Surviving Restructuring

“Ugh... I’m dying. Pulling an all-nighter like that nearly killed me.”

“Tell me about it. Do we really have to keep living like this?”

“Hang in there.” Ju Gwang puffed out his chest with pride. “Your big brother here is about to assign a new junior to the team.”

“A junior?”

“Harona?!”

“Yeah,” Ju Gwang replied.

For the longest time, Harona had ignored all his attempts to coax her over. He had long since given up on climbing the corporate ladder himself and tried to persuade her to work under him instead, but she had always brushed him off. Now, at last, she had bowed her head.

“Seriously? That girl actually asked to meet you first?”

“Like I said, that’s what happened.”

“But why?”

“Why else?” Ju Gwang scoffed. “She must’ve finally come to her senses and realized she should be working under yours truly.”

“Huh. That’s surprising. She always walked around with her chin held so high.”

Harona could be rigid and stubborn, but no one could deny that she was good at her job. Besides, as long as she kept her mouth shut, she even appeared rather cute. Their dreary nights of overtime, spent with nothing but grumpy men, would finally come to a close.

Of course, Harona, that wildcat, would never act cute just because she was a junior. Still, they could live with that. Disciplining an unruly subordinate was part of what made someone a great leader.

“So?” one of them asked. “When are you meeting her?”

“We’ll set the time later,” Ju Gwang replied casually, pushing open the door to the restaurant. “Why is the street so empty toda—huh?”

The door didn’t budge. It was firmly shut. Looking closer, he noticed a heavy chain wrapped around the glass door’s handle to keep it from opening.

“The door’s closed.”

Ju Gwang frowned in confusion. “What? Didn’t they open yet?”

This place, Morning Meals Are the Best Medicine, was famous for its breakfast menu. It practically specialized in morning meals. Besides, it wasn’t even morning anymore, but lunchtime. The sun was already high in the sky.

He quickly found his answer. “Wait. There’s a notice here.”

For our rightful rights.

We’re standing with the labor union.

“A labor union? Come on.”

“T-Team Leader Ju! The bulletin board!”

“The bulletin board?!” Ju Gwang hurriedly pulled up the company screen. The moment the board loaded, chaos greeted him. “The entire restaurant district is on strike?!”

“Strike? Are they insane? What about our meals?!”

“They’re demanding the company reflect and guarantee basic labor rights... Wait a second! It says the shops are closed too?!”

This wasn’t an individual strike. The entire restaurant district had joined together in a collective strike.

“Shit, the prices only stabilized recently, and now this crap again?!”

“Ha... I’ll file a report.”

The department responsible for overseeing the restaurant district was the Operations Bureau. They were infamous for being harsh on frontline employees. Not that the rest of the company was much better, but that bureau was especially bad.

Unlike other bureaus, the work there was notoriously more grueling; hardly anyone ever volunteered to join it. It was where the company dumped leftover personnel, meaning people with mediocre skills or deemed problematic. Lacking real specialization, they were constantly stuck doing miscellaneous work for other departments. They were extremely sensitive to complaints as a result.

“They won’t learn until they get chewed out.”

If the issue was reported up the chain, most problems would usually be resolved quickly. At least, that was what Ju Gwang thought as he made the call.

Rrrrrr...

“They’re not picking up.”

“What?”

Neither the team responsible for the restaurant district nor the twenty-four-hour help desk responded.

“What the hell is going on?”

“Let’s check somewhere else first.”

However, that was only the beginning.

“What’s with all this trash on the street?”

Cigarette butts and half-empty disposable coffee cups were overflowing from trash bins. Garbage and even vomit, which were clearly from the previous night, still littered the streets.

“Ugh!”

“What is that smell?!”

“Doesn’t it smell like a public restroom?”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the public bathrooms nearby had apparently clogged toilets. Filthy wastewater, the exact nature of which was better left unknown, was spilling out onto the floor.

“It’s only been a day, right?”

“Yeah...”

Ju Gwang couldn’t believe his eyes or his nose. The company grounds were usually spotless. Yet in just one day, everything had deteriorated into this mess.

As he frowned unconsciously, a sharp alarm suddenly pierced his ears.

Beeeeeeep!

[Alert!]

[Abnormal condition has been detected within the managed area.]

[Status: Poisoning]

[Remove the hazardous factor immediately.]

“Poisoning?”

“All of a sudden?”

They stared at each other, doubting their own ears.

