Chapter 324 The CEO’s Offer

Akio sat at the head of the table with Chan-Yeol sitting off to the side. Team Zephyr sat a couple seats away from him. Evan sat furthest away from the group, slightly turned away.

"Seems like it's already set in." Akio sighed. He loosened the tie and sighed.

"What do you mean?" Manny asked, defensively. He knew Akio well and just because this was Lee Seng's "older brother" didn't mean he trusted him. Manny always felt off around Akio. His personality clashed with his. They both liked Lee Seng and something about all of it rubbed him the wrong way.

Akio knew Manny had his doubts and concerns about him. He was Number 10, Lee Seng's older brother, a CEO of a Guild and an influential person. Manny had always tried to act tough around Akio, but he somehow always found Manny when he was most vulnerable.

Liz, Olivia and Ritsuka could feel the electricity in the room. It felt like one wrong word would light this place up. Akio motioned at the group while Chan-Yeol simply watched.

"Difference in opinion." Akio answered. The group's collective faces were telling him that was the case. Some hardened their faces, trying to hide it while others made it obvious with how hard they were trying to hide that fact.

"I had my fair share of them. Continue to do so, but this isn't why I'm here." Akio folded his hands together. "Lucky for you, I got here before the Academy heard about this incident. So while we have that window, I can arrange for you to search for him."

"Really?!?" Manny stood up. The group of students looked at him. Akio raised his hand.

"But you have to follow my instructions to a T. Got it, Manny?" Akio glanced at him. Manny's happy face went back to being annoyed. He planted his butt into the chair and looked away, crossing his arms.

"You're giving us a chance to go look for him?" Olivia asked.

"If the Academy finds out we disobeyed direct orders, well–" Liz started to say when Akio cut in.

"I'm reassigning you to a different part of the caverns." Akio told them.

"What? You aren't going to let us find him?" Manny shouted.

"Valentin, I would shut your mouth if I were you." Akio glared at him. "One more unnecessary word that comes out of your mouth about my decision, I will send you back to the Academy." The others glared at him and he reluctantly sighed and zipped his mouth.

"You will be going to the Fourth Floor. Check out the area near Zone 1R. Technically, there isn't a Zone 2R but a tunnel heads that way. Check it out, see what you can find and report back here. That's all you're doing." Akio explained.

"Do you even know where he is, Mr. Kato?" Liz asked.

"No. Not anymore." Akio shook his head. Manny looked up and Liz immediately wrapped her hand around his mouth. She gave him a 'be quiet or you fucked up our only chance of finding him' look. Akio motioned at Chan-Yeol, who tapped the conference table. Holographic screens appeared for each individual and Chan-Yeol cleared his throat.

"You'll be escorted by one of the Leaders stationed here. They'll take you to the Fourth floor and you'll search the area. His last known location was in the Fourth Floor. He fell so fast, he appeared outside the map zones for the floors.

"His comms pinged him at Fourth Floor, but it hasn't moved in the last couple of hours. We have people searching around but the CEO has graciously given Team Zephyr a chance to find their teammate." Chan-Yeol told them. "Do this well and execute any goblins."

"And what about our Leader? Who's gonna watch some kids?" Evan asked. His voice was filled with negativity. Ritsuka's mouth twitched as he took a deep breath and looked at Akio. Evan looked up for the first time, giving Akio and Chan-Yeol a knowing look they both knew.

,m "We're just students. We can't do a mission that was marked as Silver but easily skyrocketed to Platinum. Who's gonna wanna watch noobs?" Evan asked.

"Evan." Olivia looked over at him. "Don't be–"

"What? It's the truth." Evan looked at them. He could tell Ritsuka was intentionally ignoring him. "You're all crazy for wanting to go on a suicide mission! Just let the professionals who are more experienced and skill find him. There could be Shifters down there waiting for us."

"Then you don't have to go." Manny blurted out. "Nobody wants a Negative Nancy to tag along. You'll just jeopardize the mission."

