Swoosh~! The glass lid of the Virtual Reality Pod opened slowly, revealing exhausted-looking Fang Raon.

’Shit... This training will kill me one day... I need a shower... and then I need to head to the second character... Well, at least Chaewon is there... seeing her will give me some extra energy.’

Fang Raon thought with an exhausted face.

In that moment, as he stood up, he almost screamed as he noticed that there was someone standing in his room.

"Hello, young master."

A young butler said with a smile.

He was short, petite, and honestly quite handsome, but he did seem somewhat too young to be a butler.

’I guess he must be butler-in-training... what the hell is he doing in my room?’

Fang Raon scratched the back of his head and then asked.

"Hello... What are you doing in my room?"

"Apologies, but Master is waiting for you in his study. There will be a meeting between you, Lady Anna, young master Raizen, and young master Raikou."

The young butler said.

"...There is? Oh okay... Right now?"

Fang Raon asked.

"Well... I am sure they can wait for another ten minutes. I suggest taking a quick shower. It looks like it must’ve been hot inside the Virtual Reality Pod."

The young butler said as he noticed just how much Raon was sweating, like he’d been inside an oven for the past day.

"Yeah..."

Fang Raon wryly smiled as he noticed just how his clothes were sticking to his skin.

It was really hard to explain just how he got into this kind of shape, as he had just been playing a video game.

The young butler took his leave while Fang Raon escaped his sweaty clothes and went straight inside the shower.

The water poured, cleansing the exhaustion of the day away, and once he was done, he dried himself and changed into more respectable clothes.

Then.

He left his room and headed straight for his father’s study, and once he got there, he noticed the door was already open.

Sebastian was standing outside, looking like he was guarding the entrance, and once he saw Raon, he smiled and nodded.

"They’re inside?"

Fang Raon inside.

"Yes, young master."

Sebastian nodded.

Without further ado, Fang Raon took a deep breath and stepped inside the study, and instantly all eyes turned towards him.

"Thanks for making all of us wait!"

Raikou screamed angrily.

"Raikou... Silence."

Aizen spat out coldly.

Raikou immediately dropped all of his hostility and dropped his head timidly like he was scared of getting slapped.

"I am sorry for being late... I was not aware of the meeting."

Fang Raon said, and then he stopped next to Raizen, who was just staring ahead with his usual serious expression.

"That’s fine. We haven’t been waiting for long. Anna knew that you would step out of the game around this time, so we scheduled the meeting knowing that."

Aizen said.

Fang Raon looked at Anna, who was sitting while other children were standing, and she glanced at him briefly in return.

She had already figured out most of Raon’s schedule, as around this time he would hop on his second character.

"We’re having this meeting because of what happened last night. That brat Leon went and caused quite an annoyance."

Aizen said coldly.

He had never liked Leon.

It was Aizen’s idea initially for Raizen to join Dead Redemption because he thought it was an advantageous situation to be in.

However.

Aizen wanted Raizen to surpass Leon and take the position of the leader, but weeks, months, and even years passed.

But Raizen couldn’t surpass Leon, no matter how hard he trained, and even with Aizen’s help in training, they were unable to catch him.

Thus.

Aizen knew that killing Leon was a must, but he didn’t like that Raizen didn’t talk to him about it and went and did it with Rook.

Raizen thought that Aizen would be against killing Leon, but he was wrong, as it would’ve been what Aizen had wanted.

Aizen believed that with his own plan... They would’ve killed Leon.

"What is Raizen’s reputation in the tower now? Raikou?"

Aizen asked.

"...It’s..."

Raikou sighed and then spoke.

"It’s really bad. He broke a taboo, and now everyone is badmouthing him."

"So, if he were to make a new guild, what would happen?"

Aizen asked.

"Nobody is stupid enough to join his guild. They’re marked to death by Leon. He said it himself on his livestream. Leon did it intentionally to make sure that Raizen and Rook is forced to be all alone.

"It is much easier to kill two lone wolves than two entire guilds. Leon knew exactly what he was doing!"

Anna said.

"...What will happen with the rest of Dead Redemption?"

Aizen asked.

"They’re all most likely going to start their own guilds. Leon will continue with his Dead Redemption, but it will be just a shell of its former self, but it will still be powerful.

"Many players will be wanting to join him."

Raizen said.

"Then the power hierarchy of the tower will shift drastically. We have Raikou’s and Anna’s guilds in the top ten, but I assume they will drop once the new guilds arrive, correct?"

Aizen asked.

"...Yes."

Raikou nodded.

"Then, we do this—Anna’s and Raikou’s guilds will combine into one, and Raizen will act as the guild master of the newly formed guild."

Aizen said.

"WHAT?!"

Anna screamed angrily.

She didn’t want to be in the same guild as her two brothers, and the only one she would want to be the guild master of would be Raon.

"..."

Raikou frowned, as he also didn’t seem to like it, as he liked being the guild master of a powerful top 7 guild.

He thought that by being guild master he could show his father that he wasn’t so useless after all.

"Anna and Raikou will act as left and right hands to Raizen. With the combined forces of these two guilds, I am sure you’ll stay in the top 10."

Aizen said.

"There is still the problem that we’ll be targeted to death by Leon. What if the members of our guild start leaving because of it?"

Anna asked angrily.

"Up the pay by 25 percent. I am sure that will shut them up. Money talks. I’ll pay the increase out of my own pocket."

Aizen said and waved his hand, as if he were signaling that it was the end of that conversation and there were no further arguments to be made.

They all nodded, as there was no use in arguing, as they knew his father and he wouldn’t change his mind anymore.

"Go on then. I want the new guild to be formed as soon as possible. Raizen, already head over to the 27th floor."

Aizen said.

"Yes, Father."

Raizen nodded.

They then left the study, and while walking, Raon caught up to Raizen by picking up his pace.

"...It failed, huh."

Fang Raon said.

"The plan went perfectly, but then out of nowhere, it wasn’t going perfectly anymore. I didn’t sleep last night... I just kept replaying the moment in my head, trying to figure out where it went wrong."

Raizen said with a deeply troubled look.

"It happens... Mistakes happen."

Fang Raon said.

"That’s the thing—I don’t think we did anything wrong. It’s just that... I don’t know, but there is something wrong about Leon. I had thought last night... but it will sound like I am just a sore loser."

Raizen said, gritting his teeth slightly.

"What is it?"

Fang Raon asked.

"I’ve been thinking about Leon and how his rise to power happened. He used to be the weakest among us by a large margin while we were training under Rock.

"Then, one day, he was humiliated thoroughly in a fight. He got beaten badly... and everyone laughed at him because he actually peed his pants in a fight.

"Leon was one of the most cowardly players I ever met back then. He was so scared of getting hurt. It was ridiculous.

"After that humiliating experience, he didn’t come to training for three days, but then, he came back, and he challenged the guy who humiliated him to a rematch.

"A deathmatch.

"And Leon won... he dominated the fight... The way he moved... It was ridiculously fast and precise, like he saw everything in slow motion.

"After that day, he was a completely different person, brimming with confidence, and ever since that day, he was always the strongest.

"Call me a sore loser, but I think... argh... never mind. It’s just me being a sore loser because I am frustrated that I failed."

Raizen said with self-anger, and then he walked off quickly, leaving confused Raon behind.

’He really hates himself for failing to kill Leon...’

Fang Raon thought, and then he slowly made his way back to his room and retrieved his second character’s game card from the drawer.

He inserted it into the Virtual Reality Pod, and took his main character’s game card somewhere safe.

’I wonder what Raizen was planning to say... It sounded like he wanted to accuse Leon of something, but I am not sure what.’