“True to form, Minister, you managed to get them under control so quickly,” Slarrat said with a sycophantic smile.
Asuna, one of the four pillars of the Silver Orchid Trading Company, was known as the Pet Trainer. Despite the cute-sounding title, her ‘pets’ weren’t cats or dogs, but actual humans. She would charm any disobedient person, turning them into her slaves who would do anything for her.
Despite frequent incidents at the research facility, nothing was ever exposed, all thanks to her.
“The two you found this time have decent potential,” Asuna said, licking her index finger with a smile. “In the future, look for more shabby adventurers like these. They’re easy to handle.”
“It may not be so easy from now on,” Slarrat said with a bitter smile. “We’ve lost more manpower than we anticipated. Even if we reduce the intensity of production, their strength is beyond our expectations. We can only control a few of them. If they lose control, we’ll have to rely on the blood of black-market workers to contain them.
Because of this, we’ve had to frequent the introduction agency. The owner is tired of losing so many black-market workers and will only introduce new ones if we increase the fee significantly.”
“That’s your problem. Pay him more if needed. After all, we don’t have to pay these adventurers. Our budget is much more flexible than anticipated,” Asuna said with a cold smile. “We’re on the right track now. Sacrifices are necessary. Once we find a way to tame those beasts and make them transportable, they’ll be the best war machines. When they shine in the war between the Roze Empire and the Wansheng Nation, we won’t just be the Silver Orchid Trading Company of Treln, but of the world.”
“I’ll do my best,” Slarrat said with a resigned smile.
“Remember, if anything happens, prioritize the safety of the pharmaceutical research department. That’s our main source of funds.” Asuna said as she started up the stairs to the second floor. “Also, don’t forget to thoroughly investigate those two who suddenly resigned. They’re from our family, but they might have betrayed us for profit.”
“Understood.”
After respectfully seeing Asuna off, Slarrat looked at the busy pharmacists, his ever-smiling face hardening. He had his own ambitions, but in this research facility, he couldn’t climb any higher.
…
After a tour with the soldier, Yang Yu and Bai Jin were led to a door.
“I’ve told you everything you need to know. Remember the rules here; following them is the best way to repay Lady Asuna.”
“All for Lady Asuna!”
In unison, Yang Yu and Bai Jin saluted and watched the soldier leave.
Opening the door, the room was extremely small. It contained just a bunk bed and a narrow walkway, reminiscent of a train sleeper compartment but only half the size.
Apart from the prepared clothes on the bed, there was nothing else—no blankets, just cold wooden boards.
Two people per room, one on the top bunk and one on the bottom.
Yang Yu felt like singing, “My brother who lives in the bunk above me.”
“This is so cruel, even worse than some notorious companies.”
Yang Yu strongly condemned such inhumane treatment. Just then, he heard the sound of clothes hitting the floor. Bai Jin had unthinkingly started changing into the provided uniform.
Faced with this unexpected CG scene, Yang Yu decided it would be awkward to interrupt, so he also changed into the dark brown uniform adorned with the Silver Orchid emblem.
This wasn’t charm, this was brainwashing.
Seeing the little hearts floating in Bai Jin’s status bar, Yang Yu was exasperated. He had almost become a mindless sycophant too.
At that moment.
He was indeed charmed by Asuna and had almost revealed that he was an undercover agent. In that critical moment, his brain worked rapidly.
The charm skill varied in effect across different games.
Sometimes it made characters follow others mindlessly; other times it prevented them from attacking or moving. Rarely, it caused self-harm like mind control. While the latter was rare, it wasn’t unheard of.
The methods to break the charm also varied. Most often, the charm would wear off over time. Sometimes, it required the charmer to leave. Given there were likely other adventurers around, the latter seemed probable. But there could also be items in the research facility that re-applied the charm at intervals.
Faced with despair, Yang Yu scoured his system for anything that could save him.
Time seemed to freeze as he moved his stiff body, using the only mobile fingers to search every corner of the system. Finally, he found an attribute he had never considered—Charm.
Charm had always been a confusing attribute, generally meant to make a character more attractive to recruit strong partners or trigger certain NPC quests.
Being practical, Yang Yu had never considered spending his hard-earned free attribute points on something so frivolous.
Strong partners? In a world with such high freedom, he could train his own powerful allies.
Hidden quests? He scoffed at NPCs who only cared about looks, akin to superficial gold-diggers.
That’s how inflated his ego was.
But now, seeing this previously useless attribute felt like grasping at a lifeline.
In some games with a Charm stat, the charm skill couldn’t affect characters with higher Charm, or at least the success rate was very low.
Thinking of this, Yang Yu decided to take a gamble. He opened the attribute screen and dumped all his points into Charm. Yes, all of them. He was even prepared to use the points from completing the Origin Assault quest.
It wasn’t just because he didn’t know Asuna’s Charm value but also because it was the quickest and easiest way to save time and stop himself from revealing his undercover status.
It proved to be the right decision.
Unfortunately, though he freed himself from the charm, Bai Jin wasn’t so lucky.
The charm spell worked on both genders and was more effective the lower the target’s Charm. For Bai Jin, who had negative Charm, the effect was devastating.
It almost ruined everything, but Yang Yu knew Bai Jin well. If agitated, she would spout random nonsense.
Using this, Yang Yu praised Asuna’s beauty excessively, evoking Bai Jin’s agreement. Then, by claiming he wanted to monopolize Asuna’s beauty, he made Bai Jin forget Asuna’s orders and argue with him, successfully avoiding the BAD END of Bai Jin revealing their undercover status.