Chapter 14 – Executive Meeting

===================

Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

In front of the top-floor conference room, where the executive meeting was in full swing.

Meursault checked the time and the pistol inside his coat before speaking.

“It has been about an hour since the meeting started, so their tension and focus must have waned. Let us enter now.”

Meursault knocked on the door of the conference room at the same time he finished speaking.

…Uh? But why did he just check if he had a gun?

Knock knock.

“It is Meursault. I have brought him.”

Then, the familiar voice of the commander came from inside.

“Come in.”

As soon as the commander’s permission was granted, Meursault threw open the conference room door without a moment of hesitation.

I took a step inside.

Eight sharp gazes focused on me, and at the same time, system messages popped up before my eyes.

[The title effect of ‘Friend of Luna Moon’ is applied to the target.]

[The title effect of ‘Friend of Luna Moon’ is applied to the target.]

[The title effect of ‘Friend of Luna Moon’ is applied to the target.]

[The title effect of ‘Friend of Luna Moon’ is applied to the target.]

‘This is just like the game.’

The title effect worked on four out of the eight people.

Of the executives in the Cola Zone, four were pro-Hayden and the other four were pro-Daphne.

Among them, the pro-Hayden executives were comrades-in-arms who had fought on the same battlefield as Luna Moon.

So, it was a natural outcome.

It was just that the title was not applied to the pro-Daphne executives because they did not have good feelings toward Luna Moon; they were still highly likely to know about her.

It seemed to be set up so that Meursault, who mainly handled tactics, supplies, and accounting in the military, either had no acquaintance with Luna Moon, who was a military doctor, or had no interest in women other than Daphne, but.

“Gasp….”

Perhaps it was not only the pro-Hayden faction that thought of Luna Moon the moment they saw my face as I entered the conference room, as different emotions began to surface on the faces of the old executives looking at me.

“In the end…”

The first to speak was the leader of the pro-Daphne faction, whose beard was white.

“Have you found that military doctor’s child?”

As the low words flowed out, the executives of both factions poured out words as if that was a signal.

“Looking at the resemblance, I wondered, but is he really that woman’s child?”

“That woman! How dare you call the hero of the subjugation war ‘that woman’!”

“Isn’t the title of hero far too generous for a deserter?”

“W-What? A deserter? A deserteeer? You crazy—”

“Leave them be. There is no way people who revere a woman who has never even set foot on a battlefield as a true-blood can distinguish between a hero and a deserter.”

“What did you just say? A woman who has never even set foot on a battlefield?!”

As the voices of both sides grew louder, the oldest-looking pro-Hayden executive opened his mouth and spoke in a low voice.

“You all must have gone senile, raising your voices when His Excellency is present.”

At those words, the conference room fell deathly silent.

Commander Hayden, who sat in the most honorable seat, had a face that showed he found this situation merely interesting.

‘So this isn’t the first time Luna Moon has been mentioned in an executive meeting.’

I thought so because familiarity, rather than anger or embarrassment, was visible on the commander’s face,

and because the old executive’s criticism was about ‘raising their voices’ rather than ‘mentioning Luna Moon in front of the commander.’

Since the commander was even smiling with one corner of his mouth slightly raised, it made me wonder if he had been waiting for the executives to bring up Luna Moon.

“May I speak now?”

“My apologies.”

“My apologies.”

Only after the executives bowed their heads so low that their foreheads almost slammed against the conference table did Commander Hayden continue speaking.

The commander gestured to me, and as I went to stand by his side, his hand, full of calluses and small scars, wrapped around my shoulder.

“Let me introduce him. This child’s name is Haydam Goodman. He is my only son.”

At the name Haydam ‘Goodman’, the expressions of the pro-Daphne executives distorted.

Only the leader of the pro-Daphne faction nodded with a face devoid of any expression.

In the silence that followed, the commander’s sole remaining eye lazily scanned the executives.

“I have found my lost child, and you will not even congratulate me?”

“No, of course not. Congratulations.”

“Congratulations.”

The pro-Daphne executives, who had grimaced earlier, were not completely tactless, so they voiced their congratulations.

I thought the introduction would conclude without any need for me to step forward, but.

The commander, who had been looking at the executives with a smile, turned his head and asked me.

“Yes, Haydam. You tell me.”

Huh? Tell him what?

“Is your mother a deserter, or a hero?”

At those words, everyone in the room except me flinched.

‘This bastard…’

No wonder he stayed still even when they were one second away from a messy fight over whether Luna Moon was a deserter or a hero.

He was waiting to resolve a sensitive issue without getting his own hands dirty.

I was still just a ten-year-old kid.

No matter what answer I gave here, no executive would take it seriously enough to make a problem out of it.

Thus, Commander Hayden had asked me as if inquiring about today’s lunch menu, both to hear my thoughts about my mother and to test my problem-solving ability.

‘Well, it’s not a bad thing for me either. No, in fact, it’s necessary.’

Common sense-wise, what child wouldn’t feel bad after hearing someone call their mom a deserter to their face?

Nevertheless, the commander asking for my thoughts was essentially giving me an opportunity to prove myself in front of the executives.

Looking ahead, most of the executives also had looks in their eyes that showed curiosity about how I would answer.

