This Universe Needs Old People - Chapter 73



Only Noblemtl

Apocalypse Needs Old People Episode 073

60. Father (5)

“You’re not going to prove your innocence! What the heck!”

I said this while grabbing Bones’ leg as he tried to get up from his seat.

“You said you would make Lieutenant General Max pay for what he did wrong, but I guess you actually hope he’s innocent?”

My question hit the nail on the head, and Bones cringed and sat back down quietly.

“Isn’t Captain Josef the culprit? That’s why you sent me to Captain Josef… … .”

I looked at Bones blankly and asked.

“Bones. Do you trust your father?”

“Of course I believe you. You are the one who raised me.”

“Then why did you tell me to leave it behind then?”

When he brought up his own dark history, Bones’ face instantly turned red.

“Can you please not talk about that time?”

“You clearly didn’t trust your father back then.”

“At that time… … .”

“You respect Lieutenant General Max, but you think he could abandon you at any time. You’re not his biological son, and he has many adopted sons besides you.”

“… … .”

Bones didn’t deny what I said.

It’s a given.

The efforts he had made to gain Lieutenant General Max’s recognition were, in other words, nothing more than a desperate attempt to avoid being abandoned.

“… Okay. I know what you’re trying to say.”

Bones looked at me quietly and then opened his mouth to speak.

“I don’t trust Lieutenant Max, but I hope he’s innocent because I hope he didn’t abandon me. Is that okay?”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“The same goes for you, Haydam?”

“There is no evidence that either Captain Josef or Lieutenant General Max are the culprits. I suspect Josef, but it is only circumstantial evidence. In other words, there is still a possibility that Lieutenant General Max is the culprit. Nevertheless, there is only one reason why I am holding this executive meeting and putting on a show like this.”

I raised one finger.

“To see which one is worth keeping alive.”

“…it’s hard to understand.”

“Many of my precious soldiers died in this incident.”

“Is Colonel Sampson included among those poor soldiers?”

“Of course. If it weren’t for this incident, he would have done his job in his position.”

I continued speaking to Bones, who still seemed to have no idea what I was trying to say.

“I want the one who won’t sacrifice my soldiers any more, between Josef and Max, to remain.”

“Are you saying that we can find out about that through a meeting of executives?”

“Yes. Since ancient times, they said that to find out if a parent truly loves their child, you should cut the child in half right in front of your eyes.”

“Huh? Crazy… Who said such horrible things?”

“Solomon.”

“I’ve never heard of you before. … Hmm?”

Bones, who had been lost in thought for a moment, looked at me as if he had realized something.

“But isn’t it me who has to split the two now?”

“Solomon may not know, but he is quick-witted.”

“I’m scared that Haydam will really do it, so please tell me what you’re planning to do.”

“don’t worry.”

I looked at Bones and smiled.

“When you get there, you will know why Solomon ordered the child to be cut in two.”

* * *

Joseph entered the executive conference room anxiously.

Rumors continued to circulate, but no soldiers had been able to identify any sightings of Colonel Sampson prior to the officers’ meeting.

In the end, without being able to properly confirm the truth of the rumor, an emergency executive meeting was held to hear Bones’ testimony.

Separate from Colonel Sampson’s eyewitness account, I arrested the men who had done the work that day and tortured them… no, I had a sincere conversation with them.

‘All I could say was that they had confirmed that he was dead.’

Joseph knows.

Those eyes were eyes that spoke the truth.

At least they witnessed the moment Colonel Sampson’s breath was taken.

‘Now we can only hope that the rumors that Colonel Sampson is alive are just rumors.’

I looked around the conference room and saw that the only people there were the commander, the officers, and Bones.

‘I don’t see Heydam.’

Joseph, who had thought so absentmindedly, realized it later.

He thought it was natural that Haytham would be present to testify about the serious incident in which seven soldiers were murdered and a colonel committed suicide.

It seemed like I wasn’t the only one who had thought that way.

The executives who were looking around as if they were looking for someone all had expressions on their faces as if they had realized something.

‘Is this the influence of a child who has found his place after ten years? This influence is not normal.’

It seemed obvious that one day the child would devour all of his territory.

The reason he risked his life to frame Lieutenant General Max in order to keep his position may have been because he felt pressured by Haytham’s growing influence.

‘But now we’re in the same boat… … .’

But Joseph’s relief did not last long.

Just when I was about to relax, thinking that supporting Bones would give me a leg up on Haytham’s influence.

This is because former Captain Anton burst into the executive meeting room and made a bombshell announcement.

“Based on Colonel Sampson’s testimony, I will be indicting Ensign Bonds.”

“What does that mean?”

It was the worst possible situation he could have ever imagined, but Josef remained as calm as possible and stood up to speak.

“You’re accusing Ensign Bonds based on Colonel Sampson’s testimony? Didn’t Colonel Sampson commit suicide?”

Anton smiled in an unknown way as he looked at Josef.

It was a smile as if he knew about the rumor.

“Colonel Sampson is under my protection.”

At those words, Joseph felt his heart sink.

‘So the rumor was true?’

Still, Joseph tilted his head as if he didn’t understand what was being said.

“Protecting them? Are you saying that Colonel Sampson is alive? No, even if Colonel Sampson is alive, why are our soldiers being taken in by a civilian named Anton?”

“Your Excellency, you have entrusted Colonel Sampson to me.”

‘Your Majesty?!’

There was no change in the expression on the commander’s face as he sat in the center of the executive conference room, wondering if Anton’s words were true.

No, if the commander had not given permission in the first place, Anton would not have even had the opportunity to open the conference room door and come in to speak.

