On the floor lay Sakiko's shredded business suit.
On the table sat a tablet, its screen cracked beyond repair, abandoned and alone.
The sofa was soaked over a wide area.
And Sakiko herself was like a boneless heap, limp in Seiji Fujiwara's arms.
Her eyes were empty.
As if every last trace of vitality had been drained from her moments ago.
Seiji held her, feeling the astonishing way his strength was rapidly returning, surprise flickering across his face.
He lowered his head and kissed Sakiko's forehead, damp with sweat and tears.
"Sakiko."
His voice was hoarse, yet gentle. "How do you feel right now?"
She slowly lifted her head.
The vacant look in her eyes gradually focused again.
She looked at him.
At the man who had just dragged her into hell, yet also let her taste heaven.
Her gaze was complicated.
There was no hatred left.
No humiliation.
Even fear had faded.
In its place was something else.
Something born after giving up all resistance, after surrendering everything she had.
Resignation.
And a faint dependence she herself hadn't even noticed yet.
A sense of belonging.
Her last bit of resolve, her final shred of dignity, were gone.
But…
Leaning against his chest, feeling his powerful heartbeat, feeling that warm fullness that seemed to fill her entire being…
That feeling…
Maybe…
Wasn't that bad?
After a long while, Sakiko slowly closed her eyes.
In a voice so soft it was almost inaudible, tinged with exhaustion and release, she murmured,
"Everything I have… is yours."
…
…
Morning sunlight streamed through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.
The light illuminated dust motes floating in the air and the chaotic battlefield that was the study.
On the floor were torn black skirts and stockings.
On the desk sat the ruined tablet, its shattered screen beyond saving.
In the air lingered the sweet, strange scent left behind by last night's madness, not yet fully dispersed.
Sakiko Toyokawa woke up.
The sunlight stung her eyes awake.
She slowly opened them, and the first thing she saw was Seiji's sleeping face, close enough to touch.
She was lying in his arms.
A thin cashmere blanket taken from the bedroom covered them both as they held each other tightly.
Fragments of last night surged back into her mind like a broken tide.
Her struggle.
Her collapse.
Her surrender.
And the secret that had been completely laid bare.
Heat rushed to her cheeks.
Yet her eyes were strangely calm.
The humiliation and bitterness from before were gone.
So were last night's fear and despair.
All that remained was a calm after the storm.
She had lost.
Lost completely, stripped of even her last shred of cover.
When someone has their final Secret and dignity taken away, and in the process tastes an extreme pleasure powerful enough to shatter the soul…
Resistance loses all meaning.
She shifted slightly.
A sharp, indescribable soreness surged up from deep within her, making her suck in a breath.
But strangely enough, aside from the pain, her body was filled with a warm, unusual energy.
Her mind felt clearer than ever.
Her body didn't feel nearly as weak as she'd imagined.
Was this… the power of her constitution?
Not only restoring a man's strength, but nourishing herself as well?
How absurd.
How obscene.
She gave a self-mocking smile and pulled the blanket up, burying her face deeper against his chest.
Just then, Seiji's eyelids stirred.
He woke up.
"Awake?"
He opened his eyes and looked down at the small woman in his arms.
"…Yes." Sakiko's voice was barely above a whisper.
She didn't dare look at him, only tucked her face even deeper.
"How do you feel?" he asked knowingly, his hand beginning to wander under the blanket, tracing along her smooth back.
Her body stiffened instinctively.
But this time, she didn't resist.
"I'm… I'm okay," she replied softly.
"Oh? Just okay?"
Seiji smiled, his fingers growing far more aggressive.
"Last night, I distinctly remember someone screaming that she was going to die, that she was going to break."
"I…"
Sakiko's face flushed so red it looked like it might drip blood.
The memory of how completely she'd lost control last night made her want to crawl into a hole and disappear.
"Seiji…"
She lifted her head, those beautiful eyes filled with a hint of pleading. "Don't say it…"
"Alright, I won't."
He stopped at just the right moment.
He enjoyed watching prey struggle, but he enjoyed savoring complete submission even more.
He pinched her chin and kissed her.
