There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 354 - 346. Eleven Years

Chapter 354: Chapter 346. Eleven Years

On the morning of the fourth, people who looked at the news first thing after they woke up, or ate breakfast while staring at the news, would be the first outsiders who knew that Celestia had appointed an acting Guildmaster while Varion Belthera was still in ’closed-door training’.

Curiously enough, the vice guildmaster was...still the vice guildmaster, while the acting guildmaster turned out to be the former Head of Internal Security; a five-star esper that was often seen doing rescue missions in Celestia’s contracted dungeons.

"Heh," Zein chuckled as he read the news through his screen.

Even though he already heard it from Senan last night—because apparently, it took them a lot of debate until they received an agreement close to midnight—it still didn’t feel real before the decision was spread on the national screen.

"I thought we were only going to sponsor a faction, but we go all the way to put someone in the Guildmaster’s chair?"

"Anything is possible if we know how to incite people," Bassena muttered behind the guide, lips moving against the scarred back. "One of the major shareholders is a renowned name in the entertainment industry, and we promised contracts with our espers for his agency’s project in exchange for his vote."

"And I guess the vote goes by percentage?" Zein squirmed a little bit because the moving lips and the soft breath across his back were starting to get ticklish.

Bassena curled his lips and chased the running back, pressing his lips along the fair shoulder and upper arm. "Of course—what’s the point of becoming a major shareholder if everyone has equal votes?"

"Hmm...so the almost empty bank account is worth it," Zein muttered lowly, the sulky-sounding voice got Bassena to laugh against his neck.

It wasn’t that Zein felt upset about the lack of money. He was just upset that his plan to make a foundation and build another orphanage in another red-zone had to be pushed back from the redirecting of funds.

"But as long as the new acting guildmaster and the disciple faction managed to reign in Celestia, and they kept their loyalty to Iron Shield," Bassena raised his upper body and planted a worshipping kiss on the back of Zein’s hand, "Celestia is yours."

That did put a bit of a smile on those pretty lips. "It also belongs to Radia, since his money is there too."

"But the Iron Shield is your clan’s," Bassena smirked, enjoying the slight twitch in the corner of the blue eyes. He knew Zein was still conflicted with the concept of a clan, but also warming up to the idea of a personal brigade.

But a personal brigade that comprised a big family who owned enough capital to become Celestia’s shareholder? The only reason they weren’t called a clan was because the patriarch refused to do so.

Zein sighed and rolled to his back, throwing his commlink away while recalling the order he gave Senan last night; to make sure that Celestia’s new regime would reorganize the guild’s guide policy anew.

"How much resistance would happen, do you think?" Zein asked, tapping his temple as he thought about Nora in the branch office. He thought he would move the guide somewhere else, but at this point, it was probably better for Nora to stay—especially if Celestia would change for the better after this.

And he’d still got his spy inside.

"Varion’s faction had lost their biggest sponsor—that showbiz guy—so even if they got angry, they didn’t have as much power as before. Not to mention, they lost their ’head’," Bassena smirked, shifting to sit fully on the mattress while patting Zein’s torso. "Varion Belthera ruled with absolute authority, so once he’s gone, his people wouldn’t know what to do."

"Because they had been too used to be ordered around?"

"Exactly," the esper sneered. "Especially since we captured and gotten rid of some of them. The rest would think of looking for another rope, probably, although...that girl probably will make a ruckus or two."

Zein tilted his head. "Who?"

Bassena smirked. "You know, the one who talked to you in the studio the last time?"

"Ah...that weird girl," Zein nodded. She did look like someone who couldn’t care less about politics and whatnot, just bulldoze through things. "So, what? Will she make a ruckus in our door?"

"Probably," Bassena shrugged and laughed as he climbed down the bed. "We can just reunite her with her dear ’Guildmaster’, don’t you think?"

Zein watched Bassena cover himself with a nightrobe and go to the shelf where they stashed bottled water. "Then, which one should we watch for? The vice-guildmaster’s faction?"

"Yeah, that one. His backers are financiers worked for the wealthy, so they had lots of funds to spare—which is why the rest of the members need to isolate that faction and bond under the acting Guildmaster."

Zein narrowed his eyes as he received a bottle of water from Bassena. "Is it possible? What about the other faction?"

"The other major one is the researchers, but they could be easily enticed by an alliance with Iron Shield and Mortix—you know, the dungeon tech industry," Bassena sat on the edge of the bed, tapping on his chin in ponder. "The most important thing for the acting guildmaster and the disciple faction is to take the neutral members and the small group that had always been the victim of the big factions."

"Including the guides?"

Bassena smiled and kissed the guide in front of him. "Including the guide," he chuckled against the lips. "And preferably the branch office too."

