Chapter 874: PAID

Childhood Friend of the ZenithWords: 1610

"Th-that..."

The words stuck in my throat, refusing to come out. Tang So-yeol's transmission hit me like a blow to the chest.

How? How on earth did she find out? No matter how poorly I might act, there’s no way I could have been exposed so easily.

I wanted to avert my gaze to hide my trembling eyes, but doing so would only make it more obvious. What should I do?

“…Wh-what do you mean by that?”

“…”

Despite my feeble denial, Tang So-yeol simply stared at me. Her calm, unblinking gaze was more terrifying than any outburst.

What should I say? Her expression showed she wouldn’t believe me even if I denied it. What could I possibly do now? While I was drowning in these thoughts—

"Leader!"

Someone called out to me from behind, their voice loud and urgent. I quickly turned my head.

"Cheol is insisting we need to move immediately!"

"Ah, right," I replied, swallowing hard and turning away as though I had urgent business to attend to.

I took a few steps, feigning a hurried pace. I half-expected Tang So-yeol to stop me, but she didn’t.

“…First, we’ll stabilize the current situation. I understand the chaos caused by the attack, but we’ve located the headquarters of the Celestial Stream Sect.”

I delivered the words I had prepared in advance.

“…That being said, it seems more prudent to conduct a search later and focus on resolving the immediate chaos.”

I scanned the area, glancing at my surroundings.

The place was in complete disarray. Although there were no deaths among the Azure Dragon Division, several were injured.

As I took this in, I turned to Tang So-yeol.