Given his reassurance, everyone calmed down a bit.

“But what is he doing here, though?” Eunji really tried to sow discord in them. For these people to lose their trust on President Williams.

“Shut up, Fifth!”

“President, I’m only curious. Hades was convicted and was placed inside International Prison because of being a serial killer, right? What if Toby had met him on the hallway and he started attacking him. He freaked me out to be honest.” Eunji then placed her hands on her arms as she tried to rub off the goosebumps on her skin.

“You’re right. However, he’s not here for that! And besides, he doesn’t have any motives to kill Toby. Hades is here to seek temporary refuge but he would be leaving today.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes! So stop dragging the name of the innocent here.”

“Fine. Since you think he’s not the one, then who among us here have taken Seventh? He won’t become missing out of no reason right? Anyone whom he had conflicts with in the past? As for me, I didn’t do it. He’s like a brother to me.” The third ranked mercenary said.

“Right. Only Fifth here is very suspicious. She’s been coming late and is mostly missing. We can’t even track her.” Second added.

“Second, it’s not really my fault if your tracking technique is so poor. And I think I can leave this room whenever I wanted to. And stop accusing me. You’re not even sure if he’s really missing or if he’s just not in the mood to come today. If there’s anyone who knew him better, it’s Eighth, right?”

Everyone watched as he took her designated seat and she turned her attention to the screen.

Inside the ring on the arena, Frederick was about to climb on the ring to prepare for his match but before he could even step his foot inside, the ringside announcer walked on the center and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, due to health reasons, player 506 won’t be able to battle with player 028 today. Therefore, player 028 is the automatic winner of the match.”

As expected, the people in the grandstand booed him.

“Boo!”

Frederick walked back to the grandstand unaffected. He preferred to not fight on any matches to lessen the chances of him being hurt.

At first he thought it was fine because this was the first match. However, if this pattern would continue, he knew that it won’t look good on his image.

And so on his second match the next day, he had decided to fight.

“What?! Are you insane?!” Francais angrily asked him after he met Frederick on the exit.

Frederick was silent.

“I want to win fair and square in this competition. I want to prove that I am worthy of her.”

“What? Are you nuts? Don’t forget that all of this are for show. You’re only going to marry her to get the position of that old man.” Francais reminded him again.

“Don’t forget that she’s only a tool for you. For us!” He added. Francais felt like he was having a headache.

At the same time, Eunji who was listening on their conversation through her earpiece was smiling underneath her ghost mask.

Frederick looked at Francais. He seemed to want to tell him something but he seemed to be holding back. He then looked away and uttered, “I know. You don’t have to remind me of that.”

Frederick turned his back away from Francais and was about to leave when Francais called him, “Where are you going? Come back here?!”

To his disappointment, Frederick didn’t listen. Francais stomped his foot in anger and he then picked up his phone. He punched in some numbers and made a call.

He waited for a while as the phone on the other line kept ringing. When the person on the other line picked up the call, Francais didn’t beat around the bush and said, “Boss. I think we have a problem.”

“What is it?” The usual distorted voice asked him back.

“It’s about Frederick. I think he had fallen for the clone.”

“That’s faster than I expected.” The person on the other line said. It could be said that the other person was not surprised to hear this development.

“Yeah. What should we do to him?”

“Well, if he’s already useless for the plan, just kill him.”

Francais became silent.

“Kill him?”

“Yes. Kill him. I don’t want him to spoil our plan.”

“I see. Okay Boss! Anyway Boss, have you heard about the news?”

“What news?”

“I have heard that the man Su Ying will be leaving International Prison, soon.”

“Yeah?” There was a hint of surprise from the other line.

“Yes. Aren’t you excited to meet him?”

“Of course. I am. Anyways. Focus on the mission I have given you.”

“Okay, Boss.” Francais then heard the beeping sound which meant the call had ended.

He thought it was weird given that his boss should be the first person to know of it, right?

Francais decided to shrug those thoughts off and decided to focus his attention on the mission being given to him.

Eunji who have heard on their conversation got up from her seat and was about to leave when Fourth and Third stopped her from doing so.

“As long as Toby don’t show up, we have both agreed to not let anyone to leave this place.”

“Seriously? Honestly, you really wanted to make me laugh.”

“If you have a clean conscience just obey us.”

“Listen up! I didn’t sign up for this. So if you really wanted to contain me, I’m afraid you have to do it by force.” Eunji challenged them.

“Ha! Are you challenging us?” Third named Bobby asked her.

“Am I?” Eunji was starting to feel annoyed at the moment.

She wanted to warn Asia about Francais’ plans on Frederick. However, she won’t be able to do so with everyone around them.

Third and the others started to feel triggered by Eunji’s no back down attitude. Little did they know that Eunji’s attention was no longer with them but with Alora who was talking to her through the line.

“Eomma, I have made a recording just in case. Do you want me to pass it to Auntie?”

Since she could not talk openly, Eunji could only hum in response. “Okay, Eomma.”

Eunji sighed and thought, ‘Thanks Alora. You’re a life saver, indeed.’

Had she known that killing Toby immediately would give her a headache, then, she would not do it.

But did she regret it though?

No. No regrets at all.

Seeing that she no longer insisted on leaving, the people in the room looked at her with a frown.

“Wait, does the rules only applied to me? What about President Williams? Why is he not in the room? Are you all trying to discriminate me?”

“No! It’s not like that.”

“Aish! Whatever. Ever since day one, I never felt being welcomed here. And why are you all acting like you care for him? We’re mercenaries. We are paid to kill. Are you sure that I am still in the same community?”

She had really expected for them to be passive with Toby’s disappearance. That’s why she was surprised to see this big reaction from them.

Or maybe she didn’t know a thing about these people. Maybe she cared less about them that she had neglected to see these types of bonds that had also existed even before.

After all, she had a huge trust issues back then.

“You don’t know a thing about us! I have heard you don’t have a group or faction to belong to. That’s why you don’t know the feeling of losing a comrade. For us, Seventh is our comrade even if we don’t belong in the same faction. You know what? Your attitude reminds me of Asia. Do you know why we hated her so much? Because she’s selfish and condescending.” First told her.

This sent Eunji into a deep thought. Maybe she had gone overboard with her attitude.

She suddenly felt the worst after thinking things through. She had just killed a person who has a waiting family member which was not good honestly.

Instead of admitting to her crime, she’s acting like a bitch. What if this had happened to her? What would she feel?

She then looked at Taylor who’s genuinely worried for her brother. Eunji looked down and uttered her sorry. It was so soft that she didn’t know if Taylor had heard it or not.

She felt embarrassed and ashamed at the same time.

After giving Eunji a nag, First got back on his seat and closed his eyes.

Meanwhile, after receiving the news from Alora, Asia suddenly felt worried. Not for Frederick but for Eunji.

After all, the people around her had started doubting her.

“Is she fine?”

“Eomma has the situation under control, Auntie.”

“Good. Tell her to not worry about me. I have the situation under control, too.”

Suddenly, Alora became curious and so she asked Asia, “Auntie, what will happen to Frederick now?”

What will happen to him? That…

“I think he really liked you.” Alora added.

“Do you think so?” She asked Alora.

“I think so.”

“Alora, do you think it’s bad to drug a person to like me?”

***