The Author's POV

"Have a cup of tea."

As I slid the teacup across the table, I smiled. With a skeptical look on his face, Jin sat opposite me.

Following that, he pointed to Kevin.

"What is he doing here?"

"You don't want me here?"

Kevin replied as he took a sip of the tea. He had a rather hurt look on his face.

Jin's eyes squinted as he stared at Kevin. He eventually shook his head.

"No, never mind."

After that, he extended his hand and grasped the teacup that I passed to him.

As he brought the cup to his mouth, he asked.

"So what have you called me here for?"

"Let's not get to that first. How about we catch up a bit first? There's no rush."

I replied as I took a sip of the tea in my hand.

What a delicious tea it was.

Furrowing his brows, Jin took a small sip of the tea

"But I am in a rush."

Smacking his lips together, he brought the cup away from his mouth and stared at it. His brows tightly knit against each other.

"What's wrong?"

I curiously asked.

Turning his head to look at me, Jin shook his head.

"Nothing, I just thought that the tea tasted weird."

"The tea tasted weird?"

When I turned my head to look at Kevin, he was looking back at me in a similar manner.

Taking another sip, Kevin looked at Jin.

"Strange, I don't notice anything weird with the tea."

Following his actions, I also took a sip of the drink.

"Me too."

After smacking my lips together, I looked at Jin.

"Perhaps it's just you."

"Mhh…maybe."

Taking another sip of the drink, Jin frowned again before putting the drink down.

"I don't like it."

"…A pity."

I also put the teacup down.

Brushing my hair back, I leaned back on the chair I was sitting on. As I pried my lips out, I asked.

"Anyways, did you think about my previous offer?"

"The one about going somewhere with you?"

"Yes."

I subtly nodded my head.

Since it had been some time since I had last offered him the deal, there was a chance that his decision had changed.

I prayed that this was the case.

"It's still a no."

However, Jin didn't seem to have changed his mind as he shook his head once more.

"If you had asked me another time, I might have been able to come, but I am currently extremely busy with clan-related matters."

"Is that so…"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tapping the armrest of my chair, I frowned.

"…Does this have anything to do with Edward's return?"

When those words left my mouth, Jin's expression changed a little.

'Bingo.'

I thought to myself as I took notice of his actions.

'As expected, he really is worried that Edward might do something.'

"…What if I can guarantee you that Edward will do nothing until your return? Will you consider my offer then?"

Jin raised his brow in surprise as he heard my words.

"Are youw saying you can stop Edwwward from d..oing anything while we're away?"

"Yes."

I firmly nodded my head.

Given the fact that I saved his life, I didn't doubt that he would listen to my simple request.

"Hmm…"

Jin's face turned serious as he covered his mouth with his hand.

For the next couple of seconds, he didn't say anything as he looked lost in his own thoughts.

Meanwhile, I looked at Kevin who was similarly looking at Jin.

He was clearly hoping that Jin would accept the proposal, but…

"I still cwan't."

Jin once again shook his head.

Placing both of his hands on the armrest of the chair, he helped himself up.

"There are a lwot of things that I need to handle at the moment. Even if you somehow are able to stop Edward from acting, I don twink that I will bweable to com—"

Jin's fumble became more prominent and it didn't take long for him to understand that something was wrong as his eyes opened wide.

His line of sight instantly fell toward the teacups.

"Y…you…"

As he took a knee to the ground, he placed both hands on his throat.

The look of shock and betrayal on his face as he lifted his head to stare at me was evident.

"How...cou..ld you d..o this to ..m..e?"

"My apologies, Jin."

Pressing my hands on the armrest of the chair, I also stood up.

I then pointed at Kevin.

"I would like to start by saying that this is all Kevin's idea."

"Oy."

Kevin reached out for my arm and glared at me.

Staring back at him, I relented.

"Alright, fine. It was my idea."

Jin remained silent throughout the entire time, glaring in our direction. If eyes could kill, I'd probably have died many times over by now.

My heart almost ached for him as I stared at him.

'What a poor soul.'

In an effort to meet his eye line, I lowered my body to meet his gaze.

"My sincere apologies, Jin, but since you kept refusing our offers, we were left with no other choice but to kinda...Keum, excuse me. I meant, give you a helping hand."

"Believe me, had there been another choice, I wouldn't have done something like this…"

'Maybe.'

Extending my hand, I patted Jin on the shoulder.

"Anyhow, sleep for now. By the time you wake up, you will be on a fun adventure with Kevin and I"

With a glare that was many times more intense than before, Jin mustered all of his strength to raise his hand before giving me the middle finger.

"Fuc..k you!"

Thump—!

Those were the last words Jin uttered before he passed out.

"...That was kind of rude."

Scratching the side of my head, I stood up to look at Kevin.

