Chapter 195: Chairman Cooked

Nobody shrugged. "We spent all this time chasing hidden files, shell companies, suspicious employees and secret contracts." He looked at the massive pile of documents. "And now the answer is basically, ’The Chairman was stealing money and trying to take over the company.’"

Aiden sighed. "That’s because corporate conspiracies are usually less glamorous than you expect."

Nobody nodded. "True."

Toma smiled faintly. "At least it’s over."

Nobody looked toward her. "Yeah."

The System appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Main Investigation Completed.]

[Project 05-17 Mystery: SOLVED.]

[Primary Conspiracy: Corporate infiltration and attempted hostile acquisition.]

[Evidence secured.]

[Daniel Cross testimony confirmed.]

[Chairman involvement confirmed.]

[Chairman status: Already in custody.]

[Additional evidence: Sufficient to significantly strengthen prosecution.]

[Current Arc Objective: COMPLETED.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody stared at the final line. Then smiled. "Finally."

Toma looked at him. "Finally what?"

Nobody quickly shook his head. "Nothing."

The System disappeared.

Nobody looked toward the window.

For once, there was no unanswered question hanging over Nathan Industries.

Project 05-17 was no longer a mystery. It had been a five-year plan to secretly drain Nathan Industries through inflated contracts, hidden payments and controlled companies, while moving trusted employees into outside organizations controlled by the Chairman.

Daniel had unknowingly become one of the most important pieces of the operation. When he finally tried to stop cooperating, the Chairman had him captured.

But Daniel survived. The evidence survived. And now the entire operation was exposed. The Chairman was already behind bars.

Project 05-17 had simply given the prosecution enough evidence to make sure he wasn’t walking out anytime soon.

Nobody picked up his briefcase.

The sun was beginning to set outside Nathan Industries.

Aiden looked at Toma. "We’ll rebuild."

Toma nodded. "And this time, we’ll know exactly who we’re working with."

Nobody looked at them.

Something about the way they stood there made him smile. For a moment, he felt strangely satisfied. Then he looked toward the ceiling. "Hey, System."

No response.

"Are we done?"

Silence.

Nobody waited.

Then the familiar blue window appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Yes.]

[Project 05-17 Arc has officially concluded.]

[Congratulations, User.]

[You have successfully survived an entire corporate conspiracy without becoming CEO.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody stared at it. "Why does that sound like an insult?"

Another window appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Because it is.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody sighed. "Whatever."

He adjusted his tie and picked up his briefcase. The five-year-old secret was finally over. The Chairman was already in custody. The evidence was secured. Daniel had testified.

Nathan Industries had survived. And Project 05-17 had finally become nothing more than a case file sitting on a prosecutor’s desk.

Nobody walked toward the exit. "For once, can the next problem be something simple?"

The System appeared one final time.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Request denied.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody stopped walking. "...I knew it."

And with that, he walked out of Nathan Industries, leaving Project 05-17 behind. For the first time in five years, its name no longer belonged to a secret. It belonged to the evidence.

The evening sunlight spread across the glass walls of Nathan Industries. For the first time in a long while, the atmosphere inside the company felt calmer.

Employees walked through the halls without worried expressions. The tension that had silently existed for years was finally gone.

Aiden stood near the large office window, looking at the city below.

Toma walked beside him. "It feels strange," she said quietly.

Aiden nodded. "Yeah."

"For years, we didn’t even know something like this was happening."

Aiden looked at the documents on the table. "And now it’s over."

Nearby, Nobody sat comfortably on a chair, holding a cup of coffee. He looked at the mountain of files. "So many papers."

Toma looked at him. "That’s your conclusion?"

Nobody nodded seriously. "Corporate villains are dangerous."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Because of money?"

"No." Nobody pointed at the documents. "Because they weaponize paperwork."

For a second, silence filled the room.

Then Toma laughed. Even Aiden smiled slightly.

Nobody looked satisfied. "See? I restored the mood."

The System appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[User has successfully increased room happiness by 12%.]

[Reward: None.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody looked at the window. "Cheap system."

Outside, the sun slowly moved lower in the sky. The city continued as usual. Cars moved through the roads.

People returned home. Life continued forward. Nobody looked outside quietly. A strange feeling settled in his heart. Not excitement. Not danger. Just peace.

The Project 05-17 case was over.

The Chairman was already in prison. Nathan Industries had survived.

Daniel had told the truth. And for once...

Nobody didn’t need to become the Crimson Bunny. He simply sat there in his office suit, drinking coffee like a normal employee.

The System suddenly appeared again.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Emergency Notice.]

[User has remained peaceful for 4 minutes and 37 seconds.]

[This may be a new record.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody stared at it."...Please don’t curse it."

