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Just like most other countries, a majority of Carmen’s ‘leaders’ lived in the capital region, and as such, the security there could be considered the ‘best’ in the country.
Of course, considering the pathetic state of every other region in Carmen, even having a ‘hundred times better security’ wouldn’t be anything impressive.
Most of the patrols and security protocols were only enforced in a very limited region surrounding the residences of the ‘important’ figures, making it so that normal people had little to do with the ‘improved’ situation.
Additionally, the fact that there were ‘priority’ targets for them to protect only made it easier for the police and the military to ignore the situation in other areas, which sometimes made things even worse than they were in the non-capital regions.
Naturally, none of the leaders were ‘unaware’ that their system was broken. They simply didn’t care. After all, it had no effect on them anyway, and it wasn’t like making people’s life better would benefit them in any way.
Never did they think that one day this careless attitude would come back to bite them in the butt.
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“How many sites have we captured by now?”
“We’re done with most of the high priority targets. Almost all the hospitals, premium and luxury shops, and restaurants in capital region are now fully under our control.” Noelle paused, and then marked a few spots on the map they had spread on the table with red. “Only these casinos and pubs left on our list.”
Emilia hummed. “We should be good to go with the next step of the plan then. Let me call big sister.”
Obviously, as the face of the White Deer Corporation, Samantha was under ‘careful observation’ by the government during the civil unrest, and had to at least pretend to stay where she was supposed to be to not cause too much suspicion.
They’d barely managed to stay together for a day before the older girl had to reluctantly return to the capital region for that purpose. And although it helped them have more reliable contact with their allies in the area, Sam clearly didn’t enjoy being separated from her little sister for so long.𝑜𝑣𝒍xt.𝗰𝒐𝑚
To no one’s surprise, it only took half a ring for her to pick up Emilia’s call, despite the delay caused by the secure channel they were using.
“Heyyyy baby! Did you miss me already? Should I come back?!”
Noelle rolled her eyes as expected, and Emilia couldn’t help but giggle. “Of course. But first, just let Ginny and Jasper know what they must do.”
“Ahh, alright. I got it~!”
Maybe she was in a hurry to just be done with all she needed to do and embrace her ‘little baby’, but for once Sam didn’t try to extend their call by flirting with Emilia, but even that didn’t stop Noelle from being skeptical.
“She hasn’t forgotten about the part where we’re supposed to build a good image in the public’s mind by helping wherever we can, has she? Although she’s usually quite capable, that idiot works really inefficiently if it has been more than a day or two without touching you.”
Emilia had no way to know if the gray-haired girl was complementing or scolding her older sister, so she could only shrug helplessly. “It doesn’t matter too much, anyway. We can always work on stabilizing ourselves after we’ve taken over, can’t we?”
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When the civil unrest first started, the president and the other top leaders of the government hadn’t really taken it too seriously.
After all, while the situation looked a little dire on the surface, what could these helpless crowds do in the face of armed forces? They couldn’t even protect themselves from gangsters and thugs most of the time.
If not for many being wary of the presence of the White Deer Corporation, insignificant as it was, maybe they wouldn’t even have bothered with enforcing the martial law.
But when they thought about it carefully, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get rid of one of their greatest weaknesses — the Gray Wolfe Corporation.
Of course, it had served its purpose in filling their wallets and ‘boosting the economy’ when it was needed, but the recent events proved that it was more of a liability for them than an asset, and keeping it around any longer would be no different from keeping a poisonous snake as a pet.
The little benefits that it might bring were simply not worth the risk anymore, as far as they were concerned.
Naturally, since they were going to cut it off anyway, the government officials no longer cared about who won or lost in the Gray Wolfe’s internal conflict, or what happened to their ‘pet’, the Nightingale clan.
They would all be wiped out in due time, after all, and everything that once belonged to them would be split apart and distributed amongst themselves.
Unfortunately, before they could really move in to strike, the ‘snake’ seemed to have sensed its imminent death, and made the first move instead.
“You wish to discuss such things… at a time like this?”
Jasper smiled. “Of course, Mr. Minister. We’re legally obligated to do our best to help the country’s economy, after all. How can we sit back and do nothing to change things when things are getting so bad?”
Although none of the political leaders were pleased with it, they couldn’t really start disregarding the ‘law’ of their country.
If law and order were to be openly thrown out the window by them, it wouldn’t take long before the military leaders started getting ideas. And if that happened… it would definitely be a disaster.
Not to mention keeping their positions, they might not even be able to keep their lives!
They simply had no choice but to agree, and Jasper looked incredibly pleased as he walked into the ‘den of wolves’ with his head held high.
“Ahh, it’s good to see everyone is so serious and determined to change the current situation. Don’t worry, my sister and I have come up with some great ideas to improve our economy, soothe the people, and end this civil unrest!”
Of course, many of them were aware that the ‘root’ of the problem wasn’t really that the people were poor, but that they didn’t feel ‘safe’ anywhere. No matter what economical reforms these people proposed, it wouldn’t change a thing.
What they needed to do was get rid of all the rampant gangsters throughout the country, or at least a majority of them. But that was easier said than done.
After all, just like cockroaches, it was easy to get them to prosper, but incredibly difficult to completely get rid of them.
Even so, however, they didn’t stop Jasper from speaking his mind. At least, until he was halfway through his ‘proposal’.
“What nonsense!”
“How dare you spout such bullshit in front of us?!”
The security personnel at the site were momentarily alarmed, but after they made sure that it was just the politicians being outraged over some words, they quickly calmed down.
Jasper chuckled. “Don’t be so quick to dismiss it. I assure you, our Gray Wolfe Corporation is very sincere this time, and given the opportunity—!”
While he could ignore the wide variety of curses being thrown his way, Jasper had no choice but to dodge the glass cup that came flying towards his head from the president’s side.
While they should have stepped in to mediate at this point, the security personnel only looked at each other before ignoring the incident.
“Leave. Right now.”
Jasper also knew when to stop testing someone’s patience, and only shrugged before standing up. “Well, I understand this might be sudden. But anyway, just think about it carefully. There are more vultures looking to devour us both than you expect, and I simply don’t want to die.”
His parting words gave everyone in the meeting room chills, and a few couldn’t help but turn to the president uncomfortably.
“C-Could he be talking about the White Deer Corporation… are they trying to do the same thing to us as they did with Blue Dawn?”
“No way, we’re not like that pathetic shit hole. Do you really think our military will collapse like that in front of a bunch of foreigners and misguided civilians?”
The words of the second politician reassured many, but that was when someone said something that was on everyone’s mind, but no one dared to say.
“H-He couldn’t be talking about our military… right?”
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