"You realize you'll have to clean that up now. And it comes out of your pay."
"Hn."
Should have expected this, but who anticipates an inside job? In the CIA, sure. Everyone K had ever worked with there was probably a double agent, but this was NG Music. Whatever happened to company loyalty?
"Mr. K? Don't you have anything to say besides Hn?"
Eh, loyalty flies out the window when money's involved. Should've expected this, what with today's technology enabling even the most inept bootlegger to create professional quality digital sound files, and what better distribution system than the internet? No packaging needed; just enter a password and the files are yours...for a price. A phenomenal price.
"Hm? What'd you say, Tohma?"
New bands had no footing here; this was the land of giants. Bad Luck was safe...for now. The most pirated music belonged to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Legends and dead acts were king—Nirvana, Frank Zappa, Elvis Presley, and so on. So why hadn't K predicted that Nittle Grasper would soon join their ranks?
"You shouldn't have lost your temper, Mr. K. Piracy is common these days, and something of a gauge of success. You know you've made it when someone bootlegs your music. This whole incident has generated more interest in Grasper, so we've benefited from the theft. Sales of our music on iTunes and Amazon have soared. And the shelved music is now out there without our having to spend a single yen on marketing. We never would've made any money on those songs anyway. There was a reason we never released them. They never would've charted."
"But he stole the masters. What if you want to reissue someday? For that matter, what if you just want to issue? It's bad enough to steal the shelved copies, but to steal the master files? He deserved to die."
"And I see you gave him just what he deserved. But did you have to do it in my office? That blood will never come out of the carpet. The whole thing will have to be completely replaced."
Leave it to Tohma to worry about the damn carpeting instead of what mattered. "Whatever. It's his fault for sneaking up on me. After all these years, he should've known better."
"I see. Can we return to what we were doing? We can deal with this later."
"Hmm...?" It took a moment before K remembered what they were doing before the culprit had picked the lock on the door thinking Tohma had left the building. Everyone knew he stored the Grasper masters in here. K should've known it was only a matter of time before the thief returned to the scene of the crime. He dragged the body into the room so he could close and lock the door again, then returned to the president.
"You were showing me how to conduct a strip search, with emphasis on full body cavity penetration, I think you called it. I want to know just where you were hiding that gun, Mr. K."
"Go ahead and wonder. I don't reveal trade secrets. Now turn around and put your hands on the desk. That's a good boy." K tossed the gun on the floor beside his pants and resumed frisking the boss. Even though Seguchi was naked, you never knew just what the bastard might be hiding on his person. It was a good thing K had plenty of time for security procedures.
Good thing too, that Tohma's employees were used to hearing guns discharge or he'd worry about more intrusions. There was nothing that infuriated him quite so much as an interruption while shagging the boss.