An Unexpected Invitation
"Haaaahm."
The morning matches had wrapped up, and lunchtime began right away. Even the scout senior-junior pair in the next seats had left the stands to eat, leaving Kain sprawled alone across his chair. He let out a yawn so enormous it looked like his mouth might tear at the corners.
Too much hassle. Maybe I’ll just skip eating.
If he went out now, every restaurant would be packed. Most of the spectators who’d watched the tournament had probably flooded into the nearby places. Even the convenience stores would be standing-room only. For someone who hated crowds as much as Kain did, refusing to leave his seat was perfectly natural.
Ordinary people didn’t die from missing one meal, and an Absolute Being had even less reason to stick to a regular eating schedule. Having decided to skip lunch, Kain opened his mouth for another long yawn—when his gaze suddenly drifted toward his smartphone screen.
Nothing yet.
He stared at it for a moment. By now he should have received a perfectly timed message from Pride saying he’d already made a reservation, having somehow deduced that Kain would try to skip the meal. Yet contrary to that expectation, the phone remained stubbornly silent.
Well, even he can’t predict everything.
It wasn’t as if Pride had actually installed CCTV around him to monitor his every move. If he had predicted this too, Kain’s mood would have soured considerably. In a way, these occasional slip-ups were almost reassuring.
He’s not deliberately missing one every now and then just to score points with me, is he?
Maybe this was why people feared conspiracy theories. Once suspicion took root, it sprouted endlessly, each new branch latching onto the last. It grew so far that Kain actually began wondering whether Pride had found a way to fool even his senses and was still watching him from somewhere nearby. He already knew deep down that such a thing was impossible.
"……."
As if trying to shake off the unpleasant thought, Kain squeezed his eyes shut and pushed his slipping glasses back up his nose.
Step.
At that moment, his senses caught something—footsteps approaching him. For a second he assumed one of the scouts had returned for a forgotten item, but the stride length and pace were clearly different.
"So you were here."
Kain turned his head at the familiar voice. The man standing there was exactly who he’d expected.
"I figured that girl might show up for the tournament, so I came looking on the off chance."
Humon Grant. The third son of the Grant Merchant Group. Younger brother of the current head, Huren Grant, and technically Arina’s uncle on paper.
Unlike the gentle and endlessly soft-hearted Hughes Grant or the cold and serious Huren Grant, this man was impulsive and did whatever he pleased.
Why is he here?
The question was obvious. Kain studied Humon’s sharply narrowed eyes for a moment, then gave a small nod.
"The Grant Merchant Group was sponsoring this tournament too?"
There was no other reason for him to be here. While the group was fairly well-known in the northern part of the Ellemental Kingdom starting from the Emulin Countship, in the central region it was still just a fledgling company expanding its reach.
"Still pouring passion into business expansion, I see. The department store venture too."
Expanding into the central region had been one of the Grant Merchant Group’s longest-held ambitions. It was the goal every employee—from the chairman down—shared. And the same had been true for his late older sister, Kayen.
That part I can respect.
Even after his sister’s death, their drive had continued without fading. It was pleasing to see that the passion she had shown in life still burned. It felt as though the traces of her that had once existed within the company remained perfectly preserved.
Of course, Kain had no intention of helping them expand into the central region. He disliked the Grant Merchant Group itself for abandoning Arina. And he especially disliked the man standing in front of him—the one who had led the charge in casting her aside.
If Arina hadn’t been his blood relative, Kain would have crushed him as thoroughly as he had Dekken Nasara.
"……."
To Kain the words had been a compliment, but to Humon they sounded like a sudden jab that exposed the family’s shame. His personality screamed at him to grab the man by the collar and shout, yet he somehow forced the rising anger back down.
Little brother warned me to watch my behavior around this guy.
He still didn’t understand why Huren had said that, but his little brother never spoke without reason. Humon had a fiery temper, but he wasn’t foolish. If he had been, Huren would never have entrusted him with important duties no matter how close they were by blood.
"Tsk."
In the end Humon could only click his tongue, unable to vent his irritation. He looked again at Kain, who was still lazily draped across the seat and yawning widely, and his face twisted into a deep frown.
Just who does this bastard think he is?
The way he ignored everyone’s eyes and sprawled there like a delinquent was extremely irritating. Did this guy have no sense of shame or awareness at all? Was it boldness or simply bad manners? Either way, the fact that someone like him had any connection to the Grant Merchant Group displeased Humon greatly.
"Hey."
Still, what could he do? No matter how much he disliked it, ever since his late eldest brother had married that woman and taken in her child, an invisible link had formed between this man and the Grant family.
"Get up."
If they had cut ties completely when his eldest brother died, that would be one thing. But as long as the connection still existed, he couldn’t simply ignore it.
