Chapter 320: Least Freedom (2)
I could see that there were also ‘Revival Legend’ users among the refugee group.
Of course, this was not a big deal because there were lots of users playing Revival Legend, even though new users could no longer join.
However, it was certainly surprising that there were level 1200 or higher users who achieved a reality actualization rate among the refugees, for in this day and age, such users would be warmly welcomed wherever they went. But I didn’t do anything about them.
Obviously, other guilds might be very much interested in recruiting them, but Myongjin wasn’t.
Even at this moment, Myongjin was constantly producing level 1200 users.
At that moment, the refugees stopped moving, then some of them approached me as if they had some business with me.
Naturally, some members from my recon team stepped forward and blocked them.
Then, as if they had no intention of resisting, they stopped and one person opened his mouth.
“Juyoung Hong, please help me!”
How did she know who I was at first glance?
Of course, it wasn’t strange because I was so widely known these days.
So, I said without responding to her, “Keep moving.”
Her intention was obvious. In other words, she wanted me to save them.
Of course, some might welcome her with open arms because she achieved level 1200.
So I gave her some encouraging words, though I would not characterize it as advice.
“Given your level, there are probably many people who will welcome you with open arms. So, go to them. They will grant your request.”
That was the best advice I could give to her. But I was wrong.
She said, “I’m not asking you to save our lives. Please accept us, so we can have the least freedom to die on our terms. Please help us! Only you can save us, Juyoung Hong!”
As a matter of fact, I heard people asking me to save them countless times, saying they would do whatever I wanted, so I thought this refugee group was the same.
The way they were dressed and spoke was the same as those I had met before.
But I could not turn my head away from them when I heard their request to die of their own free will. Nobody before had made such a request to me.
At the third main base of the Myongjin Shelter three days later.
Even though I had met the other business groups several times in the past and knew them well, they were still outsiders. So, I chose the third main base, not the first main base, as the dinner venue just like we did for the guests who attended my brother’s wedding ceremony, or the Holdridge guys more recently.
“Lovely meeting you, Chairman Sangman Hong!”
“Thank you for accepting our request, Chairman Sangman Hong!”
My father rose to the position of Myongjin Group’s chairman at a young age because my grandfather passed away early. Until now, the chairman of the other conglomerates did not speak informally to him, even though they could, nor did they address him with honorifics.
But Daesung Group Chairman Junghwan Kim and Kusan Group Chairman Sokyoung Jung, who were both much older than my father, used honorific language this time.
Of course, I didn’t frown at them because it was only natural that they paid deference to my father in the current situation. After they exchanged greetings with him, they approached me.
In the past, they would not have deigned to pay attention to me.
“Hahaha! I think I know how much hardship you must have gone through while living like a swan among a flock of ducks.”
“Yeah, it’s because you wore a suit that didn’t fit you that there were so many rumors about you.”
They spoke to me informally rather than being respectful like the way they spoke to my father, but I didn’t care. My father was the chairman of the Myongjin Group, which had a reputation and prestige that Daesung and Kusan could not even dream of, and as his son, I was the head of the Myongjin Shelter.
So I opened my mouth with a gentle smile on my mouth.
“You’re welcome. Well, I was not a swan but a sick chicken, so I couldn’t catch up with the ducks.”
We carried on conversation like that for some time.
Soon the Mirae Group chairman and his entourage arrived, and we commenced the dinner meeting.
I was now an essential member of the Myongjin Group. Strictly speaking, I was not only an essential member, but one who carried more weight than Myongjin itself.
As a result, they arranged for me to sit at the head table, and my opinion at the meeting was given far more importance than before. So I refused it at first because I didn’t want to take my elder brother’s place at all. In other words, it was my brother who used to sit in my seat.
In fact, my elder brother has been silently behind my father, taking care of every important matter.
That’s why I didn’t want to sit in my brother’s seat because it would bother me a lot.
So I sat in the seats arranged for my peers.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Even the chairmen of Daesung, Kusan, and Mirae could not sway me now, so the others at my table didn’t even dare to make eye contact with me, let alone look down on me like they did before.
But only one person among them spoke to me informally.
She was Bora Yon, the daughter of Chairman Junghwan Yon of the Mirae Group.
“It looks like you are quite busy these days? You hardly contact me.”
“Well, sort of.”
“You still have time to see me, right? Your place is not far from the Mirae Shelter, so why don’t you stop by one of these days? If you come over, my Grandpa will be very pleased.”
“Okay, let me try.”
“Really? You promised, okay!”
Even though I said that jokingly, she seemed to take it seriously.
Of course, I didn’t correct her because I had no reason not to visit her.
Anyway, our dinner continued, then some important people, including the chairmen of each guild, began to move to other meeting places, for the banquet hall was too large for them to discuss their main agenda.
Of course, now that I was important enough to attend such meetings, some of them turned their eyes to me.
But I shook my head slightly because I didn’t want to go there and join their stressful meetings.
Anyway, after the chairmen and some of their closest aides left, the dinner continued.
However, when they left, those who were left behind paid more attention to me.
And they tried to check my mood and expression. Among them were those who subtly ignored me before, even though they didn’t humiliate me in the past.
I could humiliate them by reminding them of how they trod on me in the past, but I didn’t, for everybody knew that the gap between me and them was already insurmountable.
Instead, I quietly enjoyed the wine. Of course, I didn’t want to make friends with them now.
At that moment, I heard some guys talking about Revival Legend in one corner of the banquet room.
“If I were him, I would rather die.”
“You bet. He can’t even access ‘Revival Legend’ now because he can’t create an account. He’s just done. I just don’t know why he’s struggling to survive like that.”
“You’re right.”
Struggling to survive? I’ve seen a lot of people doing that.
However, I did not intend to disparage him like the way these guys did.
At that moment, I recalled the refugees that I saw three days ago, who had been longing for the freedom to die on their own.
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