Homelander did not look at Kevin for long.
Noticing Starlight, he shifted his gaze from Kevin to Starlight.
“Wow, I assume you are Starlight.
Welcome to The Seven!” “Thank you, Captain…” “From now on, you can call me Homelander.” Homelander smiled warmly, likely making a good impression on Starlight.
Kevin watched silently from the sidelines, and Homelander paid him no attention, as if his initial glance had been nothing but an illusion.
The captain of The Seven sat down in his seat and announced the start of the meeting.
“Alright, it is time for our scheduled meeting.
Does anyone have any issues to discuss?” Translucent, who was completely invisible except for his clothes, spoke up first.
“Actually, there is something to discuss, Homelander.
Don’t you think we should do something about the piracy issue?” “Hmm, what do you mean?” 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 it.
“Some jerks managed to get their hands on pirated copies three weeks before my movie’s release.
If you walk down Fifth Avenue, you will see DVDs for sale everywhere, right next to Homelander t-shirts.” As he spoke, his tone became slightly agitated, and he looked at the group.
“This kind of infringement costs the company 1.2 billion dollars annually!
That is our money!
You have to understand that each of us gets four percent of the profits!” “Wait a second.” The usually silent A-Train suddenly interrupted Translucent.
Translucent frowned and asked in confusion.
“…You guys are getting four percent?” “No, I only get two percent.” Kevin chimed in.
A-Train looked at him, and Kevin noticed a glimmer of relief on his face.
‘Damn it…
could his cut actually be bigger than mine?’ ‘Now it is confirmed: The Deep really was at the absolute bottom of the hierarchy in The Seven!’ Seeing the strange expressions on A-Train’s and Kevin’s faces, Queen Maeve said with a smirk.
“Maybe we should talk to the lawyers about this?
I mean, about the piracy.
The company has the best legal team in the world.” “If the legal team were useful, piracy wouldn’t be this rampant,” Kevin added.
Seeing the group getting increasingly heated over this, Homelander tapped the table lightly and said.
“Alright, alright, everyone.
Can we please not argue over these trivial matters?
What will Starlight think of us?” ‘Haha, sounds arrogant, but everyone knows he makes the most money in The Seven.’ Kevin barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and nodded in agreement with Homelander.
Homelander continued.
“Why don’t we discuss our recent crime-fighting efforts?
For example, how many people have you helped save?” Saying these words, he shifted his gaze to Kevin.
“The Deep, why don’t you start?
I saw the news this morning.
You did a great job—so well that it even surprised me.” “It was nothing special.
After all, it was orchestrated by the company, wasn’t it?” Kevin wanted to brush it off; he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
But it was clear that Homelander wasn’t going to let him off that easily.
Homelander’s smile remained kind, perhaps even a bit cheerful.
He smiled at Kevin like a kind older brother.
“Come on, do you really think I don’t know what the company orchestrated and what it didn’t?
You did a good deed last night; what is there to hide?” “Huh?” After Homelander finished speaking, the most surprised person was A-Train, who was sitting next to Kevin.
He had always assumed that The Deep’s actions were planned by the company.
Thinking about the news reports that morning, he had been wondering why that good deed wasn’t assigned to him.
And now Homelander was telling him that The Deep did this good deed on his own initiative?
‘Did a fish crush The Deep’s head or something?’ This completely contradicted The Deep’s usual style.
Not only A-Train, but Queen Maeve and Translucent were also looking at Kevin with strange expressions on their faces.
Only Starlight continued to look at Kevin with sparkling, shining eyes—a gaze that made Kevin feel extremely uncomfortable.
Kevin realized he couldn’t dodge this anymore.
He exhaled and smiled back.
“Alright, actually, I accidentally stumbled upon a human trafficking incident at sea yesterday, and then…
well, I suddenly had the thought to save them.
That is all.” “Playing with fish at night and then running into a crime—hmm, that makes sense, I suppose.” Homelander said this casually.
But these words caused the expressions of the others to change, because the word ‘playing’ coming from Homelander’s mouth wasn’t just ‘playing’.
It held other implications.
And at that moment, even Starlight, as a newcomer, sensed the unhealthy atmosphere in the conference room.
Kevin’s expression didn’t look good either.
He dropped his smile and said to Homelander.
“Captain, I don’t think I provoked you, did I?” “…!?” ‘What the hell!
What am I seeing?
Did The Deep actually dare to stand up to Homelander?!’ Those who knew The Deep looked as if they were questioning reality, while Starlight, who didn’t know him, merely felt that the atmosphere in the conference room had inexplicably turned serious.
And she had no idea what was going on.
Homelander’s smile gradually faded as well, leaving behind only the most basic, fake smile.
He stared intently at Kevin, and Kevin, without breaking eye contact, told him.
“Yesterday I simply went out to sea to relax, and then I ran into human trafficking and ended up killing a group of gangsters who were disturbing the peace.
That is all.
Other than that, I didn’t do anything special, understood?” After Kevin finished his speech, a strange silence fell over the conference room.
Everyone’s gazes darted between the two of them.
Finally, Homelander broke the tense atmosphere, laughing and saying.
“Right, exactly.
Well done, The Deep.
You deserve praise.
Keep up the good work.” Having finished, he shifted his gaze to the next person.
“Alright, let’s continue the meeting.
Now, Black Noir, tell us how many people you have saved recently.” The meeting continued, and the tense atmosphere instantly dissipated.
The members of The Seven who understood Homelander’s temper breathed a sigh of relief, but when they looked at Kevin again, their gazes had noticeably changed.
It wasn’t about Kevin saving people last night…
although that was certainly very unexpected.
What was even more unexpected was that Kevin had dared to speak to Homelander like that.
To say he had insulted Homelander wouldn’t be entirely accurate; at most, it gave the impression that they were on equal footing.
But this display of equality was exactly what The Deep shouldn’t have done.
Therefore, when the meeting ended and Homelander told The Deep to stay behind, the others quickly left the conference room.
Only Queen Maeve and Starlight hesitated for a moment, but eventually, they too left the conference room, leaving only Homelander and Kevin inside.
After everyone left, the fake smile Homelander had displayed in front of the newcomer completely vanished, replaced by a cold, stern expression that was terrifying just to look at.
He looked at The 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.
“Do you want me to remind you?
What did you hear last night?” “I only heard the victims screaming and groaning.
Other than that, I didn’t hear anything.
Why?
Was I supposed to hear something?” Kevin looked genuinely confused.
The surveillance footage on the boat turned out to be faulty: it had video, but no sound.
Furthermore, since the gang members had their backs to the camera, and the camera didn’t capture Kevin’s face, no one could analyze their conversation by reading their lips.
Kevin had watched the video recording multiple times with Madelyn and made sure there were no loopholes before he dared to say this.
He just hoped Homelander would keep his cool and not blast him with a laser beam…
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