Chapter 1838: Didn’t fail you guys
Chapter 1838: Didn’t fail you guys
Meanwhile…
“Uhh…” Penny blinked repeatedly, lying on the hospital bed. She slowly lifted her head, spotting a few more beds in the same ward. On each of them lay Zoren, Hugo, Mint, and even Slater.
She pointed at herself, then looked at the doctor. “Why am I also getting a bed? I’m not injured.”
“You’re drunk, miss,” the doctor said with a smile. “And your toxicity level is very high. So we’re helping flush the alcohol from your system faster.”
“Ugh.” Penny scrunched her nose in distaste.
“Ugh?” Slater, who was on the bed to her left, scoffed. But he didn’t focus on her—he looked directly at the doctor. “Doctor, what about me? I’m not injured. Just a few grazes.”
“We’re just being cautious,” the doctor explained. “There was rust in your wounds, and considering you were kept in the underground prison, there’s a high chance of exposure to poison.”
Slater and Penny blinked at the young male doctor like confused children.
“How did you know I was in the underground prison?” Slater asked at the same time Penny blurted, “How did you detect poison so fast?”
The doctor simply smiled.
“The Old Madam informed us,” he replied, then lowered his head slightly. “We’ve already requested your transfers. So please rest as much as you can until then.”
With that, the doctor turned and walked away without another word. As soon as he stepped out, he saw two figures sitting on the waiting bench in the corridor.
Charles and Atlas.
“They’ll be fine, sir,” the doctor said, bowing politely. “Fortunately, your other son—your second—received immediate treatment, so his leg will recover. For now, all they need is rest. Especially Hugo.”
He straightened, his gaze locking on Atlas, who simply nodded in response. The doctor then gave a respectful nod to Charles before walking off.
As he left, both Atlas and Charles silently watched his back disappear down the hallway.
To outsiders, this small hospital might have looked like just the nearest clinic for locals on the surrounding islands. But what no one knew was that it was under the Shadow Order—a secret and highly advanced facility meant for members to recover from any type of injury.
Tonight, though, it was being treated like an ordinary hospital.
“Do they always get hurt this much?” Charles muttered. “This place is smaller than city hospitals, but still big enough for a whole organization.”
“The Shadow Order is massive,” Atlas replied, his eyes meeting his father’s. “No one really knows about this place. That’s why, if anything happens to the Zorken Family or the Shadow Order, they come here in peace.”
He leaned back, his mind drifting. “They have more facilities like this one. This just happens to be the closest.”
Charles didn’t respond. He simply stared at his eldest son, who had shown up at the last possible moment. Still, Atlas had arrived before they even needed to send a search team for him. Since their arrival, Atlas had already told him about the decision he’d made.
“Are you sure about this, son?”
Atlas raised an eyebrow and nodded. Charles sighed, still unsure how to feel about Atlas’s choice to become the new head of the Zorken Family.
“When does this take effect?” Charles asked again.
“As soon as possible,” Atlas replied without hesitation.
Charles let out another scoff and leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. He didn’t like the idea of his son becoming what essentially amounted to a mafia boss. It wasn’t exactly the same, but it also wasn’t far off. It was… complicated.
Atlas glanced at his father, who sat in contemplative silence. “You’re not going to stop me, are you?”
“Would it change your decision if I did?”
“Would you want me to change it, Dad?”
“Yes,” Charles replied without a second’s pause. “…If it were up to me. But it’s your life. You’re an adult. As your father, the only thing I can do is make sure you’ve chosen with both your heart and soul.”
Just as he had accepted Hugo’s decision to enlist and Penny’s decision to live abroad with Haines, Charles knew he couldn’t stop Atlas if this was what his son truly wanted.
A parent’s job, after all, was to guide and protect their children until they were ready to fly, not clip their wings to keep them safe.
“I’m sure,” Atlas said firmly. “More than I’ve ever been.”
Charles pressed his lips into a bitter smile and nodded. “What are you going to tell your mother?”
“I’d like to tell her the truth. But knowing her, it might be better to say I’ll be living abroad… for business.”
“I see.” Charles took a deep breath, trying to process it all.
For a while, the father and son sat in silence. Atlas continued to look at his father’s profile before turning away, his gaze settling on the wall across them.
He had already told Charles everything he needed to know. Now, he would give his father the space to absorb it. After all, when Penny left Anteca, Charles had sulked for weeks. And when Hugo enlisted, he kept to himself for months.
The only reason he eventually accepted Hugo’s deployment was because Hugo always came home.
But this?
Charles ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, then finally turned his head. “Will we ever see you again, son?”
Atlas met his gaze but didn’t respond right away.
Sybil had told him that once he entered the Secret Society officially as the Zorken Family’s new head, he needed to forget the life he was leaving behind. It was the only way to truly protect them.
But just like he had made a promise to his siblings, Atlas wanted to promise something to his father too.
A faint smile tugged at his lips. “Of course,” he nodded. “I’ll come by whenever I can. Otherwise, Mom’s gonna put up a person’s missing report. I don’t plan to break her heart. That’s a promise.”
Relief bloomed in Charles’s eyes as he smiled back. Reaching out, he squeezed Atlas’s shoulder firmly.
“I’m proud of you, son,” Charles said, nodding. “Seeing all of you—my children—makes me believe maybe I didn’t fail you after all.”
He didn’t.
At least… not in this lifetime.
And the entire world knew it.