Serious

Salvador made Asher walk in front of him. He was given the directions, but he soon realized that he didn't need them; they were merely going back to the Captain's room.

Asher's hairs stood up as he felt a piercing stare from behind, but whenever he looked back the old man simply tilted his head and smiled.

They reached Salvador's Office. The man's watchful gaze caused his skin to crawl. He winced as the Fixer scourged through the secrets in his mind.

[Warning. Detecting interference with sealed memories. Defensive protocols engaged...]

Salvador's hand trembled. Enkephalin flux dribbled from the corner of his mouth, which he wiped away surreptitiously. The man's suspicions only deepened, but he did not probe the girl again.

An unconscious sigh of relief escaped Asher's lips as the pain subsided. The System prompt made his body tense up.

'What does Salvador want from me? Why is he trying to read my memories??'

"Dear Sophie. Take a seat." His tone left no room for negotiation.

Asher sat down, deciding to not antagonize the old Fixer. Well, he didn't know why Salvador was even acting like that in the first place, but he still complied.

"So, let me tell you a story."

The man sank down in his seat. Years' worth of wrinkles emerged on his face as he recalled far, far back into his memories.

"I was in my fifties when I explored the Ruins for the last time, the last days of my prime. The Ruins are a beautiful, deadly place, little child. In my thirties, several decades ago, a good friend of mine told me..." Salvador's eyes glazed over.

Even the most grizzled Fixers could lose themselves to time. Asher waited as the man rambled on, describing all sorts of unbelievable stories. How he was drafted into the expedition team, what the environment in the Ruins was like, Salvador incorporated all sorts of interesting tidbits in his droning rambles.

Asher interrupted Salvador as he described the bone spires of a previously unexplored cave system, and how he used them to freeze supplies with their frost-covered surfaces.

"Sir... the story you were going to talk about?"

"Hm? Right. The true danger of the Ruins lies in the creatures that roam it. Terrifying, and often magical. They wield mysterious spells with ease, unexplainable even by the standards of the Singularities. In my last expedition, before the Royal Wings were absorbed into the City, I met one."

Salvador's hand moved toward a nonexistent cup of ssanghwa-cha.

"My team heard it from miles away. The sorrowful wails of a young girl captured us, ambushed us. The more valiant of my squadron forced themselves to explore further, to find this voice and save this nameless girl's life."

The suspense was killing Asher. He had to admit; the man knew how to create a riveting story. Before he could ask what happened next, Salvador continued.

"Time passed, and in a glittering orange morning, we were certain we had found the girl whose voice had terrorized us for weeks. I remember even the best of us had long forgotten our goal. We all wanted to silence those howls for eternity. Of course, at this point we also knew that the girl wasn't as human as we originally thought. We were all searching, not to help, but to kill."

Asher winced, but allowed the man to continue. The story Salvador wanted to tell must've been important, considering his serious demeanor.

"Our weapons were at the ready. But we soon realized the sunset was a lie. The horizon was merely filled with flames. ...The Ruins are a beautiful, deadly place. That dawn was the most glorious thing I had ever seen in my life."

He had even named his Office in memory of that moment.

Salvador stopped speaking. It seemed like he was done, but that didn't make sense to Asher.

"-And then? The girl?" Sure, the story was fantastical, but Asher did not know why it was so important that Salvador pulled him aside to tell him about it.

"Yes, the creature was in the form of a young girl. Her skin was pale white, and she wore a charred white dress. Streaks of ash covered her skin. You."

Asher's blood chilled as Salvador stared straight into his eyes.

Somehow, Salvador had met Sophie before in the Ruins, back when she was an 'Abnormality'.

"Sophie."

Salvador dropped the 'dear'.

He looked at Asher the way an ordinary person would look at a rabid dog foaming at the mouth. There was fear, but also a grim determination. He would not hesitate to kill him if he had to.

"Y-Yes sir?"

"Are you human?"

Asher didn't know what to do. He nodded his head as earnestly as he could. The words he wanted to say lodged in his throat under the suffocating pressure. Salvador was the Assault Operations Director for the Royal Wings; his aura had not grown any weaker over the years.

Cogs turned inside the man's head. It was clear he didn't believe him.

"...Will you hurt young Philip?"

"N-No. No sir."

Salvador blinked.

"Perhaps you really aren't that creature. A clone, or perhaps one of its progeny?"

Salvador sighed as Asher shook his head. As the girl's eyes became wet with tears, something inside him softened.

This girl wasn't inhuman, like the monster decades ago was.

Perhaps she really was related to it in some way; the similarities in their appearances were too uncanny to miss.

"But you don't act like that creature at all. You can go."

Asher gasped, the surrounding pressure evaporating. He shot to his feet, eager to leave. Before he could take a step, Salvador interrupted him.

"Sorry for the discomfort, dear Sophie. The discussion in this room will stay between me and you, correct?"

"Uh, yeah. Yes."

"Please, come by often. It seems Philip sees you as a friend, so is it possible if you look after him?" Salvador cared deeply for his youngest Fixer. Not only did the ssanghwa-cha the boy made taste excellent, but everyone in the Office enjoyed his company, to the point where they spoiled him like a child.

In a way, his request was also for the benefit of the Office.

Asher's uneasiness faded. The smile on the man's face couldn't be faked. The danger had passed with no issues.

He also enjoyed sparring with Philip. It wouldn't necessarily a bad thing to drop by here now and then.