A long, domineering kiss.
Only when she was nearly out of breath did he let her go.
"About that proposal of yours yesterday…" he said casually, wiping his lips.
Sakiko's heart clenched.
"I've read the plan," he continued evenly. "It's well written, but it would be troublesome to execute."
As expected…
Her heart sank.
She'd known it.
After discovering the "treasure" hidden in her body, how could this man still care about some business plan?
He would only use that Secret to extract even more from her.
Her little bit of business talent meant nothing to him.
However.
What he said next left her completely stunned.
"But…"
He looked at her darkened expression, the smile at the corner of his mouth turning even more malicious.
"I was very satisfied with your performance last night."
"So…"
"I'll help you reclaim that branch of your family's assets."
What?
Sakiko snapped her head up, staring at him in disbelief.
What did that mean?
"Don't understand?"
He pinched her delicate cheek. "It means your reward wasn't earned with that flawed proposal."
"It was earned with this pretty face, this body that pleased me, and…"
His gaze drifted downward meaningfully.
"That little secret in your body that flows so well."
"Now do you understand?"
She did.
And because she did, her expression grew complicated.
This was nothing more than a different kind of transaction.
A deal where she traded her body and her Secret for his help.
To Seiji, her value lay not in her mind or her talent.
Only in the fact that she was a woman who could please him.
A swirl of emotions welled up inside her.
Humiliation?
Yes.
But more than that was a sense of relief, of everything finally settling.
And… a faint joy she felt ashamed to admit.
Because she had gotten back what her mother left behind.
No matter how ugly the process was.
She had gotten it in the end.
After a long silence, Sakiko lowered her head and gently rested her forehead against his chest.
"…Thank you."
Her voice was soft, carrying a submission she'd never shown before.
"Seiji."
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host. Target: Sakiko Toyokawa. Affection has broken through the critical threshold!]
[Third-stage strategy conditions met!]
[Third-stage reward obtained: Generic Drug Development Team!]
[Description: A complete team composed of veteran pharmacists, clinical physicians, and bioengineers, mastering core generic technologies for dozens of best-selling patented drugs. With this team, you will possess core competitiveness in the pharmaceutical field!]
[Additional reward: Yamato Precision, a near-bankrupt medical equipment manufacturing company!]
[Description: Due to poor management and malicious short-selling, the company's stock price has collapsed. However, it retains complete production lines and multiple core medical device patents. The final piece needed to close your medical empire's loop!]
Excellent.
The pharmaceutical industry chain was now complete.
Seiji organized the system rewards in his mind and nodded in satisfaction.
He picked up the phone from the bedside and dialed Jin Kurosawa's number.
"Boss?" Jin's always-energetic voice came through.
"The Toyokawa Group situation can be wrapped up."
Seiji's tone was flat and cold.
"Contact Yuichi Toyokawa. Tell him Genesis Group is willing to inject twenty billion yen to help him through the crisis."
"On the condition that those assets are transferred to Sakiko."
"And he also signs an agreement for Genesis Group to share Toyokawa Group's logistics chain."
"…Boss, isn't that basically robbery?" Even Jin couldn't help clicking his tongue.
"Tell him he has three minutes to think," Seiji said, uninterested in explaining.
"After three minutes, if he refuses, Genesis Group's legal team will immediately work with his enemies to liquidate him."
"Yes. Understood."
Jin accepted instantly.
After hanging up, Seiji looked down at Sakiko in his arms, her eyes closed again as if she'd fallen asleep, and smiled.
Obtaining what someone desires most through the most humiliating means.
That kind of reward, mixed with pain and sweetness, was the perfect way to tame these proud daughters of heaven.
…
…
Toyokawa Group headquarters.
Yuichi Toyokawa was smashing everything in his office. Priceless antique vases, limited-edition cigar boxes, even calligraphy paintings worth tens of millions left behind by his grandfather, all torn to shreds.
"Why?! Why?!" Eyes bloodshot, he stared at the phone on his desk. Just moments ago, the president of Sumitomo Bank, a man who used to call him brother, had informed him in a cold, official tone that his loan extension request had been denied. If he couldn't repay the twenty billion yen bridge loan within three days, the bank would immediately freeze assets and begin forced liquidation.
