On the long table, the group of criminals sat at each side while Yemon was on the forefront, facing all of them.
"First of all, I want to get all your opinions on this hideout."
"It's.....cool." Jo took the initiative but he was reluctant on whether he should compliment this place or not.
So it was a short answer for him.
"I reckon that it is a safe place, considering this is located just under a warehouse."
To add more to Jin's statement, Virus supported him.
"Yeah, I agree. With a secret entrance like that, I would seriously doubt that anyone would find this place. They would not even suspect a thing here."
However, Mara did not go along with their opinions.
"There is one thing that I am uncomfortable with. Those people up there. I am not sure if they will continue to turn a blind eye to our presence."
Yemon tried to clear her uncertainty.
"You do not have to worry about that. Each and every person has been given a large sum of money. It is near impossible that they would rat us out."
Gello further discussed the possibilities of snitches.
"'Near impossible' is not reassuring."
"Yes. Do you think that no one has the gut to betray us? What if someone just buys one out?" Shi joined the discussion.
"I can promise you that no one can buy anyone out there since that sum of money will not be overtaken."
"That's not enough for me." Gello continued to press against Yemon.
He looked at Gello's green eyes and made a decision.
"I am sure that this will never happen but if it even has 0.1%possibility of that happening, then I will get rid of the cause myself."
"...."
"You all know how I found you all, right? Even the police or Heroes were finding it difficult."
He addressed to all the people sitting around the table.
They all knew he was telling the truth.
"With the help of Virus, I searched for you all and found you. I don't think that it would be difficult to hunt any unfavourable factors against us, right?"
Yemon glanced at Virus. Virus had a thin smile behind his mask. Somehow, the words he said were similar to a praise.
The others were silent because of Yemon's determination that were backed up by facts. They could not retort him just like that.
So, they all were somewhat in accord.
"Any other inconveniences?"
There was a short silence before Lumen shyly raised her hand.
"U-Umm....."
"Yes, Lumen?"
"U.... Are you really sure this place is out of the police, the SMF or the Heroes' radar?"
Yemon thinly smiled at her then answered her with another truth.
"This place was built for more than 5 years. Till now, those who know about this are me and my boss only."
"...."
"Do not worry, as I said, this is completely safe."
Yet again, no one could talk back or argue against him without any good reason that they could think of at the moment.
So Yemon moved on after he did not hear any incoming questions from them.
"Alright, since no one has anything to say, we will move on to the next topic."
Yemon stood up and decided to have a little stroll around the table, behind the seated criminals.
"First off, let me put this clear right off. If I had said this in the past, then I am going to repeat this. No matter what, we are not to refer to others with their real names."
"Just like Jin with 'Omocha'?" Jo got rid of his little doubt.
"Precisely. And if one of us called the other by their real names intentionally or....," Yemon cast a gaze towards Jo,".....or by mistake.
Jo noticed and could not be asked anymore.
"Oh come on, have some faith in me."
Yemon ignored him and continued with his advice.
"...If that happens and then we found out, without any questions, we will definitely kill you."
The atmosphere became a little heavy as everyone stared at Yemon who was slowly walking around the table.
There was oozing of bloodlust from Yemon. They all met him the first time and hee was a mysterious guy, but he was strong.
Strong enough to gather such heinous felons.
It was going to be difficult to fight all of them with their powers at once but in a 1 v 1, he will win. The same cannot be said if no powers were to be used.
In that case, Yemon may have a chance to topple all of them.
If they all battle him simultaneously, then he can at least take one person before getting himself killed.
He retracted his animosity and jokingly lightened the surrounding.
"Well, it's not like I want to since you all are very important to me."
"What? Are we playing family now?"
Mara repeated the same thing Gello stated when Yemon showed this hideout.
"The mission is as important as my life and I am entrusting these tasks on you all. So yeah, you are kind of part of my family now."
"This is quite the dysfunctional family you got there."
Virus scoffed as he ran his eyes to all of the people present.
"And you are part of it." Yemon sneered at him.
"It's not like I have much of a choice."
Yemon returned to his serious gaze and faced all of the members.
"Back with the main topics, there is another purpose for this shelter. And that is 'training'."
"Do you think that we are not good enough to take on that mission?"
Jin, 'Omocha' wanted to clarify something with Yemon. So he gave him a direct answer to his question.
"If I let you go now, you all would not be escaping alive."
Yemon elaborated on this subject with plausible information that he personally feel about them.
"First and foremost, you all lack teamwork. Without that, I am expecting to complete the mission by not even 1%. I know that you all don't know each other that much so that is why we need to spend time together."
"Like...dating?" Jo added foolishly.
"...I meant combat wise. You all need to understand each other's movements, weaknesses, strengths and thought processes."
"This... is not going to be easy."
Shi sighed as he was slapped with the goal they need to achieve. Most of them were not sure that they would be getting along with the others.
"A bunch of crooks trying to get together. Pfff.....What a joke." Gui jeered.
Yemon ignored him and proceeded to point out the flaws they currently need to start fixing.
"The next thing that we need is strength."
"I am telling you in advance, I don't want to have those huge muscles of a bodybuilder."
"Me too."
Gello surprisingly agreed with Jo who was putting forward his condition. The image of them having the body of a bodybuilder does not go right with them.
Yemon reassured them that it is not going to be that way.
"I am not training you all to become tanks. I am aiming for everyone to be versatile, flexible and adaptable to every situation possible."
Jo was content with that so he had an interested facial expression as he listened more to Yemon.