"Operation kidnapping Jin complete?"

"Just stop."

Pitifully staring at Jin who was passed out on the ground, Kevin sighed.

Crossing his arms together, he asked.

"What do we do now?"

"Go to his driver and tell him that Jin is going to stay with us for a while."

"What? Why me?"

I looked at him with an all-knowing look.

"Do you really need to think about it?"

If there was one person in the human domain that was thought of as a kind and humble hero, it was Kevin.

The driver might just believe him if he was the one telling him that Jin would stay with us for a while.

Of course, those weren't the only preparations I made.

Tapping onto my bracelet, I tossed Kevin a small UBS drive.

"Also, give the driver this, and tell them that it's from Jin."

"What's this?"

Catching the USB drive, Kevin skeptically looked at it.

Waving my hand, I urged him out of the room.

"Just do as I said. We don't have much time."

"…alright."

As Kevin clutched the device in his hand, he nodded his head and left the room.

"I'll go tell the driver now."

"Good."

Clank—!

A sudden silence filled the room as he closed the door behind him.

Silently mumbling to myself, I stared at Jin still on the floor.

"I better get to work."

***

It had been an hour since then, and we were standing in the middle of my private training grounds.

"It looks like you spent a lot of money on this place, right?"

Kevin asked as a dumbfounded look spread across his face.

"The place looks just as advanced as the training grounds as the Lock and the Union."

"Well, yeah. That's the whole purpose."

While staring around the training room, my heart started to bleed.

As I thought back to the amount of money I spent on this place, tears started to fall by the side of my eyes.

'I spent way too much money on this.'

Enough to make me want to regret my decision.

"...You really have too much money in your hands."

"Do me a favor and set up the portal for now. I would appreciate it if you didn't remind me of this."

I snapped at Kevin while pointing toward the middle of the training grounds where there was an empty space.

"Don't worry about something going wrong. I didn't spend so much money on this place for nothing. If something truly goes wrong, I'll knock you out and bring you out of the place."

"Alright, I trust you."

With a nod of his head, Kevin carefully walked toward the center of the training ground before stopping.

Thinking of something, he turned around to look at me again before pointing in my general direction.

"Is Jin going to be fine like that?"

"Him?"

As I glanced over my right shoulder to see Jin's passed out figure, I waved my hand.

"There is no need to worry about him. Set up the portal now and stop wasting time."

"Fine."

Turning around and nodding his head again, a dark green orb metalized in his hand out of nowhere.

It was the <A> rank core that was needed in order to set up the portal.

In a hurry, Kevin brought the orb forward before it vanished magically. An instant later, a white ball the size of a ping pong ball appeared in front of Kevin. Mana started to spiral toward the ping pong ball in the air, distorting the space around Kevin.

In no time at all, the mana in the air rushed toward Kevin before continuously circling the white ball.

Within a minute, the spiral had grown to twice Kevin's height, and a portal soon started to form. In the air, the mana density increased with every passing second, and by the time the portal formed, the mana density became extremely thick.

With sweat trickling down the side of his face, Kevin turned to look at me.

"Haaa.hhaa...D..one."

***

"A portal..."

Opening his eyes, Jezebeth gazed into the far distance. Peering through space with his eyes, his gaze on a particular planet.

Earth.

His brows furrowed as his eyes locked onto his planet. More specifically toward a thin white layer covering the planet.

Trying to peer through the space around Earth, Jezebeth's energy quickly dissipated.

"I'm still not strong enough..."

There was no change in expression as he realized this.

It was within his expectations. After all, he knew that it would still take him a few more years in order to break the last protective barrier protecting the earth, or more specifically, the layer designed to protect Kevin, the Akashic holder.

Nevertheless, just because Jezebeth couldn't kill him on earth, it didn't mean that he couldn't kill him elsewhere.

It was precisely because of this that his mind was extremely alert at this moment.

After all.

Kevin was planning to travel to another planet.

"Hm?"

While Jezebeth was focusing his gaze on earth, he suddenly noticed something. His brows jumped up in surprise.

"...Why do I sense five more points concentrated with Akashic laws?"

At this moment, Jezebeth realized something was amiss.

Although he couldn't see through the planet barrier, Jezebeth could tell from a glance that Kevin had used the Akashic powers to create five linkage points.

But exactly for what reason had he done that?

Jezebeth soon fell into a state of deep contemplation.

"I understand."

It didn't take long for Jezebeth to understand what was going on, and the expression on his face darkened.

"...This must be your backup plan."

With his hands raised to face the earth, Jezebeth closed his eyes slowly.

"This might set me back a bit, but..."

A crack began to appear in the space around him, and the world around him began to twist.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

"...It's worth it if it can help me kill you faster."

***

A/N : Next chap in a bit.