Chapter Summaries

Jonas brought Esnie to a deserted beach after bluntly telling her something that left her flustered. As he teased her about the feelings revealed by her collar, their confrontation ended with Esnie falling against him and blood mixing with the seawater.

• Jonas abruptly stopped the car by the sea and invited Esnie to get some fresh air.
• Esnie followed Jonas onto the empty beach, where he encouraged her to smile and leave her worries behind.
• Jonas pointed out that Esnie's collar showed she was happy, embarrassing her.
• Esnie challenged Jonas and insisted his attempts to win her over would not work, but she stepped back as he approached.
• Jonas leaned closer, Esnie lost her footing and fell against him, and blood mingled with the seawater.

Jonas prepared to exploit a gang clash over the Nathen Conglomerate’s Research Chip, hoping to use the incident to expand his power. He ordered Eiffel to ready a Special Task Force and told Esnie to stand by in the Sterlt District.

• Eiffel rested at her desk while waiting for Jonas to return with the processed documents.
• Jonas drove with Esnie after an accidental encounter left her flustered, and he privately wondered about her growing affection for him.
• Jonas recalled that the Peacekeeping Forces would soon suffer a major gang attack and lose its weapons partnership with the Wetting Conglomerate.
• Jonas reviewed how the Madfire Gang would steal the Nathen Conglomerate’s Research Chip from the Wild Wolf Gang for the Levi Conglomerate.
• Jonas called Eiffel and ordered her to prepare a Special Task Force and have Esnie stand by in the Sterlt District.
• Jonas told Eiffel his plan was “murder and robbery.”

Jonas pressured Sirka into supplying ten Bond Conglomerate tactical suits despite a delay in their planned payment. Meanwhile, the Madfire Gang’s ambush on a convoy was disrupted by a single woman wielding a Thermal Sword.

• Jonas told Sirka that their partnership might be reconsidered if he could not meet the five-million-credit deadline.
• Jonas asked Sirka to provide ten finished Bond Conglomerate tactical suits, and Sirka agreed.
• Jonas reassured Sirka that their partnership was secure despite the delayed payment.
• The Madfire Gang waited in ambush for a convoy handoff on behalf of the Levi Conglomerate.
• An explosion and gunfire broke out before the handoff, and the gang learned that one woman with a Thermal Sword was attacking its ambush team.

The Madfire Gang withdrew after hearing that a lone fighter had cut down an armed squad, while the Wild Wolf Gang and Nathen Conglomerate escort were ambushed. Jonas killed Vunafen and Yoka, then confronted Chelsea Claudi over the comms before shooting out the feed.

• The Madfire Gang's leader ordered his gang to retreat rather than risk fighting an enemy he could not handle.
• Vunafen and Yoka argued over who had leaked their movements as the Wild Wolf Gang and Nathen Conglomerate representative remained pinned down.
• Chelsea Claudi appeared over comms, assessed the ambush, and told them to hold out for reinforcements before an explosion interrupted the connection.
• Jonas and his masked operatives attacked the survivors, and Jonas shot Vunafen and Yoka dead.
• Chelsea saw the wreckage and asked Jonas who he was, and Jonas aimed at her on the screen and fired, cutting off the comms feed.

After the Nathen Conglomerate’s Chip was stolen, Chelsea Claudi ordered Shigure Ryoko to abduct Silka Bond, one of the suspects. Jonas planned to hide the Chip and use it to negotiate with Nathen, confident that he could turn the theft into an advantage.

• Chelsea Claudi reviewed the theft and suspected that the thief’s weapon belonged to the Bond Conglomerate.
• Chelsea sent Shigure Ryoko to abduct the suspects and bring Silka Bond to her for interrogation.
• Jonas showed Eiffel the stolen Nathen II Tactical Chip and explained that Silka Bond’s capture would buy them time to hide it.
• Jonas said he intended to negotiate with the Nathen Conglomerate once they could conceal the Chip’s location.
• Jonas dismissed Eiffel’s doubts and privately vowed to exploit the protagonist’s stolen resources.

