join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for hundreds of additional chapters and over a dozen stories
Homelander didn't look at Kevin for long; upon noticing Starlight, he shifted his gaze from Kevin to her.
"Wow, I guess you're Starlight. Welcome to The Seven."
"Thank you, Captain..."
"You can just call me Homelander from now on."
Homelander smiled kindly and amiably, likely leaving a good impression on Starlight.
Kevin watched from the side without speaking, and Homelander didn't pay him any mind, as if his initial gaze at him had been an illusion.
The leader of The Seven sat down in his seat and announced the start of the meeting:
"Alright, so now it's time for our regular meeting. Does anyone have anything they'd like to discuss?"
Translucent, completely transparent and only wearing clothes, was the first to speak:
"There is something to discuss, Homelander. I think we should probably do something about the piracy problem."
"Hmm, how so?"
Homelander's expression remained unchanged as he looked at Translucent.
Translucent twirled a pen in his hand, holding a report, and spoke as he read:
"There's a group of bastards who somehow got their hands on pirated copies of my movie three weeks before it even premiered. You can walk down Fifth Avenue and easily see discs being sold, along with Homelander's embossed T-shirts."
As he spoke, his tone became slightly agitated, and he looked at everyone:
"This kind of infringement costs the company 1.2 billion dollars every year! That's our money! Don't forget, each of us gets a four percent cut!"
"Hold on."
A-Train, who had been silent, suddenly interrupted Translucent. He frowned and asked, clearly perplexed:
"...You guys get four percent??"
"No, I only get two percent."
Kevin interjected from the side. A-Train looked at him, and Kevin could see a hint of relief on his face.
Damn... his cut isn't higher than mine, is it?
Deep was definitely the rookie of The Seven now!
Maeve, seeing A-Train and Kevin's strange expressions, said with amusement:
"Perhaps we could talk to a lawyer about this? I mean the piracy. The company has the best legal team in the world."
"If the legal team were effective, piracy wouldn't be an endless problem."
Kevin echoed.
Seeing the group discussing the matter with increasing intensity, Homelander lightly tapped the table and said:
"Alright, alright, everyone, I said, can we not argue over such a small amount of money? What will Starlight think of us?"
Heh, he talks a good game, but everyone knows he's the one who makes the most money in The Seven.
Kevin resisted the urge to roll his eyes, agreeing with Homelander and nodding.
Homelander continued:
"How about we discuss the recent crime-fighting efforts instead? For example, how many people have been saved?"
As he spoke, his gaze turned to Kevin:
"Deep, why don't you start? I saw the news this morning; you did very well, so well that I was even a little surprised."
"It's nothing, after all, it was under the company's arrangement, wasn't it?"
Kevin tried to gloss over it, not wanting to say more on the matter.
It was clear, however, that Homelander didn't want to let him off easily. Homelander's smile remained kind, even somewhat bright.
He smiled at Kevin like a big brother:
"Come on, what's arranged by the company and what isn't, do you really think I wouldn't know? You truly did a good deed last night, so what's there not to talk about?"
"Huh?"
When Homelander finished speaking, the most surprised person was A-Train, who was sitting next to Kevin.
He had always thought that Deep's actions were part of the company's arrangements, and thinking about the morning news reports, he had wondered why such a good deed hadn't fallen to him.
Now Homelander was telling him that Deep had done this good deed on his own initiative?
Had Deep's brain been squeezed by a fish or something?
This was not like Deep's style at all.
Not just A-Train, but Maeve and Translucent also stared at Kevin with strange expressions.
Only Starlight still looked at Kevin with her shining, glowing eyes, a gaze that made Kevin quite uncomfortable.
Kevin knew he couldn't avoid it. He let out a breath and responded with a smile:
"Alright, actually, yesterday I just happened to stumble upon this human trafficking incident at sea, and then... well, I suddenly had the idea to save them, and that's all."
"Playing with fish at night and then encountering a crime, hmm, that's plausible."
Homelander said casually.
But his words made the others' expressions change, because the 'playing' in Homelander's mouth wasn't just simple 'playing'.
It contained other meanings.
And at this moment, even Starlight, as a newcomer, felt that the atmosphere in the conference room was off.
Kevin's face also looked a bit displeased. His smile faded, and he said to Homelander:
"Captain, I don't think I've offended you, have I?"
The Seven: "...!?"
What the hell! What am I seeing? Deep actually dared to confront Homelander?!
Those who knew Deep looked like they were questioning reality, while Starlight, who didn't know Deep, just felt that the atmosphere in the conference room had inexplicably become serious.
And she had no idea what had happened.
Homelander's smile also slowly vanished, leaving only a basic fake smile.
He looked directly at Kevin, and Kevin didn't flinch, telling him:
"Yesterday, I just went out to sea for a simple stroll, then I encountered human trafficking, and finally, I killed a group of gang members who were disturbing public order. That's all, I didn't do anything else, okay?"
After Kevin finished speaking, the conference room was surprisingly quiet.
Everyone's gaze went back and forth between the two, and finally, Homelander broke the rigid atmosphere. He smiled and said:
"Yes, that's right, so Deep, you did well, it's commendable, keep it up."
After he finished, his gaze turned to the next person:
"Alright, let's continue the meeting. Now, Black Noir, you tell us how many people you've saved recently."
The meeting continued, and the tense atmosphere dissipated invisibly.
The members of The Seven, who understood Homelander's personality, all breathed a sigh of relief, but when they looked at Kevin again, their expressions were distinctly different.
It wasn't because Kevin had saved people last night... well, that was indeed very unexpected, but even more unexpected was that Kevin actually dared to speak to Homelander like that.
To say he offended Homelander was not quite accurate; at most, it felt like the two were standing on equal footing.
But this equal treatment was precisely what Deep should not have done.
And so, when the meeting ended and Homelander kept Deep behind, the others quickly left the conference room.
Only Maeve and Starlight lingered briefly, but in the end, they also left the conference room, leaving only Homelander and Kevin inside.
After everyone left, Homelander's fake smile, maintained for the newcomer, completely vanished, replaced by a stern expression that instilled fear.
He looked at Deep and said:
"You know why I kept you here."
"Actually..." Kevin's expression remained unchanged: "...I don't know."
Homelander's eyes instantly narrowed:
"Then would you like a reminder? Last night, what did you hear?"
"I only heard the screams and wails of the victims. Other than that, I heard nothing. Why? Was I supposed to hear something?"
Kevin appeared utterly bewildered.
The surveillance footage on the boat was of poor quality, with only video and no sound.
And because the gang members had their backs to the camera, the camera didn't capture Kevin's face, so no one could analyze what was exchanged between them by lip-reading.
Kevin had repeatedly watched the footage several times with Madelyn, confirming there were no omissions before daring to speak like this.
So now he wasn't afraid of Homelander at all...
Well, he was still a little afraid.
He just hoped Homelander would remain rational and not shoot a laser beam at him...
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence: 9 Reader for hundreds of additional chapters and over a dozen stories