Marcus leaned back in his chair. "There’s another issue that’s arisen from recent events. With me being away, Cipher has developed quite a few fans."
Cipher wondered where this was going.
The chairman continued, "There are even rumors that I’m not the strongest human anymore, but that Cipher is."
Cipher wondered why the chairman was bringing this up. Was the chairman the kind to care about rumors?
"Well, I’m also one of those people," the chairman said, shocking the others present.
He smiled. "So why don’t we take advantage of this situation?"
"Take advantage how?" Cipher asked nervously.
"I’m thinking we host a press conference like you guys did before. But this time, it’s not a normal press conference. It’ll be more like a public event. In this event, we can showcase the strongest human."
"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Cipher asked.
The chairman explained, "We’ll make it a big deal with advertisements and invite people from all over the world to take the title of the strongest human from me. And in this event’s climax - assuming no one dethrones me, of course - we’ll have you claim the title yourself, showing off your full power for all to see. After that, we’ll award you a medal for saving the Association and grant you a title."
He paused, letting that sink in. "Although many people recognize your strength, for now, it’s just rumors. We need to take advantage of these rumors to usher in a new era of the apocalypse. An era of the Association. We’ll make you the Chief Enforcer and wave your strength around to show the Association’s dominance."
"The chairman is putting it really bluntly," Cipher thought.
He sighed. Actually, he understood what the chairman was doing. In addition to wanting to use his strength to scare others, he was also tying Cipher down to the Association with responsibility.
After finishing speaking, Marcus turned to Cipher. "So, what do you think? As Chief Enforcer, you’ll have the same level of authority as me, and there won’t be a problem with you having an executive under you."
He really wasn’t pulling any punches, Cipher thought. Even splitting authority like this. Normally, the other executives wouldn’t allow this - after all, it would lead to more complications having to answer to two authorities. But now, they were all looking at him with glowing eyes, waiting for him to respond.
The chairman smiled internally. This also solved the issue of loyalty in the Association. After Cipher had taken over during that short period of time, he’d gained quite a few fans. These fans wanted to answer to Cipher instead of the chairman, believing he was the strongest.
Although it was a simple way of thinking, Awakeners were all strange, so there was nothing he could do about it. After all, most of them had followed him because he was the strongest. Having it this way could ensure that the Association didn’t get divided into factions.
Cipher sighed and raised his hands placatingly. "Fine, I’ll do it. Stop looking at me like that."
...
A while later.
Cipher walked into his R&D lab, and everyone got up to greet him.
It felt like it’d been ages since he’d been here, he thought. After all, with everything that had been going on, he didn’t have any time to interact with the rest of the team members except Selene. He needed to interact with them more, especially if he wanted to build enough trust between them to be able to create the special squad he wanted.
"Did you miss me?" he asked as he walked in.
Maya rushed towards him, hugging him tightly.
"I was really worried about you and Selene when the Immortal King took her hostage," she said as they separated.
He patted her head reassuringly, then looked at the rest. "You guys were also there?" he asked.
"Of course," Dante and Ryker responded in unison.
They then looked down. "You didn’t notice us?" they asked, seeming down.
"Ah? Umm, well..." He struggled to find an excuse, but they broke out in laughter.
Cipher smiled in embarrassment. "Ahem, I came here to tell you guys to prepare. We’ll be going into a gate tomorrow."
"We are always ready," Dante said, flexing his muscles before remembering something and deflating once again.
"What is it?" Cipher asked, but Dante just looked to the side with an embarrassed face.
He looked at Ryker for an explanation, but he also looked to the side, not daring to meet his gaze. He looked at Maya before him, and she also looked down, scratching her cheek.
"You too?" he asked.
It was then that Selene walked over. "They’re nervous because they broke their equipment during the earlier battle," she explained.
Cipher’s expression shifted in understanding before confusion again. "Wait, can’t they just buy new ones? I believe I gave you guys your salary early."
"They can’t because they’re broke," Selene said with a sigh.
"Broke?" he asked in confusion.
"Look at this," Selene said as she showed Cipher a page on her phone.
[Polomarket: Who Will Claim the Title of Strongest Human? Place Your Bets Now!]
They even have a betting site up? The chairman sure worked fast. It hadn’t even been an hour yet. Looks like he’d prepared for this early, Cipher thought.
Then his eyes widened as he finally realized what was happening. "Wait, you three didn’t..." He turned to look at them, but they didn’t dare meet his gaze.
He sighed. "You didn’t bet all your money, right?"
They remained silent.
"Well, there’s no way Cipher would lose, so betting on you is practically free money," Ryker said.
Cipher could only facepalm. Were these the people he was going to have in his special anti-apocalypse squad? The world was cooked.
"Just go have Iris give you replacements for your equipment. It was broken while protecting the Association anyway, so it should be repaired by the Association," Cipher said in exasperation.
The three didn’t waste time and ran out.
Now it was just Cipher and Selene left.
"What about you? Did you bet all your life savings too?" he asked.
"Of course not," she said.
Cipher smiled. Of course Selene wouldn’t be so stupid. As expected of the future chairman.
"I made sure to save some money for equipment," she added.
"Mmmh...I see...Very smart indeed," he said, giving her a thumbs up before turning around and leaving.
When he was outside, he remembered that he forgot to tell her about her promotion. Oh well, he’d tell her later.
For now, he needed to rethink his special squad members.