Chapter 12: That Bounty
This coastal villa complex was a recent investment project of the Kobe Family. In coordination with this trip, the butler arranged the best scenic accommodations for Satoru Gojo and the others.
After a night of rest, they spent the next morning searching for traces of the Cursed Spirit. Then, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto set out, spending thirty minutes forcing that Cursed Spirit, which had already upgraded to Semi-Special Grade, to stabilize its strength at Special Grade.
Suguru Geto's cursed spirit inventory increased by one.
After watching the entire process of Suguru Geto subduing the Cursed Spirit, Kobe Suzuo silently removed Suguru Geto from the "Special Grade" list and moved him into Merlin's special watchlist.
[Cursed Spirit Manipulation] is an additive process without an upper limit, which means the more Cursed Spirits he subdues, the stronger Suguru Geto himself becomes—a clear positive feedback loop.
If used properly, it is conservatively estimated that Suguru Geto alone could easily handle sixty percent of low-to-mid-tier missions. Whether for intelligence gathering or for task allocation, he could alleviate the shortage of manpower in the Jujutsu World.
It wasn't that he wanted to be like the unscrupulous higher-ups who exploited high school students for labor, but rather that the potential for controlling this ability was simply too vast.
Using Cursed Spirits to fight Cursed Spirits is the optimal solution for minimizing losses; he is practically a chosen worker, a golden employee halo rising majestically behind Suguru Geto.
Let's discuss the future development plan later; we should strive for campus recruitment and secure the person through internal selection.
Kobe Suzuo saved the collected data into Merlin's database. Calculating the time, it had been thirty-two hours since the Star Plasma Vessel went missing.
He sent the mission report to his superior, using the excuse of inconvenient transportation to keep the Trio in Hokkaido for one more night.
The sea breeze was always salty, damp, bitter. Kobe Suzuo did not particularly like that fishy scent, but she loved the moon hanging quietly above the surface of the sea.
The silver moon seemed to be dyed by the sea, quiet and ethereal, possessing a brilliance that even the finest jewels could not rival, just like..
Just like Satoru Gojo's eyes.
Kobe Suzuo froze suddenly, feeling startled by the flash of brightness that had streaked through her mind.
He drained the red wine in his glass in one gulp, then left the observation balcony and returned to the room.
Setting the wine glass down on the table, Kobe Suzuo pulled the collar of her bathrobe closer, preparing to work overtime in the study.
It's not good to drink on an empty stomach.
A sudden, clear male voice startled Kobe Suzuo.
The moonlight outside the window illuminated the scene within the room. The white-haired young man sat on the sofa, his hand propping up his chin and hooking his sunglasses, his eyes reflecting an incredible, feline-like glimmer.
It was as if the moonlight had fallen inside.
Mr. Suzuo, you hardly ate anything for dinner, did you?
Kobe Suzuo almost agreed with Merlin's words; he might indeed be swayed by beauty, for Satoru Gojo's looks were far too exceptional, like an incarnation of a god fallen to the mortal realm, possessing an unparalleled charm.
“It's just a little bit of fun for an adult,” Kobe Suzuo said, picking up the glasses from the table and putting them on.
It's quite bad behavior to show up in a grown man's room in the middle of the night, Satoru-kun.
He smiled with a tenderness that felt like a mask.
Satoru Gojo tilted his head and asked, "When we are alone, Supervisor Kobe is always so different."
“Because you only want to show this side to me?”
This was, of course, merely a joke, but when spending time with Satoru Gojo, Kobe Suzuo would indeed exhibit some flirtatious probing that was inconsistent with her own personality.
Perhaps this is the mutual attraction between the Fated Person and herself?
Who knows.
Satoru Gojo was still unaccustomed to such tooth-aching "sweet talk." He curled his lip in slight disdain and said bluntly, "Supervisor Kobe knows the whereabouts of the Star Plasma Vessel, doesn't he?"
The man in the black bathrobe was uncharacteristically dazed, his usually meticulously groomed hair hanging limp over his forehead, softening the sharp angles of his face.
