Taeyeon stared at King with a deadly serious expression. She didn’t smile nor laugh, not even a smirk could be seen across Taeyeon’s face from King’s absurd question. Sunny could tell that Taeyeon wasn’t about to mess around with her response. “Let me understand, you want me to free you so you tell us how Mage 01 blocks our magic out?” Taeyeon questioned.

“Those are my terms. Take them or leave them, up to you mate.” King smiled.

“Tae, you’re not actually considering this are you??” Sunny questioned. Taeyeon completely ignored Sunny and continued on with her conversation with King. “Well, now that you’ve discussed your terms how about I discuss mine?” Taeyeon asked.

“Tae!?” Sunny was ignored once again.

“You tell us about Mage 01 and I’ll set you free on one condition,” Taeyeon stated sternly.

“Tae what the actual are you doing right now??” Sunny continued to beg for Taeyeon’s attention but Taeyeon also continued to ignore her.

“Go ahead…” King said hesitantly as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I set you free, but you swear to me that you never ever return to your crime life. If you dare return to being a crime boss, running an underground drug trade, or anything illegal, I will find you and slam you right back into this cell where you belong.” Taeyeon stated with no cracks in her voice. She was dead serious about her negotiation and neither King nor Sunny could believe their ears. King especially was lost for words since never once had he met a self-proclaimed hero that had been so ready to commit a crime, even if it meant saving the world. He knew that Taeyeon knew this would destroy her reputation as Vermilion if new had ever gotten out that New York’s pride and joy had release King from his bonds the entire city would be at her doorstep with sharpened pitchforks. Taeyeon was gambling her entire hero life just for this piece of information that may or may not even win them the war. King knew this information was valuable but did it guarantee them the win? Not at all, this was merely a slight advantage. If you were to look at the situation as a whole, the only guarantee to defeat Elder Cosmic was to prevent the summoning of the divinity. Even if they were to defeat Elder Cosmic and Mage 01 by combat, as long as the divinity was summoned, it would still be doomsday for the entire planet. King stood there, speechless from what he had just heard and even now he didn’t quite know how to respond to this. Sunny was also completely speechless about Taeyeon’s absurd statement. Sunny wondered if Taeyeon would truly free the man that killed not only her father but Shinju as well. And only a few months ago he attempted to kill countless people just to create those blood relics. His so-called “plan” to stop Elder Cosmic could have cost hundreds, if not thousands of lives during the battle in Time Square if Taeyeon and Tiffany didn’t receive help from Yoona and Seohyun. This man was a murder, someone who can only agree to plans where it personally benefits him. He'll do anything to get what he wants, making him to ruthless and reckless to trust. Even if Taeyeon was serious, she couldn’t possibly expect King to uphold his side of the bargain could she? “And how would I escape from here?” King asked slowly.

“With this.” Taeyeon pulled out a white soul stone from her pocket. It was just a generic soul stone, but given the fact that King was an advanced user, he would easily be able to find his way out of the prison with a white stone alone. Taeyeon’s actions continued to shock King and Sunny. “You really planned this out, didn’t you?” King questioned slowly once again.

“I know you, King. I know how you work, you don’t give unless you expect to receive and I planned ahead. This information you’re holding is crucial for us to know, if we don’t find out how he stops our powers, then we won’t be able to fight him at all.” Taeyeon stated.

“TAEYEON!! Are you actually out of your mind? We can’t negotiate with a criminal, of all people you most certainly can’t. Besides that, imagine if Tiffany, Hyoyeon, and Yoona were here, imagine how they would react to their savior negotiating with the man that arguably ruined our lives. If it wasn’t for him, Tiffany wouldn’t have suffered through the darkness, if it wasn’t for him Hyoyeon may have been happy with Shinju and if it wasn’t for him Yoona wouldn’t have been bedridden for weeks. And what about you, Tae? If it wasn’t for this right here, you would still have your parents. You would still have Shinju.” Sunny argued.

“I’m not going to lie and say our lives are perfect Sunny, but if it wasn’t for him, none of us would have found each other. If it wasn’t for Shinju trying to run away from King, we wouldn’t have ended up in New York. If I didn’t meet Tiffany she would have never truly gotten over her past, if I never met you, you and Yuri may have never resolved your problems because of the night I stayed over your house. If it wasn’t for him, Vermilion would have never been born and millions of New Yorkers would have never felt the hope that they have today.” Taeyeon retorted. Of all people to clap from Taeyeon’s outbreak speech, King was the