"What do you mean, 15th?" seethed the rotund lady.

She was rather found of her niece who managed to eliminate all her rivals far ahead of schedule and was not very fond of the idea that the 15th seemed to have.

The 15th Hour was very much aware of it. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head before he appeased her: "Don't worry, 16th. Let me explain it to you first."

"You better" she interjected.

He began to start his explanantion: "Our goal is to stop the World from facing another Great War, right? The problem is that whether we like it or not, those evil fuckers will find a way to promote a new Throne. So, thinking so, what can we do? Interfering is obvious but how so? I believe that this man is our solution."

"He owns a ring which means that he is, in theory, one of the successor candidates of our Empire. He is also Hae-Hyuk's disciple regardless of their relationship issues and, at the same time, Nightmare considers him his disciple too. He has quite the background, does he not?"

"Now, do you think that this man is part of the Evil or the Righteous?"

The 9th hour intervened: "It does not matter and that was not the question."

The 15th nodded: "Right, it does not matter. Unless we make him win. What if we tried to groom him as one of us and supported him to win the next Throne? No wars since this Evil would not be born. He would be a part of our faction instead!"

The rotund lady snickered: "And how did you plan to make him one of ours?"

The 15th shrugged: "Marry him to your niece. An Emperor and an empre-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he received a full-powered punch from the 16th Hour that sent him crashing into the distant hall pillar.

She spat on the ground: "Rejected."

The Emperor laughed: "Even if we wanted to and we believed this to be the best situation for us, what makes you think that this would be the ideal situation for him? Let's say that we help him and he does win. At that time, the possibility of his betrayal will exist for he will be a Saint as well. We would have groomed a stranger into a powerful danger."

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The thin man got up from the debris and, as he walked back to his previous spot, he stated: "But what if he does not betray us?"

The 9th Hour shook his head negatively: "The danger is too high. What's more, it would require heavy investments and there would be no certainty of returns."

The Emperor thought about it for a few moments before he decided: "Let us not groom him as one of the Hours, not even as one of ours. As you said, the risks are too high. However, he is probably the key to reach the ending we desire. Chunso, what would happen if he grabbed the Throne and truly became part of the Evil?"

Chunso decisively answered: "I fear that I do not know, My Emperor."

Chunso did not want to make another mistake here and, as such, he decided that it would be best to shut up.

The Emperor was not happy about it but he moved on: "Hae-Hyuk would be forced to deal with him."

The 9th Hour clapped: "Brillant! Indeed, Your Majesty. Since Hae-Hyuk wishes to ascend, he will need to cut himself from this world's fate and to that end, he would need to sever this relationship that would bring him bad karma."

The 15th Hour added: "However this would only work if he wins the Throne before Hae-Hyuk ascends. At this moment, the evil karma is not enough to force Hae-Hyuk into moving which is a relief but what about later on? If the timing misses, everything would be pointless."

The 16th Hour continued: "How much karma would need to be built before Hae-Hyuk has to move? We should be fine on that side until close to the very end. What matters is rather how to go about it if we decide to go with this plan."

The Emperor stated: "While we do not know of the other candidates, we can easily guess that Chaos will send some of his kids. Fumes and Crawler, on the other hand, are problematic."

The 9th Hour disagreed: "I believe that you are wrong, Your Majesty. The truly dangerous one is the Clown. The act of placing Gaelic as his pick even though that seahorse is already a Saint is nothing but a joke. Gaelic was the one to guard the Clown's jail all these years, it is likely nothing more than a scheme to have someone else take Gaelic out for him."

They all nodded. This seemed to be quite something that The Clown would do. He only ever cared about enjoying himself and creating problems.

This was a really tense and complex situation.

They could not bring Jin into their side directly for fear of a future betrayal as well as due to the karma links he created with Hae-Hyuk and Nightmare. Regardless of which side Jin would pick if he won, he would have to face one of these two because of the world's karma. If they supported him openly throughout the contest, they would be de facto considered as allies and, as such, their fates would be linked. If Jin fought Hae-Hyuk or Nightmare, they would be forced to fight too.

However, if they let things happen, a new Throne would be born and a new Great war between Righteous and Evil would begin.

The two sealed ones might also return to join if it happened...

The world's balance would be broken once more...

And the biggest problem was that as long as that man owned that ring, a small link remained between them.