Chapter 39: Bad things happen all at once

When I was CEO of Spectrum, I was once asked which team was the most important.

I said every team was competent.

But if I had to pick just one, I chose the Strategic Planning Team.

Their individual abilities were mostly supportive, but Spectrum ran smoothly because they existed.

And I still think that.

I believe they must be the sort of elites you rarely see anywhere else.

And when those elites bring their maximum effort.

“…These business proposals were made in a single day?”

Yuha rubbed at the tired skin around her eyes as if she, too, doubted what she was seeing.

“That’s what they say.”

“Is this for real? They didn’t make people work overtime last night, did they?”

“There are no overtime records. All of them were completed during work hours.”

“Huh…”

There were forty-eight business proposals submitted.

Moreover, each one was a properly thought-out proposal exceeding forty pages.

“To think we kept those people confined to support roles.”

“Isn’t it because of Spectrum? Back then, the Strategic Planning Team’s role was the same as the Business Planning Department’s role is now.”

“That’s true.”

They were the lubricant that kept Spectrum running smoothly.

They’d been limited to that.

“Maybe I should’ve watched people more carefully. If we’d moved some of them to other teams, they might’ve done even better.”

“Ha—no, I don’t think so.”

Yuha, who had been the team leader, said firmly.

“We produced those results because we were the Strategic Planning Team. We’re not the type to be outstanding at only one thing like some other teams.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Our role was to handle many areas reasonably and thoroughly.”

Yuha looked at the stack of proposals in front of us and said.

“A business is actually like that, right? You need to look at many fields and judge possibilities and threats properly.”

“It requires a composite perspective.”

“In that sense, the experience of working in the Strategic Planning Team and those people’s abilities perfectly match what’s needed now.”

“Hmm.”

The right people in the right positions.

Hearing that I had evaluated people well made me inexplicably proud.

Aside from that pride, going through these proposals was going to be tiring.

“Then let’s see how competent the results are.”

“Shall we review them together?”

“We’ll cross-check. You read them and leave feedback. Pick the ten with the best business models.”

“All right.”

We retreated to our offices and began analyzing the piled-up proposals.

Some resembled business models Yuha or I had devised, and some had weak points.

Of course, there were also proposals several times better than anything we’d conceived.

“Tsk, we have to pick only ten from this.”

If we had unlimited funds and resources, I wanted to pursue every one of these proposals.

‘I told Yuha to pick ten, but maybe I should increase that number.’

But that wasn’t the only issue.

Ding.

A new business plan submission has been reported.

“Are people working too hard or what.”

For every five proposals, three more would appear.

When we picked three to consider, four more arrived.

I couldn’t understand how anyone could produce such work one after another in an hour.

“For a while it’s overtime, then. Overtime.”

Happy overtime, happy everyone.

If you work overtime, everyone becomes happy….

Sigh.

“Well, we still have to do it.”

I rubbed my eyes and looked back at the proposals.

Ding!

“Another proposal? Do you even eat….”

[A dimensional channel has opened in One Direction.]

[An unconfirmed number of intruders have invaded One Direction.]

[Adjusting the time scale of the dimension.]

Of course I expected this alert to be another business proposal notification.

But it wasn’t.

“Goddamn it!”

News of a new species invading—creatures we hadn’t encountered in a while—made my eyes snap open.

“Where was it discovered?”

[The current location of the intruders is the plains between Tinyfolk City 1 and City 3.]

“Has combat broken out immediately?”

[No.]

A moment’s bewilderment settled, then a rush of urgency calmed me.

‘Previously we only detected them after contact; maybe the system’s grown.’

As I conquered more of the dimension, I could feel the system’s influence, however small, growing.

Thanks to that, threats like this could be detected at once.

“Lower the time scale to the minimum for now.”

[Understood.]

I took that preemptive step to avoid other variables, then stood up.

Dimensional problems required calm observation and handling.

I didn’t want to look like some lunatic working at the office while chaos unfolded.

‘I’ll tell Yuha there’s an emergency…’

“Boss!”

“Ah, Yuha, you’re here. Funny timing—something’s come up.”

“You saw it too?”

“…Huh?”

What was she talking about?

Perhaps reading my expression, Yuha sighed and stepped forward.

“Is it something else?”

“Tell me what you mean.”

“An anonymous post was uploaded to an office community.”

“An online post?”

“Look yourself.”

Yuha pulled up the post on her phone.

<Ribbon Corporation’s cheap products are cheap for a reason.>

At first glance the outrageous headline looked like troll bait.

But the content was unexpectedly plausible.

“The cleanliness of the milling plant is terrible, the bakery’s hygiene is a problem, and bugs were found in Our Town Mill.”

Reading the content alone made it seem like provocation.