"Another bastard kicking me while I'm down!" Yuichi snarled, veins bulging.
The office door was shoved open. The secretary rushed in, panic on her face. "Chairman! People from Genesis Medical are here!"
Yuichi shot to his feet. Genesis? Seiji Fujiwara? Did Sakiko really manage to whisper in his ear?
Before he could celebrate, a man in a black trench coat and sunglasses walked in with a group of bodyguards and lawyers. Jin Kurosawa. He glanced at the wreckage in the office, sneer tugging at his lips, and slapped two documents down on the desk.
"Mr. Yuichi Toyokawa." Jin's voice was ice-cold. "One is a twenty-billion-yen capital injection agreement. The other is a gratuitous transfer agreement for Toyokawa Electronics, along with the Toyokawa Family's logistics chain."
"The logistics chain?" Yuichi shouted. "I never agreed to that!" That was one of the Toyokawa Family's core businesses. Letting Seiji get his hands on it was like having a chunk torn out of their belly.
"My boss says you have three minutes," Jin replied expressionlessly. "If you refuse, he'll invest on your enemies' side instead. Given the current situation, being your enemy is much easier than being your ally."
"You!" Yuichi raged. But in the end, he was still a businessman.
…
That afternoon.
Genesis Mansion.
A notarized equity transfer agreement bearing the Toyokawa Group seal was delivered to Sakiko.
She stared at the list of companies her mother once managed, now showing the shareholder name "Sakiko Toyokawa."
Her hands trembled.
She looked up at Seiji sitting nearby. Her gaze flickered, and the last trace of resistance deep in her eyes finally vanished.
…
…
Somewhere in Tokyo, inside a pharmaceutical laboratory.
Crash!
An empty bottle smashed against the wall, shattering.
"No… I can't replicate it, no matter what…"
A middle-aged man in a lab coat, hair like a bird's nest and stubble all over his face, collapsed amid the mess, eyes full of despair.
His name was Kengo Satou.
Once a rising star in Japan's pharmaceutical world.
Now, a failure with a collapsed project and broken funding, about to be kicked out of his lab.
He stared at the countless failed experiment records on the table, took another swig of cheap sake, and let out a choked sob.
"Is this… really the end for me…?"
…
…
Minato Ward, Tokyo.
A luxury apartment.
The place was huge, decorated like a cold, lifeless showroom.
Famous comedian Takafumi Wakaba sat on the sofa, irritably watching financial news on TV.
On the screen, the Genesis Group logo and Seiji Fujiwara's face appeared again and again.
"Tch."
He clicked his tongue and picked up his phone, staring at an encrypted blackmail message.
[Mr. Wakaba, have you made your decision? One billion yen to buy out those intimate photos of you and that rookie actress. Otherwise, you'll be tomorrow's headline.]
His hand trembled violently.
One billion.
There was no way he could come up with that much.
Most of his earnings over the years had gone into maintaining appearances and connections, not to mention his own expensive habits.
He only had three hundred million yen on hand now.
"Damn it…"
He hurled the phone onto the sofa and looked back at the TV.
Genesis Medical… Seiji Fujiwara…
He was probably the richest young man in Tokyo now.
If he could get close to him…
Just then, the bedroom door opened.
A woman in a tailored designer suit stepped out, her aura cold and proud.
It was his wife, the famous actress Minami Mori.
She didn't spare him a glance, walking straight to the entryway to put on her heels.
"Where are you going?" Wakaba asked irritably.
"An audition," Minami replied flatly. "Unlike you, a clown who plays jokes for a living, I act properly."
"You!"
Wakaba's face flushed with anger, but he couldn't retort.
Minami picked up her handbag, her gaze casually drifting to the TV.
[The New King of Tokyo: Unraveling the Rise of Genesis President Seiji Fujiwara!]
She paused.
"Oh?"
She walked closer, fingers lightly brushing the screen.
Seiji's strikingly handsome face made her red lips curl into an intrigued smile.
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