Chapter 154
Chapter 154
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: Chivalry or Boomer Power (1)
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“…Did I make some mistake?”
I muttered upon sensing the ominous atmosphere.
Why do they both look like that?
My unease doubled when Ricardo's eyes widened in unmistakable fury. I quickly started racking my brain.
But the answer came before I could even ponder it.
Ricardo's low voice echoed through the conference room.
“Did you write that will~…?”
Yeah, right.
I'd been writing it when Yoon called, so I stepped out. I'd just come back from putting down someone who'd been sleeping soundly without stirring the whole way home.
Maybe he's mad because I didn't fold up the finished will properly.
I nodded and said,
“Yes. I'm sorry for leaving it open so carelessly. I didn't expect the two of you to come so early.”
“Is that the end of the will?”
The sharp question cut off my response.
Ah.
They read the will.
He seems angry about the contents....
I pressed my lips into a straight line before cautiously replying.
“Yes.”
Ricardo let out a hollow laugh.
His laughter brimmed with barely contained rage. Kaldo, arms crossed and scanning me up and down, didn't look pleased either.
No matter what I said, it seemed like it'd only stoke their anger, so I just nervously glanced around.
The green-eyed senior rolled his eyes and spat coldly,
“Call Ami~.”
“Yes?”
“Show it to her too....”
...Why?
What exact point has them this furious? Me carelessly leaving the will out and stepping away? Or the concise contents?
Maybe both.
In any case, not wanting to escalate things by resisting pointlessly, I meekly followed Ricardo's order.
Sorry, Ami, but she'd just messaged that she finished her report. She's in headquarters, so she shouldn't take long.
Sure enough, when I contacted her, Ami hurried right into the conference room.
She'd been excitedly rushing over thinking about dinner, but her eyes went wide at the tense atmosphere.
“What's going on!”
I gave an awkward smile as the senior slipped into the conference room.
The others answered with gestures. Ricardo pulled his hand from his pocket and silently pointed at the will with a finger. Kaldo uncrossed his arms and stepped back to make space for her to read it.
The ones who'd created the chilly vibe.
Ami blinked.
“Hilde's will?”
She swung her arms as she headed to the seat I'd been in.
“Hilde left it open like this, and that's why you're mad?”
The senior leaned over my spot and peered down.
“But you shouldn't just read someone else's will without permission....”
Ami's words cut off.
I quietly watched her as her eyes widened and she stared down at the will.
Silence filled the conference room with its floor-to-ceiling windows.
She stayed frozen for a long while before lifting her head.
“That's the end?”
I nodded quietly, standing by the doorway with one hand on the frame.
I probably wasn't showing much expression.
“Yes.”
Ami stared at me blankly.
I waited for the seniors' reactions without adding anything. It was concise, sure, but I thought it covered everything necessary. No one around me was in dire straits needing assets split off for them.
Neat and tidy, right...?
My jaw dropped at Ami's reaction.
She started sobbing outright.
“Waaah....”
Like someone who'd tried to hold it back but failed, Ami bit her lip with her head down.
“Hilde, that's too much....”
Why?
What...?
Why? Why all of a sudden? What's too much?
What in the world....
Why is she crying?
I panicked and hurried over to her side. I peered at the senior anxiously shedding chicken-tear-sized drops.
Tears plopped onto the conference room floor.
Ah.
“Ami.”
I called out to her in a fluster.
“Ami. Why are you crying?”
“To Hilde... we're nothing....”
Ami said in a quavering voice.
“I'm just... someone who passed by.... You treasure your past people so much that we're nothing to you....”
“No.”
No.
Why would you think that....
No.
A will isn't a letter, is it?
But I couldn't say that.
I wasn't that oblivious. Plus, seeing her usually bright self cry so pitifully threw my thoughts into disarray. Knowing I was the cause only made my brain freeze up more.
At a loss with the person before me, I bent at the waist.
Look at me.
“Ami. That wasn't my intention.”
“Th-then why'd you write the will like this....”
Ami wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, sniffling.
“Why write it like you have no regrets at all....”
“It's just.”
I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly.
“It's not that I thought of it as some trivial passing connection....”
I needed to explain my feelings accurately, but it wasn't easy.
What should I say?
I hadn't put special thought into it.
I did think that when my atonement ended, I didn't want to burden people with whatever I left behind. I wanted to tidy up after myself so the void wouldn't scar too deeply.
Truth be told, I had no choice over my life.
On this one thing, I couldn't fulfill the seniors' wishes. My last remaining kin's choice would decide my remaining days.
I wasn't unaware of the attention, affection, and trust they'd shown me.
Nor was the affection I'd come to hold for them any less than what I'd felt for my old kin.
No, from the start....
“It's because you're not a passing connection that I'm going to finish my job out there.”
I whispered without breaking eye contact with Ami.
