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"It would have been quite the spectacle to see that annoying guy fail." William said with a dejected sigh.

"I want to say that too," Adam replied, his gaze drifting to the room on the second floor, which remained eerily intact, with nothing visibly disturbed except for the absence of its occupants. "But something tells me it\'s not as straightforward as it appears."

"Hmm… What makes you think that? Is there something more to it?"

"The room doesn\'t look like someone stayed there and then left in a hurry. It looks like someone stayed, and that\'s it—there\'s no sign of an exit, if you get what I mean."

"Yeah, I see what you\'re saying," William said thoughtfully. "But he could\'ve used some sort of skill or another method to make a quick escape."

"Yeah, that thought crossed my mind too. That\'s why I\'m not entirely sure what really happened. But there\'s something else about him that keeps nagging at me."

"What else?"

"His demeanor," Adam said, reflecting on the man\'s behavior before his disappearance. "The guy was unbearably haughty and arrogant right up until the end. Even when he launched that death ball at me, I could feel his genuine intent to kill."

"And at that moment—or at any point before it—I didn\'t sense any fear in him. Not enough for him to flee like that, anyway."

"Hmm… Alright, let\'s set this aside for now and focus on the situation at hand. We\'ll get in touch if anything new arises."

"Okay," Adam agreed.

William ended the call and turned to Delmar, who was watching him closely.

"Why did you stop me when I was about to tell him?" William asked, recalling the moment when Delmar had silenced him by covering his mouth and cutting the comms.

"There\'s a valid reason for that," Delmar replied.

William gestured for him to continue.

"What if they\'re still here?"

"Who?" William asked, puzzled.

"THEM," Delmar emphasized.

William didn\'t immediately grasp his meaning, but then his eyes widened slightly. "Oh… THEM Them?"

Delmar nodded. "Yeah, and what if they\'re eavesdropping on our conversation? I don\'t think they\'d want their time-freezing trick to be exposed so soon. Whatever they did in there must be a significant secret, or something close to it, to warrant freezing time like that. If we reveal it, we might end up as their next targets."

William nodded, recognizing the gravity of the situation. "Yeah, that\'s possible. I think they did it for one reason."

"And what\'s that?" Delmar asked.

"To deal with that Fraic guy."

Delmar appeared contemplative. "You really think that\'s what happened?"

"Yeah. The guy fires a purple ball, time suddenly stops, and then he completely vanishes when time resumes. Tell me that\'s just a massive coincidence."

"It could be. You never know," Delmar said, though his tone lacked conviction.

William shot him a deadpan look.

"Alright, alright. I know what you\'re saying sounds convincing, but why would they need to stop time for that? They could\'ve done it openly, in front of everyone, to set an example, right?"

William shook his head. "I don\'t know. Your guess is as good as mine."

Delmar suddenly looked up, then quickly moved to his laptop, typing furiously as William watched with growing curiosity.

"So that\'s what happened here, huh," Delmar muttered, as if he had just uncovered something significant.

"What did you find?" William asked, stepping closer.

Delmar swiveled the laptop toward him. "Take a look at this."

William saw an image of the Fraic guy from before. The accompanying text painted him in a positive light, calling him things like "A Great Person" and "Helper of the Poor," among other accolades.

"This guy isn\'t just a member of a Great House; he\'s the Master of the Friggart Great House."

William nodded. "Yeah, I think he mentioned that during his villainous entrance."

Delmar continued, "Exactly. So you know what that implies."

William shook his head.

"It means the guy isn\'t just well-connected; he\'s a highly respected pioneer of his generation."

"And?"

"And they can\'t let someone like that commit such reckless actions without tarnishing their reputation."

William considered this. "But don\'t they do things like this all the time? At least, that\'s what I\'ve heard about them."

Delmar nodded. "Yeah, they do, but you\'re missing the point. This isn\'t a routine situation. It\'s a very special one."

"One where all the influential families, Great Houses, and even the Royal Families of the kingdoms are in attendance."

William finally understood where Delmar was going with this. "And losing control in a setting like this was sure to earn him a red card."

Delmar smiled. "Exactly. And, even better, it worked in our favor."

"How so?"

"Not only did we avoid acting like that guy, but Adam also showed remarkable bravery in front of him, even when faced with the threat of death or serious injury."

"But couldn\'t they also interpret that as him being disrespectful?" William asked.

"They could," Delmar acknowledged. "But I don\'t think they will."

William\'s curious expression urged him to elaborate.

"Sure, plenty of people respect and fear them, but only a few can look them in the eye without flinching. Someone like that always catches their attention."

William\'s expression darkened as a thought crossed his mind. "What you just said makes a lot of sense, but it brought up a troubling thought."

Delmar looked at him, waiting.

"Your words reminded me that no matter how good a guy is, he can never truly win a girl\'s heart like a bad boy can. Those scumbags swagger in with their rude attitudes and sweep the girl off her feet."

"Even worse, if a good guy does manage to get the girl, it takes him ages to reach second base, while the bad guy has already rounded all the bases and done... things."

Delmar nodded, understanding. "Boss, it sounds like you\'ve been through something like that before."

"You could say that," William replied. "Do you remember the first time we met—when I really met you?"

"Yeah, you were wearing a different mask back then, right?"

William nodded. "Yeah… well, that was a lie. What you saw back then was actually my real face."

"So… is this your fake face now?"

"No, this is real too. It just changed after I broke through to a new level."

"A Breakthrough Transformation… Cool."

William continued, "As you saw, my previous face wasn\'t exactly popular. Now that I have this one, I can clearly see the difference—it\'s like night and day. Even though I\'m at a huge advantage now, it still feels wrong to see how things work like this."

Delmar nodded, speaking in a somber tone. "Yeah, boss, I get what you mean. I\'ve been there too. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn\'t get a girl to notice me when my heart was set on them."

William looked at him skeptically. "What the f*ck are you talking about? You\'re the bad guy I\'m talking about!"