Chapter 59: Unearned Confidence
"Be mindful of your words, Terrence."
With the chill of the air conditioning in the quiet corridor touching his skin, Terrence felt their walk was becoming farther and farther.
He couldn’t count the doors they had passed, the cubicles, and the endless types of front desks. For some reason, the CEO’s office was completely unreachable by any normal people.
As expected, any visitor would have to pass through dozens of different security personnel before ever reaching the president.
"Not like I care," Terrence flatly replied.
Ron suppressed his own angry hiss. He became entirely silent as they finally reached the final stretch of the long pathway.
"What is the news that you are actually going to share with the president?" Ron asked, deeply curious as to how, all of a sudden, the infamous useless child from the Lee Family had transformed into someone with a hidden identity.
It wasn’t that deep on the surface. But with how he had just effortlessly overpowered a direct heir of the Merchant Group, that single instance spoke volumes.
Terrence wasn’t the useless child anymore. He had become something formidable within just a short amount of time since he had awakened.
In fact, it was just last week when he was thrown out like trash. But now, he possessed undeniable power and even, quite possibly, a massive secret organization supporting him from behind the scenes.
"Are you the president?" Terrence asked without pausing his steps. "I will be thoroughly surprised if you are, because you don’t look a single thing like the president I know of."
Ron clicked his tongue aggressively with a sharp shake of his head, actively ignoring how blunt and flat Terrence’s replies were.
"So, where have you been this entire week?" Ron pressed further. "Why is it that, so suddenly, you are now a capable tamer?"
Terrence didn’t reply immediately.
They finally reached the massive double doors made of rich wood—glossed, polished, and carved with intricate designs that practically screamed extreme luxury at just a single glance.
But honestly, it didn’t appeal to Terrence that much. No normal person would care what kind of wood it was or who the master artist behind the carving was. Anyone who wanted to curry favor would just spout fake praise and compliment the door endlessly.
"I didn’t know that we were required to talk, or are you just naturally this talkative?"
Again, hit with those sarcastic words, Ron could only clench his teeth in frustration as he opened the massive door using his specialized identification card, swiping it across a hidden reader attached to the side of the frame.
"Enter. The president has already been informed."
As soon as Terrence stepped inside, a vastly different chill touched his skin, even biting sharply at the skin exposed from the ripped part of his tunic.
His eyes naturally narrowed as the ambient lighting inside was noticeably dimmer than the bright hallway outside.
Without looking around much inside this massive room—which was proudly displayed with various trophies and decorations that shouted fame and money—Terrence strode straight toward the central guest couch.
Inhaling for a short second, he casually threw himself down and surrendered his weight onto the soft couch.
A man’s sharp eyes darted up from behind a massive executive desk.
Piled with different types of printed documents stacked high at the side, a busy man in his 40s who was mid-scribble, formerly focused on a paper, looked up at Terrence with a small flicker of interest.
His eyes naturally inspected the teenager, as was second nature for a man of his stature. With narrowed eyes peeking from behind his thin reading glasses, the man clicked his tongue softly.
"What is the news? Carry it over immediately."
Terrence leaned back comfortably into the soft, bouncy couch, his arms stretched wide along the cushions, showing absolutely zero care or respect to the powerful owner of the room.
He turned his head with a thoroughly bored look and then smiled cynically.
"Straight to the point, huh." Terrence pulled himself straight up, resting only one arm on his knee as he faced the CEO sitting behind the executive desk. "I know what happened to the test subject you lost."
"And?"
Sounding as if he didn’t care at all, the man’s flat reaction slightly shook Terrence’s expectations, but he didn’t let the slip show on his face.
"You’re really not afraid of the Lee Family knowing your dirty little secret, huh?"
With furrowed brows, the CEO squinted his eyes tightly before replying.
"I have no idea what you are talking about. And for you to say something like that with such unearned confidence, after creating such a massive commotion downstairs... I suppose I applaud your bravery."
The CEO stood up from his luxurious swivel chair, striding directly toward Terrence with calm, calculated steps.
"I don’t know who hired you to come here today."
There was a heavy chill resting right behind his tone, intentionally creating thick tension filled with cold suspicion toward Terrence.
With one raised eyebrow, Terrence shook his head in absolute disbelief.
"Wow... why did you even call me up here then, if you’re just going to blatantly deny it instead of asking what I actually know?"
"I like the confidence, kid." The CEO stopped and stood directly behind Terrence’s couch, casting a heavy pressure filled with chillness and quiet mystery over him. "I am telling you right now. That big confidence of yours is what’s actively digging your early grave."
Terrence shook his head again, but this time, he forcefully slammed his open palm onto the wooden coffee table situated at the center of the facing couches.
’Playing mind games, huh... As if I’m ever going to let him escape the consequences of what he did to those innocent people in the outskirts.’ Terrence gritted his teeth, the dark memories of the past replaying vividly in his mind.
The CEO instinctively took a step backward, suddenly wary of the intense aura Terrence was projecting.
He knew very well what the kid meant, but he refused to entertain the topic just to have it used against him later. He had buried those crimes deep in the past and personally made sure that no one would ever find what he had lost back then.
"I see..." Terrence turned his head and stared intently into the CEO’s eyes, noticing every tiny detail of his face—the small faint scars and the way his deep wrinkles stretched when he scowled.
Staring directly into the CEO’s soul, Terrence gritted his teeth again.
"I guess I’ll just report this directly to the Lee Family then. Maybe they will even take me back as a core member for bringing them such useful information."
It was pure bullshit. Everything Terrence just threatened was complete bullshit, but he finally caught the subtle twitch of panic on the CEO’s rigid face.
’So, you’re going to keep playing that calm little game with me, huh.’
"Alright then. I will also make sure to tell them the exact location where you hid that special treasure your company found," Terrence added, his voice lowering into a dangerous whisper. "The specific treasure that would undoubtedly give anyone full control over the test subject. Do you honestly think they won’t love that piece of information?"
Terrence slowly stood up from the couch and made his steps directly toward the massive wooden exit door.
"You might think they already know everything about the lost test subject. But they don’t. Sure, if I only tell them about the subject’s location, they might just feel a little betrayed, and you could easily explain yourself and be forgiven. However, things will be vastly different when they learn about the location and existence of that treasure. Surely, they will immediately realize that you were secretly preparing something behind their backs to use against the family, right?"
Terrence turned his back completely to the man.
He was just about to reach his hand out toward the brass door handle when, suddenly, the sharp voice of the CEO broke his stride.
"Wait! Let’s talk about this!" The previous stern, unshakeable voice was now utterly broken, a clear sense of sudden panic escaping and filling his tone. "Tell me what you know, and I will listen to your conditions!"