.
“We can finally declare that our Monopoly on liquors on the Scandinavian Countries as well as Brazil have been firmly established. Mr. Yang’s division had confirmed this so there’s no doubt about it. Our competitors are barely selling anything now. They must be sharing between them something like 10% of the market? I don’t have the numbers with me ladies and gentlemen, I need to look into this to be sure.”
Indeed their greatest success this annum is on liquors but their various food sub-companies as well as other consumer products are following behind tightly.
“And with this I conclude my report. Thank you all for listening.”
And immediately after he stopped, everybody else stood up and applauded and cheered without a care for their status. Fortunately the room is soundproof otherwise everybody else outside will be astonished with the noise coming out of the room.
“I must say I still am in doubt if everything is real.”
“Want my bodyguard to pinch you? Hahahaha…”
“That’s it. Now that I have this much more money, I’m going to spend it like crazy.”
“Let me guess, more hoes and bitches?”
“O hell no man, you see I have this group of islands in the pacific that has been in my purchase list for a while now.”
The elite aura on them seemed like it vanished completely. It was instead replaced with childishness. Like everyone has transformed completely. Even their subordinates acted like so. Then the young man then approached them.
“Come on now guys. You can resume this on the victory party. Go now to the Orchid Hall. Everything has been prepared there.”
“All right then, guys let's go now.”
With that the nine elites together with their subordinates quickly left the meeting room. After that the three individuals still on the side then approached the young man.
“Nice presentation sir, that was perfect.”
“Yeah, you should already know that I love doing such things as well you know.”
“Now then sir, shall we go to the party as well?”
“No, you guys can go. I want to stay here for a while, I’ll go there in like 30 minutes or so. And yeah, please bring here my favorite wine and some fruit slices.”
“Will do sir.”
“And dismiss everyone else now. I want them to attend the party earlier.”
After they left him with a tray containing the wine and the fruits, suddenly the building became as quiet as it can be, well except the Orchid Hall. The young man then sat on the chair with his feet on the table while enjoying his wine.
It is then when ten shadows were slowly approaching the meeting room where the young man is staying. When they are near the door which was open, the young man suddenly spoke.
“Guys I know you are there. Come in.”
The ten shadows then entered the meeting room. With them now illuminated by the room’s lights, you can see that they seem like some sort of elite army armed with the latest gear available.
*Damn they’re loaded, those are some expensive equipment*
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Then one among the ten stood stepped forward, he seems like the captain of the group. Aside from him looking more muscular than the rest, he looks older as well.
“Do you also know why we are here?”
“Yes of course, you are here to kill me right? Don’t worry, I will not retaliate. Let’s have a quick chat then before we go with our business shall we, that is if that is ok with you.”
The ten armed men then immediately surrounded the young man. Although he said he will not retaliate, they still made sure that their mission will be accomplished. These guys are veterans in their line of work. They have experienced the craftiness and trickery of some of their previous targets and they can be as nasty as it can get.
“Ok then. Despite our best efforts in our covert operation, you still know of our activities right from the start. Even the security of the building is way more lax than usual. I suspect this is also your doing. Now tell me, despite your knowledge of us, why does it seem like you are handing yourself to us in a silver platter?”
“It’s because it’s not fun.”
“Say what again?”
“It’s because it’s not fun. I have a general idea of what your entire mercenary company can do. And I also have knowledge of what your employers would do in case you guys fail. I admit I can retaliate and survive, but it would take an enormous amount of effort in my side, and will keep me from doing my work properly. And I can keep the cat and mouse chase for a couple of months, maybe more than a year, but in the end I will still die, and going all through that would be hell for me. It will keep me away from doing what I love. And my loved ones might be harmed because of this shit.
I’ve already seen the ending. That’s why I chose this route, the resources that would be used when I escape can be used for more meaningful things. I have already written out instructions for the next couple of years. It includes all the possible outcome that I can think of as well as the instructions towards it. It would not be perfect but I’m sure my good subordinates can keep up with it.”
“So you’re really decided to do this huh?”
The captain was astonished. He can see through the young man’s eyes that what he said is the truth and is serious about it. Aside from the fact that he had though and calculated everything that would happen, although the captain is not sure if it’s the best decision in the situation and he knows some will beg to disagree to it, the calm and collected decisiveness of the young man to choose to die earlier and do the greater good is really something to admire.
“Can I ask for a favor?”
“What?”
“Instead of using weaponry to kill me, can you use some other means of killing? I think you guys know what I mean. This time I’m not sure if it’s the right decision but I don’t want to trigger useless revenge and other shit like that. And I don’t want to die in pain, so it’s killing two birds in one stone.”
“Haaa.. All right. We have some drugs here that will make you look like you died of a heart attack.”
“Many thanks to you then.”
The captain then took a syringe out of his left arm pocket. The interaction of the captain and the young man from the start to finish baffled the rest of the mercenary team, and thus they didn’t move from their position. The captain then approached the young man and injected him with the drug. Afterwards the young man went back to his seat and resumed drinking his wine.
“Why are you guys not leaving yet? Isn’t your mission accomplished already?”
“We’ll stay until we’ve confirmed that you’re dead.”
“Sucks to be you then huh?”
Then silence returned to the room. The young man continued to enjoy his last minutes of his life. He then thought about his last will testament. Of course it was prepared as well. The contents being 30% of his assets are going to charity, 10% going to various people, 30% going to his family and 30% going to a certain girl.
*Sorry about this Kim, this is the best thing that I can do in this situation.*
Strength then left his arms and the wine glass he’s holding shattered on the floor.
*Fuck, the drug kicked in already? Come on, at least give me some more minutes*
But as if responding against the complaint, the drug then manifested its effects faster, his senses started to fade, strength quickly left his body. And in the last moment, he was able to mutter his last words.
“Aww.. Fuck”