Welcome from the Other Shore: Welcome to the Organization (Part 1)

"I want to see higher-ups."

That's what the girl said.

The disciple walking in front glanced back at her, but immediately shook his head and continued leading the way.

The fact that he was asked to do this was not surprising enough.

After all, the organization is a concentration camp of all kinds of eccentric people. You could talk for three days and three nights about how weird some of the people in the organization are. And he, who is called "disciple", is the one who knows the situation of each person and gossip the most.

Let me state upfront—knowing about those messy people and messy things isn't his interest; he only knows because of his special abilities and the nature of his work, even if he doesn't want to.

"These young people nowadays... sigh..."

These days, new recruits, let alone "wanting to see the higher-ups," have had several who even say they "want to meet the Leader." The most bizarre one was a previous recruit named Payne, a weirdo who seemed to have a third arm on his chest and used the word "arrogant" in every sentence. That guy even said things like, "I think we should just let everyone take turns sitting in the Leader's position. Why should only one person be so arrogant?" He was shouting that he wanted to replace the Leader, which scared the followers so much that they used a relay system to lecture him for three days and three nights until he was almost obedient before they dared to take him back to the organization's headquarters.

In comparison, the stiff-faced cyborg girl seemed perfectly normal.

"I want to see a senior executive/repeat this once."

Did she think he hadn't heard her clearly? The girl repeated herself, and the disciple could only offer a perfunctory reply, "Be patient, there will be plenty of opportunities to meet with higher-ups once we get back."

I thought this would shut her up.

"I want to see senior management / repeated twice"

"I want to see senior management / repeated three times"

"I want to meet with senior management / Repeated four times"

"I think--"

"Okay, okay, I heard you, be quiet!"

The disciple scratched his head, somewhat annoyed.

Honestly, young people these days...

"I want to see senior management / repeated 5.4 times"

"I told you to shut up!!!"

Hmph... Hmph... What's wrong with this girl? What's with this "five points and four repetitions" thing? Does she include the sentence he interrupted her about?

It seems we need to make things clear.

"Listen up, little girl! You... uh..."

"Julia."

"Yes, Julia! It's true that the organization is a very free place. As long as you don't act too flamboyantly outside and don't do anything harmful to the organization, you can do whatever you want—but! It's always right to keep a low profile, because you never know whether the person you're facing is stronger or weaker than you!"

In response, Julia tilted her head, her pupils contracting and dilating—if you look closely, you'll see that her eyeballs are actually miniature cameras, and the contraction of her pupils is actually a mechanical zoom.

"No, within the organization, below the highest levels and the Leader, there is no one stronger than me."

"... Okay, another overconfident young girl. These days, young people..."

The disciple sighed again; he had lost count of how many times he had said "young people these days."

"Learn from my father: no matter how strong the opponent, as long as you spend time analyzing and calculating, there's always a way. /Additional explanation."

"Eh... you mean make up for a lack of combat strength with ample preparations?"

"That's right."

"Impossible!"

The disciples denied it with absolute certainty.

"Believe me, you won't have that time when facing most people in the organization; they'll destroy you completely before you even get results."

"..."

"This is my well-intentioned advice as a senior, child. Never disrespect the Leader, and never anger the higher-ups—their power is absolute! Don't fight with Special Class Combatant; when they get serious, they can beat you so badly your own mother wouldn't recognize you! Don't provoke high-, mid-, or low-level combatants... or simply don't mess with anyone! Many of them—their combat strength may not be high, but they possess some very strange abilities; you might not even know how you died! And, also, don't..."

"No, no, no—" the gatekeeper rambled on and on about a long list of precautions until his throat felt completely dry. He pulled a small bottle of water from his jacket, took a sip to moisten his throat, and was about to continue when he noticed Julia was... rolling her eyes.

"... Hey, little girl?"

"--Summoned by the outside world--Standby mode ended--Re-establish connection with the external environment--Five senses restarted--Ah, Master, where were we?"

"You weren't even listening to me!!"

Cough, cough, cough! The disciple choked on the water he had just swallowed, causing him to cough repeatedly.

"Cough, cough... you little rascal..."

"Disciple."

"What's wrong now?"

"I want to see senior management / Repeated 6.4 times"

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?!"

The disciples were utterly speechless.

Foreword retracted; this girl is acting quite abnormally.

"Wanting to see him is one thing, but can't you have a little more patience...? Oh well, looks like I'll have to teach him by example."

"Targeted search -- vocabulary database A2 to B1 -- data retrieval -- teaching by example: instructing with both words and actions. It refers to setting a good example through actions. What would you like to do for me? / expressing doubt?"

"What nonsense were you spouting just now... Never mind, hey, all you want to see the higher-ups is to come on."

As he spoke, the disciple spread his arms wide, forming a cross with Julia, a gesture that, combined with his slightly hunched back, was quite comical.

"Confused/Switching to the look of someone looking at an idiot."

"You're the one with a mental disability... Tsk, anyway, you want to meet the higher-ups, huh? Then come and attack me."

"...?"

"As long as you can kill me, I'll give you a high-ranking position, let alone an audience with the higher-ups."

Julia tilted her head again.

Then he gave a stiff, inorganic smile, seemingly mocking.

