A steady pulse throbbed at my temple. Inside the silence of the Presidential Suite, scented with luxurious lavender, the shattered screen of my phone kept lighting up, its piercing ringtone echoing through the room.
The name on the display read: Siska.
I stared at it for several seconds, letting the anger in my chest settle into something cold and lethal. Then, with an unhurried motion, I slid the green button and switched the call to speaker.
"Arkan! You finally answered your phone, huh?!" Siska's shrill voice instantly shattered the silence. There was unmistakable panic beneath it, but the disgusting arrogance and pride she always carried were still there. "Where are you right now? You're not dead, are you?! You ran off last night after making a scene in front of Brandon's house!"
I walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing down at the glittering financial district of Arkadia below.
"What does that have to do with me, Siska?" My voice was flat, almost completely devoid of emotion.
She fell silent for a second. I could hear her frustrated breathing through the phone.
"What do you mean, what does it have to do with you?! You think acting all mysterious is going to make me worry about you? Get over yourself! Listen, I'm only calling because the mansion security guards said you got hit by something last night. Brandon is furious because of the mess you caused outside his gate. He said if you don't disappear from this city by tomorrow, he'll personally make sure your life ends in a much more brutal way!"
Hearing the threat, a cynical smile spread across my face.
The memory of Brandon throwing a hundred-dollar bill at my face replayed in my mind.
"Tell Brandon," I said quietly, stressing every syllable until my words sounded like a sentence handed down from the darkness itself. "Tell him that instead of worrying about last night's little incident, he should start checking his company's account balances and logistics assets. He won't have time to think about me over the next twenty-four hours."
Siska laughed mockingly, her sharp laughter dripping with contempt.
"Are you insane? You've completely lost your mind, Arkan! You're nothing but a broke delivery guy! Stop fantasizing about being rich just because Brandon crushed your pride last night! That's enough! Don't ever show your face in front of me again. Brandon is sick of looking at your trashy face!"
"Enjoy your time with Brandon, Siska," I cut in coldly, without the slightest hesitation. "Because the two of you... don't have much time left."
Click.
I ended the call.
The very next second, I turned around and walked out of the hospital, leaving behind my tattered courier uniform.
A few hours later, the roar of the million-dollar Koenigsegg I had just purchased tore through the quiet afternoon in the Northern District. The doors of the Royal Motors dealership I had just left were still trembling as I accelerated the futuristic hypercar straight toward the headquarters of Elite Professional Placement Agency.
Following the System's instructions, I needed someone capable of managing the assets I was about to sweep off the market.
The moment my car stopped in front of the agency's luxurious lobby, a woman was already waiting for me.
She wore a perfectly tailored navy blazer, her hair neatly tied back with a silver clip, and her eyes were as sharp as an eagle's. She was Elena, the assistant candidate selected by the System as the pinnacle of investment management talent.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Arkan. I'm Elena, your personal assistant," she said the moment I stepped out of the car. Her eyes briefly assessed my appearance. "I've reviewed your employment contract and profile over the past five minutes. Forgive my bluntness, but according to my analysis, this car is far too conspicuous for someone intending to build an empire from the shadows."
I met her piercing gaze.
"Do you work for my System or for my money, Elena?"
She remained silent for a moment.
The corner of her lips lifted into a faint smile filled with calculation.
"For both, sir. And your first mission is to transform Arkan the courier into the man who holds power over Arkadia's real estate assets before dawn tomorrow."
I tossed the Koenigsegg's key to the valet, who froze and trembled at the sight of the vehicle, then walked into the building with Elena.
"How many of the Dirgantara family's assets can we buy right now, Elena?" I asked as we crossed the agency's grand lobby.
She tapped rapidly across her tablet.
A small holographic display materialized in the air, pulsing with wild red and green market graphs.
"The logistics sector controlled by the Dirgantara Group is currently facing a liquidity crisis caused by failed speculation. We can enter as a shadow investor. With the one hundred billion rupiah you currently possess, we can acquire fifteen percent of the voting shares through minority shareholders who are panicking."
"Fifteen percent?"