Kobe Suzuo always maintained a mature and steady demeanor, as if she had been navigating the complexities of society for many years, but in reality, she was only in her early twenties.
“Why would Satoru-kun ask such a thing? Although the Kobe Family is very wealthy, at the end of the day, I am nothing more than an ordinary Assistant Supervisor.”
His black-rimmed glasses, which seemed almost welded to his face, reflected a faint, ghostly light as numbers and symbols flashed rapidly across them. He continued to talk nonsense, "The Star Plasma Vessel is tied to too many things; it's not something a mere Assistant Supervisor like me can understand."
Not again.
Satoru Gojo looked at Kobe Suzuo, his azure eyes reflecting the quiet, shimmering points of light in the moonlit night.
Sophisticated and slick, along with the arrogance she occasionally reveals, the qualities Kobe Suzuo possesses always reminded Satoru Gojo of that pedantic old orange, which was quite unpleasant.
Satoru Gojo put on his sunglasses, shielding half of his mouth with his palm, exclaimed with exaggerated surprise:
Eh~ Really? I thought Supervisor Kobe said he was going to rebel and would immediately hire someone to kidnap the Star Plasma Vessel to test the reactions of those old fossils.
Kobe Suzuo: He actually guessed it.
He avoided the question and instead brought up something else. "Didn't Satoru-kun want to see the intelligence on the internal network yesterday?"
I happened to discover something interesting today.
Kobe Suzuo turned and walked toward the study. The sudden glare of the light was somewhat blinding, causing him to blink uncomfortably.
Satoru Gojo stood silently in place, watching Kobe Suzuo open a notebook, perform iris recognition authentication, pull up the bounty page on the desktop.
That was the change in the bounty since Satoru Gojo's birth.
From the initial fifty million to one hundred million, Satoru Gojo's strength has gradually reached Semi-Special Grade in recent years. It is estimated that the growth rate of the bounty has slowed down only because people realized that no one else would dare to accept the bounty anymore.
Until yesterday, this amount surged once again, reaching eight hundred million.
Kobe Suzuo lowered her eyes, hiding the flash of coldness in her pupils, "Satoru thinks, who would come up with eight hundred million to buy your life?"
The data listed on the page fluctuated quite clearly, even showing which time periods had the highest number of views.
Satoru Gojo instantly connected some of his childhood experiences with this bounty poster.
Like how he had finally managed to sneak out of the house to have some fun, only to find himself being harassed by all sorts of ill-intentioned people in a queue, ultimately having to return home in disappointment—things of that nature.
Looking at the timeline, that period was indeed when the assassins were at their peak, coinciding with the fastest interval of bounty increases.
And in the brief moment Satoru Gojo was checking the list, the bounty jumped again, soaring to 1 billion yen.
Even for a scale like the Three Great Families, this amount was no small sum.
Kobe Suzuo crossed her arms, her gaze narrowing as she removed several suspects from the list.
Satoru Gojo's face showed no expression as he moved the mouse and entered keywords into a website that looked much like Google. As expected, many relevant commissions regarding the Star Plasma Vessel appeared.
According to the timeframe, he successfully found the commissions from before the Star Plasma Vessel's disappearance. In the bounty information, the names of both himself and Suguru Geto appeared on the list of protectors.
"Ding-ling." A simple, short, brief chime.
This was a private ringtone that Kobe Suzuo had specifically set to easily keep track of Fushiguro Toji's progress.
Satoru Gojo was like a cat drawn by the sound of a bell; his azure eyes shifted away from his notebook, watching Kobe Suzuo pull out a phone to answer the call.
Yo, boss, someone's calling out my name to go assassinate the Six Eyes brat.
Fushiguro Toji's voice was extremely loud and noisy, making it impossible to tell whether he was at a racetrack or in some restaurant watching a horse racing program.
Fushiguro Toji's voice was very loud, as if to ensure Kobe Suzuo could hear exactly what he was saying.
Kobe Suzuo held the phone a little further away and gave a response, "Oh."
