“Good work.”
“It was nothing.”
“Let’s have dinner together.”
“Our job is to protect you, sir. How could we dine with you?”
“Protect me? What am I, a cultural artifact? Just come eat. I’ll buy you something good.”
“We eat plenty of good food normally. So please enjoy your meal comfortably.”
“Haha. Back then and even now, you still won’t take anything I offer you.”
I exchanged a brief conversation with Allen.
Allen was the one who had stood guard outside while I spoke with Celeste.
Allen was the one who had subdued Celeste’s bodyguards and guarded the conference room.
Allen had been one of the Damaya rebels.
He was a boy who had lost his parents to the Abu Sayyaf rebels and joined Damaya, saying he would take revenge.
When I visited Damaya, Allen asked me to teach him how to kill people.
So I taught him shooting.
Once I taught him, he showed talent, so I taught him sniping.
His skill was incredible.
He hit his targets too well.
He had good physical ability, and he was smart.
Above all, his patience was extraordinary.
He had the patience and tenacity to wait in one spot without moving for hours, even days.
He was a ruthless bastard.
It was Allen who had sniped Murad, the beginning of the Black Night of Darapanan.
It was Allen who had helped me when I went to eliminate the Philippine branch of the Spirit Realm Line.
And it was Allen who had been watching Philippine President Melchor.
Allen was always by my side, and yet he wasn’t.
He could not be seen.
But he existed.
That was why I felt reassured.
Allen did not stop at protecting me; he organized and trained a team.
He said he felt that he alone was not enough.
When Allen recruited team members, the top aces among the rebels applied.
Damaya’s rebels were hard enough to get into, and among them, the aces applied.
They were told that this team existed only in the darkness.
They were dissuaded, told that once they joined, they would never be able to return to an ordinary life.
They were told that no one would ever know they were working in the darkness.
But it did not change the minds of those who wished to apply to the team.
Everyone wanted to join that team.
Everyone admired that team.
We called that team the Obsidian Unit.
They quietly guarded the area around me.
I didn’t even know whether they were there or not.
If I was scheduled to visit somewhere, they went ahead, took position, and secured the place first.
They were the reason I could wander here and there, pretending to be crazy and fearless.
The place they had the hardest time with was Zhongnanhai, where Wei Zhonglin stayed.
As befitted the president’s office, access itself was impossible.
It was also impossible to secure a sniping position.
It was one of the reasons I did not go back to Zhongnanhai.
They could not be seen beside me, but the Obsidian Unit was always there.
Because the Obsidian Unit guarded my side, I always felt reassured.
*******
La Camara High Table regular meeting.
Eight of the supreme councilors, excluding Celeste and Bituin, gathered in the conference room.
The councilors in attendance all wore expressions of bewilderment.
They had heard the news that Celeste had died through the media, and they had even attended the funeral.
Even so, they could not believe it.
Celeste was dead.
It had seemed that even if everything in the world changed, Celeste would not die.
They had thought Celeste’s power was eternal.
It felt strange.
Everyone attending the meeting seemed to be thinking similar thoughts.
“What happened to Celeste? Is she really dead?”
“They say she’s dead.”
“We went to the funeral too.”
“That’s true, but I’m saying it because I can’t believe it.”
“I can’t believe it either, but we even confirmed it. It’s not like we can say it isn’t true.”
“But isn’t it strange?”
“What is?”
“I mean, Celeste normally didn’t drive, and she didn’t drink either, yet drunk driving?”
“Maybe something upset her. She could have been drinking, had a fight with her husband, and stormed out just like that.”
“Hahaha. No, that’s not it.”
“Why? It’s entirely possible.”
“If the two of them were drinking and got into a fight, Renzo would be the one to storm out. Do you really think Celeste would leave?”
“Ahahaha. That’s true. Ahaha.”
A burst of laughter passed through the stiff atmosphere of the conference room.
“Anyway, shouldn’t we be choosing the next chairman too?”
“We should. We can’t leave La Camara’s chairman seat vacant forever.”
This was it.
The reason every supreme councilor had attended.
