Nameless Rocky Mountains.
In a cave the author was too lazy to name, team four-eyes met up with the team from the other base.
Four men faced off against three. Which side had the upper hand? That should’ve been obvious.
But in this world of supernatural powers, deterrence wasn’t just a matter of numbers.
A card held in the hand of the spiky-haired man in a white trench coat lit up with a brilliant white glow, and a dog-sized spider spirit jumped out from it!
Hisss~ Tik. Tik. Tick… Watching that grey widower skitter off up the cave walls to lurk in the dark ceiling above, team four-eyes tensed up.
At the forefront of the team, Kwan Minhwoo unconsciously straightened his glasses, did his best to stay calm, and tried probing for some intel.
“Oh. Mr. Kaiba, is that the spider you summoned to lure the swarm away yesterday?”
Sasuke dexterously slipped the card that lost its power back into the deck box on his waist and casually replied, “Just little tricks. Not worth mentioning. I hope you all don’t mind. It’s never wrong to be too careful.”
Clearly, Sasuke had no intentions of leaking too much about his own power, and the four-eyes didn’t force things, lest any chance for communication breaks down.
Anyways, just from that summoning, Kwan Minhwoo grasped plenty of clues.
But this wasn’t the time to break things down because they’re here for something more important.
“So, my friend, have you brought what we’ve agreed upon?”
Sasuke smirked and took out a bottle of water. “I can ask the same to you.”
Kwan Minhwoo squinted at the bottle and felt there’s something wrong, but it was hard to make out much clues in this dim lighting.
Just when he wanted to get closer for a better look, the bottle went back into inventory, and Sasuke took a measured step back.
The gangsta lackey and samurai cosplayer both stepped up to deter anyone from coming any closer.
“Wha you trying to do?”
“Looking for a fight, megane?”
Kwan Minhwoo noticed how strange these three acted and believed in his intuition even more.
But he didn’t tear faces and tried persuading them with a friendly attitude. “My friends, I just want to check the quality of the goods.”
“Check the goods? Think we’re stupid? What if you take it and don’t give it back?”
“Yeah! Friend my ass! You look more like a street thief! Boss, I say we just cut them down!”
The two musclebrains on team four-eyes exchanged a glance and went forward to back their teammate up.
“Aeeugh? Who’s scared of who?”
“Madaraka! If ya wanna fight, then fight!”
The attitude was there, but neither side took action.
Kwan Minhwoo frowned and stared at the decision maker on the other team.
“Mr. Kaiba, I believe sincerity is the key to cooperation. If you’re unwilling to let us get close to the goods, I don’t see how we could proceed with this trade.”
“Haha… Mr. Kwan, you’re being overly dramatic. Clever people like us should know it’s impossible to build trust out of thin air.”
Sasuke fished out another card from his deck box and casually showed off the card image featuring a bow-wielding skeleton.
“Instead of fake sincerity, we believe more in safety first. I’m sure you all shouldn’t disagree. Instead of wasting time barking at each other, I believe there’s a better way to make the best of both worlds.”
“Oh?” Kwan Minhwoo felt things were getting interesting. “Mr. Kaiba, what do you have in mind?”
Sasuke smirked. “How about this? I propose we each keep our distance and leave our trade items on the spot. Then we switch sides, take what we deserve, and go. Simple as that.”
Kwan Minhwoo frowned. That did sound simple. Even though he guessed the other side was plotting something, he really didn’t see any possible traps in that.
He shot a glance back at the fatso. The second think tank didn’t say anything because he couldn’t spot anything wrong either.
Perhaps given more time, they’ll figure things out, but the opposing side came prepared and didn’t give them much time to think it over.
“I say… do you all want to trade or not? In this god forsaken desert, we all know how precious water is. If it wasn’t because our side lacked food, we wouldn’t even bother doing this trade!”
“Our proposed conditions are already so generous, yet you bunch of men still hesitate like women. If you don’t even have the balls to do such a safe trade, then let’s just end things here. Come, you two, let’s go.”
The trio shot them mocking looks and turned to leave.
Facing this way-too-obvious, old-school negotiation strategy, Kwan Minhwoo was unmoved. Too bad the same can’t be said for his pig teammates.
“Damn four-eyes, they’re really leaving! Was this in your bullshit plan?”
“Madaraka, four-eyes, say something! Or do you want us to drink northwest wind next week?”
Even Kim Sungho wanted to say something, but he didn’t know which side to stand on.
There’s definitely something wrong with this trade, but… they seriously did lack water!
Between trusting their guts and survival, which should they choose?
One wrong choice and many things can go very wrong.
And once things go wrong, most people don’t want to bear that responsibility.
That’s why a decision maker is so important.
A good decision makes a good leader. A bad decision... makes a good scapegoat.
This time, the four-eyes was forced to take the lead.
What choice should he make?
Honestly, with how these pig teammates were staring down his back, there wasn’t much of a choice, is there?
Kwan Minhwoo’s gaze darkened and eventually can’t help but call out to those leaving backs, “Mr. Kaiba, please wait!”
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