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"Let me accompany you, Mr. Emberweave. You\'re a high-value target. It\'s too risky to go alone," Will said in his characteristically emotionless tone.

"Alright, come along, but I doubt you\'ll be much help in this situation, Will," Daniel replied with a smirk. Unknown to others, Will is actually \'SD-850-I Will,\' a construct brought to life from a card to fulfill Daniel\'s childhood dream of a robotic protector. Given Will\'s limitations, Daniel planned to assign him to protect his daughter upon his return.

Daniel and Will stepped through the teleportation gate, materializing on the ground below. As Daniel approached the fox woman, he prepared to summon his avatar, Hecatonchires. However, the moment she saw him clearly, the fox woman\'s expression turned ashen as if seeing a ghost.

Without waiting for Daniel to finish his spell, she fled.

Everyone was astonished by the fox woman\'s sudden retreat. No one expected to encounter a demon fox in this location, let alone one that would flee upon recognizing Daniel.

"That fox woman seems to know who I am," Daniel stated, receiving nods of agreement from his companions.

After the retreat of the demon fox and the clearing of all enemies, it was time to clean up and assess the gains and losses of the operation.

Due to the sudden appearance of the demon fox, several shadow morphs lost their lives during the mission. Although the losses were not substantial, any loss is significant. Daniel noted this and began to think of ways to prevent future casualties, as he wasn\'t sure if he could obtain more shadow morph cards from the shop.

These cards might be as rare as the spell cards with true resurrection capabilities. Daniel only had three of those cards from the shop, and he had already used one to resurrect Molly. He didn\'t plan to use the remaining two, considering them rare resources.

Therefore, the loss of shadow morphs might be just as irreplaceable if he didn\'t take precautions to prevent their deaths.

As for the spoils from this operation, the recon team and the shadow morphs went down into the fortress. They discovered numerous tunnels, rooms, halls, and vaults hiding valuable information and treasures.

What they found included extensive records and contracts dating back to the Joseon dynasty, as well as a significant amount of treasure such as gold bullion, jewelry, and other valuables. They even found stock certificates from many top businesses around the world, with the money represented in the form of stocks.

Since Daniel had enough money, he allowed Cao Cao and Albert to divide the treasure and valuables they found in the fortress to use as operating funds for their respective departments.

As for how they would negotiate, Daniel didn\'t want to get involved. He hated complications and preferred to let them sort it out themselves, as long as they didn\'t kill each other of course. He also wanted to test whether they could work together amicably; if not, he might need to intervene despite his aversion to complications.

Yes… he just hates complication, not that he is lazy.

The data and various information gathered from the fortress were, of course, sent to the Whispering Hall for Albert\'s people to process. Amidst this sea of new information, they might uncover the true motive behind Kim Chang-wook\'s strange and seemingly foolish plan, despite his reputation for patience.

While waiting for the information to be processed, Daniel used this time to travel around Korea on a cruise train with his family. They enjoyed the views and admired the beautiful scenery on both sides of the train while savoring the fine delicacies prepared by the onboard chef.

This trip was the most satisfying and fulfilling family bonding time Daniel had experienced, especially after being so busy with work and various inventions, some of which were contingency plans driven by his paranoia.

It was a great break from all the work and complications.

As time passed, it was time for Daniel to return home, despite Michaela still wanting more of the Korea tour. She seemed drained of energy, like someone who loses all motivation when Monday arrives.

Well, it\'s not that he didn\'t understand, but it couldn\'t be helped. They still had a lot to sort out after nearly a week-long vacation.

However, Daniel didn\'t realize that Michaela felt this way because she had been too excited about the tour. She had forgotten her plans to get closer to Daniel and only realized it at the end of the vacation. So she can\'t help it but feel like a salted fish and don\'t have any motivation and drain of all stamina right now.

— Meanwhile - Reflection Hall —

Within one of the small rooms in the Reflection Hall, decorated in a simple traditional hanok style with only a bed and basic amenities, Kim Chang-wook worked diligently. This room was different from the others as it had an internet connection and a private toilet, unlike the typical prison toilet that was inside the room.

In fact, this room looked no different from a simple dorm room, except it lacked entertainment amenities other than a notebook for working and video conferencing. This was the special room for confining Kim Chang-wook.

Kim Chang-wook was engrossed in his work, checking reports, adjusting budgets, and monitoring the status of the Kim family business.

"Why did you do this, brother?" A question broke Kim Chang-wook\'s concentration. He set aside his work and turned toward the voice.

Kim Chang-wook saw his younger brother standing in front of the door window, only able to see his brother\'s face.

"For the heir position and assassinating Daniel Emberweave," Kim Chang-wook said expressionlessly.

"Lie!" Tae-sung retorted, to which Chang-wook remained silent.

"I already heard the analysis from that foreigner! He said it was as if you planned to fail! Also, why was only brother Ji-han\'s body not disturbed by your necromancy magic?" Tae-Sung asked again.

"It\'s because he\'s weak, and I needed to concentrate my power on the stronger ones," replied Chang-wook.

"That\'s not convincing," Kim Tae-sung said with a doubtful look.

"Last question… for our childhood\'s sake. Did you do this because you were somehow blackmailed or forced to?" he asked once again.

Hearing this, Kim Chang-wook let out a snort and sneered at his younger brother.

"What are you blabbering about, you stupid duck? If you have enough time to interrogate me, why don\'t you use that time to learn more? Maybe you will get smarter and stop thinking of nonsense like this conspiracy theory," Kim Chang-wook said.

Hearing this, Kim Tae-sung clenched his fist and lowered his head.

"I see…" he uttered through gritted teeth and immediately stormed off in anger.

Seeing this, Kim Chang-wook didn\'t say anything and returned to his work.

But the moment Kim Tae-sung was out of his elder brother\'s view, he let out a smile as tears fell. It was a smile of relief and tears of happiness, as he knew that his brother, deep down, was not a traitor.

The phrase he said, \'for our childhood\'s sake,\' had been responded to. This was a secret that only their three brothers knew. Kim Chang-wook hated lying so much that when he had to hide something, he would always tell a half-truth and divert the topic, provoking them instead. He did this to avoid directly answering with the half-truth when what they guessed was correct.

By provoking him instead of directly answering, Chang-wook showed that he was not truly a traitor but was in a circumstance where he needed to act this way.

Kim Tae-sung didn\'t know how to help his brother, but he knew who might be able to: that foreigner named Daniel Emberweave. He heard that this man was a very powerful mage with advanced technology on his side. Maybe this guy knew how to help his eldest brother.

However, he didn\'t want to owe the foreigner a favor. He wanted them to owe him a favor instead! He planned to use his favor to get that foreigner to help his eldest brother.

Now, he needed to persuade his father to accept the condition of joining the foreigner\'s organization. If they didn\'t, the conditions for gaining that foreigner\'s help might be more stringent.

—

"If you have time, don\'t forget to visit us, Mr. Emberweave. Also..." Patriarch Kim paused as he said goodbye to Daniel at the Kim family estate helipad. "We agree to join the Order of Ember, Mr. Emberweave."

"Of course. Welcome, Patriarch. Once I have an official date for the opening of our organization, I\'ll contact you. Please don\'t forget to come," Daniel said, shaking the patriarch\'s hand before entering the VTOL.

Daniel looked at the Patriarch and the individuals standing beside him while the Patriarch spoke about joining the Order of Ember. Kim Yuna and Kim Tae-sung were standing next to the Patriarch.