"Discipline your subordinate." Saburo Arasaka's words lingered in the room, and Senno Arasaka, with his head still bowed, was slow to react.
"Discipline your subordinate."
Saburo Arasaka's words lingered in the room, and Senno Arasaka, with his head still bowed, was slow to react.
He eventually raised his eyes, glanced at Karl, and then turned to look at the man across from him.
"I don't think there's any reason for him to stay."
"This is a family matter!"
Saburo's brows furrowed, his aged face contorting with a flicker of anger.
His son's hesitation gave him a perfect outlet for the frustration he'd bottled up after his exchange with Karl.
Unable to vent his dissatisfaction directly at a rebellious mercenary due to politics and pride, Saburo instead unleashed his irritation on Senno—his son, a man he no longer truly considered part of his dominion.
His tone was sharp and commanding. A mere frown, a raised voice—yet from Saburo Arasaka, it scorched like fire. He was like a master reprimanding a tool that no longer served its purpose.
This demeanor, rather than suppressing Senno, only provoked him.
Like a corporate worker finally fed up with his overbearing boss, Senno stood up abruptly, glaring at Saburo.
"A family matter? You still remember what that means?"
"Even if I do, I know it better than you ever did."
Saburo narrowed his eyes, his gaze chilling and heavy with menace. "Betrayal. Rage. Immaturity. Arrogance. Self-delusion. Do I need to list more of your flaws?"
"Arrogance? Are you talking about yourself? Thinking the whole world revolves around you. If you came here just to insult me, to lecture me about your absurd notion of family, then you can leave right now!"
"Insolent child."
"Can't come up with anything fresh, huh?!"
Senno stared daggers at his father, fury written all over his face.
Saburo, for his part, returned the outburst with an expression of disdain, cold and unreadable.
Their eyes locked for a few moments.
In the end, Saburo's icy stare overwhelmed Senno's fiery anger.
Senno's expression twisted with frustration, but slowly, reluctantly, he sat back down.
He had yielded once again.
As he had over the last fifty years, each encounter with Saburo only eroded his rebellious edge, reshaping him into a model corporate drone.
He was no longer the man who, at Kei Arasaka's funeral, had nearly come to blows with Saburo, requiring Hanako's intervention to prevent disaster.
To Saburo, Senno was now just a rebellious housecat—one that had escaped the cage, only to crawl back in, begging for scraps. The moment he stepped back inside, Saburo knew exactly how to handle him.
Saburo remained standing, towering over his son.
He knew: he had once again broken Senno Arasaka.
From the moment Senno rejoined the company, this result had always been inevitable.
He was the god of the corporation—the ultimate expert in managing organizations, in controlling "employees." No one understood people within a corporate machine like Saburo.
Under Saburo's unwavering stare, Senno moved his lips slightly in bitterness, then turned his head aside with suppressed rage.
"Karl, sit down."
To Saburo, this single sentence marked yet another victory.
Senno Arasaka was still the same. Still a corporate pawn.
Rebellion was beyond him now.
Everything remained under control.
Saburo turned to Karl.
Now this unruly, undisciplined mercenary—that was a more difficult piece.
Unlike Senno, whose nature Saburo had already mapped out and subdued, Karl was more like the younger Senno—defiant and unpredictable.
Saburo's cybernetic eye flickered with data and thought. He had already gathered plenty of intel on Karl's background and connections.
Step one: indirect dominance. Would he resist?
The answer came quickly.
When Senno told him to sit, Karl's expression shifted briefly—but he complied.
He sat down.
Submission.
"So, he can be tamed. At least he understands rules."
Satisfied, Saburo turned his gaze to Takemura.
The message was clear:
"You may go."
"Yes, sir."
Takemura bowed respectfully, body inclined forward. His eyes swept the room, pausing briefly on the mercs, then silently stepped into the elevator.
Jackie, V, and Oliver exchanged glances. A flicker of something passed between them, but they said nothing, silently following him in.
Once all four were inside, the elevator doors slid shut.
Then Takemura spoke:
"Break their wildness. Teach them discipline. That's how you train a hawk."
"What the hell are you mumbling about, Nip?"
Oliver glanced sideways at Takemura but found his face dripping with scorn. That contemptuous gaze made it clear how little he thought of Oliver's words.
Oliver opened his mouth to snap back—but stopped.
He bit his tongue, frustration tightening across his face, though he forced a calm, indifferent look.
'What an idiot. Does he really believe Karl and Senno's little act? Him and that ancient fossil, both clueless. Think one glare or pompous lecture still means something. You sit at the top too long, you forget how far the fall is.'
Power—hold it long enough, and you start mistaking fear for respect.
Oliver thought of the little bits of history Karl had shared with him.
Weren't past tyrants just like this?
The slight sense of weightlessness from the descending elevator filled the silence.
No one said another word.
Back in the penthouse suite, now that the bodyguards were gone, Saburo turned to Karl.
"I've heard some things about you and Hanako."
The words hung in the air.
Karl and Senno both froze.
Hanako?
He's bringing her up now?
But they quickly understood.
Of course he would.
There was no need for outsiders.
To Saburo Arasaka, anyone outside the family… was irrelevant.
So that's how it is.
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🔥🦾 CYBERPUNK: THE RELENTLESS 🦾🔥
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