13. Lies and Survival (1)

As the Secretary held the gun steady, his expression was cold and calculating. I could feel my palms growing sweaty. I knew something had to be done, but my mind was already racing, trying to come up with a plan.

As the Secretary's cold eyes bore into mine, I could feel the weight of his accusation bearing down on me. How did I know about the Mana Refined Handgun? And what else did he think I was hiding?

For a moment, I hesitated. My mind raced to find an answer that would satisfy the Secretary and keep me alive. But as I looked into his eyes. I saw the unmistakable glint of malice and suspicion. This man wasn't interested in the truth; he was only interested in consolidating his power.

There was no chance that he would leave me alive even if I tell him the truth and not like he would believe me about it in the first place. He was determined to get rid of any outliers that will affect his plans.

I took a deep breath and decided to play along with the Secretary's game, I couldn't help but feel a deep sense of unease. Lies might be a necessary evil in this world, but they were also a poison, spreading and infecting everything they touched. They twisted the truth and eroded trust and all they leave is a trail of destruction.

And yet, here I was, about to tell another lie, all in the name of survival. It isn't like this is the first time I'm lying. This world revolves around them. It was more of a vicious cycle, one that I couldn't escape from even if I tried to. The more I lied, I felt like I was losing a part of myself, becoming someone I didn't recognize.

But what choice did I have? In my previous life, the world revolved around talent and power and they were everything, where the truth was often silenced or twisted beyond recognition, lies had become a currency and they were a way of survival to me.

I recollected my thoughts and came up with a plan. As I stood before the Secretary, with a deep breath, I decided to take a chance.

"You're right," I said, my voice steady.

"I do know about the Mana Refined Handgun. And I know a lot of other things, too,"

The Secretary's eyes narrowed.

"Go on," he said, his finger hovering over the trigger of the Mana Refined Handgun.

I took a step forward, my hands held out in front of me in a gesture of peace.

"I've been doing some digging," I said. "About you, and your organization. And I've found some very interesting things."

The Secretary's expression remained stony, but I could see a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. " Such as?"

I took another step forward, closing the distance between us.

"Such as the fact that you've been using your position of power to silence and crush anyone who opposes you."

The Secretary's hand tightened around the grip of his weapon, but he didn't pull the trigger.

"And what do you propose to do about it?"

I smiled, feeling a surge of confidence.

" I propose that we work together," I said. "You and me. We can bring our dreams to become true and make things right. I have no interest in the old man. He never saw me as his son in the first place."

For a long moment, the Secretary didn't speak. He just stood there, his eyes locked on mine, and his finger was still on the trigger. My heart was pounding in my chest as I waited for the Secretary to respond, I knew that my proposal was risky, but it was the only option I had left. If I could convince him that were better off working together, maybe I could buy myself some time and find a way to turn the tables on him.

But as the seconds ticked by, the silence from the Secretary grew more and more deafening. Had I made a mistake? Was he going to pull the trigger and end my life right then and there?

Just as I was about to give up hope, The Secretary spoke.

"You think you can just waltz in here and convince me to betray the old man? Do you think I'm a fool? You just helped him here by protecting the research,"

I held my ground, my eyes locked on his.

"No, I don't think you're a fool. I think you're a man who wants power, and I can help you get it. Together we can make things right."

As the words left my mouth, I couldn't help but feel a sense of disgust at myself. Praising someone I didn't trust and whose motives I was unsure of left a sour taste in my mouth. But I knew that I had to play this game to survive.

My survival depended on convincing the Secretary that I was on his side, even if he didn't believe it.

I held his gaze, trying to keep my expression neutral as I waited for his response. The seconds stretched into minutes and I could feel my nerves starting to fray.

The Secretary's expression softened, and for a moment, I thought I had him. But, then his hand tightened around the grip of his Mana Refined Hangun, and he leveled it at me once more.

"I'll consider your proposal," he said, his voice cold and menacing."But don't think for a moment that I trust you. You're still a liability, and I won't hesitate to eliminate you if you step out of line."

I nodded, my heart was still pounding in my chest. I knew that I had just made a dangerous gamble, one that could cost me everything. But in this world of lies and deceit, sometimes the only way to survive was to take risks and hope for the best.

The Secretary took out a contract to finalize that we were working together. I took the contract from the Secretary's outstretched hand and scanned it. It was a formal agreement outlining the terms of our partnership, including the specific goals he wanted to achieve.

I knew that signing this contract was a risky move, since it was going tie me even more closely to the Secretary. I didn't need his protection since the old man's protection is way better than whatever he would like to offer.

As I brought the contract closer to the Secretary, my heart was racing. I pretended to sign the contract, all while keeping my eyes on his every move. Suddenly. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I pulled out the dagger from my jacket.

The Secretary's eyes widened in shock and fear as he realized what was happened. I lunged forward and plunged the dagger into his chest. His body slumped to the ground lifeless. I stood there for a moment, breathing heavily trying to process what I had just done.

I knew there would be consequences for my actions, but I couldn't let him have any power over me. I wasn't going to live the same way I did like in my previous life.

I quickly gathered my things and left the room, making sure to wipe down any evidence of my presence I sprayed a few bottles of deodorant that were stored in the room to remove the scent of smell I was going to leave behind just to be safer.

I took the Mana Refined Handgun from the secretary and walked down the hallway away from the control room. I couldn't shake off the guilt that washed over me, but I knew that I had to keep moving forward.

I couldn't help but wonder if my actions would come back and haunt me. Would the old man find out about what I had done? Would the Secretary's associates seek revenge? I couldn't help but wonder about all these questions. I survived from the brink of death but I had to kill someone for me to survive. It was a life or death situation and I had no choice.

I realized that there were going to be more situations like this in the future. I have no idea about the organization that he was part of so I needed to be more careful about what was to come. I now have a Mana Refined Handgun, but I'm still hesitant in using it. Everything was still uncertain and I knew I couldn't let my guard down.

I went ahead and met up with the team with which the connection was disconnected from the control room. There were relieved to see me safe. The old man also assigned them to keep me safe in case something else happened. We made our way back to the control room and when we did the body of the Secretary was no longer there.

There were no traces of it. I still had the Mana Refined Handgun so the events did just happen. I asked the team if the Secretary entered the building and they said that he never came there. This whole thing was just weird. I knew that I had to be careful moving forward and more things were getting added to the list of unanswered questions.