Sam controlled his laughter within a few seconds and said.
"Sorry, Miss Jyon. It is just I couldn"t help but laugh out loud at how accurate your description of my current state is.
I don"t know how I was described in that painting and from your description, it might have been really that good, that might just be Gaana"s perspective of me, but your current description of me is extremely accurate.
You didn"t miss a single thing about my mental state in my current situation and I couldn"t help but laugh out loud I believe that your Sister feels the same.
Am I right? Miss Giyon."
"Yes, you are right. The deeper I dig into your history the more things I unraveled, the more surprised I became about your current situation. As tragic as it is, I can"t deny it is a bit funny."
Jyon is still a bit puzzled.
"Mr. Sam. I don"t understand what you are saying? Why do you feel so trapped? I mean, there is no way I could believe that Gaana made a mistake in his representation and there is no way I could believe that a person portrayed in that painting could become the current you. I cannot wrap my head around it."
This time it was Sam"s turn to be surprised.
"By any chance, Miss Jyon, did Gaana omit my face from it?"
"Yes, your face was not completely visible."
Sam nodded in understanding and said.
"The situation is that someone from Mari Clan, stole my body and duplicated my soul to swallow all my memories, experiences, ideas, and creations as a whole and I am currently stuck in the body of the person who did it.
I was forced to do this exchange to save the lives of my friends and subordinates and there are many things I left behind without finishing.
The research, my students, the home that I so painstakingly built. The organization expanded over dozens of realms. It is a bit hard to leave as I built everything from scratch.
I was invincible then. I had hundreds of tricks up my sleeve that could save me from many threats. Now, I am just a researcher that was struck in a different body. I lost a lot of weapons from my a.r.s.enal and now I have to create a new one even though I believe I wouldn"t stay in this body for long.
It is all a bit pathetic."
Jyon was surprised and she once again placed her hand on the flute. She thought for a moment and said.
"Can you play the flute?"
"I don"t think it is a good idea at the moment," Sam said as he rejected the idea with a polite smile. He is clearly uncomfortable.
"You have been looking at my flute since the start of the dinner. I thought you are interested in playing."
"No, not at all. I am more interested in craftsmanship and I was a bit nostalgic thinking about my own instrument. The flute I made for myself. If I was with it, it would have also generated a spirit by now. So, I am feeling a bit… what is that feeling… Gloomy?"
"You can make an instrument?"
"As I said, music is really not my great suit, I just play to relieve my boredom and I have many more skills that are better than my music and making things is one of them. You can ask your brother and sister. They can vouch for that.
And Gaana must have also mentioned that I lost in the battle of music and I had to resort to my brute methods to counter him forcefully."
"He did mention that, but not in those exact words. But he also mentioned that you spared his life with respect to his musical prowess. He is really grateful for that. Believe it or not, he actually kind of worships you. He talks to your picture every morning before he practices and thanks to your picture for one more day."
"You spared an enemy"s life." Grivon suddenly interrupted with a shocked expression. It seems like his delayed response is due to him trying to even process the possibility of Sam sparing someone"s life.
"How do you think I ended up here? It is because I spared an annoying pest"s life and he sold me out to Sivan.
Anyway, Miss Jyon. That really surprises me. Gaana being grateful for me is completely beyond my expectations. After all, I am the guy that killed hundreds of his family members. Granted I didn"t kill any of them directly, the blood is on my hands.
I don"t think thanking me makes much sense."
This time even Jyon was surprised.
"You are the one who killed all of his family members."
"Of course, why do you think we ended up fighting at all? I am not really fond of personal duels just to see who is a better fighter. That only inflates egos of the people."
"Why… why did you kill all of his family?" Jyon asked in a shivering voice. Sam was surprised and Giyon who is sitting beside Jyon placed her hand on hers just to make her calm down.
Sam frowned and was about to say something to stop the conversation, but Giyon gestured him not to and told him to continue.
He was confused, but he still spoke.
"There is a bit of ulterior motive, but the main reason is that one of my subordinates has a deep-seated grudge with their family. She was hunted down quite a lot and when she was finally safe, she met me. I recruited her to do my bidding and in exchange, I helped her enact revenge against her family that was determined to kill her."
Jyon calmed down a lot but didn"t say anything anymore.
Grivon who wanted to lighten up the mood spoke.
"Now that does sound like you. Killing a few hundred people for your subordinate. Sparing someone"s life doesn"t sound like you at all."
Sam just gave him a side-eyed glance and they finished the dinner with Grivon telling his embarra.s.sing childhood stories to lighten the mood and only stopped after Jyon completely left behind that tension.
After they finished dinner, Grivon got some alone time with Jyon as he took her to the side to show her something and Giyon and Sam were the only ones left at the table.
"So, Miss Giyon. Would you like to tell me what exactly your motive is?"
"What motive? This is just a friendly dinner?"
"Really? I don"t believe we are friends and I don"t believe that we became anymore friendly after tonight"s awkward dinner."
"Awkward? I don"t feel that way at all. In fact, I was quite comfortable."
"Comfortable, placing me in an awkward position. Please don"t beat around the bush and tell what this is about exactly."
"Well, I just wanted to introduce you to Jyon. She was actually curious about you. In fact, the first time I came across you is because of her. She told me about your painting in the hands of her newfound friend and was fascinated by that.
She didn"t understand, how someone can be so majestic and arrogant to a.s.sume a commanding position over the elemental energies. So, I wanted her to meet you."
"So, you wanted to break her fantasy."
"No, I believe I just made her realize that the fantasy is true. She would understand what kind of person can a.s.sume that commanding role."
"Really? What kind of person is that?"
"A person who is strong enough to talk about ma.s.sacring a clan on a dining table without so much as a change in his expression. Do you think she was afraid of you killing all of them? No, she was afraid of how casual you were about that. She was afraid of how natural you were when telling that.
She was afraid of how unfeeling you are about the lives that you stole."
Sam just shook his head and downed another gla.s.s of liquor.
"So, that is the only purpose of all of this?"
"It is."
"I thought you ask me to talk business. But it is just to play some mind game with your sister. I don"t really understand the motive behind it and I certainly don"t understand what good it would do for your sister to meet me. But I enjoyed the food and wine.
Thank you."
"They were cooked by my personal chef. You can borrow her if you want."
"Please don"t make those promises. I am actually known to be a great boss. You must have known. None of my subordinates ever left me once they worked for me.
Anyway, are you in the mood to talk business."
"I am always in the mood to talk business, Sam."
"That is great because now that I know how deep your information network runs, I think you would be a perfect long-term partner.
I have a proposal that would help you develop an organization. It wouldn"t give you instant growth from what you have to that of an organization as big as the Gaja Clan.. But it would lay down a solid foundation to achieve that state eventually."