"What is this middle-aged, useless man saying? /laughs"

"Don't you even know what it means to respect your elders?! Stop talking nonsense and come on! If you can kill me, you can do whatever you want. If you can't, then don't make any unrealistic demands, understand?"

"Negotiation conditions analysis in progress -- Theoretically feasible -- Acceptance confirmed -- Entering combat status -- E-1 low-power Plasma Cannon deployed --"

Click!

The next instant, a tube gleaming with a cold metallic light locked onto the doorman's head.

"Target locked - Fire!"

Boom!!!!!

A dazzling blue-white light tore through the air, blasting everything in a straight line into dust. As for the disciple—although his head was targeted, his entire upper body actually disappeared.

With a thud, his upper body and legs collapsed to the ground, the severed ends charred black, clearly dead.

"Elimination complete, negotiations reached."

Just as Julia put away the Plasma Cannon—

See? I told you you couldn't do it.

"--!?"

The voice of a disciple suddenly rang out behind her.

Turning her head, she saw a man in his fifties or sixties, wearing an outdated old jacket and with a somewhat gloomy expression, looking at her with his hands in his sleeves, seemingly bored.

Julia then looked at the lower body remains on the ground—the sensor remotely analyzed the body's blood sample structure—the results were compared—the data matched!

There's no mistake, that's the corpse of one of the disciples on the ground.

But—her disciples are right here in front of her, alive and well.

Two disciples? Stands? Or something else entirely?

"See? You absolutely cannot kill me. Although I am almost powerless to fight, even the higher-ups cannot completely kill me."

After all--

"Don't let my appearance fool you... I know I look useless no matter how you look at me... but I'm known as one of the 'The Unbeatable Four' in the organization."

The disciple shrugged, seemingly uninterested in the title of "invincible," or rather, somewhat resigned.

"Four people who are invincible?"

"It's a list of people chosen privately by members below the higher ranks of the organization. Note that it's not 'the four strongest,' but 'the four who are unbeatable.'"

"Different? / Surprised?"

"It's different. Take me for example, I have almost no combat ability, and my superpower doesn't sound that amazing, but I'm afraid no one except the Leader can completely kill me—even the Leader would probably have a hard time doing so."

"Is this middle-aged, useless man out of his mind? /mocking laugh."

"You bastard! You've really pissed me off!"

"Then why don't you punish me?"

"I can't beat you."

Straightforward.

"This middle-aged, useless man really has no self-respect /hehehe."

"..."

"By the way, since you're one of the four strongest, who are the other three?"

"You changed the subject so quickly... Never mind, as for the other three... the first one that comes to mind is naturally the Leader, no question about it."

"Then?"

"Another one is Gustav, who is the highest-ranking member. No Supernatural Ability, but he constantly breaks through the limits of humanity through his own efforts. Coupled with his seniority and loyalty to the Leader, it is no exaggeration to say that he is the second-in-command of the entire organization."

"And the last one?"

"Yu He, who is also a high-ranking official."

"... Yu He?"

"It's normal that you don't know. He joined the organization more than two hundred years ago, only a little before the deceased Blood Fiend. Moreover, he is a low-key person and one of the most approachable among the higher-ups. In addition, his appearance is the least outstanding among the higher-ups, so lower-level members often forget his high-ranking status."

"It doesn't seem that impressive."

"In terms of pure combat strength, the only ones weaker than him are Anubas, whose duties are unrelated to combat, and Neumann, who has no combat experience. His strength is the exact opposite of Gustav's. Gustav relies entirely on his physical strength, while Yu He relies entirely on external aids."

"External objects?"

"He's the one who unified the currency of the entire Spirit Star two hundred years ago and single-handedly established the economic structure that still exists today. To be his enemy is equivalent to being his enemy—the enormous economic entity known as 'Human Society.' Isn't that impressive?"

"Human Society as an economic entity... Calculation begins -- Target determined -- Total output of Human Society -- First calculation attempt -- Coefficient range defined -- Considering the first range -- Liquid capital -- Inherent assets -- Hard currency -- Assessment begins -- Futures intelligence search -- Foreign trade amount search -- First search fails -- Break -- Second attempt begins -- Success -- Amount too large -- Switch to big data processing mode -- Calculation fails -- Overload warning -- Repeated failure -- Beep beep beep beep beep beep --"

Click!

Julia suddenly shuddered.

Snap—Her expression froze, her head lowered, and a wisp of white smoke rose from her head, passing through her shimmering blue fiber optic hair and dissipating into the air.

"... Hello, Julia?"

No response.

It seems to have crashed.

The disciple sighed heavily and laboriously lifted Julia up.

Clang!

Then he was pulled to the ground.

"Hey, hey, hey? Are you kidding me? This is so heavy! Is this girl made of iron?"

The gatekeeper looked speechlessly at the door made of gray-black cloth strips not far from them. It was less than ten meters away, but he couldn't carry the heavy girl over no matter what he did; even dragging her was a struggle.

"Damn it, in the end he's just a weirdo who causes me trouble. These young people nowadays..."

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A new volume is starting! I guess everyone's tired of the people and events on the West Saint Continent, so let's switch perspectives for a break.