"Hmm..." Zein gulped the water down while mulling over the situation in Celestia. He tried to picture the same thing happening in Trinity, with all the factions and different sponsors, thinking about Radia and Bassena being at odds with each other...

He wasn’t a stranger to this faction thing, since something similar also happened in Umbra, just not in the same level of sophistication and scope. But the part where money decided authority and in turn became the decision-maker was all the same.

"What are you thinking about?" Bassena draped a nightrobe on Zein’s shoulder and pulled the guide out of the bed.

"Just how it would be if our guild had that kind of factions," Zein shrugged.

Bassena’s lips curled automatically at the way Zein said ’our’ guild—smoother and easier each time as if it came naturally as a thought nowadays. "Then you’d be in my team, wouldn’t you?" he pulled the nightrobe—and the guide in it—closer, whispering above Zein’s ear.

"I’m not sure," Zein tilted his head. "It’d depend on how hard you seduce me."

"Mm," Bassena bit the slightly cold earlobe, lowering his husky voice. "I can’t beat Radia with money, so what about I seduce you with my body?"

Zein grabbed the platinum hair and yanked the esper off his ear, a deep smirk etched on his face. "I was thinking about a particularly delicious breakfast, but..." he licked his lips and tightened his grip, "I don’t mind a particularly nice shower too."

Groaning in repressed arousal, Bassena was just about to carry his guide straight to the bathroom when both of their commlink beeped loudly, which only meant one thing; an obligatory summon from the Guildmaster.

Usually, Bassena would curse the world for cockblocking him again and again—cursing Radia while the older man couldn’t hear him while at it. But this time, he just paused and looked at Zein, who seemed to think of the same thing as him.

In tacit understanding, they voiced it at the same time. "Joon’s data."

* * *

The night before; an hour after Celestia’s shareholders meeting.

Radia had no time to get relieved upon their first step of success in ’conquering’ Celestia. Not only because it was just the first step, but also because Masa called to inform him of what he had been waiting for eagerly for the past three days.

His thought was empty when he drove to the shabby shop. He wanted his mind to be empty, so he could immediately use it to digest whatever data would show up in that flash drive. He didn’t care to be discreet this time, since the shadow guards had already been stationed around the perimeter since the last time he visited.

What surprised him was that Masa had been waiting for him in the shop, looking all concerned and fidgety, motioning for Radia to move swifter, before immediately running back to the back room.

There, staring at the big screens constructed as the wall, Radia read what was contained behind three protective walls and bloody delivery.

It was a list of names; various names along with their date of birth, dated as far back as forty—no, fifty years ago. But as his eyes shifted to the right column, he could see another date.

"Date of their death?" Radia muttered.

He did not recognize all of those names, but he knew some of the surnames there. Some of them were from the Houses and the conglomerate families, even the ones hidden from the masses. Some were espers that met their demise during their early twenties.

In fact, based on their date of birth and death, all of these names died when they were young, mostly before they reached thirty. Frowning, he shifted his gaze toward the rightmost column, and his blood froze.

In that column, each, was a word in bold red letters. REMOVED. REMOVED. REMOVED. REMOVED—

"What is this?"

"I...I think...this is a hit list," Masa said; her usual confident voice couldn’t be heard anymore. As someone whose job was to gain information, she knew some of these names too.

She hovered the cursor toward the death date and clicked on it. Each was opening to an informative box telling them how the person died; accidents, suicide, dungeons, fights...all were things that were deemed to be more or less ’natural’ or self-inflicted, without any involvement of outside force and thus, involved minimal level of investigation.

And yet, that glaring REMOVED on the far right told them nothing there was a mere accident.

"This is..."

If this was true, and that the military was the one behind it—or at least knew about it—then...it was a big thing. Members of conglomerates, members of Old Houses and New Houses, members of the parliament, government officials...

Wait. Radia pinched the bridge of his nose. Controlling the government. Was this how House Horin managed to control the government?

If so, then...this was not just big. One of the names belonged to the current President’s younger brother, for fuck’s sake.

But still...

"This...is what you’re dedicating your eleven years for?" Radia frowned.

"Umm, hey..." Masa tugged on Radia’s coat, prompting the summoner to go back to the screen. "You need to see this."

She moved the cursor again, pulling the list down, down, down until the last page; the most recent list.

There, finally, Radia could see his own name.

And it wasn’t just one.

Radia Mallarc. Attempted. Failure.

Radia Mallarc. Attempted. Failure.

Radia Mallarc. Attempted. Failure.

Radia Mallarc...

...

Twenty-three times. Twenty-three times his name came up on the list with a blinking attempted and failure. Twenty-three times during the past eleven years.

The eleven years Han Joon dedicated himself to.

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