However, the only ones to get angry were Tim and Emily. Sungyoon looked at everyone else. Aside from the red-faced Ross siblings, it seemed everyone felt the same way as Louis.
‘Now that I think about it, Cohen is no longer holding Louis back from attacking me.’
This time Sungyoon looked towards Cohen. He had been strident when it came to stopping Louis from attacking the Ross siblings, but he was silent now.
‘It means he agrees with Louis’ opinion.’
Cohen turned to look at Sungyoon with a blank face. He held zero goodwill towards Sungyoon.
‘He probably wants Louis to publicly shame me. He thinks it’ll create a schism between the Ross siblings and me.’
Sungyoon thought for a brief moment. Insults had zero effect on him, and words couldn’t hurt him. But this wasn’t the case with the Ross siblings, especially Tim, whose body was shaking. He looked like he was about to explode. Sungyoon decided to step in. But he was doing it not for himself, but for the two of them.
However, someone acted before he could. However, it wasn’t Tim. Emily walked up next to her brother.
Everyone’s gaze became focused on her.
“That’s enough, Tim. You should stop now.”
She put a hand on his shoulder as she pacified him.
“But, Emily!”
“There is nothing to be gained here by arguing with them.”
“She’s right. Your sister knows best.”
Louis looked at her with a smarmy look in his eyes.
“How about it, Emily? Why don’t you become my woman? I promise I will treat you very well.”
Tim had finally calmed down, but he was about to rage once again at Louis’ words. However, he could only grumble in place when Emily stopped him again.
Everyone from their company frowned at Louis’ declaration. However, they weren’t frowning because they thought Louis had gone too far. Most of the men present were interested in Emily. They were showing displeasure in the fact that Louis was hitting on her in such a vulgar manner.
“I’d rather marry a dog than you.”
Louis kept blinking his eyes. The other Connectors and even Tim looked at Emily with shock in their eyes. She always had trouble expressing herself, so they never expected her to use such strong and aggressive language.
It meant Emily was very angry right now.
“Let’s go, Tim.”
“H... huh?”
He was still dumbfounded by Emily’s verbal assault, so the pitch of his voice went up.
“Let’s go.”
“W... where?”
“Wherever. I don’t care.”
“W... wait a moment!”
Emily pulled Tim’s bear-like body as if she wanted to kidnap him. Cohen, who had been in a stupor, suddenly stood up when the siblings showed signs of leaving.
“Where are you going! We are still having a conversation! We can’t always have it your own way! Do you really think you’ll survive in the company with such behavior!”
Emily spun on her heels. Her long golden hair whipped through the air before settling back down. At that moment, she looked like a fairy that had descended on the Moon. Even in their current situation, everyone momentarily became mesmerized by her.
Emily put on her best smile.
“We are quitting.”
“… what?”
“We are quitting this company.”
Cohen and his group couldn’t comprehend her words for a moment. However, comprehension dawned on them. Her words elicited enormous shock. It was as if she had bludgeoned their heads with her words.
The siblings were considered to be great prospects. The company expected much from them in the future. Moreover, most of the men in the company, including Cohen and Louis, were aiming for Emily. Such a person had declared she wanted to quit the company.
The pitch in Cohen’s voice rose.
“Do you realize what you are saying!”
“Of course. We’ll be breaking our contract with the company. The company has grievances against us, and we have grievances against them. Since that's the case, shouldn’t we just go our separate ways?”
“Your contract hasn’t come to an end yet!”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll be sure to give you the penalty for breaking the contract.”
Emily didn’t miss a beat as she answered him. Cohen realized she wasn't just speaking out of anger and was serious, so he got desperate. He then looked toward Tim.
“Hey, Tim! You should pacify your sister!”
An odd expression appeared on Tim's face as he stared at his sister. However, he soon displayed a smirk. When Cohen and his group saw that, they realized he fully agreed with Emily.
“Whoa. Not bad! I can’t believe you are capable of saying such words.”
He patted Emily’s shoulder. It was clear that he wasn’t going to calm her down. Tim coldly looked at the company employees.
