Chapter 431. To Hell With It (5)

Chi-Woo looked dreary while returning to the Seven Stars headquarters. If Evelyn had been by his side, she would have placed her hand worriedly on his forehead and asked, ‘Oh my, what’s with your complexion? Are you sick?’

Of course, Chi-Woo wasn’t sick or hurt anywhere, but there was a reason his face was all red and heating up like it was a volcano about to erupt. It was because of what he just heard from Astarte.

[After what happened that day, I thought I should go find you.]

[So I went out early in the morning, but on my way, I saw the commotion you just witnessed. I was about to intervene because I thought things were getting overboard…but then, I noticed someone observing the scene curiously from afar.]

[If I was not mistaken, the person I saw was…one of the members of Seven Stars.]

After hearing these words, Chi-Woo realized why Murumuru had spoken to him that way. Chi-Woo was stunned. In a recent meeting, he had clearly told all his members to constantly monitor the Demon Empire’s zone in case anything happened. He had said that with a clear reason and purpose in mind. It was to prevent incidents like that from happening, but also to show Seven Stars’ will to the city’s residents. By surveilling the Demon Empire’s zone, they would be warning those who wanted to harm the Demon Empire survivors that they had to be wary of the Seven Stars if they acted out.

Thus, how could a member of the Seven Stars simply watch the survivors from the Demon Empire getting harassed instead of stepping in? Furthermore, watch the scene play out with interest and amusement? It was obvious how the people in the surroundings would’ve thought about the member’s behavior. It was not a stretch to think that Murumuru did what they did in broad daylight because they thought Seven Stars tolerated certain behaviors within specific limits. It gave Chi-Woo a headache thinking about how other groups might think of the situation after the recent incident.

However, that wasn’t the only thing that was giving him a headache right now. After coming to his room with a pounding heart, Eval Sevaru greeted him with bad news. Eval's face looked red and angry as he said, “Boss, I have some alarming news. The public opinion among the human natives seems to be returning back to square one.”

Truthfully, it wasn’t just the human natives. It was the same for the Celestial Realm’s heroes and the Cassiubia League. As soon as Chi-Hyun revealed his stance, it was expected that the finally settling public opinion would fluctuate again. But the way Eval spoke of it seemed to indicate that things were far worse than their expectations. There must be a reason. Perhaps a group that didn’t look well upon the Demon Empire…

“It seems to be because of Eshnunna.”

Why would Eshnunna’s name come up? Chi-Woo wondered. Eval continued with his explanation, but Chi-Woo wasn’t actually listening anymore. He heard the words, but he didn’t have the capacity to think.

“It seems like she misspoke while talking to the natives she was close to…” Eval was saying. Chi-Woo knew Eshnunna used to be the Salem Kingdom’s princess. She had a close bond with the natives she used to lead in the forest the seventh recruits had found themselves in upon their arrival at Liber. Thus, it was understandable she would still keep in contact with them, but at the same time, she couldn’t stray away from the direction that Chi-Woo had decided for Seven Stars.

Like how Eval stopped Chi-Woo from going to meet Shersha so that he wouldn’t give people more fodder for rumors, Eshnunna also needed to choose each word she spoke carefully. And she wasn’t such a fool that she wouldn’t get this fact. Thus, despite knowing all this, she must have still acted against Seven Star’s will. How should he take this fact?

Chi-Woo’s head was so full and messy that it felt like it would explode. He tried to calm his heart by breathing in and out deeply, but the emotions that had been stirring since his visit to the official residence kept boiling upwards and finally reached the top of his head.

[…You are pathetic. I told you to organize your group internally from the beginning. What could a guy who can’t even manage his subordinates properly do…]

His brother’s words crossed his mind like a sharp arrow. Flick. It was then Chi-Woo clearly felt something that had been barely managing to hold out in his head snap. After a momentary pause, Chi-Woo spoke up.

“…Bring.”

“Sorry, what did you just say, sir…?” Eval asked, and Chi-Woo’s eyes opened wide. They flashed as Chi-Woo commanded once more.

“Bring everyone here. Now.”

Eval’s breath stopped for a moment.

***

“Ah, damn it. What is it again?” Yunael frowned. She had been conversing with her fourth team members when she got a message from Eval, telling everyone from Seven Stars to gather at the leader’s office.

