Starting with the Herrschers, I Cut Down All

Boss, are you sober?

Bronya was silent for a long while. "Makes sense!"

"Remember to ask if there's anyone for drums."

After saying that, she thought of Kiana, who was still snoring away at home.

She added, "And a rhythm guitarist or pianist. Kiana's pretty good at both."

Afterward, she felt a little regretful. Mei's lead guitar was what could truly set the whole place ablaze. Unfortunately, Mei was an only child and had to slowly take over the company, so she couldn't come out and have fun.

Maybe in a few years, she'd even be forced to marry into some man's family. How miserable.

An Yu lowered his head and glanced at his boss twice. "...When the time comes, I'll have my sister serve you tea."

Those were basically all the main instruments in a band. Why not just take them all?

"Then there's no need."

Bronya shamelessly lifted her chin, though she felt this was probably impossible.

After all, most people who played music already had their own groups. How could they possibly be short on members?

A few hours later.

An Yu stared blankly at his computer. The worldbuilding on it was becoming increasingly complete. Out of a few selfish motives, he planned to add some strange things, then specially buff that character.

In other words... internal favoritism!

Beep beep beep!!!

Elysia: "Little bro, it looks like there might only be the two of us at the concert."

None of her fair-weather friends were reliable. The only two dependable ones were Griseo and Kosma, but Griseo was in high school and needed to focus on studying, while Kosma was still preparing his graduation thesis. Neither could come.

Kevin would be coming over to chat in the next few days, but he obviously wouldn't make it in time for the first show.

And! And!!!

The others were actually surprised and asked why she was so free!

An Yu: "Helpless cat head.jpg"

An Yu: "Sis, you always stab me when I'm feeling down."

Elysia: "It's okay, the two of us can do it too. Cheering.jpg"

An Yu: "I have candidates for a drummer and rhythm guitarist."

As for the piano Kiana could play... what kind of street performance came with a piano?

Come to think of it, he'd only slammed Kiana to the ground with a slap not long ago. She couldn't still be holding a grudge, could she?

Elysia: "Really!!!"

Elysia didn't care whether they were reliable. She was simply happy. Everyone could gather together noisily and thoroughly vent the frustrations that had built up recently.

If she stayed idle at home any longer, she felt like she'd genuinely develop a split personality. By then, even her bestie wouldn't be able to cover it up.

Boss, You Seem to Be Glowing

"Where's An Yu? I brought his delivery up for him."

Kiana pushed open the door. The afternoon sun slanted into the room as she lazily stretched, even though it had already been over half an hour since she woke up.

Sleeping until she woke naturally—so comfy!

Bronya glanced at Kiana, stopping her typing fingers. A moment later, she deleted the words "No problem" from the chat box.

On the other end of the screen, An Yu's messages were still popping up nonstop:

An Yu: "Boss!!! You have to help me tell the property management! Someone stole my delivery!!! I have to check the surveillance footage!"

Bronya: "Come back first. Don't go to property management."

Bronya: "The plan has changed."

"Who are you talking to? Why are you ignoring me?"

Let me see which seductive little vixen could draw Bronya's attention like this. Kiana casually placed the delivery on the table and, with absolutely no sense of personal boundaries, leaned over beside her best friend to inspect her computer!

"Is it a guy—uh..."

The instant she saw the screen, Kiana's words came to an abrupt stop.

She subconsciously wiped the sweat from her forehead, her voice weakening a little. "Is it still too late for me to take it downstairs to him?"

Her back still faintly ached even now. Another slap would be worse than death.

She'd originally planned to use picking up his delivery to ease their relationship a little, and maybe mention what Sirin had been up to lately so An Yu could be careful... but now, she felt like she was the one who needed to tread carefully.

"It's fine, it's just a small matter. And you don't seem like such a coward, do you?"

Bronya was a little puzzled. In her impression, Kiana should have been lively, fond of jokes, and loved acting cute while taking advantage of people. This was Kiana the fearless cat!

"This is respect for strength, as well as reverence for life. Someone like you, Bronya, who disregards life, wouldn't understand."

Kiana spoke with complete confidence. Besides, if you took a slap like that, maybe you wouldn't even have the courage to make snide remarks.

"Whether someone's timid depends on the person. If you say so, then sure."

After saying that, Bronya chuckled. Kiana bared her teeth and pounced, ready to fight this little shorty to the death... even though Bronya was now two centimeters taller than her.

"But your employee really should be careful. Sirin contacted my second sister. She seems not to believe An Yu's really that strong."

After the two horsed around for a while, Kiana adjusted her slightly messy collar and slumped into a chair beside her, blankly staring at the ceiling.

Your second sister?

"Didn't you say before that your second sister wasn't much stronger than you?"

Kiana's pretty face reddened. "She is... only a little stronger~"

She held up two fingers to demonstrate. She really was only a little stronger, but compared with a monster like Bianca, who was obsessed with training, Kiana had no confidence at all if they actually fought.