A crooked smile crossed my face.
In the corporate world, that was a sacred number for staging a coup.
"Do it."
"Sir." Elena's voice suddenly grew more tense. "There's a data update. Brandon Dirgantara is currently attending a board meeting at PT Arkadia Jaya, the logistics company where you used to work. They're planning to merge illegal assets to conceal the family's debt."
I stopped in my tracks.
Memories flashed through my mind of how the managers there had constantly cursed at me and docked my pay just to please Brandon.
"If we move now, we'll need to be there in person," Elena continued.
I glanced at the cheap watch still wrapped around my wrist, the only relic of my former life that remained.
It was two o'clock in the afternoon.
"Prepare a suit. I don't intend to look like the man they trampled yesterday."
Thirty minutes later, an exclusive fitting room on the second floor was lined with rows of designer suits.
When I stepped out, the reflection in the mirror showed a completely different man.
The sharply tailored charcoal gray suit fit my now broad shoulders perfectly. Elena walked beside me, now dressed in an even more elegant business outfit.
"Are you ready to become their worst nightmare, sir?" Elena asked as she adjusted my collar.
"I was born to destroy them, Elena," I replied, my carefully restrained fury flashing through my eyes.
Together, we walked toward the luxury sedan waiting outside.
The car sped through the crowded city streets, heading for the PT Arkadia Jaya shareholders' meeting.
I turned toward the window, watching the streets of Arkadia, a city that would soon kneel beneath my feet.
"Elena, send one message to our acquisition team," I said, my eyes fixed straight ahead. "Don't just buy their shares. Buy every building, every logistics route, and every debt they own. Let the Dirgantara family sit at the boardroom table as guests while we hold the power they once called their own."
For the first time, Elena smiled broadly.
It was the smile of a victor before the war had even begun.
"Understood, sir. Arkan the courier has officially become history. Arkan, the ruler of Arkadia, has just begun his day."
Twenty minutes later, our luxury sedan came to a stop directly in front of PT Arkadia Jaya's main lobby.
This building had once felt so intimidating to me, the place where I had bowed my head and endured insults every single day.
I stepped out of the car.
Inside the lobby, the atmosphere was tense. Several staff members rushed back and forth with pale faces.
"The board meeting started two minutes ago on the top floor, sir," Elena whispered just behind me, her eyes never leaving the holographic tablet. "Brandon has just submitted a proposal to fire forty percent of the employees to cut operating costs, and your former supervisor is being forced to sign it under threat."
I adjusted the buttons of my suit jacket, feeling the dominant aura surging through my body under the System's influence.
"Good," I murmured, striding confidently toward the heavily guarded VVIP elevator. "Let's see the look on Brandon's face when he realizes that today's fate... is being decided by the 'trash' he threw away last night."
Latest Chapter
Turning Point at the Edge of Death
The static hiss from the communicator lying on the marble floor sounded like the dying scream of despair. Crack... crack... Every second felt like a dagger slicing through my nerves. I lay sprawled there, half my body completely paralyzed, my breathing ragged, yet somehow hollow in my throat.Elena... you can't leave like this."Elena? Answer me, damn it!" I shouted, my voice hoarse to the point of breaking. But the only response was a cold, oppressive silence, as though the room had transformed into a vacuum.Before me, the System interface flickered wildly with a deep red light, displaying a countdown that mocked me as a human being:[CRITICAL FAILURE: Soul Transfer Cannot Be Stopped!][Total Soul Drained: 16%][Time Remaining: 22:15:03]"I won't let you win, Siska!" I growled. My teeth clenched so hard they felt as though they might crack. Pain exploded inside my head, as if thousands of burning nails were being driven into my brain. Yet beneath that agony, a fire of rage blazed, h
Elena on the Front Line