“What—we just had a meeting not long ago. Why is that guy calling us so often? He just asks for a meeting every chance he gets.” Yunael grumbled, but she still got up from her seat since Chi-Woo was the boss in the end. She brought the fourth team outside and headed to the main headquarters.

“Yes, yes, sir. Fourth team is here—?” She was about to open Chi-Woo’s office door and enter when she stopped. It was because the mood in the room was different from usual. Following the message, all members of Seven Stars had gathered inside the office, but no one was sitting down. They all stood stiffly, looking tense and nervous.

‘What…’ Yunael murmured to herself and carefully entered the office. Even a hearty and brazen person like Yunael knew how to read the room sometimes. Chi-Woo was sitting at his desk, but she couldn’t see his face because the chair was turned 180 degrees away from her. And even though he should’ve heard her coming inside, he didn’t acknowledge her.

“Boss, everyone’s arrived,” Eval informed him, but Chi-Woo didn’t budge. Even after he had summoned everyone here, Chi-Woo showed no response as if he was lost in deep thought. Everyone closed their mouths seeing Chi-Woo like this. This was no mood for someone to brashly talk, and a heavy silence weighed down on everyone in the room.

In the end, Chi-Woo broke the heavy silence. “…Let me just ask you all one thing.” His voice sounded very low. “Do you all remember what I said in the last meeting?” His tone wasn’t soft like his usual self, and his voice sounded slightly hoarse. Yunael instinctively curled her shoulders inwards slightly.

“I am asking if you are all carrying out what I ordered.”

Ru Amuh quietly nodded. As the epitome of hard work and sincerity, he didn’t forget his teacher’s command and had been pouring his all to carry it out. Just today, he surveilled the Demon Empire’s zone from dawn to noon with Ru Hiana. Emmanuel did the same, though not to the same degree as Ru Amuh. He patrolled around the Demon Empire’s zone and at the least didn’t do anything that went against Chi-Woo’s order.

Yunael looked a bit startled. Though she had patrolled the area the day she got the command, she stopped caring about the matter with the excuse that she had to lead the fourth team to complete missions. Still, she didn’t do anything that was against Chi-Woo’s order, either.

“Um…” While everyone was warily looking at Chi-Woo, one person cautiously raised her hand. “I…do remember what you said…but I was so busy at the production site these days…”

“Yeriel, get out.”

“What? No, sorry! I’ll stop holing up in the factory all day! I’ll work hard on patrolling from now on so don’t chase me out please!”

“No.” Chi-Woo sighed. “I’m saying it’s fine for you to leave since this matter has nothing to do with you.”

“Ah…” Knowing how busy Yeriel was with overseeing the main production of AI Armors, Chi-Woo had no reason to reprimand her. Furthermore, one of the conditions that Yeriel asked for during recruitment was to not have to do outside activities. The anxiety on Yeriel’s face was soon replaced with relief. She wanted to ask why he had called her in the first place when she was already so busy, but kept her thoughts to herself. She also could read the room and knew she had to be cautious right now.

After confirming her safety, Yeriel wanted to stay and watch what unfolded afterward with popcorn, but…she thought she could be swept into the mess if she did that. Thus she quietly left the office. Thud. After the door closed, silence fell upon the room again. However, the silence didn’t last as long this time.

“I told you all to walk around the zone designated for the Demon Empire because we don’t know what will happen.” Chi-Woo’s voice sounded cold and empty. “I don’t remember telling any of you that you could go on a nice stroll instead.” This was work, not play. “Of course, I don’t expect you all to prevent every incident.”

One person couldn’t do everything. Even if one of them was on constant patrol, it would be impossible for them to stop everything that would happen.

“Those looking for a chance could aim for the time we aren’t surveilling or act in places that we can’t see.” Yes, Chi-Woo understood those facts. “But discounting the incidents that couldn’t be prevented…why would anyone not stop an incident that is happening right before them?” An emotion stirred up in his voice, and he continued. “Not just that, but go so far as to create a completely contrasting atmosphere from the one I talked about?”

Starting from Ru Amuh, all the team leaders glanced at one another. They finally realized the reason why Chi-Woo had called all of them to his office. It wasn’t that one of them couldn’t prevent an incident, but didn’t. Furthermore, somebody had acted completely at odds with Chi-Woo’s command.

