Frightened

In a private room, Alliance House

Bam!

"So you say you were scared by that brat and ran away?"

Mathias Oliver slapped the table hard, causing it to crack. His angry eyes landed on Park Haneul, who had a frown on his forehead.

Park Haneul remained silent under Mathias Oliver's angry questioning. He seemed to be lost in thought.

"Calm down, brother. Even if they forced their way in, there's nothing they can do."

Ryong Minjun looked more composed than Mathias as he tried to calm his adopted brother.

"Instead of blaming someone, we should think with a cool head and discuss the solution to find the leader's whereabouts together!"

Ryong Minjun's words met with the approval of the others.

Mathias Oliver also calmed down because Ryong Minjun's words were right. He took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat.

When the situation had calmed down, Ryong Minjun looked to his right. To be precise, the person sitting five seats away from him, Mao Chingseng.

"So, Mao Chingseng, can you explain what actually happened?" Ryong Minjun began with someone lower in rank than Park Haneul.

Looking at Park Haneul's condition, it seemed that the man would not cooperate with him, so he focused on the other man, Mao Chingseng.

Mao Chingseng spat everything out honestly. It was just a brief moment and a brief encounter. He told everything in less than five minutes.

After he finished, everyone at the table frowned. They did not seem to believe Mao Chingsheng's story.

"What about the district? Is there anything unusual in the district?" Ryong Minjun kept a clear head and continued with the question.

"The district?" Mao Chingseng furrowed his brow and remembered the incident.

"Normal?" He himself was unsure, as he was too angry with the fat man to pay attention to the district.

"Normal?"

"Yes, it's boisterous as usual, I suppose," Mao Chingseng confirmed after some time as he couldn't remember anything special in the district. At least that was what he saw through the entrance.

"Hmmm... So they banned the rankers and it happened on the same day as the leader's disappearance..." Ryong Minjun muttered, wondering what was really going on inside the district.

It was clear that the banning policy had something to do with the disappearance of their leader. It was just that they could not connect the dots and were lost without knowing what had actually happened.

Mathias Oliver frowned all the time. He was the most worried person in the room, but he kept his cool.

After a moment of silence, Mathias Oliver opened his mouth, "Mao Chingseng, you are a Legendary Class Ranker. Your class has proven that you are backed by your strength!"

"I believe you are not a coward, but can you tell me why you ran away from him? I mean, what do you see in him?"

As soon as this came out of Mathias Oliver's mouth. Everyone turned to Mao Chingseng except Park Haneul.

They wanted to know what Mao Chingseng thought of Heero. No one thought that Mao Chingseng was a coward or something like that.

After all, he was someone who could crawl his way to this seat. It meant that he had gone through countless trials and near-death experiences.

But to make Mao Chingseng run away just because of a simple exchange of glances. That was something they could hardly believe.

Deep inhalation

"It is hard to explain, but he gave off a dangerous feeling that I have never felt before. If I have to be honest, it's my intuition..."

Mao Chingseng also lost his words. It was really hard to explain.

"Death!" Park Haneul, who had kept his mouth shut all this time, opened it and said something that confused everyone.

"It is a helpless feeling facing death! Death is the end of us when we face it! That is what I felt then!"

"Yes, that's right. It was as if I was facing death itself!" Mao Chingseng followed Park Haneul.

Death, yes, that was what he felt then.

As soon as these words were uttered, an eerie silence fell over the room.

Such words came from the madman Park Haneul. If they did not hear it directly, they would not believe it.

Even Ryong Minjun and Mathias Oliver's jaws dropped.

Mathias Oliver was the first to recover from his shock. He stood up and declared, "I'm going to talk to the Hero League!"

If what Park Haneul had said was true, then his father was in danger or had been captured by Heero.

He would rather negotiate with the Hero League than risk his father's life. His priority was to save his father.

No one objected to Mathias Oliver's idea. It was the best course of action for now.

*** ***

One week later

Heero sat on his rocking chair in his Martial Hall. After giving instructions to his students, he relaxed in his chair.

But this time, he was not alone. There was another rocking chair across from him with an old man sitting on it.

The old man was dressed in casual clothes and had a cup of tea in his head. The old man took a sip and put the cup down on the table beside him.

"How are you? Are you worried about the children?" Bai Xian Ming asked with a smile.

Heero leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed. As his chair rocked back and forth, he replied with a relaxed smile, "No, I just enjoy my work"

"Including causing such a stir against the Rankers?" The old man replied with a bitter smile.

In the past week, twelve Iron Class Rankers and fifteen Bronze Class Rankers had been reported and imprisoned for abusing their power.

With concrete evidence against them, there was nothing the Ranker Alliance could do.

Even though they were only low-class rankers, it still attracted a lot of attention. In particular, before the rankers were reported, an article was published exposing the misdeeds of these rankers.

Three of the rankers were even executed for their crimes. It was a total mess on the forum.

Heero shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "I was just enforcing the law. I have done nothing wrong and I will not stop!"

Bai Xian Ming frowned at Heero's answer. After all, Heero was now the face of the Hero League.

What if the Ranker Alliance took this as a declaration of war? He did not want that to happen.

War between the Hero League and the Ranker Alliance was the worst possible outcome and the last resort.

"Don't you think about the consequences of your actions? What if the Ranker Alliance takes this as a declaration of war? More people will suffer in the war!"

"No, war is certainly not good, but it is also good. If this thing called the Ranker Alliance is gone, fewer people would suffer" Heero replied casually.

"Hah..." The old man let out a long sigh.

"If what you said is true, then it would be best. Unfortunately, it will not happen, "

Hearing such an answer, Heero opened his eyes. He was fascinated by the old man's answer, "Oh, why so?"

"Suppose we win the war and the Ranker Alliance is gone. One day, I believe, there will be a second Ranker Alliance, or whatever. The cycle will continue even if we destroy one, or it might even get worse, like two, whatever alliance might appear after the Ranker Alliance is destroyed,"

Heero thought about the old man's words and remembered the current society. He found out that the old man's words contained some truth.

Noticing that Heero was no longer refuting him, Bai Xian Ming continued, "It is not as if the Hero League does not have the power to destroy the Ranker Alliance. We have the Elder and the Supreme Guardian. We can destroy them, but what then?"

"Besides, the aftermath..."

Heero raised his hand to stop the old man from continuing his lecture, "All right, I know! I know! The Hero League is worried about the future that has not yet happened, instead of solving the present problem. I understand your concern, but you can't use that as an excuse to turn a blind eye to what happened to your people!"

"Besides, what's worse than killing their leader? Old man, the war has begun!" Heero confessed, guilt written all over his face.

Bai Xian Ming stopped with his mouth half open. He tried to process Heero's words carefully, to make sure he was not hearing things.

He blinked at Heero a few times and the other man did the same.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY? SAY IT AGAIN!!!"

Bai Xian Ming rose from his chair and screamed at the top of his lungs.