"Arkan! Grab the wheel!"Elena's scream shattered the silence inside the cabin as the car suddenly spun out of control. The tires shrieked against Arkadia's rain-slick asphalt as the luxury sedan swerved violently to the right. My hands had gone completely numb. Every nerve in my left arm was dead, while the vision in my left eye twisted beneath a blood-red haze that burned across my retina. Inside my head, it felt as though a pair of invisible hands were ripping my sanity away by force.Siska... Siska was draining my soul from miles away.With the reflexes of a military veteran, Elena threw herself across the console, seized the steering wheel with one hand, and slammed the brakes with all her strength. The car lurched to a violent stop just inches from the highway's concrete barrier.I gasped for air, clutching my chest as it pounded in sync with the flashing crimson countdown in the corner of my vision.[23:54:12 Until Permanent Soul Fragmentation]"We have to get back to the penth
Alliance in the Darkness
The breath I had just taken caught in my throat.The crimson text lingering in the corner of my vision continued to flicker faintly as I stepped away from the penthouse window, distancing myself from the reflection that had just grinned at me with something horrifying."Arkan? What's wrong?"Elena's voice shattered the silence, sharp and probing. Her blue eyes shifted from the dashboard display to me, immediately noticing the drastic change in my posture.I looked down at my wrist.The hands of the analog watch were ticking normally again, as if those few impossible seconds of reverse motion had been nothing more than a hallucination brought on by extreme exhaustion.But the cold that lingered deep within my soul was far too real to dismiss as a delusion.The Competitor was already inside.It had planted its seed."It's nothing," I lied, swallowing the anxiety churning inside me. I forced a predator's smile to conceal the fractures spreading through my mind. "Just... the lingering dat
System Bug and Evolution
My breath caught in my throat. Inside the SUV's cabin, which had suddenly become suffocatingly tense, I stared at Elena as she slammed on the brakes without warning. The tires screeched violently across Arkadia's rain-slick asphalt, triggering instant panic.In front of me, the dashboard display continued flickering erratically, projecting a blood-red warning that pulsed relentlessly across my vision.[WARNING: Your Device Has Been Infiltrated by a Primary Competitor System (High Level). Consciousness Synchronization Is in Danger.]"Arkan! What's happening?!" Elena shouted. Her voice, usually as cold as ice, cracked with panic. Her hand moved instinctively, drawing a semi-automatic pistol from beneath her blazer while her sharp eyes scanned beyond the windows. The cabin had gone dark after the vehicle's electrical system completely failed."He's... he's inside my head, Elena!" I groaned, clutching both sides of my skull.Agony crashed into me, as though a burning needle were being for
Property God’s Challenge
The screen of my phone reflected my wide eyes. That blood-red sentence seemed to burn itself into my retinas."...from another System user.""Damn it!" I cursed, nearly hurling the phone onto the asphalt.My blood surged violently, no longer from anger, but from a horrifying new reality. All this time, I had believed I was the only predator empowered by this System. But tonight, beneath Arkadia's pitch-black sky, I realized I was nothing more than another chess piece on a board far larger than I had ever imagined. There was another monster out there.And it had just laughed at me."Mr. Arkan? Are you alright?" Elena stepped closer, her aura instantly shifting into tactical alertness as she noticed the drastic change in my expression."We've been set up, Elena," I hissed, my jaw locked tight as I squeezed my phone until my knuckles turned white. "Our short selling... someone hijacked it. Someone who knew exactly what I was thinking. Contact the field team at Green Oasis right now! We'r
After the Storm of Destruction
"Mr. Arkan, watch out!"Elena's scream was swallowed by the deafening crash of the VVIP elevator door being smashed apart. In the total darkness, flashes of sparking electricity briefly illuminated the silhouettes of several heavily built men armed with tactical weapons as they moved with terrifying speed. My heart pounded, yet the System's icy presence refused to let panic take hold. Before the intruders could even raise their weapons, Elena exploded into motion through the darkness. Bones shifted with sickening cracks, followed by muffled groans of pain.Only three brutal minutes later, silence returned.When the emergency lights flickered on with a dim crimson glow, smoke already filled the room. Three unidentified attackers lay unconscious across the marble floor, while Elena stood in front of the desk, breathing slightly harder than usual as she wiped a streak of blood from the corner of her mouth."They're professionals, sir," Elena whispered, her eyes blazing with vigilance. "B
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