Chelsea Claudi interrogated Sirka Bond after a Nathen Conglomerate shipment was hijacked by attackers wearing Bond Conglomerate Tactical Suits. Sirka blamed Jonas Wetting, and Chelsea sent Shigure Ryoko to bring Jonas in.

• Sirka Bond went to Calis Bar to arrange a meeting in Alt District, but a green-eyed woman ambushed and captured him for Chelsea Claudi.
• Chelsea and Shigure Ryoko questioned Sirka about a chip and the hijacked Nathen Conglomerate shipment, whose attackers wore Bond Conglomerate Tactical Suits.
• Sirka denied involvement and said Jonas Wetting had tricked him into lending the Wetting Conglomerate ten Tactical Suits.
• Chelsea believed Sirka and concluded that Jonas was connected to the attack.
• Chelsea ordered Shigure Ryoko to bring Jonas in, determined to confront him for crossing the Nathen Conglomerate.

Jonas Wetting prepared to use himself as bait in a risky plan against Chelsea and Shigure Ryoko. After watching Jonas for days without finding an opening, Shigure finally spotted him leaving the Alt Branch Building and tracked his car.

• Shigure Ryoko agreed to capture Jonas after Chelsea promised her an extra bonus, and Chelsea warned her not to underestimate him.
• Jonas learned that his research team had nearly dismantled the chip's tracking system and told Eiffel he planned to use himself as bait.
• Eiffel worried that Jonas's plan could undo their gains and put him in danger, but agreed to trust him and cooperate.
• Shigure watched Jonas for three days but could not find an opportunity to kidnap him while he stayed inside the company.
• Shigure's surveillance system caught Jonas getting into a black sedan, and she used the Nathen Conglomerate's satellite to track it.

Jonas and Eiffel staged an intimate encounter at the Strien Grand Hotel to lure Shigure Ryoko into a trap. Shiyu Ryoko entered the suite expecting to catch Jonas, but Eiffel subdued her, and Jonas confirmed their bait had worked.

• Shigure Ryoko tracked Jonas to the Strien Grand Hotel and saw him enter with Eiffel.
• Jonas and Eiffel staged an intimate scene in the Presidential Suite to convince Shigure Ryoko that Jonas had let his guard down.
• Shiyu Ryoko hacked the hotel’s surveillance and security systems, disguised herself in a Combat Uniform, and entered the suite.
• Eiffel ambushed Shiyu Ryoko with knockout gas, struck her down, and left her unconscious.
• Jonas remarked that the fish had taken the bait.

Shiyu Ryoko awoke bound in a dim room and learned that Jonas Wetting had captured her to retaliate against Chelsea and the Nathen Conglomerate. Jonas drugged her and left her alone, warning that he hoped she could still speak in an hour.

• Shiyu Ryoko regained consciousness tied to a chair and recognized Jonas Wetting when he entered.
• Jonas told Shiyu Ryoko he had wanted to cooperate with Chelsea but now intended to settle the score after she sent Shiyu against him.
• Jonas declared that Shiyu would be part of the price for Chelsea's actions and forced her to swallow a pill.
• Shiyu Ryoko felt the pill take effect as Jonas left, warning that he hoped she could still speak in an hour.

Jonas Wetting admitted that he had deceived Shiyu Ryoko and planned to negotiate with Chelsea Claudi rather than fight the Nathen Conglomerate. Chelsea discovered that Shiyu had been captured, then received a call from Jonas, who introduced himself as someone she had met before.

• Jonas told Eiffel that he had used deception to capture Shiyu Ryoko and intended to negotiate with Chelsea Claudi.
• Chelsea realized that Shiyu Ryoko's private communication link had gone dead and suspected Jonas had captured her.
• Chelsea considered the Nathen Conglomerate's position and recognized that Jonas now held the initiative.
• Chelsea accepted a call from Shiyu Ryoko's communication channel and asked the unfamiliar caller who he was.
• Jonas introduced himself to Chelsea and said it was their second meeting.

Jonas Wetting contacted Chelsea and proposed that the Wetting Conglomerate join the Nathen Conglomerate’s research on the Nathen II Tactical Chip. Chelsea agreed to a partnership, but Jonas demanded that Shiyu Ryoko remain with his company and work for him for its duration.