Far away, the evening wind moved gently across Alkon City. And somewhere beyond the city lights... another story was quietly beginning.

...........

Night had already settled over Alkon City.

Nobody was finally home. After everything that had happened with Project 05-17, he had decided to do something that had become increasingly rare in his life. Absolutely nothing. He sat on his couch with his tie loosened, his shoes kicked off near the door and a cup of coffee resting on the table.

Blossom Bunny sat beside him, happily munching on a snack.

Nobody stared at the ceiling. "Dude..."

Blossom looked at him. "Atta?"

Nobody sighed. "I wonder what that shift in the world meant."

Blossom tilted his head.

Nobody leaned back into the couch. "Ever since I became aware of this world, things have been changing." He counted on his fingers. "The System appeared."

"Atta."

"I got involved with Toma."

"Atta."

"I became the Crimson Bunny."

Blossom nodded enthusiastically. "Atta!"

Nobody pointed at him. "That one was not my choice."

Blossom gave him an innocent look.

Nobody continued. "Then Aiden’s case happened. Eclipse. Daniel. Project 05-17..." He paused. "And now everything feels different."

Blossom stopped eating.

Nobody glanced at him. "Even Mr.Guide said it." His expression became more serious. "He said my world was going to go through a great change."

Blossom quietly listened.

Nobody rubbed the back of his head. "I don’t know what that means."

For once, there was no sarcastic System message. No mission window. No sudden emergency.

Nobody looked toward the window. "Maybe the story is changing."

Blossom looked at him. "Atta..."

Nobody smiled. "Yeah." He picked up Blossom and placed him on his shoulder. "Let’s see what’s waiting for us, buddy."

Blossom raised one paw. "Atta!"

Nobody smiled. "That’s the spirit."

Neither of them noticed the faint distortion that briefly passed across the window. A tiny ripple. Then it disappeared. Nobody’s apartment returned to normal.

For now.

...

Far away from Alkon City, behind thick concrete walls and reinforced steel doors, another man was having a very different night.

A prison cell sat quietly beneath the harsh white lights. A man in his early forties sat on the edge of a narrow bed. His expensive clothes were gone. His freedom was gone. His name was Aether Veil.

The son of Adrian Vale, the Chairman of Eclipse Corporation.

Aether had been arrested years earlier for his own involvement in several illegal operations, human trafficking.

He had spent most of his time believing one thing. His father would fix everything. He had always done it.

Money, Connections, Influence. His father had always found a way.

Aether leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. "My father will handle this."

He said it quietly. Almost like a prayer.

Then...

Knock.

Aether opened his eyes. A prison guard stood outside the cell.

Aether frowned. "What the hell?"

The guard unlocked the small viewing panel. "We need to inform you of something."

Aether stood. "What the hell is it?"

The guard hesitated. "Your father was arrested."

Aether stared at him. For several seconds, he didn’t react. Then he laughed. "What?"

"Your father, Adrian Vale. He’s been arrested."

Aether’s smile disappeared. "What the hell are you spouting?"

The guard remained expressionless. "He’s already in custody."

Aether stepped closer to the bars. "That’s impossible."

The guard didn’t respond.

"My father can’t be arrested." Aether’s breathing became heavier. "What about his plan?"

The guard looked confused. "What plan?"

Aether’s hands tightened around the bars. "His plan for taking me out!"

The guard frowned.

Aether continued. "He was supposed to get me out of here!" His voice rose. "He was supposed to destroy everyone who ruined my life!"

The guard said nothing.

Aether suddenly stepped backward. His father’s plan, the money, the companies, the people inside Nathan Industries. Everything had been arranged.

Aiden was supposed to be ruined. Nathan Industries was supposed to collapse. And Aether was supposed to disappear before everything came crashing down. But none of that had happened.

Instead...

His father was already behind bars. And the evidence against him was growing.

Aether slowly placed a hand against his forehead. "Damn..." His fingers trembled. Then he shouted. "DAAAAMN IT ALL!"

His voice echoed through the prison corridor. Several inmates looked toward the sound. The guard stepped back.

Aether remained frozen. His head lowered. For the first time, he understood something. His father wasn’t coming. He was on his own. And that realization terrified him.

Then...

A faint sound came from somewhere behind him. Aether slowly looked up.

Nothing. The lights flickered. Once. Twice. Then stopped.

Aether frowned. "What now?"

A strange red reflection appeared across the floor.

Aether looked down. His own shadow seemed darker than it should have been. He stepped backward. "What..."

The prison guard didn’t notice anything. Because whatever was happening inside Aether’s cell wasn’t happening to the rest of the world.

Aether suddenly grabbed his chest. His breathing became uneven.

"What’s happening to me?"