## Chapter 265 – Counterattack (16)
And so, Carla’s research paper retrieval project unfortunately fell through.
However, as a result, the academy, feeling a bit more relieved, expressed its gratitude to her and her companions.
They had managed to recover almost all of the stolen intellectual property, and after hearing promises of the greatest possible compensation in the future, the girls were deeply contemplating whether they could possibly receive any more benefits.
But conversely, there were also those who were racking their brains, deeply worried about the future.
“Think… think… think…!!”
“Ranie, you actually think?”
“Do you want to die, Aurora?
It’s a time like this!!
This isn’t the time for jokes!!
You should hurry up and think too!!”
However, while they were having what amounted to a quarrel, next to them, it felt as if an aura of rot was rising, with black mist soaring up.
The two girls, sensing the atmosphere, shut their mouths and listened to the muttering voice coming from beside them.
“Now, an old hag like her…
She should be managing her sagging wrinkles…
Shamelessly seducing men with her drooping tits.
I wouldn’t even mind tearing them off… she doesn’t even know her place anymore…
Daring to wag her tail anywhere…?
Does Grenot… no… do I look like a joke to her…?
Daring to open a shop next to mine…?
Next to the precious shop where he and I are nurturing our dreams…?
I’ll show her the true taste of business ethics right away…”
Vivian sat in a chair in the corner of Madam Flora’s office, propping her chin up with her hands on the table in front of her, seemingly lost in thought.
The two girls beside her flinched every time Vivian’s voice rose, reacting to her cloudy eyes that radiated a subtle madness and her chilling muttering.
That’s right.
While Carla and her group were raiding Laratina’s hidden safe house and recovering various materials, Vivian was contemplating how to completely crush Laratina, who had opened a new branch not far from their shop.
But the result couldn’t always be good, and so Vivian’s current state was perhaps inevitable…
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face, as they say.
The fact that the problem had become more serious than expected was the reason they were so worried.
“Are there fewer customers today?”
Two days ago.
Vivian’s words as she looked at the unusually quiet brothel lobby caused Ranie and Aurora, who were manning the deserted counter, to shrink back.
Of course, there were those who weren’t doing so well financially, or those who preferred a hearty Korean stew over fancy pasta, so customers hadn’t completely stopped coming…
But seeing such a relaxed and orderly scene, when it was usually so crowded that they needed to hire people to manage the lines, it was only natural for the operator to realize that something was wrong.
Moreover, it had already been two days, and it was still happening at this very moment.
The others’ expressions grew serious at Aurora’s quiet muttering.
“It seems to have started…
Mademoiselle.”
“Mademoiselle…?
Regarding the new business last time, the conclusion wasn’t that it would decrease this much…”
“Well, you never know with people.
And… this is such a waste of money…
Do you want to see…?”
Vivian hesitantly took the parchment that Aurora handed her, and let out a hollow sigh as she clutched her forehead.
The parchment was a promotional flyer.
Considering that parchment itself, used for writing in a world without ordinary paper, was an expensive luxury item made from animal skin…
The fact that they were mass-producing flyers with parchment just for promotional purposes was, in a word, absurd.
Therefore, Aurora’s words “waste of money” already felt unsettling.
And that wasn’t all.
“Wha… wait a minute…
What… what did I just see…?”
“You saw it right. Crazy bastards…
They’re saying that if you pay for the drinks, the sex is free?
And those are high-class prostitutes dispatched from the Mademoiselle main branch.
They’re going to do that as a grand opening event for a whole month?”
This wasn’t just an event; it was practically a declaration that they were going to ruin Flora’s brothel, which was competing right next door.
Even though Flora’s brothel catered to commoners, it offered excellent service at a very low price compared to other brothels.
Compared to high-class brothels that catered to nobles and spent money on decorations, interiors, clothing, and service, Flora’s was a profitable brothel that catered to commoners and competed with service rather than money.
Therefore, it didn’t cost as much to maintain and manage as high-class brothels, but on the other hand, most of the profits flowed into the cartel through the hands of the swallows.
In that situation, for Mademoiselle to hold an event that would sweep away all the customers for a month…
It was nothing more than a roundabout way of saying that they were going to have a life-or-death battle, throwing business ethics to the dogs.
And a life-or-death battle that was already leaning too heavily to one side.
“The biggest problem is the stark difference in capital.”
“I guess they have a lot of accumulated power.”
Mademoiselle wasn’t the only source of income for Laratina, and the money earned by other businesses circulated and strengthened the cartel.
Meanwhile, Flora’s was earning so much profit that it was making up for the losses of the Swallow Faction’s other mediocre businesses.
Mademoiselle, which could reinvest its brothel income directly, and Flora’s, which had to distribute even that income, were bound to lose in a simple battle of capital.
“Then what should we do…?
Aurora!! Don’t you have any ideas?”
“There’s nothing we can do…
Just prepare the popcorn…”
Aurora, who was trying to think deeply about Ranie’s question, let out a deep sigh.