• Jonas revealed that he was holding Shiyu Ryoko and intended to keep her with him for a while.
• Chelsea switched their call to video and asked Jonas what he wanted.
• Jonas proposed collaborating with Chelsea on research and development of the Nathen II Tactical Chip.
• Jonas told Chelsea that the Levi Conglomerate had also obtained information about the chip and might partner with him.
• Chelsea offered the Wetting Conglomerate exclusive purchasing access to mass-produced chips, and Jonas agreed while requiring his researchers to join the project and contributing three million credit points.
• Jonas made Shiyu Ryoko’s continued work for the Wetting Conglomerate a condition of the partnership.

Jonas secured a preliminary partnership with the Nathen Conglomerate by agreeing to keep Shiyu Ryoko near him as a supposed spy. He visited the captive Shiyu and proposed a game, leaving her facing an unknown ordeal.

• Chelsea accepted Jonas's proposal to place Shiyu Ryoko by his side as a way to monitor him.
• Jonas explained to Eiffel that Chelsea's belief she could track his movements would make the partnership easier, though he privately admitted he wanted to keep Shiyu for himself.
• Jonas learned that Shiyu had been held for seventeen hours and decided to visit her.
• Jonas found Shiyu exhausted and bound in a dim room, then asked her to play a game.

Jonas frightened Shiyu Ryoko into surrendering by making her believe he had given her the drug that had tormented her before. He then revealed that he had only been joking and that Ms. Chelsea had already reached an agreement with him, leaving Shiyu Ryoko stunned.

• Jonas showed Shiyu Ryoko a pill and challenged her to endure its effects in exchange for her freedom.
• Shiyu Ryoko refused, cursed Jonas, and asked whether he would really let her leave if she won.
• Jonas gave her an orange-flavored candy and touched her calf while she struggled against the drug's effects.
• Jonas claimed the pill in his hand was the drug he had given her before, and Shiyu Ryoko panicked and surrendered.
• Jonas stopped and revealed that he had only been joking and that Ms. Chelsea had already reached an agreement with him.
• Shiyu Ryoko stared at Jonas in confusion as she slowly understood what he had said.

Shiyu Ryoko believed she was free to take revenge on Jonas after the Nathen Conglomerate made peace with him, but Jonas revealed that Chelsea had agreed to make Shiyu work for him until their chip collaboration ended. Eiffel watched the exchange on the surveillance feed and recognized Jonas’s deliberate trick.

• Jonas removed Shiyu Ryoko’s shackles after telling her that Chelsea had reached an agreement with him.
• Shiyu threatened Jonas and imagined getting revenge, believing the Nathen Conglomerate’s settlement left her beyond his reach.
• Jonas showed Shiyu a video of Chelsea stating that Shiyu would work for the Wetting Conglomerate until the Nathen II Tactical Chip collaboration ended.
• Jonas told Shiyu to complete her onboarding paperwork and said he looked forward to working with her.
• Eiffel watched the confinement-room surveillance and realized Jonas had deliberately let Shiyu feel hopeful before revealing her situation.

Shiyu Ryoko agreed to keep spying on the Wetting Conglomerate after Chelsea promised to triple her pay, while Jonas watched their call on surveillance. Jonas then teased Eiffel about her complaints and confronted her about her feelings toward his treatment of others.

• Shiyu Ryoko told Chelsea she had spent four or five days cleaning toilets at the Wetting Conglomerate.
• Chelsea promised Shiyu Ryoko triple pay, and Shiyu swore to steal Jonas's intelligence for the Nathen Conglomerate.
• Jonas watched the recorded call with Eiffel and laughed at Shiyu Ryoko's vow to spy on him.
• Eiffel asked Jonas to act more seriously as her reward for her hard work.
• Jonas moved close to Eiffel and asked whether she was disgusted by how he treated others or disappointed that he had not treated her the same way.

Jonas questioned Eiffel about whether jealousy had influenced her judgment, then left her to think after teasingly pressing an apple to her lips. Three days later, he took Iris shopping and encouraged her to wear cat ears, leaving her blushing after she meowed for him.