“The disaster we dragged you into.”
“But why write it like this?”
Ami looked at me again, fresh tears falling.
I appreciated her meeting my gaze, but seeing her bloodshot eyes tore at my heart.
“Why write it like you're always ready to set it all down lightly? It feels like we don't matter to you at all.”
“No, really.”
It was just that I knew a time would come when I'd have to choose.
My resolve to honor my kin's wish in that moment had never wavered. But that didn't mean I was putting humans second. If it did, I wouldn't have tried to kill my kin myself.
If the new bonds I'd built were inferior to the old ones, I would've begged to join them inside and live mingled, or just let them flee beyond the core instead of killing the Titan myself.
In fact, I sometimes dreamed of that.
Dreams where the kin left outside turned back and came into the core.
I soothed her while gazing into the senior's eyes.
“I just didn't have more to write in the will.”
“That's what's too much.”
Ami kept sobbing.
“That's really too much!”
Why....
“Why wouldn't you have more to write!”
Ami burst into full sobs.
Her childlike, heartbroken cries resonated through the conference room.
What do I do.
Her cries rooted me to the spot. I stood there dazed, thoughts sluggish. What now? How do I fix this? How do I comfort her? How do I apologize?
I never meant to upset her this much.
After spacing out for a while, I snapped to.
Apologize first.
I took in the tearfully crying Ami and the silently standing men. Their subdued gazes prompted me to reach out.
I gently hugged the hiccupping Ami.
“I'm sorry.”
It was for all the seniors in the room.
“I'm sorry. I was short-sighted.”
Ricardo rolled his eyes toward the ceiling.
That was probably his way of responding. Kaldo let out a long breath and uncrossed his arms, as if he had plenty to say but would hold back since I'd admitted fault.
I kept apologizing to them in turn.
Gradually, Ami's sniffles eased.
As I listened to the calming sounds from the light and salt of my life, I sank into thought.
I'd never imagined this will would cause such a stir.
Yoon would've brushed it off, I kept thinking, but I absolutely couldn't say that. Even a heartfelt will wouldn't lessen the grief of loss, so no way could I say long wills were pointless?
I patted the now-settled Ami's back before pulling away.
“I'll write more.”
Ami wiped her tears and looked up at me intently.
“I'm sorry. I'll write more. But I won't show it to you.”
“Good....”
Smack!
The incident wrapped up with a solid whack to the back of my head from Ricardo.
The green-eyed senior had interpreted my last words differently. I'd meant not to peek at whatever I scribbled extra, but he'd heard it as me saying I'd outlive them.
Well. It was a positive misunderstanding, so I didn't bother correcting it.
Ah....
Still, I'd have to strive to stay alive until I could point a sword at my last kin's throat.
I thought that as I approached the will.
***
“I was gonna get tempura omakase....”
“I'm sorry.”
I slid the golden-battered chicken toward Ami and dropped my gaze.
“I'll treat you next time for sure....”
In the conference room.
Time was tight after the whole ordeal, so we were eating delivery food there. I'd planned safe bets like chicken and pizza, but Ricardo's disdain for chain pizza nixed that.
So it became chicken and burgers.
The same burger brand I'd eaten when I first dropped here.
“I'll get this one too.”
I nervously eyed the male seniors across from me.
“Have the two of you... gotten over your anger?”
“Just eat up~.”
“Yes, sir.”
I immediately lowered my gaze.
“I'll eat well.”
After dinner, I swiftly cleared the trash.
I firmly reseated the puffy-eyed Ami as she tried to stand, then handled cleanup. They mistook my help for wanting to join their smoke break and shooed me off vehemently.
Only after hearing “Let's smoke~” did I come to my senses and see the seniors off for their smoke time.
Amid the commotion, the appointed time arrived.
7 PM, when the Task Force was to assemble.
We were waiting for Sophia Kalak.
“For reference, the squad leader this time is Supreme Commander Lee Ye-hyeon.”
Kaldo said in a gravelly voice.
“Naturally, all orders come from him, but it's good to know each other's combat styles.”
“Yes.”
I nodded readily.
“Especially I for the two of you's....”
Clunk.
The door opened.
A woman entered the conference room.
She had jet-black hair grown to her shoulders. Her skin was as pale as Ye-hyeon's, and her eyes were similarly dark.
But unlike Ye-hyeon, her black eyes held hatred.
Cold-burning fury.
She fixed those rage-filled eyes straight on me.
I met her gaze and rose from my seat.
“Hello, Senior Kalak. Rookie Hildebert Talib.”
“I have no intention of shaking hands with a creature.”
When I offered my hand, a icy reply came back.
“That guy's in poor taste too.”
She's talking about Ye-hyeon.
I smiled wryly and lowered my offered hand.
No idea how she'll talk about him, but I'll hear her out first.