Only the single executive who had actually uttered the word ‘deserter’ was breaking out in a cold sweat.

‘Is Luna Moon a deserter, or a hero?’

The essence of this question was ultimately, ‘Would there be any issue if Luna Moon were called a deserter?’

In other words, it was equivalent to telling me to decide whether or not to punish the person who insulted my mother.

‘Commander Hayden could have punished the executive who called Luna Moon a deserter right then and there as much as he wanted.’

Yet, he did not do so.

Despite possessing absolute power.

Furthermore, judging by the atmosphere, the controversy over her being a deserter did not seem to be a new topic either.

‘So there must have been a reason why he hadn’t made an issue of it until now.’

Let’s think.

If the commander had made an issue of that remark and punished the pro-Daphne executive, the pro-Daphne faction would have also gained a pretext to question my mother’s background.

At the very least, a rumor would have certainly spread within the military that ‘an executive was thrown into the stockade just because he pointed out that Haydam Goodman’s mother was a deserter.’

The story that Luna Moon was a deserter must have arisen because, instead of formally discharging, she temporarily hid herself to escape surveillance and ended up dying just like that.

Even if there were circumstances, it did not mean it wasn’t desertion.

If Luna Moon being a deserter became a problem, it would be disadvantageous to me as well.

What soldier could trust the child of a deserter?

Therefore, my mother must not be a deserter.

And at the same time, she must not be a hero either.

If I called Luna Moon a hero, it was as clear as day how the pro-Daphne faction would react.

They would disparage me as an emotional and unfair child who punished an executive at their first meeting just because he called my mother a deserter.

So, there was only one answer I could give.

“Whether you think of my mother as a deserter or a hero, isn’t the important thing that I am unmistakably His Excellency’s child…?”

Seeing a satisfied smile hang on the commander’s lips at those words, it seemed to be the correct answer he had in mind.

“Did you hear that?”

The commander looked straight at the executive who had uttered the word ‘deserter’ and twisted his lips.

“Haydam says he will forgive your rudeness, so you should not think of making an issue out of his mother’s affairs either.”

“A-Ah, o-of course.”

The executive answered, stammering in confusion, but the commander’s gaze grew even colder.

“Is that all?”

“Yes? Ah, I apologize for committing such rudeness, Master Haydam. I am truly sorry.”

Even though the executive apologized to me quite politely in my eyes, the commander’s expression remained fierce.

“I asked if that is all.”

“Yes…? I-I mean…”

While the executive, unable to grasp what the commander wanted, froze, Meursault, who was standing in front of the conference room entrance, pulled a pistol from his bosom and shot the executive without a moment’s hesitation.

The very first thought that came to mind upon the gunshot ringing in my ears was this.

‘So that’s why he checked the pistol.’

I watched as the executive, who died instantly with blood spurting from a gunshot to the center of his forehead, collapsed onto the conference table with a thud.

‘Fuck.’

What is this?

The other executives were also filled with shock.

They all looked like they wanted to demand if Meursault was in his right mind, but ahead of them,

“Dear me, Meursault. What is the meaning of this?”

Commander Hayden asked, as if he had been waiting for this.

“Not only drawing a weapon in my presence, but shooting a superior officer. Are you in your right mind?”

The commander immediately rebuked Meursault, but since it was in an exceedingly gentle tone, anyone could tell that this was exactly what the commander had wanted.

Even though he had just shot his superior dead, Meursault knelt down immediately after holstering his gun without a single change in expression.

“I apologize. Even though Master Haydam showed mercy and forgave his rudeness, I could not tolerate his attitude of failing to express gratitude until the end.”

“Even so, shooting a superior officer is unacceptable. Consider yourself suspended for a while.”

“Thank you for your lenient punishment.”

Meursault left the conference room after saying those words, perhaps really heading off to reflect.

Once the absurd play ended in the blink of an eye, silence descended upon the conference room once more.

Only the corpse of the shot executive was convulsing intermittently.

Feeling something warm on my cheek, I touched it and found it was blood.

Since the executive had been sitting nearby, it seemed blood had splattered onto me as well.

‘This crazy dictator NPC bastard?’

I’m already short on NPCs to exploit, and he killed him just because he missed expressing some gratitude.

‘Of course, the gratitude was just an excuse.’

Not expressing gratitude to me was merely a pretext.

The commander had always wanted to shoot dead any pro-Daphne executive who insulted Luna Moon.

At first glance, the executive who insulted Luna Moon as a deserter in front of the commander might seem foolish, but.

Judging by how the executives talked about Luna Moon casually in front of the commander, the commander had not intervened even when the pro-Daphne faction made rude remarks about Luna Moon until now.

Just as I had not answered the controversy of whether she was a deserter or a hero, it was likely a problem the commander could not easily answer either.

But now, he had no choice but to step forward.

Because I, the son between him and Luna Moon, was here in this place.

He instilled fear in the executives to establish my authority.

Moreover, the one who actually carried out the execution was Meursault.

So the arrows of blame would never point toward the commander.

‘It is a very clever choice.’

As I thought this and wiped the blood off my cheek with my sleeve,

for some reason, I felt gazes on me.

And I soon realized that what the executives were looking at with shocked faces

was not my psychopathic dictator commander dad, but me.