Just a few days ago, everything had been perfectly normal. How could the land suddenly be poisoned?

“Check it!”

They practically sprinted on all fours back to the office to confirm the cause of the alert. What they found was even more absurd.

“The monster corpses haven’t been collected?!”

“They’re piling up and rotting!”

Since the Operations Bureau had halted its work, the monster carcasses handled by contract workers had never been picked up. Now, the massive heap was releasing enormous amounts of toxic fumes, which were contaminating the surrounding land.

“Holy shit! Is this really happening?”

“We just finished restructuring everything! What are we supposed to do about that land now?”

Ju Gwang was dumbfounded. The Operations Bureau had stopped working for just one day, yet the consequences were already snowballing into disaster, like a butterfly effect spiraling out of control.

“What the hell is the company even doing?!”

***

Two days passed.

Beeeeeeep!

Beeeeeeep!

Beeeeeeep!

The shrill blare of emergency sirens had been shaking the entire building for hours, their relentless wailing reaching even the chairman’s office.

There was one small difference from before. Exactly forty-eight hours after the strike began, the horrifying red window that floated in the air had gained an additional word.

Just looking at it made one’s skin crawl.

[Critical Error!]

The message hovered in the center of the chairman’s office. It was the first time such a notice had appeared since the company’s founding, and it wasn’t done.

[Sector 1 - Halted]

[Manufacturing, distribution, and sales of in-house food ingredients and food products have been suspended.]

The ants that had quietly supported the very bottom of the company had disappeared.

[Sector 2 - Halted]

[Collection of monster corpses and processing of byproducts has been suspended.]

Parts that had never even been noticed before had simply stopped functioning, causing the company itself to grind to a halt.

[Sector 3 - Halted]

[Due to the absence of system maintenance personnel, errors cannot be detected or resolved.]

The company that once raced forward without fear of anything in the world had finally lost its wheels.

“Ch-Chairman!”

“This is our first time encountering a critical-level error! We don’t know what to do!”

There was no manual or contingency plan for this situation. They had never even imagined this scenario, much less prepared for it. The secretary’s office descended into chaos.

“Silence!”

The chairman’s roar cut through the room like a blade, causing everyone to freeze. He was also shaken, but for a very different reason than the ordinary employees.

“You’re telling me that rat Lee Eun-Ho managed to seize control of the entire Operations Bureau?” he growled. “Enough to make them abandon their livelihoods?!”

Stopping operations didn’t just harm the company. This was a place where those who didn’t work couldn’t eat, dress, or even sleep. If they failed their assigned trial, their income would vanish instantly. In many cases, even their lives would be on the line. Yet, despite knowing all that, they had still chosen to participate in this madness.

Do they really believe in him that much? the chairman wondered.

They likely believed everything would be worth it in the end and that they would win.

They truly believe in Lee Eun-Ho, that naive, ignorant child?

The boy was a mortal who hadn’t even completed his promotion. His situation was completely different from that of the employees, whose long lives and even their families were bound to the company.

Surely the employees weren’t idiots? They should’ve known that the leash binding them to the company was far tighter than the one around Lee Eun-Ho’s neck. Yet, despite knowing that, they still chose him.

Just what the hell is Lee Eun-Ho?

The chairman had no choice but to acknowledge the leadership that transcended rank, charisma powerful enough to seize the hearts of the masses, and strength capable of reassuring the weak. On top of that, he seemed to have the intelligence to dress up what he had and present it brilliantly.

“Chairman!”

“The Operations Bureau’s strike is causing a chain reaction!”

“The situation is becoming critical!”

Something that had never once happened since the company’s founding was unfolding right before their eyes. The reason such an absurd situation existed was that an even more absurd individual had appeared. The once-in-a-generation talent they had searched for so desperately had finally emerged, but he stood on the exact opposite side of the company.

“If we want to calm the public outrage, perhaps the union should step in and—”

“And what?” the chairman cut in coldly. “Are you suggesting that I rescind the order I gave?”

“T-that’s not what I—”

It was a challenge to the authority of Heaven Beyond Heaven. The moment authority allowed itself to be challenged, it would lose its purity forever.

The chairman staggered.

The system will collapse, and the towering structure I’ve spent my entire life building will crumble.

If he conceded even once, it would be the end. Those drowning in water always demanded your bundle after you saved them. That was the nature of the people below. Next time, they could even demand the prohibition of child labor or insist that working hours be reduced.