Ranie, finally snapping at her blank muttering, shouted, her voice echoing through the office.
“Ugh!! What nonsense are you talking about!!
Vivian-nim!! In this case, let’s push them down too!!
They’re throwing business ethics to the dogs!!
There’s no need for us to be fair and square, is there?”
“Push… ah…!!”
Her blue eyes, which had seemed to realize something at Ranie’s shout, began to widen.
And on her face was a sinister smile that seemed to evoke the past.
“That’s right… that’s right…
Why didn’t I think of that?
Good job, Ranie.”
“If they’re going to try to crush us with money…
We’ll have to show them our way…
I’ll show them who they dared to pick a fight with…”
.
.
.
.
.
.
A few days later, a strange atmosphere began to flow through Mademoiselle.
In just two days, about half of the prostitutes had suddenly disappeared.
When they went home, they were highly likely to be someone’s daughter, less likely to be someone’s wife, or extremely unlikely to be someone’s mother.
Some of the women who had gone home saying, “See you tomorrow,” didn’t come to work the next day, and the next day, an even greater number of women disappeared after work.
The surprised manager urgently ordered his subordinates to go to the prostitutes’ addresses, but they only received questions about what had happened, as they hadn’t returned the night before.
Even after conducting a thorough investigation, all they found was that strange “kyuing” sounds occasionally echoed in the alleyways during the dark night, and nothing was revealed about the circumstances or cause of their disappearance.
“What the hell is going on…!! Find them immediately!!”
You can make things, but people can’t be made in an instant.
Mademoiselle, with its workforce suddenly reduced by half, had entered a state of emergency.
The remaining half of the women couldn’t handle the demand, and even if they tried to find women suddenly, it was difficult to find women who were suitable for the level of a high-class brothel.
“That’s not it…!!
I can’t find them no matter how hard I look?
They evaporated into thin air…!!
Yes!! You need to send support urgently…”
They ended up asking the Mademoiselle main branch for help, but because they had taken many women from the main branch when they opened the branch, even the main branch was in a difficult situation to provide immediate support.
The branch manager, who received support of only about 10 women, compared to the 60 or so remaining, was relieved that he had at least put out the immediate fire.
But this time, the carriage carrying the ladies who had departed from the main branch hadn’t arrived, and he was still pacing back and forth.
Overall, the businesses of the Laratina Cartel were making huge profits, but the manager had to achieve results to be evaluated, and he had to deal with the current accident that had suddenly occurred.
“Where the hell did those bitches go…!!”
.
.
.
“Hic… sa… save me…
I… I don’t want to… Kyaaaa!!”
The woman, who was wearing a messy hairstyle and a mud-covered high-class dress, as if she had rolled around on the floor, was crawling on the floor on all fours, as if fleeing from something, crying with tears and snot.
She discovered the shadow of a dark moonlight cast over her, and looked back with trembling eyes.
Something long and huge, whose very existence was terrifying.
– Kyuiiiiiing!!
As it pounced on her like a snake trying to swallow its prey whole, her whimpering scream echoed briefly in the dark forest path, before regaining its silence.
And about several tens of meters away from there, a woman was sitting on the wreckage of a completely destroyed carriage, talking to herself as if she were talking to someone.
“I did it, Vivian-nim!!
Ten at once!! Awesome!!”
Raniega, dressed in a fancy dress that didn’t match such a mess, was jumping up and down on the carriage wreckage, shouting with joy.
“Okay, throw them all into the prison layer like the other bitches.
I’ll decide on their treatment later.”
At Vivian’s words, which were calmly relayed through a spider, Ranie nodded diligently on her own, then pointed her finger at the carriage wreckage she was sitting on.
“Clean this up!!”
– Kkieeeeeeeek!!
Another large being that rose from the floor quickly devoured the carriage, and in no time, the forest path, which had only a slightly overturned patch of land left behind, was submerged in silence as if nothing had happened.
And while the manager was slamming his desk in frustration in his office, another strange phenomenon was occurring at the Mademoiselle branch.
“Manager-nim…!! You need to see something…”
“Can’t you see I’m thinking!?
If you’re going to say something useless, get out…”
“Something’s really wrong!!
Please come quickly…!!”
The manager, who was about to pour out complaints without even listening to the words of an employee who had come to call him as if half his soul had left him, eventually left the office as he led him.
“Ahaang♡ That’s gooood!!
Pyooot pyoot♡ on my pussy…”
The moment he doubted his ears at the unusual shouting that echoed from somewhere as soon as he opened the door.
– Whiririk, Clang!!
“Hic!! Hiic!! Hihhihihit!!”
– Bang!! Kwang!!
“You bitch!!
Get pregnant!! Get pregnant!!”
– Thump!! Thump!! Thumthump!!
“Ahhit!! Euhheut!! Aang!! Aaaang♡
It’s hot inside…!!
More… more…!! Cum a lot…”
Before his eyes, a mess beyond imagination was unfolding.