Normally, the High Table was something they had no choice but to attend because of Celeste, even when they did not want to.
But today, even though Celeste was not here, everyone had attended.
There was only one reason.
‘Is it me?’
It was because they thought that perhaps they themselves might become the chairman of La Camara.
Because today, they would choose the chairman of La Camara.
If they pushed aside just seven people, they could become the head.
It might be me.
Everyone had caught the “is it me?” disease.
“How shall we choose?”
“Let’s hold a secret ballot. We write down names, and whoever gets the most votes becomes chairman.”
“Instead of that, how about we choose the top three vote-getters and hold a final vote?”
“Why make it so troublesome? Let’s just raise hands. We can choose roughly. What’s so special about being the head? From now on, it’s more important for us to gather our opinions among ourselves. We need to end the era of being dragged around by the chairman.”
“That’s right. From now on, things need to be different from Celeste’s time.”
They said that, but everyone was making different calculations.
They were thinking about how they could become the head of La Camara.
It was then.
Bang!
The door opened, and a man stepped in.
“Sorry~ I’m a little late, aren’t I? There were some strange guys guarding the front. I told them I was a supreme councilor, but they wouldn’t open the door. So I had to tidy things up a bit before coming in. That’s why I’m late.”
The eight supreme councilors were all dumbfounded and could only watch the scene.
He broke through to get here?
In the Philippines, where public order was unstable, security was essential.
The level of bodyguards the supreme councilors brought around was also top-notch.
There had been eight such security teams, and he had broken through them to get here?
He wasn’t even sweating a drop.
Behind the man was one fat man who looked like a bodyguard.
And Bituin followed in after him.
As Bituin entered, she greeted them.
“It’s been a while, everyone. Have you all been well?”
The supreme councilors who saw Bituin were so shocked they lost their words.
When they saw the unfamiliar man, they had been surprised, but when they saw Bituin, they truly looked as if they had seen a ghost.
It was an expression beyond surprise—one of horror.
“Bi... Bituin?”
“You were alive?”
“You should have at least contacted us.”
“I was in an accident, and the person sitting over there saved me.”
“I... is that so? Still, it’s good to see you looking healthy.”
An unfamiliar man.
And Bituin.
On top of that, the chairman’s seat of La Camara.
The room became extremely noisy.
.
.
.
I needed to seize control of the scattered atmosphere.
Among the empty chairs, I went to the largest one, set in the very center.
The chair Celeste seemed likely to have sat in, and I plopped down into it.
The conversations stopped at once.
They looked at me with expressions that said, Who are you to sit in that chair?
Is this right? They began watching one another’s reactions.
But I did not give them time.
There was no time to fight over a chair.
Sitting in the chair was only a bit of staging to draw the atmosphere toward me.
“You can exchange greetings later, at a café after we’re done or something. For now, let’s focus.”
“This is not a place where unauthorized people may enter. Bituin is one of our members, so that is fine, but you are someone we have never seen before. We would like you to leave.”
“Me?”
I pointed at myself with a finger.
“Yes. You. We are grateful that you saved Bituin, but that does not give you the right to attend this meeting.”
“What are you talking about? I came here to preside over the meeting as the chairman of La Camara.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“What did you say?”
“Eh?”
At my words, everyone froze like ice in shock.
They had been squabbling over choosing a chairman, and now that I said I was the chairman, of course they had to be shocked.
“Look at this.”
I played the video of Celeste soullessly saying that I should become chairman.
In the video, Celeste was soullessly spitting out the words that I should become chairman.
Those who saw it were speechless, as if they found it absurd.
They wouldn’t have expected it.
They wouldn’t have thought Celeste had left behind a successor.
The supreme councilors who came to their senses barely managed to say,
“Isn’t that a lie? Wasn’t it filmed by force under threat? Then it can’t be recognized as evidence.”
“Isn’t that fake? Deepfakes and AI are all the rage these days, so it looks like it was made with that. Celeste seems a little strange too, doesn’t she?”
“Looking closely, it is a bit strange. Bringing something suspicious from who knows where.”
“Young brats like you don’t belong in a place like this. Go outside and play with the other kids. Hahahaha.”