“Emily is right. We don’t get along with each other. So why should we stress ourselves out by going down the same path? It is unnecessary.”
Cohen was left speechless. He wanted to say something, but too many thoughts were popping up inside his head. In the end, he had no idea about what to say. He just kept opening and closing his mouth.
However, Tim and Emily didn’t give him the time to calm down and gather his thoughts.
“Please wait a moment, Mr. Sungyoon.”
Emily let out a pretty smile towards Sungyoon, and then she took Tim deeper into the building. The company employees were still shell-shocked from the explosive statement of the Ross siblings. They were unable to do anything. Sungyoon’s expression remained the same in this awkward atmosphere. He crossed his arms, waiting for the Ross siblings to come back out.
It didn't take too long. Each sibling brought out an armful of their belongings. It was their personal possessions stored within their lodging.
“Thank you for everything.”
Emily was polite as she gave her last goodbye. Cohen finally broke out of his stupor and quickly approached the two of them.
“L... look here! We are all emotional right now. Let’s talk about it.”
However, Tim and Emily were firm.
“It seems you misunderstood something. This isn’t a decision made on a whim. This has been weighing on our mind for some time. We just solidified it right now. This company isn’t the right fit for us.”
Cohen would have never expected Emily to speak so clearly and forthright toward him. She always used to remain quiet and have her eyes down.
Of course, he had no choice but to think about why her behavior had changed. The only thing that came to mind was the man that seemed to always stick to the siblings recently. He was the parasite trying to leech off of them.
‘It's all because of that bastard!’
Cohen glared at Sungyoon with a sinister look in his eyes. If looks could kill, Sungyoon would have been ripped apart into hundreds of pieces.
However, Cohen didn’t do anything funny toward him. He was a veteran of this company and the leader of the other Connectors. He wouldn’t lose his cool here.
But Cohen wasn’t the only one here.
“Ha. In the end, that moron continues to cause us trouble!”
Louis spoke.
“What are you going to do after you leave the company? Attempt to raid the Great Labyrinth with the great 1st Gen next to you? Ha ha ha! That’d be really fun! I almost want to travel next to you to see what happens!”
“Shut up, Louis. You can target me, but I won’t let you speak ill of Mr. Sungyoon.”
Tim pushed back on Louis’ words. Of course, Louis ignored him.
“I don’t understand. He is only a 1st Gen, yet you guys are so attached to him. Did he promise to become your new father? Or is he going to replace your esteemed mother?”
“You bastard!”
Tim took quick steps towards Louis, who didn’t back down and glared at Tim.
They stood less than 50 cm apart, glaring at each other.
“Stop it, Louis! Hey! Everyone stop those two!”
Cohen quickly got between the two of them. Tim and Louis were basically bitter enemies. At this rate, both of them would activate their Gems.
Fortunately, Louis allowed the others to pull him back and backed off.
“Let’s talk after we calm down.”
Cohen once again tried to get a handle of the situation. However, the Ross siblings refused to go along with his plan.
“We have nothing more to say. Our decision has already been made. We no longer want to work for a company that mocks and disrespects our mother.”
He was having no luck trying to bend their will. Cohen ground his teeth. His eyes moved to look at Sungyoon. He was the cause of all of this. At the very least, that was what Cohen was thinking at that moment.
“As expected, I should have been more proactive early on to separate you guys from him.”
In the end, this parasite-like bastard had eaten away at their company’s rising stars.
“Wait a moment. Mr. Sungyoon has nothing to do with this!”
Tim protested Cohen’s words. According to what Cohen had said, he made it seem like he was protecting them from a swindler. The Ross siblings were the victims. Tim suddenly had a headache.
“Of course, he does. He’s the amazing 1st Gen Connector.”
Louis, who had backed off, spoke in a sarcastic manner.
Sungyoon looked at his surroundings. Aside from the Ross siblings, everyone looked at him as if they wanted to kill him. If it were anyone else, they would have been intimidated by them. Even if one did nothing wrong, one might've lowered one’s head in apology.