"And you don't think the way you're acting is not going to do the same thing?" Evan retorted. The both of them stood up and turned to face each other across the table.

"You have such a weird obsession with Lee Seng." Evan pointed out. "Are you in love with him or something that you would risk everybody else's life? They don't even know where he is! You don't understand how fucked up that is?"

"Whether I like him or not doesn't have to do with any of this, pipsqueak!" Manny shouted. "You would let a teammate fend for themselves down there? We're a team!"

Yeah, a team." Evan sarcastically chuckled. "We failed our mission anyways. Might as well just go kill yourself so you don't have to see the F." The two began to argue. Liz groaned as Chan-Yeol started to stand. Akio out his hand up, signaling Chan-Yeol to stop.

"Sir." Chan-Yeol spoke. "We should stop them." Akio didn't answer him. He could tell the team was new. Two of them were on opposing sides. They were both right.

'Manny's obsession with Lee Seng hasn't dwindled at all… Doesn't help that The Creator put him up to watching Lee Seng either.' Akio thought.

"Can you two just shut up?!?" Ritsuka shouted. He stood up and turned to look at both of them. "You're both acting like 5 year olds!" The two turned to argue with Ritsuka when Liz sent a zap of electricity oar the two of them.

"Shut up, all of you." Liz stood up. The boys turned their attention the the girl. She sighed and kept her composure. "You're both right and wrong. We shouldn't go on this mission but we should find Lee Seng. Evan, I get you don't want to do it after what happened. That's natural. Being afraid of something stronger than you, but if you can't pick yourself up in a time of need, when are you ever going to do that?

"And you," Liz pointed at Manny. "You've been a little too obsessive with Lee Seng. You're creepy and honestly this behavior needs to stop. You wanna go to jail for being that obsessed with him? I get that he's your childhood friend, but you do not need to act like this." Liz sighed.

"I am so disappointed in us." Liz continued. "We knew the stakes and did we try out best? Most of us, yes. Ritsuka did what he was ordered to do because Manny ordered it. Evan used his judgment and barely got out alive. If you're gonna be a leader, Manny, you gotta notice these things.

"Everybody isn't like you, Manny, Evan, Ritsuka, Olivia, me or Lee Seng. We're all different. That's what makes being a team unique. If you want to succeed together, we have to work together.

"We're a team. A team that, frankly, should've had WAY more time to practice together. But the Invasion stopped us from practicing. We grew individually but we barely even moved an inch in terms of teamwork.

"If we're going to make a choice, we make it as a team. We go to the Fourth Floor and figure this out or we don't. We aren't splitting up, alright?" Liz's speech quieted the group. The boys all sat down, leaving Liz standing. Olivia turned to Liz and gave her a smile.

"We'll be assigned a Leader. Someone more qualified to take us to the spot. We go, look, and if we find him, we find him. If we don't, we report back, that's all right, Mr. Akio?" Olivia asked.

"That's correct." Akio nodded. Olivia turned to look at the others.

"Let's just do that. At least we can try to find him."

"But what if we don't find him? Are we just gonna leave him down there?" Manny asked.

"That's what the others are here for." Liz answered. "We're just students. Students who vary in our skills. You and I could take out a Shifter but the rest struggled. Our team is barely mid-Silver, hell, maybe barely low-Silver. We have to act accordingly to what the team strength is."

"I know you care about him, Manny." Olivia added. "I car about him. He isn't the guy the news and internet talks about. He's kind. He's a troublemaker, sure, but he's just being playful. When he does something, he puts his all into it. When you designated him into the Scout role, he didn't object. He takes in his abilities and uses what he's good at.

"The few months we've known him, I've noticed that's his way of making up for his lack of experience. Yeah, he's powerful, but he hasn't been sitting with powers for years like us."

"Lee Seng would try to rescue any of us, too." Ritsuka motioned. "He would try his best and if he couldn't do it, he'd be pissed about it but let someone more capable finish the job. He would honestly be so mad that he would practice harder."

"Mmm, that's true." Manny chuckled. Evan sighed and lifted his head to look up.