Chapter 377: News [1]

"What? You’re acting weird. Is something up?"

Kyle looked at Zoey with a strange look. She was acting rather strangely. Suddenly asking about Seth’s illness. In fact...

"How do you even know about Seth’s illness? He doesn’t usually share it."

"....!?"

Zoey nearly flinched upon hearing Kyle’s question.

Seeing his eyes slowly starting to narrow, she quickly thought of something.

"Actually, I overheard him speak about it."

This wasn’t a lie.

She had indeed overheard him speak about it.

"Oh...?"

Kyle raised his brow, curious about what Zoey had overheard.

"Well, so..."

"So you’re thinking about what happened in the past regarding what he said about your parents?"

"Ehm, yeah."

Zoey’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

"That’s exactly it."

This wasn’t necessarily wrong. This was indeed what had happened. The only difference was that what she had overheard and what Kyle was talking about were two different things.

’It’s possible that Kyle is purposely trying to hide it.’

This was a possibility that Zoey didn’t toss away from her mind. Knowing Kyle for as long as she did, she knew that he was the type of person who could keep secrets. The only thing that bothered her was the expression he made when she had asked him about the disease. It really did seem like he had no clue at all.

’Is it an act, or is he really clueless?’

Zoey bit her lips, uncertain of whether to speak about it or not.

"There’s no need to beat yourself too much over it."

Kyle chuckled, finding the situation to be rather amusing.

"I’ve known Seth since young. He’s not the type of person to care about this stuff. He probably thinks nothing of what had happened. He’s a bit of a pushover in that regard."

’That’s what I said...’ Zoey mumbled under her breath, thinking about his reaction when she said that to him. Though his face remained neutral, his shift in tone and attitude made it painfully clear to her that he was far from happy.

She started to feel even more guilty.

"Relax. You’re worrying too much over nothing."

Seeing the concern on her face, Kyle waved at her.

"He really won’t care about what you said. He’s too indifferent to care about that stuff. The only time I’ve ever seen him angry was when I scared him as a joke. He freaked out and started chasing me all over the orphanage."

"Pftt."

Zoey suddenly burst into a subtle laugh, caught off guard by the unexpected information.

"He really did that?"

"Yeah, yeah. He was really mad, but not as mad as the Matriarch. His scream woke every kid up, and he got a good beating afterwards."

"Pfttttt—!"

Zoey laughed even harder this time.

Thinking about the story and imagining it, she struggled to contain her laughter.

"That’s hilarious."

"Looking back at it now, it was pretty funny. It was more painful than funny for me."

"...I guess."

Zoey kept her smile intact but fell silent, the laughter fading. Kyle raised an eyebrow but said nothing, his focus quickly returning to his work.

"Anyways, don’t worry too much. Seth is fine. If you really do feel sorry, then just give him some space. He’ll eventually come back acting like nothing happened. It’s really not that big of a deal."

"Oh, okay."

Pressing her lips together, Zoey nodded her head, deciding to follow along with Kyle’s advice. She didn’t bring up what had happened with Seth just moments before, nor did she mention how she’d ended up paying off the debt he owed.

She also kept quiet about Seth’s illness, not wanting to risk the chance that he hadn’t found out yet.

’But I feel like it’s important that he knows.’

This was no light injury, after all.

In fact, it was extremely serious. The fact that there was a possibility that Kyle didn’t know was baffling in itself.

However, Zoey also understood that it wasn’t her place to share the ’secret’.

’Either way, since he’s revealed it to his group, there’s a chance Kyle might find out about it later.’

For now, she just had to let things play out like Kyle suggested.

But with that being said...

"What are you doing?"

Zoey turned her attention to the task Kyle was working on. It seemed like some kind of research papers scattered across the desk, filled with strange symbols and notes. One symbol, in particular, caught her eye, standing out among the rest.

It looked rather complicated, with weird lines and crosses.

"Hey, isn’t this one..."

"Yup."

Kyle pushed the papers a little.

"These are just a bunch of symbols I’m trying to analyze," Kyle explained, pointing to the papers. "This one right here is the same one we found in the hotel. I’m trying to figure out what it means."

"And did you find anything?"

"Nope." Kyle shook his head, his expression hardening with a hint of bitterness. "I’ve searched everywhere, but there’s barely any information on this symbol. I even asked the Section Chief for higher clearance, but nothing turned up."

Ruffling his hair in frustration, Kyle leaned in closer to the papers, his eyes scanning the symbols again as if hoping they might suddenly make sense.

But...

Nothing.

"....This is really annoying. At this rate, I don’t know if I’ll be able to find anything."

"That must suck."

Zoey felt a little sympathetic. Field agents not only had to deal with monsters, but they also had to spend a lot of time researching for the Guild. This was probably the most tiresome task they needed to handle.

"I guess I’ll stop disturbing you."

Zoey gave Kyle’s cubicle a light pat before turning to leave. But as she did, her eyes briefly caught a glimpse of a particular paper on his desk, one that seemed out of place among the rest.

71...

That was all she saw before turning and walking out. But as the number lingered in her mind, a strange unease crept over her. One that she found very odd.

’Am I still hung up about what happened with Seth?’

***

Click! Click! Click!

"Okay, all of it is set up."

I stepped back and looked at the setup in front of me. A wall of monitors lit up before me, each one tethered to the massive machines humming behind them. The steady whir of cooling fans filled the air, and the screens flickered with faint static, casting a pale glow across the room.

Turning my wrist, I checked the time.

"They should almost be here. With everything set up, it shouldn’t be a problem to start working immediately."

I was in desperate need of money, and because of that, I couldn’t afford to waste another second.

I planned on starting the development of my next game immediately.

But before that, I needed to wait for my new team members.

"I wonder what’s taking them so long."

We had agreed to meet at around 15:30, but it was now 15:37.

They were seven minutes late.

I hadn’t expected them to be the type to show up late on their first day. As I stepped out of the classroom and checked my phone for any missed messages, I suddenly heard the door to my office creak open before me.

Clank!

Three figures walked in right after, their expressions somewhat pale.

Seeing them like this, I instantly knew that something was wrong, and before I could even voice out my concern, one of them showed me their phone.

"B-boss..."

His voice was haggard; evidently, he had been running quite hard.

"We... have a problem."

Staring at his phone and seeing the headline before me, I closed my eyes and clenched my fist, trying to keep my calm.

As expected...

In the end, they had made their move.

’Those fuckers!’