But he was cut off by Lumen who shyly wanted to learn more about the details of the training.
"U-Um, Y-Yemon-san."
"Drop the '-san'."
".....Okay...Y-Yemon..."
Yemon immediately corrected her way of calling him.
"Yes?"
"What does the training.....consist of?"
With a casual tone, Yemon explained.
"Well, there will be a general exercise routine for you all like running, push-ups, pull-ups and any of the sort. Then some lessons about combats, maybe fight simulations and also there will be some training that can improve the usage of your powers. That's all I can think of currently, Down the line, we could have some new drill that can be implemented."
"I-I see..."
"Does that satisfy your curiosity?"
"Yes, t-thank you."
Yemon smiled at her which made Lumen flustered a bit. She quickly averted her sight away from him and tried to calm down.
"I want to know one more thing."
Mara was the one that became the centre of attention.
"Go ahead."
"For how much time would our daily training last?"
"Hmm? Why are you asking that?"
Mara notified Yemon about her problems. It was not only her problem but some others also.
"I need to know because I am not staying here permanently. I need to get back to my normal life for others to not get suspicious."
"I may hate it but she is right." Jo raised his hands following her.
"...Me too." Gello was the third one agreeing with Mara.
"I agree with them." And finally, Shi joined.
For the rest, they did not mind because they do not have double lives.
Gui is already a known criminal as well as Lumen and Omocha. Virus is just holed up in his room and no one would really notice his absence in his house.
So they are left with the other 4 who are dabbling between their normal life and their criminal life.
"Hmmm, that's a good point..." Yemon puts his hand on his chin, mumbling to himself. Then, he suggested the schedule.
"How about we train from 7 pm to midnight?
However, they were unsatisfied. For the 4, Mara again became the foreperson and brought up another trouble regarding Yemon's idea.
"I am not going to be here by 7 p.m. Don't you think that you are tactless? From where I live, this place is not close."
Jo snuck in his agreement by saying, "Same here."
But all Yemon could say to deal with this situation was:
"Then just live near this location."
"Hah!?"Mara was dumbfounded
"Hah!?" Jo was shocked
"Are you being serious here?" Shi was confused.
"....." Well, Gello was actually okay with this so he did not voice any complaint.
"I cannot just come and live here so abruptly!"
Mara was discontent with his response but instead, Yemon was the one that was displeased with her reaction.
"Wow, is that how much resolve you have?" Yemon said in a condescending tone.
"...Eh?"
"Oh, now you are forgetting the main reason that brought you here?"
Mara's piercing glare penetrated through Yemon but he was unfazed. With a trembling and angry voice, she ensured him that she has not forgotten.
"You do not need to remind me!"
Omocha and Lumen were surprised by the sudden change in the atmosphere around her.
Lumen was worried about being caught in the crossfire if a fight broke out between her and Yemon.
Meanwhile, Omocha was intrigued to know her cause of being here.
Mara calmed herself down with some time, then announced to Yemon.
"Fine, I will do something about that."
"Good, that's more like it." Yemon was happy with her decision.
"Oi Oi Oi Oi Oi, wait a second. What about us two?"
Jo lumped himself with Shi who were the only ones not okay with Yemon's idea.
Yemon regained his condescending stare and brutally dealt with them briefly.
"Figure it out yourselves."
"-!?"
Jo and Shi looked at each other dumbfoundedly.
"......"
"........"
Their mouths opened and they, in turn, lash out to Yemon.
"You inconsiderate brat!!" Shi yelled.
"You motherfucker, do you think that it is that easy to just change location? What about the people around us? Won't they get suspicious!?"
Yemon smiled at the two and confidently confronted them.
"I know you will do something about that because you are competent enough for that kind of task."
"I know you are trying to entice me with your pretty talks but too bad, I am not falling for that one!! What do you say, Jo?........ Jo?"
Jo's demeanour changed.
"Eh~ Is that so?~"
'What a pushover!!' - was what Shi was thinking about Jo.
"Yes. And Shi, figure it out. You ain't got many choices."
Shi stared at Yemon holding him with contempt. Well, it is just as Yemon said, he has no choice since he is being blackmailed.
*Clap*
"Now that's over, let's-"
"Wait a second."
This time, Gui had his problem. Yemon wondered what it was now since all the plausible problems have been addressed.
"Previously, you said we were weak, right?"
Yemon's eyes became serious.
He knew that this was going to end in one way or another. So, that's why he prepared himself already before Gui asked any further questions.
"That's absolutely right. The only reason why you could injure me on our first encounter was because I foolishly thought we would quietly negotiate and I let my guard down for a second."
"What is this? A loser's tantrum?"
Gui provoked him, making Yemon's vein in his forehead appear.
"Stop beating around the bush and tell me directly. What do you want?"
"A duel.".
"You want to prove how weak you really are?"
Gui laughed as his fighting spirit suddenly spiked as he saw that Yemon was ready to pounce on him.
"I don't remember losing a fight to you."
"Oh, so you want to lose? I get it."
"Haha, this is what I like. If you are going to be our leader then show it. I will help you with that. I will not use my powers."
Gui sarcastically tried to belittle Yemon's fighting skills.
"You will regret that."
The surrounding became tense as they had a staredown.
"Well, this should be interesting."
In the middle of that staredown, Omocha would be willing to see how the fight would be like.
As a leader, Yemon had to win this. If not, then all he has built up till now would shatter into bits.
The team, the trust of Zaizen, the fear amongst the criminal towards Yemon, everything would be gone.
So for Yemon, this is far more important than what anyone perceives it to be.