"Sure. Thanks for... not killing me."

This Office was his true introduction to the world of Fixers, he decided.

Salvador nodded, turning back to his desk like he forgot Asher existed.

Stepping out into the hallway, he flinched as one of Yuna's gauntlets gripped his shoulder. Philip's expression only showed relief, yet Yuna was different. She was concerned.

"Did the old man do anything to you in there? You don't have to hide anything from me."

Asher made an okay sign with his hands. After a few seconds, Yuna released him.

"Sorry for the trouble he gave you. I have no idea why he was like that, I'll talk to him later. As for you, curfew's in less than three hours. We're about to close."

He rummaged through his pockets, pulling out his phone. A cursory glance of the time displayed 7:13 P.M.

Maybe ten o'clock was when the streetlights dimmed?

"I have to go now, Philip I'll come by sometime when I figure out a solution to that hand burn-y thing. We haven't finished that spar yet."

Asher really had to remember what power his match flame was set on.

[Would you like me to remind you before physical confrontations?]

'Oh? Sure, that'd be great.'

Asher snapped back to attention as Philip extended his hand for a handshake, which he gladly took.

Philip shook Asher's hand firmly with a wide grin on his face.

"Looking forward to it!" Philip was ecstatic.

Finally, the boy had made a friend his own age. Not that he didn't like his coworkers, but he felt more comfortable around Sophie. Though Philip noticed that she also had to hold back against him, just like with the other people in his Office... Just having a friend his age was good enough, he thought.

...

Asher walked out of the Dawn Office, turning back once to wave goodbye to Philip and Yuna, who walked with him to the front to see him off.

He noticed Salvador observing him near the top floor, but he merely smiled and waved. The Captain chuckled and did the same.

Having memorized the route to go back home, the darkened alleys didn't stress him out at all. He actually felt more comfortable in the darkness.

Then he desynchronized, and that feeling disappeared. The creeping shadows didn't look too inviting anymore... He continued walking, albeit more warily.

Just as he approached Mei's apartment, a notification from her dinged in his pocket. She was worried about where he was.

"Ashy? Where are you right now, should I get dinner ready?"

A grin touched his face.

He made sure he was desynchronized before scaling the walls, landing in front of her door in an instant.

*Knock Knock*

"Is Mei home~?"

The door flung open spontaneously. A delighted young woman greeted him.

"It seems I have to prepare dinner for one more tonight! Come in, come in, something's special on the menu tonight!" She quickly ushered him into the house before running toward the kitchen. Now that they had lights, there was no need to carry around a flashlight everywhere.

As Mei busied herself in the kitchen, Asher headed to the bedroom, plopping down after a quick pat down found him clean enough.

He knew what he was going to do. Yuna had talked about Yesterday's Promise, one of the titles on his list the System gave him. It was about time he actually searched for these names.

He pulled out his phone, directly entering the Hana app.

'System, their names? The people that I was companions with in those sealed memories, please.'

[The Crying Child, The Mother of Gears, The Eighth Chef, The Musician, The Ringmaster, L'heure du Loup, The Puppeteer, The Blood Red Night, and Yesterday's Promise. Nine in total.]

Searching for the Crying Child... no result.

Searching for the Mother of Gears... no result.

The Musician... The Ringmaster... L'heure du Loup... The Puppeteer... No result.

Maybe the others hadn't been found yet, or maybe they still didn't exist. This was 13 years in the past, after all.

Only the Eighth Chef, the Blood Red Night, and Yesterday's Promise existed within the Hana Association database. He already knew about the Eighth Chef from Jack and Pierre, so he skipped to the second one.

(Blood Red Night: Star of the City)

(A previous member of the Bloodfiends, another Star of the City, which she annihilated in her debut. As the sole retainer of her clan's lost vampiric rituals, the Blood Red Night is extremely dangerous to anyone in the City, including those Grade 1 and below. The Hana Association highly advises no one below the rank of Colored Fixer to attempt this subjugation.)

There was no further information on it, but that alone made his blood run cold. The Hana Association deemed anyone not a Colored Fixer to be unfit to even attempt the case. How terrifying was the Blood Red Night? Why was she on the list the System gave him?

Below was some miscellaneous information.

(Reward: 49 million Ahn. Claimed: Charles Office)

The Black Silence's Office had already staked their claim on it.

Asher nearly choked on air. The reward bounty was absolutely massive!

He went back to the homepage, searching 'Yesterday's Promise' instead.

(Yesterday's Promise: Urban Nightmare)

(Not much is known about this Nightmare. Witnesses describe it as a black skeletal figure, but it is unknown whether their memories have been manipulated. It works behind the scenes, producing threats ranked below it that do not seem to be related to it at first. Orange seals have been found engraved into all its works. Hana testing has deemed these seals as Ruinous in nature. Attempts of elimination is strictly limited to Grade 3 Fixers and above.)

(Reward: 6.3 million Ahn. Unclaimed)

'S-Scary stuff...' The professionalism in the Hana app's words and font made the description seem like a medical autopsy.

"Hey Asher, dinner's ready~!"

He sighed in relief as Mei's voice called for him.

Now he was certain. He should avoid the people on the list at all costs. And if he got to a point in his life when he was strong enough... what would he do then?

Asher rubbed his eyes. He needed a break from all of this.

Dinner sounded like a good idea.