However, Sungyoon was different.
Their hostile gazes couldn’t inflict even a 1 mm wound on him. He just ignored them as he turned to look at the Ross siblings.
“Shall we go if you are ready?”
In truth, he had no reason to block their exit from their current company. This would greatly enhance his chances of going to the Great Labyrinth with them.
“Yes!”
Emily vigorously nodded. Everyone frowned upon seeing this. Sungyoon had looked at them if they were ants crawling on the floor. His reaction was abnormal. Moreover, Emily was acting very favorably towards him.
Of course, Louis became angry too.
“Hey!”
He deliberately walked towards the Ross siblings. Everyone around him tried to stop him, but he gestured to them that he had no intention of fighting. He stood in front of Tim.
“You said that the 1st Gen is amazing?”
Tim continued to call Sungyoon by his name, but it seemed Louis showed no signs of calling him by his name. He continued to refer to Sungyoon as 1st Gen.
“Of course! He is way more amazing than the likes of you!”
Tim spoke in a confident manner, and Louis had been waiting for this exact statement.
“Then I can test him out, right?”
He grinned. Playfulness was evident in his smile. However, he looked like a mischievous cat playing with a mouse. He appeared dangerous.
Louis raised his arm. One could see his bracelet type Device. He had hidden his Device and Gems within his sleeve. However, one could see his Gems letting out a light. It was a phenomena that occurred when one was injecting magical energy into a Gem to activate it.
The Ross siblings, Cohen, and everyone present paled when they saw this.
“Louis! Ah…!”
Cohen desperately yelled out, but it was too late. It had already been several dozen seconds since Louis had started injecting magical energy into his Gems. A long sword appeared in Louis’ hand.
Tah-ahk!
He kicked off the ground. It seemed he had activated a physical ability-enhancing Gem too. He shot towards Sungyoon at incredible speed and swung his sword.
His bad temper made him act, but he didn’t plan on killing Sungyoon. He just wanted to scare the poor 1st Gem. He planned on mocking Tim after embarrassing his companion.
However, he made a miscalculation. Sungyoon wasn’t weak enough for him to easily pull off the ‘I’m not planning to kill you, but I’m going to scare you’ move.
A sturdy shield suddenly appeared in Sungyoon’s hand. Before Louis could respond in surprise, Sungyoon’s right arm moved.
Kah-ahng!
The sound of steel clashing rang out, and Louis’ body was rocked. His sword had been deflected, his right arm floundering through the air alongside his sword. However, Sungyoon wasn’t done with his attack.
Ssk!
The shield disappeared, and a mace appeared in his hand. Louis’ eyes widened at this fantastical sight.
Kahhhhhng!
Sungyoon swung his mace, causing Louis to lose his grip on his sword that flew high into the sky.
Ssssk!
He changed his weapon once again. This time a halberd appeared. Louis still hadn’t regained his balance, so Sungyoon used the hook of the halberd to pull on his leg.
Hwee-chung!
The halberd lifted one foot into the air, and Louis completely lost balance.
Koo-da-tahng!
He watched the ceiling as he fell to the ground. He had no idea what was going on. Too many things had happened in a very short amount of time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the end yet. He could see something flying toward his head.
A halberd and a battle-ax were coming straight at him.
“Ooh, ooh-ahhhhhhhhh!”
He screamed out in terror. However, his voice didn’t have any power to stop the descending weapons. He shut his eyes tight.
Kwah-kwahng!
The floor was destroyed as concrete fragments flew into the air. Louis had expected the halberd to pierce his heart, and the battle-ax to crush his skull. However, the death he feared never came to be.
‘I... I’m alive?’
His teeth chattered as he opened his eyes a little bit. The first things he saw were the ax and the halberd buried on either side of his neck. In his eyes, they looked like the bloody blade of a guillotine about to fall on him.
Sungyoon held the shaft of the halberd and the battle-ax in each hand. His foot was on Louis’ chest, and his expressionless face took in the faces of the other Connectors in the company.
“This was self-defense, right?”
He spoke in a very nonchalant manner.
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