He ignored the furious looks directed at him, lifted the tea before him, took a sip, and said casually, "No. You cannot leave."
Nois, the black cat, lay lazily nearby, eyes narrowed as it surveyed everyone.
Kieran, the bar owner, frowned deeply at this:
"Mr. Falk, you're a veteran of the industry. We all respect you, or we wouldn't have accepted your invitation to come here.
"Do you know something?
"I think we all need an explanation."
"An explanation?" Falk shook his head with a sneer. "There is no explanation."
"You cannot leave, and that's that. Have you forgotten the sixth rule? Once the contest begins, withdrawing without the Supervisor's permission is forbidden."
His expression was solemn as he said this. He was clearly quite serious.
Everyone froze at his words.
Nearly half a minute later, Harvey, who had gotten into a minor clash with Lorry at the start but had barely made his presence felt since, could not help speaking up:
"But this so-called Supervisor is just a cat.
"How are we supposed to get its permission?"
"No permission means no permission," Falk said flatly.
"****! Fuck your Supervisor!" Kayla, small in stature but big on temper, slapped the table and stood up. "What if we insist on leaving?"
A faint smile appeared on Falk's lips.
"That is your freedom, but you would be breaking the rules."
"Heh, the rules?" Kayla sneered. "So what if we break them? There's no punishment for the first violation anyway."
"No, you've misunderstood," Falk corrected her.
He held up three fingers and explained to everyone with a serious expression:
"I described three circumstances in which punishment would occur: upon elimination, upon a second violation, and whenever the Supervisor considers it appropriate.
"If it considers the timing appropriate, even the first violation will be