• Jonas asked Eiffel whether jealousy, rather than rational judgment, had shaped her behavior, and she could not answer.
• Jonas pressed an apple to Eiffel’s lips and walked away, leaving her thoughts unsettled.
• Eiffel avoided Jonas over the following three days while he spent time shopping for seasonal clothes with Iris.
• Iris tried on a white dress and asked Jonas whether she looked pretty, and he praised her appearance.
• Jonas gave Iris a cat-ear accessory and asked her to meow, which she did shyly.

Jonas promoted Esnie to director of the Alt Branch's Security Force, deliberately leaving her uncertain about his motives. Meanwhile, the Madfire Gang identified Esnie as the woman who defeated them and decided to pass her identity to the Levi Conglomerate, leaving the conflict between the conglomerates to escalate.

• Jonas offered Esnie the position of director of the Alt Branch's rebuilt Security Force, and she wondered whether the promotion was tied to what had happened between them by the sea.
• Jonas avoided explaining why he chose Esnie, and she left his office with unresolved disappointment.
• The Madfire Gang's boss reviewed the losses from the failed ambush and ordered his subordinates to identify the attacker from combat footage.
• The Madfire Gang matched the attacker to [Black Valkyrie] Esnie and concluded that the Wetting Conglomerate was involved.
• The Madfire Gang's boss ordered the information sent to the Levi Conglomerate and said the conglomerates could fight among themselves.

Gracie Roderick blamed the Wetting Conglomerate for stealing the Nathen Conglomerate’s tactical chip and launched sanctions against it. After Mister Wetting denied knowing about the chip, Gracie began to suspect that Jonas Wetting had acted on his own.

• Gracie Roderick concluded that the Wetting Conglomerate had interfered with his plan to seize the Nathen II Tactical Chip and ordered companies under the Levi Conglomerate to end cooperation and pressure the Wetting Conglomerate.
• Twenty days after Jonas reached an agreement with the Nathen Conglomerate, the Levi Conglomerate imposed sanctions, triggering a bloodless corporate war that cost the Wetting Conglomerate millions of credit points.
• The Wetting Conglomerate’s board and Mister Wetting struggled to understand Gracie’s actions, while Jonas remained uninvolved and unaware that he was suspected.
• Mister Wetting denied knowing about the stolen chip when Gracie accused the Wetting Conglomerate of taking it.
• Gracie reconsidered the evidence and wondered whether Jonas Wetting had acted entirely on his own.

Gracie and Mister settled the dispute over the Nathen II Tactical Chip, agreeing that the Wetting Conglomerate would retrieve it from Jonas while the Levi Conglomerate paid compensation and cooperated on research. Mister sent Kogal to demand the chip, and Kogal privately resolved to remove Jonas from the succession.

• Gracie showed Mister a video of Esnie ambushing his people and stealing the Nathen Conglomerate's chip.
• Mister said Jonas Wetting had acted independently and agreed to force him to surrender the chip to the Levi Conglomerate.
• Gracie offered to cover the Levi Conglomerate's losses, pay two million credit points, and cooperate on chip research.
• Mister told the Wetting Conglomerate board that Jonas had caused the conflict and that the chip could provide leverage.
• Mister ordered Kogal Wetting to visit Jonas in the Alt District and retrieve the chip, while warning him not to push Jonas too far.
• Kogal agreed to go but privately vowed that Jonas would not remain the rightful heir for much longer.

Jonas prepared to face Kogar, the board representative seeking to punish him over the stolen Chip, and revealed that he intended to use the confrontation to gain leverage. After Kogar insulted Jonas's dead parents, Jonas and Eiffel subdued Kogar and his bodyguard, and Jonas held Kogar at gunpoint.

• Jonas told Eiffel that he could resolve the dispute over the Chip but wanted to use the situation to get what he wanted from Kogar.
• Kogar arrived at the Alt Branch and presented a video showing Esnie Nora involved in stealing the Nathen Conglomerate's research results.
• Kogar ordered Jonas to surrender the Chip, compensate the Wetting Conglomerate, and accept the board's right to hold him accountable.
• Jonas said he had no intention of joining the board, and Kogar insulted his deceased parents.
• Eiffel knocked out Kogar's bodyguard, while Jonas pinned Kogar to the conference table and aimed a gun at his head.