They talked among themselves and laughed among themselves.
What was so funny?
It wasn’t funny at all.
“Well, whatever. I didn’t think you’d believe it anyway.”
“Then why did you come? Hurry up and leave. We have many things to do as well.”
Sitting in the large chair, I leaned back deeply and propped my feet on the table.
I took out a cigarette and put it between my lips.
Beside me, Scott lit it for me.
Now that he had lost some weight, he was getting pretty quick on his feet.
“Looking around, this place is full of nothing but sons of bitches. So we don’t need to stand on ceremony with one another, right? We don’t have to pretend to be nice.”
“What?”
“Do you know where you are, to speak so recklessly?”
At the words sons of bitches, a few sons of bitches began barking.
“Is there a single bastard here who’s lived kindly? Didn’t you all get to this position by doing bad things the hard way? I went through a lot too, and I acknowledge the trouble you guys went through as well.”
I inhaled the cigarette smoke deeply, then exhaled it again as I spoke.
“Let’s not snarl at each other, fellow sons of bitches. If someone comes wagging his tail saying he wants to get along, you should know how to welcome him. The sons of bitches here in Manila aren’t very good at socializing.”
“This bastard’s got a mouth on him and just lets anything come out.”
“What are you doing? Call the guards. Tell them to get rid of that bastard.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said earlier? I cleaned up everything outside. And listen for a moment. I might bestow a bone upon sons of bitches like you.”
“Hmph. Do you even know where this is, saying things like that? A bone?”
At my words, a man in his forties wearing a suit, his hair neatly slicked back with pomade, cut in.
“Uh... you’re Sergio, right? The one who controls the media?”
“And what of it? Want me to put your face on the news? I could make it so your face is the only thing on TV all day.”
“I’ll pass. I have no desire to become a celebrity. Instead, how about you go on? You’re pretty noisy too. Fooling around with an actor, embezzling company money.”
“Kuk. So what? That can happen. Around here, things like that aren’t a problem. In this place, that much is basic.”
“I know. That’s why I’m calling you sons of bitches. But the actor was a male actor, wasn’t he? So that’s your taste?”
“What? No. What are you talking about?”
“I’d appreciate it if you were careful around me. I’m not like that, you see.”
Sergio vehemently denied it, saying it wasn’t true, but people were already accepting it as the truth.
It was what Sergio usually did.
If there was someone he didn’t like, he would report on them based only on suspicions—no, by creating suspicions.
He would make it seem like the truth.
Sergio was not homosexual, but that didn’t matter.
If people accepted it first, they believed it was true.
Explaining that it was not true required long effort and time.
Even then, that label would not come off easily.
At that moment, a white-haired man spoke politely.
“How you came here and whether the video you showed is real are not important. This is a place where we gather and hold discussions, and we have matters to discuss among ourselves, so I would like you to leave. If you do, we will overlook the disturbance so far.”
“Let’s see... Esteban?”
Esteban, who was speaking, was polite, but his voice seemed slightly tense.
“That is correct.”
“Are you afraid that if I’m here, you won’t be able to become the chairman of La Camara? Are you scared? Did you think the chairman’s seat was finally in your hands? Did you think you’d become chairman as long as there was a vote, but I came and ruined it? No. You son of a bitch.”
“That is going a bit too far. There is no one here younger than you.”
“Does age put food on the table? Cut it out and listen for a bit. Damn, you really do bark a lot, just like sons of bitches. I told you I’d give you a bone.”
“Now that you’re seeing me in person, you’re really speaking out of line.”
“Where does some punk we’ve never seen before get off trying to play king?”
I had tried to resolve this through dialogue, but it wasn’t progressing.
They kept interrupting.
The meeting simply couldn’t continue.
“Haah… Scott.”
“Yes.”
“Lock the door.”
“No one will be getting in or out.”
Click.
Scott locked the entrance and stood guard in front of it.
“I was going to settle this with words if I could, but you won’t even give me time to speak. Everyone on the floor, face down.”
“What?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Who do you think would do that?”
