Everything seems to be going according to Key's plan, almost that is, it's just that Key miscalculated her opponent's ability to keep things to themselves for weeks at least.
Even with the threat of having to pay millions of dollars as a fine for breaching the contract, they broke and complained to their coach and teammates about their annoyance with Key just two days after Key's game against Ratchet.
The doubt that Key and the troublemakers planted in Flack, Ratchet, and Aspect was even watered to grow after they exchanged their reasons and the outcomes of their match with her.
All of them thought that Key tricked them, that from the start, they weren't really playing with Key but the other JLNC members.
Therefore, with their coach, they told the management about their assumptions and suspicions, then their management arranged a meeting between them and JLNC's management, including JLNC's manager, Dewy, their coach, Bright, and the team captain, Rasheed, who Aspect assumed to play against him when he was supposed to play against Key.
"What agreement?" Dewy asked in confusion when they were talking face to face
"Don't lie, I'm sure you know that little bitch in your team snitched." Flack hissed and he received a glare from Rasheed and Bright
"What little bitch? We only have one female member and Key is not a bitch." Bright corrected him
"She had an agreement with all five members of Dominant Rooks," a corporate lawyer, one that was there when Key signed the non-disclosure agreement with Flack, said and this took their attention
"What, when is that?" Dewy asked them which took their own management's attention
"You don't know about it, Dewy?" the vice president of the company asked
"You don't know about it?" the coach asked them in disbelief before looking at Flack who was also in disbelief and no longer carried an aura of bravado
"What do you mean? Did you contact Keychantel?" Bright asked them
"Flack did," a man, the representative from Dominant Rooks' company, informed them
"Then why are you telling us now that we scammed you?" the vice president of the company asked them
"Because they lost," Rasheed said and that took their attention
"Isn't that it? You lost?" he asked
"Because you cheated, you played with us!" Flack gritted his teeth
"She played with you, she lied to us," Rasheed corrected
"What do you mean, Nico?" Bright asked him
"El said something about Key being targeted by player fans of other teams," Rasheed said
"Then she was telling us the truth when she said she didn't tell you?" the coach asked in disbelief
"So, you mean to say that Keychantel, Kashmiri, told you that she didn't tell anyone about the agreements she made with you? And you thought she lied to you because you lost?" the vice president of their company asked the Dominant Rooks
"Then how do you explain these?" Flack said and they started playing footage of the match between Key and the Dominant Rooks
It took two hours before they finished all the matches, and when they finished, everyone from JLNC's side was shocked to see that Key managed to beat them all up even when the other side obviously cheated by having their substitutes play with them while Key played with random players on her team.
"Just because someone copied her gameplay, and then you lost, you assumed that we tricked you?" Bright asked when he realized the situation
"How else would that be possible?" Flack asked and they all couldn't help but chuckle sarcastically
"Didn't you think that maybe Kashmiri really is just that great to beat all five of you alone even when you cheated?" Dewy asked and Flack couldn't rebut
"If you're not satisfied, we can check JLNC's footage on the time you were playing," Rasheed said
"Nico, that's too much," Bright said
"Well, to clear suspicion, then surely we can do that." The vice president agreed
He contacted someone from their security personnel to get the security footage from the JLNC base and it took almost an hour for the said footage to arrive.
While they're going through all the footage, Flack and the coach of Dominant Rooks couldn't help but feel shivers up to their spine whenever Key would turn her head to look in the CCTV's direction even while she's alone. There was a sweet smile on her face, but at this moment, it felt as if she was mocking them as if she knew.
"It was all Keychantel." Rasheed declared and they were all in disbelief
"How did you even have her sign when there was no one from her side to stand witness?" the vice president was growing suspicious
"Yeah, what if it was you who coerced her into having an agreement with you and you're just looking for trouble, but then she beat you." Dewy didn't doubt Key one bit because in his eyes, Key is a great player but she is innocent and sweet
"She called Veganca from Cyanide Wolves, she said something about him being her upperclassmen," Flack said and the people from JLNC exchanged glances
"And he was there to stand witness?" the vice president of the company asked
"She called him, she didn't have anyone with her so we asked her to at least call someone to stand witness on her side," the corporate lawyer said
"Key passed the board exams for law in Angliae, maybe that's why she didn't tell anyone because she could understand it," Dewy told Bright, who nodded
"To make it straight, we didn't know anything about your deal with Kashmiri, and whatever the outcome was, it was all on her." The vice president said
It sounded like they were abandoning Key, but in this situation, his statement only proved to the people from Dominant Rooks that Key beat them all alone.
"Can we please have a copy of the agreement Key had with you?" Bright asked and they seem reluctant
"What? Was there a penalty for breach of contract?" Rasheed asked and they couldn't say anything
"Don't ask for their agreement, as I've said, whatever agreement they had with Keychantel, the whole company and JLNC are not involved." The Vice President of the company said and stood up
"If there's nothing else, you can leave, I still have something to talk about with these three." He added and the people from Dominant Rooks stood up and went outside the door
Bright and Dewy on the other hand are still flabbergasted by what Key did behind their back, they didn't expect that Key was capable of beating a whole group by herself and on their own terms and turf too.
But they also can't help but feel disappointed in what she did, they're doubting Key's trust for them, or if she even had one for the team in the first place.
"Terminate her contract," Rasheed immediately said
"We're supposed to be discussing what had happened, Nicolas." The Vice President of the Company, who happened to be Nathan Blaine, told his son
"What discussion should there be? She almost put the company's credibility at risk, she clearly doesn't care about who or what she'll affect as long as she gets what she wanted." Rasheed replied in a foul mood
"I think, banning Key from a game won't be that bad," Bright said
"I agree with you, terminating a player of her stature will be a great loss to us, banning her would teach her a lesson to not do what she did again, and that would be enough." Vice President Blaine said
"Ban her until the end of the next season," Rasheed negotiated
"I think a game will be enough, Nico," Dewy said
"Fine, ban her for the next two games," Rasheed said and they all agreed
"Now that it's settled, I expect that you will settle the problem with Kashmiri." The Vice President said
"Thank you, sir," Dewy said and they went out
They rode the bus back to JLNC's gaming base, and they were silent the whole ride, all three of them were occupied by different thoughts.
When they arrived, they saw Key, El, Alexei, Rio, Quant, and Opal, training by having a match together.
Key, El, and Quant seem to be on the same team, while Rio, Alexei, and Opal are on the same team, they waited for a little while to let them finish their match before calling out Key to talk to her.
"Key, to the strategy area," Dewy called out Key who had just finished a match
"Okay," she said and went to the strategy area where Bright and Rasheed are seated
She sat on the chair across from the two of them and she looked at the three men in front of her who all have different expressions. Bright looks worried, Dewy looks conflicted, while Rasheed is Rasheed so he's frowning, only that Key felt that Rasheed's giving her a disappointed kind of frown.
"What's up?" she tried to lift the atmosphere by asking but it seems that she has triggered something until it dawned on her what might have happened but she still kept her innocent smile