Comfort In The Abyss

"Before that, I want to learn more about my useless father. Why did he refuse Mark's help, why did he become passive all of a sudden and chose to withdraw from his position and why did he owe a huge amount of debt to Revenant, one of the most dangerous groups in the city, and leave me to them?" Determination to find these questions flashed over his eyes.

"I've been wondering that as well. Alright, we'll help you."

"Why did you help me? Do you need something from me?"

I stayed silent and looked Calvin in the eye. I could say cliche lines like, because I'm a hero, or, I can't leave a child in trouble, or something along those lines.

However, this kid would see the lie in those lines. So I came out honest.

"Yeah, I need something from you."

"And not because you helped me from the depths of your heart?" Calvin continued.

Hearing those words, I felt terrible and imagined myself lower than a villain taking advantage of a child. Is this truly the kind of person I am? Taking advantage of others if they were useful? Even a child?

Probably, and if this is what it takes to get what I wanted, I'm ready to be the bad guy.

"Yeah."

"You're rotten, uncle."

"I know."

"Doesn't mean I hate you for that."

"?" I looked at him in surprise.

"You're a good person, uncle."

His words surprised me. In what way am I a good person? I used you for my benefits.

"You're not mad?" I asked slowly.

"Nothing is free. I've learned that since I was young when Revenant 'takes care' of me. So rather than someone helping me because they want to, I rather chose someone that helps me because they need me in return. That way, I wouldn't have any favors. I hate owing favors to people." He explained as his eyes never left mine.

I'm amazed by his response that I couldn't help but respond, "Are you really twelve years old?"

At the same time, I thought to myself, is this truly the right thing to do? I know I'm prepared to be the bad guy, but after hearing his words…

"What should we do next?" Asked Eve.

"Igor's house. It's at Excalibur."

"Okay, let's go," said Eve and was about to take a step when Yin Hee opened her mouth.

"Wait, I want to tell Mist about what I just found. You asked me about anyone that's connected to Igor's death, right? A friend helped me, his name is Trick. Thanks to him, I manage to find three people."

"A friend? No, that doesn't matter. I'm interested in your findings."

"Yeah. These three people are Hansel, Yurim, and Will."

"They're all Honors that suddenly went missing. We wouldn't be able to find them quickly."

"I was able to find Yurim, but." She paused hesitantly, looking away from my eyes.

"But?"

"She is now leading a normal life. She has forsaken her past identity and life. She has two children and a loving husband. She didn't want anything with Honors and such, so I believe if we talked to her, she wouldn't tell us anything."

"We won't know until we try. Alright, let's do it this way. Eve, Yin Hee, and Calvin will go to Igor's house and find his diary. I'll talk with Yurim. Anyone have any questions?"

"Yeah, do I have to get involved? I'm here to find out who's the bastard that hires Scarecrow, not to get involved with all of this." Eve raised her hand.

"Right, you did say that," I nodded slightly in acknowledgement to Eve and turned my eyes to Yin Hee, "Since Eve can't participate, I'll give you my clone."

Yin Hee didn't say anything about Eve and stay silent.

After inhaling my vape, I exuded a smoke and transformed it to look humanoid. Slowly, its smoke surface became skin and looked like me

"It has 50% of my fighting capability."

"Thank you." Yin Hee said in gratitude.

"Sorry, Yin Hee." Eve felt guilty and apologized.

"I don't mind, big sis Eve. Calvin, shall we go?" Yin Hee looked down at Calvin for confirmation and he nodded. With that, they walked to the entrance.

"Big sis…" Eve's cheek flushed red and she smiled with blank eyes, perhaps she's in a europhanic state. She then left from such a state and added, "Wait, Yin Hee. I'll help!"

Yin Hee halted her steps and turned her eyes to Eve who got closer to her, "Are you certain, big sis Eve? I don't want to trouble you."

"It's okay! Leave it to your big sis!" She smiled proudly.

"Then I won't hesitate. It'll be a pleasure working with you. Doesn't this mean I won't need this entity?" Yin Hee pointed her finger at the clone.

"No, keep him. Even though it's half of the original, it's still Sunny, after all."

"You're right."

And so, Eve joins Yin Hee and Calvin to Igor's house. They disappeared from my sight as soon as they left the room.

Now then, let's meet Yurim, I said to myself and my phone rang. It's from Yin Hee, sharing Yurim's location.

After taking a puff and transforming the smoke into a hoverboard, I left through the window and flew to Gram.

A little knowledge about Gram. Its population were people with slightly above the minimum wage and lived humbly. There were little to none homeless people in this district. It was a clean district too so taking a stroll would also clean your mind. The air was cleaner than Olympus and Avalon. The water quality was filthy to those who lived in Excalibur, but tasted heavenly to those in Aegis.

Gram offered different kinds of jobs and a rather lively district compared to the rest. Yes, even though Excalibur was for the rich, they couldn't spend their wealth freely as that would make them looked down on by others and affect their status.

So, most wealthy people came to Gram to have fun. Of course, they would go to other districts as well, but their comfort wasn't the same as Gram.

Gram has the most skyscrapers of all the five districts, but not as grand as those in Excalibur. That said, the lights emitted from these skyscrapers were akin to glittering gems and had its own charm.

A contrast to the blinding light coming from skyscrapers of Excalibur that seemed to convey something, perhaps like a light of humanity.

Some said as long as Excalibur stood, the light of hope will never go and humanity will always rise, and I would always think to myself, that light is only a temporary comfort in the deep abyss.