But Bituin was the first to stand up and get down on the floor face-first.
“Is this everyone? Everything that happens from here on out is solely you gentlemen’s responsibility. I gave you a clear warning.”
I took out a bat from my inventory.
The people were more shocked that a baseball bat had emerged from inside my coat—a space far too small to possibly hold such a thing—than they were by the weapon itself.
But it had the intended effect.
At the sight of the baseball bat, two of them went over to Bituin’s side and got down on the floor.
“As the old saying goes, a beating is the cure for a mad dog. Let’s find out if those words are true. Let’s see if you can be cured.”
Except for those already lying down, I fairly administered beatings to everyone.
They had never fought before, so they couldn’t even rush at me and just covered their faces with both hands.
I gave them a few hits each on their backs, buttocks, and thighs.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
After one round of beatings, everyone except for two was lying prone.
I hit them lightly, worried their old bones might break, but even so, the effect was excellent.
Meanwhile, the top council members felt like they were dying.
Some strange bastard from who-knows-where was swinging a bat mercilessly.
It hurt.
It was the first time in their lives they’d ever been hit.
It hurt more than they’d thought.
And it was utterly humiliating.
They wanted to flee, but someone stood guarding the door.
None of them thought they could beat that man and escape.
They wanted to call for outside help, but they had no phones.
Phones weren’t allowed into High Table meetings.
It was their own rule, meant to guard against recordings or video since they dealt with sensitive material.
Out of habit, they had left their phones outside.
With no other choice, not wanting to be hit anymore, they lay down.
Only two people remained standing.
“Oh, impressive, Esteban? And is that Raphael over there? Am I right?”
“That’s right.”
“A port and logistics tycoon. And I’d heard you have ties to the black market as well.”
“So what? What of it?”
“You don’t know me? I’m Alex of Mindanao. Between people in the same industry, this is too much.”
“Ah… Alex? Alex, the Ruler of the South?”
Raphael’s face turned pale upon hearing my words.
He began to stammer.
His hands seemed to tremble slightly.
“Well, I suppose some people do call me that.”
“H-hiek… I didn’t know. I’m sorry. If you had told us beforehand, we wouldn’t have caused such a fuss. I’m sorry.”
Raphael apologized and then went to lie down on his own.
Esteban watched him with a pitiful gaze as he went to lie down.
Only Esteban stood alone.
“Well now, old man. Now I’m really getting started. Everything up till now was just warming up.”
I readjusted my grip on the bat.
“W-wait a minute…”
“Why? Why so scared? Show me some of that soldierly spirit of yours.”
“I’m retired. And what could you possibly gain by doing this? I think we can resolve this sufficiently through conversation.”
“No, when I told you to shut the hell up and listen, you completely blew me off, but now that you’ve tasted the bat, you’ve had a change of heart? I guess the old saying about mad dogs really is true, huh?”
Esteban put on an almost friendly expression as he spoke.
“Don’t do that. Let’s settle this with words. Words.”
“Let’s do that. Everyone, up. Sit in your chairs.”
Everyone sat in their chairs.
“Drink some water, and we’ll resume the meeting immediately in five minutes. We lost a lot of time fussing around.”
They all drank water, sweating.
Just as they finally caught their breath, I spoke up.
It hadn’t even been a minute, let alone five.
“Everyone’s busy, so let’s do this quickly. Regarding me becoming chairman—if anyone objects, raise your hand.”
They were all just watching each other’s cues.
It seemed they couldn’t easily agree to this one either.
It seemed that the faint hope of “just maybe” was stirring in their hearts again.
“It’s not that I want to become chairman. The current situation is chaotic, so I have to do this to quickly establish a focal point. Don’t pretend you don’t know that.”
But the wary glances continued.
“Scott.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Let’s do this our way. Cut off the hands of any bastards who raise them.”
“You always make me do this kind of thing.”
Scott grumbled as he pulled a sharp knife from inside his coat.
At the sight of the gleaming blade, no one could even think of raising their hand.
“No objections from anyone. I am now elected chairman unanimously. Bang, bang, bang.”
And so, I became the chairman of La Camara.