The problem was that the post included photos of the shops and the plant.

“The poster claims to be an employee of Ribbon Corporation. They said they couldn’t stand it and uploaded this…”

“What about an internal audit?”

“It wasn’t office staff. We need to check the on-site workers.”

“Bakery staff don’t also work at the mill, so it’s probably fabricated.”

It looked like a malicious attempt to tarnish Ribbon Corporation.

While I was splashing water on my face, Yuha continued her report.

“The problem is the post is gaining traction. People are piling on, and journalists are starting to pick it up.”

“Health inspectors will likely step in.”

If someone had planned this from the start, the Food and Drug Authority would inevitably get involved.

Their findings might not be damning, but the publicity would damage the brand.

“Ugh.”

They say bad things come all at once.

Now it was hitting both the dimension and the company.

I thought a moment and reached a decision.

“Yuha, I’ll leave company matters to you as a priority.”

I alone could handle the dimensional problem.

But I wasn’t the only capable person at the company.

“I’ll give you a guideline for how to respond. Start an investigation into the on-site staff and release a company statement. Say the post wasn’t written by our employees, and that we’ll take legal action against whoever maliciously posted it.”

“A hardline response.”

“Of course. You can’t survive here being ignored.”

They attacked us. It was only right to strike back.

“Have Legal and Brand calculate the damages. Prepare all response measures.”

“Understood.”

“And the most important thing.”

I spoke about my immediate suspicion.

“I think Kangsung Foods is behind this.”

“…Why them?”

“I’m sworn enemy with that company’s CEO.”

Other companies could be suspects, but the one most likely to launch such an overt attack was Kangsung Foods.

‘I knew this would happen someday.’

“Analyze correlations and make them precise.”

“Got it. Boss?”

“I have something more urgent. It’s a supplier issue.”

“…Why that?”

“Go check it out. Call me as things progress.”

I grabbed my bag and left the office at once.

When I left, reporters’ phones were flooding in and the staff looked frantic.

‘We’ll make them regret this.’

I ground my teeth and left the company behind.

***

The moment I got home I couldn’t even take off my shoes before checking the system.

“How many troops?”

[The current number of invading forces is 5,821 and still increasing.]

“What level of armament?”

[They are equipped with early iron weapons. Their composition is 10% spearmen, 30% cavalry, 50% infantry, and 10% archers.]

“So their tactic is to sweep with cavalry and then smash into infantry. What about the species’ characteristics?”

[Unknown at present.]

“I’ll have to see them myself. Dimensional observation.”

I slumped onto the sofa and opened the dimension map.

I moved the map to inspect the plains the enemy had taken.

On the wide grassland, countless troops stood in order.

They looked disciplined; not the result of a day’s training.

“This isn’t a militia — they prepared an invasion army from the start.”

Is there room for negotiation? If so, what could we get from them?

While considering that, I examined the species one by one.

“They look like lizards with scales, have fish-like tails, and even the cavalry mounts look fishlike.”

Somehow they felt like creatures from the water that had come ashore.

Among them, the one who appeared to be a general had red scales and was twice the size of the others.

Even lined up five Tinyfolk together they’d likely still be smaller than that.

“If we meet them head-on, our win rate will drop a lot.”

I quickly thought up tactics and strategies to beat them with minimal losses.

Once I sketched a scenario, I adjusted the time scale and summoned the First Apostles.

The dimension’s master requests an audience.

“I need to inform you immediately.”

There was no time for polite greetings today.

When I announced via One Direction that soldiers of this species had invaded, the two apostles’ voices turned serious.

Rok!

If it’s that plain, it’s near the wheat fields we cultivate.—

We will issue evacuation orders immediately and concentrate our forces in one place.—

“The enemy will charge in a single push, so use archer-cavalry and cavalry, and move the catapults to inflict damage—”

Understood.

The First Apostles hurriedly relayed orders to the other apostles.

Apostles in Cities 1 and 3 received the information and tolled the bells in those cities.

The bells made their emergency peals, and the wartime status spread across the dimension.

“Keep alert. We haven’t fully identified them; we don’t know what will happen.”

Understood.

The apostles will also participate and commit all their power to this war.

“All right.”

I watched the dimension’s soldiers quickly mobilize into formations.

The troops, well-drilled, showed strict discipline.

“If we engage properly, we shouldn’t lose.”

We had the edge in weapons and numbers.

Losing would be absurd unless a huge variable occurred.

[Warning: a fluctuation has occurred in the dimensional environment.]

“…What?”

[Part of the land is flooding.]

“What the…”

I hurriedly moved the map.

I discovered the land the enemy occupied transforming into a vast lake.

Seeing that, only one phrase escaped my mouth.

“We’re screwed.”

I had to prepare for aquatic warfare — something I’d never once considered.