“That’s unacceptable. Absolutely not.” The chairman raised a wrinkled hand and rubbed his eyes. Then, his eyes snapped open. “I will never allow such a precedent to be set.”

This is my company! I will protect the fortress I’ve built with the sacrifices of countless lifetimes!

“Show them,” the chairman said coldly, “what becomes of those who dare rebel against their superiors.”

***

“Everyone got their meals, right?” someone called out. “I’ll stack the rest over here, so take more if you want!”

“I’ll grab one more drink!”

Under the bright midday sun, employees sat in circles throughout the dormitory lobby, sharing expensive meals that were normally sold to customers. It was a completely unfamiliar sight in the Operations Bureau, where people usually scarfed down rationed lunchboxes within ten minutes before rushing back to work.

“Leira, over here!”

Leira had been watching the unusual scene with quiet curiosity when hurried footsteps approached her.

“The broadcast! Did you finish it?” a man asked.

“Yeah,” Leira replied. “I wrapped it up early, just in case.”

“Ah, good call.”

His lifeless response made Leira narrow her eyes slightly. “Did something happen?”

The man leaned closer and lowered his voice. “There’s a bit of a problem.”

“What is it?”

He handed her the notice. It had come directly from the chairman’s office.

[Referral to Disciplinary Committee]

[Target: all participants of the Operations Bureau strike]

[Reason: severely harming the company’s interests.]

[Corrective Order: cease the strike immediately and return to work.]

“Are we really okay?” the man asked nervously as Leira read through the notice.

After carefully reading it, Leira cautiously replied, “We don’t really have a choice. This has to be done.”

“Sure, in the end, it’s supposed to benefit us,” the man said, anxiety creeping into his tone. “But what if they retaliate with disciplinary action against us?”

The ultimate goal of the strike was simple: securing basic rights for employees and renegotiating their salaries. If they were ever going to stand up to the company and make their voices heard, they required leverage.

“What if we’re the only ones who end up getting screwed over?”

Not everyone in the company had agreed to the strike. The only department where every single person participated was the Operations Bureau, a place where resentment had been building for years, ready to boil over at any moment.

As a result, all the criticism and pressure from the rest of the company had been directed squarely at them. Now that this order had come down as well, the employees’ anxiety was reaching its breaking point.

“Leira, I know you trust him because of what he did for your father,” the man said carefully. He swallowed nervously before asking the question that had been weighing on everyone’s mind, “But can we really trust him?”

Was he truly someone worth risking their livelihoods for? Could he really protect those who had chosen to follow him? The question carried the weight of their lives.

Just as Leira parted her lips to answer, a deafening explosion shattered the air.

Booooom—!

However, it wasn’t the sky that collapsed; it was the ceiling.

“It’s an ambush!”

“It’s the Chief Secretary!”

Troops had gathered outside, which had been eerily quiet moments ago.

There’s at least a thousand.

A thousand soldiers clad in dazzling armor and armed with powerful weapons had surrounded the Operations Bureau.

Thuuud—!

Baaaaam—!

The bombardment tore through their hastily erected defensive barriers like wet paper.

“Why are they attacking us—”

“Aaaaaah!”

The building crumbled as clouds of dust swallowed everything. Panic and fear spread across the employees’ faces, the same people who had believed they could handle at least this much.

“I knew this would happen!”

“Shouldn’t we surrender while we still can?!”

The ambush was devastating. The people here simply didn’t have the composure to respond calmly to such a sudden attack.

“C-calm down!” someone shouted. “Everyone, battle positions!”

Even so, they had to fight.

“We prepared for this, remember?!” someone yelled. “Grab your weapons first!”

This was their chance to end their hopeless lives as slaves. The fight had barely begun; they couldn’t lose just because of a single ambush.

As the employees raised their weapons and shouted defiantly, a brilliant light burst into existence.

Fwoosh—!

It poured through the narrow windows, yet the sheer brightness was enough to momentarily blind them.

“What kind of attack is that?!”

This felt different from the bombardments that had come before. A terrible sense of foreboding crawled down their spines as they turned their fearful gazes toward the windows.

Then, they saw a violet path slicing straight through the enemy ranks.

Shhhhhh—

“Huh?”

Fierce eyes gleamed. Armor shimmered with swirling violet energy.

Atop the figure’s head stood a towering bone helm that seemed to scrape the sky itself.

Clack.

“It’s alright now, milady.”

Leira froze. “Huh?!”

Reinforcements had arrived.