‘At best, I thought he turned a blind eye to Anton’s abduction of Colonel Sampson… but if he had entrusted it to me personally… … .’

Joseph’s heart began to beat faster.

If something has happened to this extent without your knowledge, then the situation has already become uncontrollable.

‘Then now is not the time to support Bones.’

If we give up Bones here, we’ll be betraying Haytham’s trust, but the Colonel is still alive.

If you don’t get along with the Colonel, he might change his mind and bring up Josef’s name.

To claim that Lieutenant General Max is the culprit here would be to accuse the Colonel of giving false testimony.

But if you change your attitude right away, you will be suspected.

Joseph opened his mouth, pretending to look confused.

“What did Colonel Sampson testify that makes you want to indict Ensign Bonds?”

“Colonel Sampson’s testimony is as follows. Ensign Bonds was so stubborn about getting credit that he accidentally killed his teammate and tried to frame the witnesses. Colonel Sampson fell into a crevasse while running away from Ensign Bonds.”

It was no different from the real testimony I heard from Haytham, except that the story of Ensign Lucas was completely omitted.

‘It’s a good thing Haydam isn’t here.’

Joseph continued to act as if he didn’t know English, thinking that it would have been difficult to act as if he had heard it for the first time if Haydam had been there.

“What on earth are you talking about? Didn’t Colonel Sampson clearly testify that Lieutenant General Max ordered the murder?”

“When Heydam found Ensign Bones while he was running away and saved him from a monster attack, he told Heydam that Lieutenant General Max had ordered him to kill himself, and that Colonel Sampson had killed his teammates in order to get rid of them. Since Colonel Sampson and Ensign Bones’ stories were different, His Excellency announced a false testimony and decided to wait and see what happened. In the meantime, he also confirmed that there was no contact between Lieutenant General Max and Colonel Sampson.”

That was a given.

Lieutenant General Max really had nothing to do with this.

‘Since there is no evidence that he is the culprit, are you looking for evidence that he is not the culprit?’

“Even so… isn’t there no evidence that Lieutenant Bones is the culprit?”

“At least we have confirmed that the gunshot wound to Colonel Sampson’s shoulder was fired from Bones’s gun. In the first place, if Colonel Sampson had ordered the murder, how could a newly commissioned officer like him have survived? Unless Ensign Bones had launched the first attack, it makes no sense that Ensign Bones would have survived in that situation.”

Josef knew that Bones and Lucas had truly survived the situation on their own, but it seemed clear that the circumstantial evidence would turn against Bones if things continued this way.

“But why didn’t you reveal that from the beginning and why are you bringing it up now… … .”

“Since Lieutenant Bones didn’t testify that Lieutenant General Max was the culprit, I thought they’d at least stopped trying to frame Lieutenant General Max… But I came forward after seeing you instigate the executive meeting today. Even though I’ve stepped down, I can’t just stand by and watch my old friend Lieutenant General Max betray his integrity.”

‘This executive meeting wasn’t originally held for Bones’ testimony.’

They set a trap by framing Bones as the culprit.

‘I can’t get involved.’

Joseph let out a long sigh.

He glared fiercely at Bones, who was standing on the witness stand.

Bones just stood there with his head bowed, wondering what was going on.

It was strange that he didn’t actively deny it, but I thought he had given up because he couldn’t turn the situation around on his own.

‘That’s a good thing. If you have no intention of actively explaining, it’ll be easy to cut ties.’

After finishing his calculations in his head, Josef shouted at Bones to put an end to the situation once and for all.

“Bones! I believed in you and tried to protect you until the end, but even if you were my parents, how could you sell out the father who raised you! Not only did you commit a crime against nature, but you even tried to make fun of me and Haydam! This is so outrageous-”

“no!”

I heard a sudden shout and turned around to see it was Lieutenant General Max.

‘Did you just say no?’

Now that he’s finally cleared his name, what’s the big deal?

Joseph thought that perhaps resentment toward his son who had committed an unfilial act was pouring out of his mouth.

The urgent words that Lieutenant General Max spoke were completely beyond Josef’s expectations.

“Colonel Sampson’s words are not true! It was I who threatened Colonel Sampson to kill Ensign Bones. I ordered him to do so. Colonel Sampson is now making a false confession to avoid his crime!”

Joseph had no idea what was going on.

Isn’t it Lieutenant General Max who is making a false confession now?

“So my son is innocent.”

Joseph was shocked by what followed.

I wondered why he would come forward when he would have just stayed still and been released, but it turned out that the idiot was making a false confession to save his adopted son.

Joseph looked in that direction, wondering if Bones was coming to protect his father again.

Bones just stared blankly at Lieutenant General Max, his face strangely seeming to realize something.

‘Why are these guys like this?’

Joseph felt uneasy, but tried to shake it off.

‘No… rather, it turned out well.’

Even if it is a false confession, it will be difficult to avoid punishment since he revealed his crimes in front of everyone.

Hasn’t it been several times more difficult to prove innocence than to prove guilt?

The commander can’t just ignore it when the person involved confessed right in front of him.

As Joseph looked at the commander with that thought in mind, he instinctively felt that something was wrong.

The commander was looking at Lieutenant General Max with eyes that seemed to have found something very interesting, and there was not a hint of discomfort in those eyes.

“This is the ‘Solomon’ that Haytham spoke of.”

‘Solomon? What’s Solomon?’

Josef, who had no idea what it was, was dumbfounded, but Bones nodded as if he knew what it was.

“I understand now.”

“I think I’ve confirmed everything that needed to be confirmed, so I’ll leave now. I’ll punish you for this later.”

Without even being able to ask him anything after saying that, the commander left the conference room, and when Josef came to his senses, both Max and Bones had disappeared from the conference room.