"Forget it, I'll tell him later. Though with An Yu's personality, he'll probably find it troublesome and go straight to Sirin to solve the problem at its source."

Bronya looked at the "ok" An Yu had sent, still sitting upright.

"Huh? You're going to kill someone over something this minor?"

Kiana nearly jumped up. No, please—Sirin was her big sister, after all. Things hadn't gone that far!

Bronya turned her head to glance at Kiana, then looked away. A moment later, she still couldn't hold it in and looked at her again.

"Is that what all Reson Studio employees look like in your eyes?"

She yawned. "Relax. At most, he'll just beat her up."

"Oh, that's fine then."

Kiana slouched back in the chair again, looking unwilling to move. She even felt a faint, secret sense of anticipation inside.

"By the way, Kiana, are you interested in coming to a performance with me this weekend?"

"What kind of performance?"

"A street performance."

"..."

Kiana fell silent. She really wanted to get up and touch Bronya's forehead, to see whether she had a fever and whether her mind was clear.

"Just the two of us?"

After pondering for a moment, Kiana didn't object. At the end of the day, she hadn't been in a great mood these past few days either.

But compared to Bronya, whose work had gone badly, who vented by speeding while delivering food, then got her license revoked, ultimately causing her delivery job, her speeding, and her already-frustrating work to all completely fall apart—

Her way of venting didn't affect other people as much.

She could just hide under the covers and wipe away a few tears.

Ever since childhood, she'd decided to become a savior, so bearing this pain alone was only natural.

Though after growing up, she discovered that if you wanted to change the world now, you could only go into politics or become a behind-the-scenes tycoon in a capitalist country.

And this world was especially dark. Kiana still couldn't forget how Sirin bullied her, while her parents merely smiled. So angry that she called the police to report domestic violence in her home, only for Theresa to be the one who came.

Then that foolish aunt of hers smilingly brought it up in the living room, and Kiana got bullied even worse.

"Let's see if we can contact some other people. After all, people who play music generally have their own bands."

Bronya's airy voice pulled her from her memories.

Just like how it had been with Mei, Kiana, and herself.

"Boss, is something urgent?"

An Yu knocked on the door and pushed it open after receiving permission.

His gaze lingered briefly on the two girls, who had clearly just been fooling around and whose skin glistened slightly. Come to think of it, could people this age still be called girls?

"Look at the side first."

Bronya pointed at the delivery. An Yu swept his eyes over it, narrowing them slightly.

No need to guess—it had to be Kiana's. He just didn't understand why a young lady like her would steal deliveries. Revenge for him slapping her before?

As his thoughts turned, An Yu didn't pay much attention to it. He would set aside such a minor issue for now.

"Boss, do you and Miss Kiana have time this weekend?" He paused, his tone becoming more serious.

"I had a proper talk with my sister and vetoed the inclusion of all her fair-weather friends."

"Sure."

"Of course, Boss, if you don't—wait, sure?" An Yu froze, not expecting his boss to agree so readily.

Bronya nodded. It was indeed fine. She had already planned to relax during the break, and if relaxing required advance preparations and finding other like-minded friends... that sounded rather troublesome.

"It's fine. Consider it looking after a subordinate's feelings."

She interlaced her fingers and elegantly propped up her chin.

An Yu sniffed. "Boss, you seem to be glowing."

How nice. Bronya was always so concise and straightforward. Even when she messed around, she always knew the limits. More importantly, when she wasn't fooling around, her sense of proportion was even more impeccable.

The corners of Bronya's lips lifted slightly. "It seems your life has been very dark lately."

"I won't deny that, but Boss, you really are glowing right now." An Yu emphasized.

Mm, clearly after fooling around with her best friend, his boss's snowy, fair skin had a faint cherry-pink tint and gleamed slightly with perspiration.

Bronya froze. Before opening her phone's selfie camera, she looked toward Kiana beside her, whose fair skin shone brightly beneath the sunlight... this hopelessly yuri-colored dog.

Kiana thought about it, then raised her head and exposed her slender, snow-white neck.

"We're bros. Looking is enough—are you actually trying to make a move?"

"I brought your delivery upstairs for you. No need to thank me."

She said it with perfect confidence.

After all, she really had meant well at first.

An Yu: ...

You already called us bros, so what could he possibly say?

Being Born Poor Is Not Shameful

"Tell me already—what's your relationship with him?"

After An Yu left, Kiana immediately sprang out and pounced onto Bronya, sending even the office chair sliding far backward.

"Are you crazy? You know I met him when I was street racing in college!"

Bronya looked at Kiana's face right in front of hers and instinctively pushed her away a little.

Too close. She needed to be more careful around this yuri-colored dog in the future.

"Hmph. He kicked out all the members of his sister's band and invited us? It can't be because of me, can it?"

At the mention of An Yu, Kiana's back began to ache faintly again. It wasn't an illusion—there really was still a dull pain.