“How am I supposed to take that?” This was something the leader of Seven Stars had personally requested his members to do, yet someone had not just ignored his order, but worked against it. For someone like Ru Amuh, who almost worshiped Chi-Woo, doing such a thing was unimaginable, and his usually calm demeanor cracked to reveal a hint of bloodlust. He glanced at the people around him, and Emmanuel and Yunael shook their heads saying it wasn’t them. Then Chi-Woo revealed the culprit himself.

“Eshnunna.”

“Excuse me?!” Eshnunna replied, startled to be singled out.

“I heard that you met some natives not long ago.”

“Ah…”

“What did you say to them?”

Eshnunna gaped slightly. It seemed she was coming to the realization what was happening and why Chi-Woo was reacting like this.

“I’m sure the natives voiced their complaints about our decision. What did you say in response to that?” Eshnunna opened and closed her mouth without saying anything and lowered her head. Yet Chi-Woo didn’t allow that. “Answer me.”

“…”

“Didn’t you hear me?”

“I’m sor—”

“Did I tell you to apologize?”

Eshnunna pursed her lips after trying to say she was sorry.

“Yes. No, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t even think of repeating those three phrases again,” Chi-Woo said in a low voice.

Eshnunna stood silently for a while. She looked like she didn’t know what to do, and Chi-Woo didn’t speak anymore. And eventually, in the flowing silence, she sensed Chi-Woo’s strong will that he would get an answer from her no matter what. She opened her mouth.

“I…just went to see them like any other day…everyone was so agitated…so to comfort them…”

“Comfort.” Chi-Woo snorted. “Yes, sure you could comfort them. But couldn’t you have comforted them in a slightly different way?” For instance, she could’ve not empathized with the natives’ feelings about Seven Stars’ decision; instead, she could’ve heard them out, assured them, and asked them to wait and trust the Seven Stars just this once. That was how she should’ve acted.

“If you found it difficult to agree with me, you could’ve brought it up during our last meeting,” Chi-Woo said in disbelief. “How could you echo their sentiments and act like that? Are you backstabbing me?”

“No!” Eshnunna shouted without meaning to and flinched. She saw Eval giving her a quick look, warning her not to rashly raise her voice.

“I didn’t mean to backstab you…I just did it so thoughtlessly…” This was true. She had no intention of doing such. It was just…

“Aren’t you a member of Seven Stars?”

“…”

“Answer me.”

“…Yes…I am…” Eshnunna barely managed to answer.

“But how could you lack this much self-awareness?”

Eshnunna was once a princess, and accordingly, she should know the influence such a position bestowed. At least that was what Chi-Woo thought.

“…I thought you were smart.” Chi-Woo turned around and shook his head. “Maybe it’s because you talk to ice all day, your head has become hard as ice as well.”

Eshnunna’s eyes turned wide. She was close to tears, but she knew she couldn’t cry. If she did, she would be doing a greater wrong.

“It was a clear slip of a tongue.” Eshnunna swallowed back the tears welling up from inside her and hung her head. “From now on, I will take extreme caution with my actions and words and set the mistake I made right today.”

That calmed Chi-Woo for a moment, but of course, not everything was over yet. There was still one person to address. Compared to this person, Eshnunna’s mistake was just cute.

“La Hawa.”

Hawa had been glancing at Eshnunna as she fought back tears with her head lowered. She flinched when Chi-Woo called her out.

“Did you have fun at the battle arena?”

Hawa’s head jerked up as soon as she heard these words.

“Not only did you join the audience to watch the fight instead of stopping the situation…” Tap, tap. The speed at which Chi-Woo tapped on his chair’s arm with his finger increased. “I heard that you even went to join the arena because you wanted to participate later on.”

The room became even quieter than before. Everyone was looking at Hawa with shock and disbelief. They all looked like they couldn’t wrap their heads around what they were hearing. If what Chi-Woo said was true, Hawa’s mistakes were on another level from Eshnunna’s. No, it couldn’t be called a mistake.

“Have you lost your mind?” What everyone was thinking popped out of Chi-Woo’s mouth. Hawa blinked fast. She gulped hard and thought she was fucked. But she still tried to maintain her calm to get out of the situation.

“Ah—that’s not what…” Hawa put on an uncharacteristically soft smile when she spoke, but Chi-Woo turned his chair around to face and meet eyes with everyone at that moment.

“…Hawa, are you smiling?”

Hawa saw it then. It was a pair of eyes that she had never seen directed at herself. Chi-Woo’s eyes were wide-open and blazing with fury.