Orion Kai

"Young Master, this…" Jihoon frowned after receiving Ethan's orders. "Are you certain you wanted to do this?"

"It's the only way," Ethan said. "Keep this a secret from everyone else." He had been playing around for too long, thinking they could at least wait until after the funeral was done. Who would have thought that an uncle he never met would suddenly appear, and now, he would be forced to hide in here?

"I understand."

"I will be— blurg—" Ethan suddenly started spitting up blood. His eyes widened. What is happening? His head started to turn light. He shook his confusion away.

"Young master?" Jihoon asked. "I—"

"Leave—" Ethan said. He does not have the mood for this conversation. "Now…"

"But—"

"Now, Jihoon…" Ethan glared at him. "Do what you have to do." Ethan struggled to get the word out of his mouth.

Jihoon clenched his teeth. He stared at Ethan before he nodded and left the secret room. Upon leaving Ethan's room, Jihoon immediately made some arrangements to follow what Ethan had just told him to do.

He knew that Ethan had his own secrets. His priority right now is to protect the new leader of the Kai Family and do his bidding.

Four Hours Later

"We cannot find him anywhere…" a young man spoke as he bowed towards Ramon Torres, the chief of security of Kai Consortium. "We have checked the tapes, and it seems that there were some problems just before they arrived. Here…"

"A part of the videos disappeared?" Ramon arched an eyebrow.

"Yes. Someone deliberately deleted it."

Ramon then looked at the man wearing a gray suit next to him. "Mr. Kai… please take a look."

"I never thought that after Uncle died, the security of the Kai Mansion would become this weak," Orion Kai responded as he stared at the tablet that showed the video. He smirked and then looked at Jihoon, who was calmly sitting across from him. "I only wanted to see my nephew. I do not understand why he would suddenly disappear… this made me wonder if someone intentionally tipped him off that he was in trouble."

"Mr. Kai, we can assure you that we never did such a thing," Master Wu smiled. "The Young Master must be doing something very important."

"What could someone who did not receive any Essentia be doing in Yeonsin? Ethan does not have any close friends, no relatives, no skills, or anything interesting. Did he want his enemies to catch him and throw him in the dungeons?" Orion snapped. "The two masters should understand how dangerous it would be for him to leave this mansion without informing anyone."

"We are doing our best to find him, Mr. Kai." Jihoon calmly responded.

"You better find him before the funeral starts. How could he simply leave now? Facing all these accusations should not be enough to faze him. After all, he is now the owner of Kai Consortium." Orion sighed. "If only he had at least half of my son Arlo's talent, then I would not be this concerned. At least, he would have the ability to run away in front of Masters, but given his lack of Essentia…" Orion let out a dramatic sigh. "He is putting the whole family in danger."

"We sincerely thank you for your concern, Mr. Kai, but we are doing our best to find the young master." Jihoon smiled.

"I am certain that Mr. Torres would help with that. Isn't that right, Mr. Torres?" Mr. Kai said. "After all, as the one that will inherit Kai Consortium—"

"We have yet to confirm the documents that Mr. Kai presented. I believe it would be wise not to assume things," Master Wu interrupted. "Just so we avoid some embarrassment."

"Embarrassment?" Mr. Kai arched an eyebrow. "My father is Old Man Kai's brother. He owned half of what Old Man Kai owned."

"That was before the Old Man bought all of his adopted brother's shares," Jihoon said.

"Sadly, we cannot exactly find any copy of these documents…" Mr. Kai said. "Isn't that right, Master Wu?"

Master Wu's face contorted. It was, in fact, true. They cannot find the documents about this. No records of this transaction happened as the old man wanted to keep it a secret in the past. No one knew why the old man bought his brother out, and everyone assumed the brothers had a falling out. However, until now, no one knew what was the reason behind the fight.

Since Old Man Kai's adopted brother sold his shares, he left Yeonsin for a couple of years before coming back to the Yeonpung Peninsula to establish his own company. His Company— Kai Mercenary Guild is not exactly as wealthy as Kai Consortium, yet they already established their name in Yeonpung Peninsula.

Still, Kai Consortium and Kai Mercenary Guild were never involved with each other. They steered clear of each other's pathways. Until now…

Jihoon and Master Wu already anticipated that this man would soon reveal himself. However, they never thought he would do it in such a high-profile manner. He walked into the mansion claiming half of everything that the old man owned.

To make matters worse, it seems that he found a few backers. A few families who dislike Ethan and Master Wu have clearly switched sides and offered their support to Orion Kai simply because he was… older.

"The Funeral is going to happen in a few hours. Isn't it a little disrespectful for Ethan not to come to see his grandfather off?" A young man sitting on Orion's other side spoke. "I understand that he does not have any Essentia, but if he truly feared for his life, then why would he agree to come to Yeonsin?" This man was Orion's younger son and his most favored one, Arlo Kai. Just like his father, he had light brown hair and an annoying gaze.

He looked at Jihoon and Master Wu. "Ethan Kai cannot run the company. He had no allies, no Essentia, and no experience. And now, SEP wanted to talk to him. Instead of hiding him—"

"Arlo… enough…" Orion immediately shot a glare at his son. Then he smiled at Jihoon and Master Wu. "Please do not mind his temper. Younger cubs simply do not fear the tigers, do they?"

Before Jihoon and the others could answer, Orion got up. "It has been a pleasure, gentlemen, but we cannot exactly stay in this room forever. I am going to talk to my SEP friends and inform them about the current status of Ethan Kai. Moreover…" he looked at Master Wu. "We need someone capable that would take care of things from now on."

"What does Mr. Kai mean?"

"Since Master Wu cannot prove the transaction, then I would like to go ahead and announce my new role in the company. Of course, I will do this after the funeral. As for now… look sad; it would do you good." Orion walked out of the room with his son.

"Ramon, what do you think you are doing?" Jihoon called out when the head of security followed Orion.

"Just simply following the orders of the new boss." Ramon shrugged and left the room without looking at them.