Thus, without realizing it, Humon casually committed what might have been the boldest act in the world—giving an order to the Death King himself. He stared straight at Kain and spoke.
"You haven’t eaten yet, right? I have a reservation, so follow me."
Eat together? What the hell was this crazy bastard thinking?
Kain simply lay there blinking at him. Humon turned away without waiting and added over his shoulder,
"Don’t go around starving yourself. It causes problems for us."
Was the Grant Merchant Group, with all its money, really going to be known as the kind of place that let its own relatives go hungry? Humon’s tone was scolding. Hearing it, Kain couldn’t help but let out a silent, wry laugh.
Quite the imagination.
As expected of a Grant. The soft-hearted nature that had passed down from Hughes to Arina clearly ran in the blood. To think he would use such a ridiculous excuse just to look after someone he disliked.
Yet he was ready to abandon the little one without hesitation.
Well, the circumstances were understandable. The sudden death of his eldest brother had thrown everything into chaos. He’d needed someone to blame, and unfortunately the little one had ended up in his sights. Much like how Kain was now relentlessly pursuing the Undying King.
But understanding the situation didn’t change the result. The fact remained that Humon had tried to cast Arina away.
Having figured out why the man was offering to buy him a meal, Kain lightly scratched the back of his head.
I was planning to skip it out of laziness, but…
If someone was going to feed him without making him wait, there was no reason to refuse. With that thought, Kain rose from his seat and followed after Humon, who had already started walking ahead.
Then he suddenly stopped and stared quietly at the smartphone still in his hand.
No way…
Had this guy deliberately chosen not to message him because he had predicted this situation? Pride would have known Humon Grant had come here. He could have guessed how things would play out.
Surely not.
The plausibility of the theory made the conspiracy theory about Pride inside Kain’s mind expand like the universe itself.
There is a saying: “There’s no smoke without fire.” Conspiracy theories don’t simply spring from nothing; they need plausible evidence before they can take root.
By now Humon Grant should have taken Master to the restaurant he reserved.
Exactly as Pride was doing right now—checking the time on his smartphone while mentally tracing Kain’s movements. The moment a mere hypothesis became reality.
If Kain had known, he would have gasped in horror.
Master enjoys eating, so if I tell him there’s no need to wait, he’ll definitely follow.
Absolute Beings had transcended humanity. Things considered essential to life—sleep, meals, drink—were not strictly necessary for them. They were closer to preferences, like cigarettes or alcohol. In fact, the Ice Emperor had spent years sealed inside a frozen citadel without eating or sleeping.
In that sense, Kain was rather unusual among Absolute Beings for making sure to eat every meal.
And the reason is surely the memory of not having enough as a child.
As someone who served Master, Pride could never tolerate him skipping meals. With firm resolve, Pride gripped his smartphone and turned his head slightly to the right.
"Now that the most important matter is taken care of, I can proceed with the plan without worry."
Where his gaze landed lay a single person. Skin, muscle, nerves, bones, lymph nodes, and internal organs—every component of the human body had been individually dismantled and scattered. It could no longer be called a person, nor even an undead. Yet it was still breathing.
I delivered the heart to the police yesterday.
If they obtained the heart, tracking the soul’s connection to find this place would be simple. Since this side could kill Eun Ma-hyun at any time, the enemy would likely rush their operation. The more desperate they became, the bigger their openings would grow. Their thinking would narrow, and the variables Pride had prepared would become even more effective.
This place is a prison.
Agnes had thought so the first time he saw it. That it had been built not as a hideout, but as a prison to confine someone. His guess had been exactly right. The reason Pride had ordered his subordinates to create this place was indeed for imprisonment.
Only the target wasn’t Eun Ma-hyun as Agnes had assumed.
While I’m at it, I’ll wipe out all the annoying undead in one go.
Unlike the Church or the Tugwi Guard, the organization known as Immortal was difficult to analyze even with the underworld’s intelligence network. To capture them, Pride had devised this plan.
In Vivaldi Territory he had used Jealousy as bait to exhaust both the Tugwi Guard and the Church forces at once. This time he had tied their feet so they couldn’t move freely, forcing them to take direct action.
I don’t know how many will come, but at least a couple from their core should show up.
Like tying a white cloth to one wasp to find the nest. Starting with that one, he intended to shake down Immortal’s main base completely.
They probably already know I’m somewhere around here.
He had leaked the rumor carefully. In Vivaldi the bait had been Jealousy. This time the bait was Eun Ma-hyun… and himself.
Come, then.
Looking down at the lifeform that was in even worse shape than a corpse whose every part had been torn apart, at the blood-soaked Eun Ma-hyun, the corners of Pride’s mouth curled up in arrogant satisfaction.