So, has Fushiguro-kun accepted this commission?
Fushiguro Toji let out a mocking laugh. "I'm just asking for your permission, Boss."
He said, "It's a big business. Whether the assassination succeeds or not, I'll get a billion on my end."
Fushiguro Toji casually tossed aside the horse racing rolls that had already become scrap paper, while the black card that Kobe Suzuo had given him as mission funds danced between his fingertips, like the wings of a butterfly resting upon his elegant knuckles.
This unexpected commission was personally delivered to him by Kong Shiyu; after all, before being recruited by Kobe Suzuo, he was short on cash, so his old friend thought of him whenever there was a good job.
To fight against the rising star of the Jujutsu World and pick up a massive sum of money at the same time—it was simply a windfall from heaven.
If it weren't for some unforeseen accident, Fushiguro Toji would have absolutely accepted this highly appealing commission.
It seemed a bit strange that he wouldn't even consider a commission that had come knocking on his door.
Fushiguro Toji leaned back against the chair, casually tossing his phone onto the table with the speakerphone on.
“What does the boss mean? I am your man now, after all, so it's entirely up to you.”
To be honest, he didn't care about that technique called Contract; that thin piece of paper was nothing more than scrap paper, but then again, Kobe Suzuo paid so much.
The person on the other end of the line gave another calm "oh," his voice sounding almost perfunctory. "Then I'll spend a billion to buy Satoru-kun's services so he won't assassinate the Six Eyes instead."
As soon as the words were spoken, Fushiguro Toji's bank account, which had been nearly empty due to his terrible luck today, received a wire transfer.
Under Kong Shiyu's complicated gaze, Fushiguro Toji counted his replenished balance with satisfaction, a grin spreading across his face. "See? This boss isn't bad, right?"
Kong Shiyu: I can distinguish between a boss and a patron.
By the way.. why do I feel a bit envious.
Now that you're flush with cash, you should make up for those missed treats.
Kong Shiyu sighed and paid for the takoyaki and tonkotsu ramen after all.
Kobe Suzuo hung up the phone and said to Satoru Gojo, who was crowding close to her, "Does this count as me buying Satoru-kun?"
Satoru Gojo raised an eyebrow, feeling dissatisfied instead, complained, "Eh~ No matter how you look at it, a billion is a bit too little to buy me, isn't it? Besides, that money didn't end up in my hands at all."
Young people still in their growth phase possessed solid, hard-earned muscle, further enhanced by the innate talents of a Jujutsu Sorcerer; they were in a completely different league from the superficial physique of someone like Kobe Suzuo, who merely worked out in a gym.
Sitting in an office every day while trying to maintain a physique despite suffering from stomach issues—in a sense, the CEO is also a person of extraordinary talent.
Kobe Suzuo still found it difficult to accept the presence of a gorilla standing beside her, even if this gorilla was suspected to be the Fated Person.
He pulled back slightly, allowing Satoru Gojo's face to once again occupy the focus of his vision. "Well, Satoru is priceless in my eyes, but if Satoru wants it, I'm willing to give him whatever he wants, no matter the cost."
"Is that so, is that so?" Satoru Gojo closed the distance again, his azure eyes sweeping over the study window, which was partially obscured by the curtains.
He almost completely blocked Kobe Suzuo within his protective range, lowering his head slightly to steady her shoulder, his warm breath brushing against her ear.
“Mr. Suzuo did that on purpose, didn't he? After all, with an information network of that scale, a situation like this was probably within your expectations, wasn't it?”
Chapter 13: That Little White Flower
Kobe Suzuo was actually someone who cared quite a lot about boundaries; he could only manage a few flirtatious words toward the Fated Person.
Satoru Gojo sensed Kobe Suzuo's resistance to physical intimacy; occasionally, with a playful attitude, he would intentionally cross that line and then happily observe his reaction.
Kobe Suzuo's back stiffened from the heat in his ears, but before he could speak, an explosion roared through the room. Shards of window glass flew everywhere, though the aftershocks were entirely blocked by Limitless.