Chapter 134: Pale Smoke’s loyalty
The words hung heavy in the quiet room, deliberate and cold, nothing impulsive about the way he said them.
Pale Smoke’s expression didn’t change on the surface, though internally, something close to disbelief settled over him.
He’d been there during Leon’s fight with Teon, and had seen how Loen crushed Teon’s throat like it was nothing.
Whatever Yeon believed himself capable of, Pale Smoke privately doubted he stood any real chance against his brother, not now, maybe not ever.
He kept that doubt carefully to himself. There was no benefit in voicing it, not while Yeon sat there radiating that much grim determination, and certainly not while his own position still wasn’t guaranteed.
"You saw what he did to Teon," Pale Smoke said instead, choosing his words carefully. "Are you certain revenge is worth throwing yourself back into that kind of danger?"
"It’s not just revenge," Yeon said. "It’s Roaring Lions. It’s everything my father built, everything I’m supposed to inherit. Leon already destroyed the headquarters once."
"If he’s allowed to keep growing unchecked, there’s nothing stopping him from coming back to finish whatever he started."
He looked directly at Pale Smoke now, his expression set with a kind of grim, unwavering resolve.
"I’m not doing this out of blind anger. I’m doing it because he’s already proven he won’t stop."
Pale Smoke considered that for a long moment, offering a small, noncommittal nod rather than any actual agreement. "That’s a more reasonable answer than I expected."
"Did you expect me to fall apart?" Yeon asked, a faint, humorless smile tugging at his mouth. "My father is dead. Raging Lions is in ruins. My own brother tried to kill me and very nearly succeeded. I don’t have the luxury of falling apart right now."
He exhaled slowly, some of the tension in his shoulders easing slightly, though the hard resolve in his eyes remained fixed and unmoving.
"Grief can come later, if it comes at all. Right now, Roaring Lions needs someone willing to hold it together, and I’m the only Allistar left standing who can actually do that."
Pale Smoke nodded slowly. "What do you need from me?"
"Loyalty," Yeon said simply. "You’re one of the few who saw what happened, and you’ll help me grow this guild back to its peak as my right hand man, whether you like it or not."
A strange expression flashed across Pale Smoke’s face, and he chuckled.
"Fine... you can have my loyalty. Its an hour to be the right hand man of Yeon Allistar, the new child master of Raging Lions." Pale Smoke said.
In truth, he never planned on being loyal to anyone, and was only after whatever would benefit him.
His original goal had been to become an S-rank player, but since Leon turned out to be far more powerful than he could handle, there was no way to complete the mission given to him.
The only thing he could do now was suck up to Yeon as much as he could, to curry favour and then rise up to the S-rank he wanted so bad.
Yeon studied him for a moment, seemingly satisfied with the answer, before giving a small nod of his own. "Good."
He glanced back toward the window again, his thoughts drifting briefly toward the strange, terrifying voice that had echoed down from the cracks in the sky that day, the thousands of unblinking eyes that had judged Leon so coldly before he’d vanished entirely.
"What was that thing?" Yeon asked quietly. "The voice from the sky. The eyes."
Pale Smoke’s expression darkened slightly at the question.
He remembered it far more vividly than he wanted to, the exact moment that ancient, booming voice had ordered him directly to heal Yeon, the sheer, suffocating authority behind it enough to nearly stop his own heart on the spot.
"Probably one of the heads of the player guild association..." Pale Smoke said carefully. "I heard they were terrifying, but that was the first time seeing one in action... and he was indeed terrifying."
"And yet he managed to escaped... even after being attacked by someone like that." Yeon said.
"For now guild master, don’t worry yourself." Pale Smoke said.
Yeon nodded slowly, letting the weight of everything settle properly for the first time.
He was the Guild master of raging lions now. The title had belonged to his father only days earlier, a position Yeon had always assumed he’d inherit eventually, though never quite like this.
He pushed himself further upright, testing his strength carefully, wincing slightly at the lingering soreness still radiating through his midsection.
"Get me a list," he said. "Every surviving member of Roaring Lions still in the city, or reachable within the next few days. I want to know exactly what we’re working with before I start making any real decisions."
Pale Smoke nodded, already moving toward the door. "I’ll have something for you by tomorrow."
He paused at the threshold, glancing back once, careful to keep his voice level. "Whatever Leon’s become since you last saw him, he’s not the same person you grew up next to anymore."
Yeon’s expression hardened further at that, though he didn’t deny the truth of it.
"I know exactly what he’s become," he said quietly. "That trash... somehow got his hands on a little bit of power."
’Not sure I’ll call that a little...’ Pale smoke muttered inwardly, but didn’t say anything.
He simply nodded before stepping out of the room, leaving Yeon alone with his thoughts and the dim, fading glow of the display still resting on the desk nearby.
He kept his own doubts locked carefully behind an unreadable expression as he walked, the memory of Leon’s overwhelming strength still sitting heavy in the back of his mind.
Whatever Yeon believed he could accomplish, Pale Smoke had already quietly decided he wanted no part of standing anywhere near the front line when that reckoning eventually came.
However, only a few minutes passed, before Pale Smoke came back to the room to meet Yeon, with a troubled expression on his face.