That was a mistake. A huge mistake. He should have never requested help from Reyan.

Kairen made his mind. He decided to solve his problems himself from now on. He would never ask anyone for anything anymore!

But it was too late to regret his decisions now.

‘I can’t breathe…’

He tried to move, but he couldn’t do so. A young man was hugging him, while forcefully pressing Kairen’s head on his own shoulder and patting it.

“….”

This was the last stage of this young man… what was his name again… Ahem, the last stage of Kain’s excepting-the-reality process. Kairen didn’t even want to think about the suffering he went through in his previous stages.

‘When will he let me go?’

Kairen was suffering even now, however, he didn’t ask Kain to release him. He still didn’t know anything, but this man called him his brother.

‘Let’s not act so rashly. Kairen 1 is a bastard but he has to continue his life after I go back…’

When he finally felt like he was about to die from lack of oxygen, he tried moving his head. After some struggles, he could finally raise his head a little bit. Kairen could see Reyan standing in a corner of the room. Seeing him made Kairen angry again.

‘You mo*her fu*king bastard! Why did you tell him everything? Wasn’t this supped to be a secret? Why the hell did you tell him everything the moment you saw his face? I swear I will beat you up to a pulp! … I… I don’t have the ability to beat you up to a pulp but I swear I will get revenge. Bastard!’

Reyan could sense Kairen’s angry gaze on him. He felt like Kairen would shoot lasers out of his pupils at him at any moment now.

“Don’t worry Kairen, everything will be fine.”

Hearing the young man’s soothing voice, Kairen stopped his imaginary revenge plans. The hand that was patting his head stopped moving and the man slowly loosened his embrace.

‘Finally!’

“I’m not worried…”

“Stop acting strong.”

“I’m not acting strong…”

The man exhaled a deep breath and turned to Reyan.

“Thank you for informing me.”

“I didn’t do anything much.”

‘Yeah yeah, exchange thank-yous with each other!’

Kairen didn’t hide his look of disgust and stared at Reyan even more angrily.

“Do you really not want to come to my place? I’m worried about you like this.”

“I will be fine, thank you.”

Kairen picked up his plate and stuffed apples into his mouth. It was an excuse to stop his conversation with Kain. And he was really hungry as well.

“Ah, I will peel you some more apples.”

Slices of apple were added to his plate soon. Kairen was hungry and got more hungry the more he ate so he ate more… His stomach was filled with apples quickly.

After some time passed, the young man’s phone rang. He stood up after finishing his call.

“I have to go now. Kairen, call me if you need anything okay? And answer my messages.”

“Okay.”

“Take care of yourself.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

“Okay.”

“Bye then.”

“Ok- Bye.”

The man finally left the room, leaving Reyan and Kairen alone.

***

“So he isn’t my brother?”

“Yes, not a blood relative. But you two were really close.”

“Hmm.”

Kairen wanted to grab Reyan’s collar and ask him what the hell was in his mind the moment Kain left, but he controlled himself. It wasn’t because he was afraid of Reyan, no not at all! He just wanted to leave the hospital first.

And now they were talking while walking towards their dormitory. Reyan continued his explanations on the way.

“You told me that you guys grew up in the same orphanage and he is like an older brother to you. He came to visit you often when he was free and you would spend holidays in his place.”

“Hmm…”

“I don’t think we should hide things from him who is like a family member to you. And he would find out something was wrong sooner or later, he knows you well.”

“…”

After hearing Reyan’s explanations Kairen felt like his anger was for nothing. He still didn’t know lots of things and was acting like an idiot most of the time because of that. Kairen brushed off his thoughts and ask something else that was bothering him.

“But I still don’t get it. Why would Philomns try to kill Mr. Rhoads? He doesn’t even have a really important position.”

“Well, I don’t know the details but they said he confessed that he had something they wanted.”

“Something they wanted?”

“Yes. ”

Reyan paused and thought for a moment before opening his mouth again.

“About a year ago, the news about a group of drug smugglers came out. It drew lots of attention because of how weird the case was. There was a long investigation undergone to capture that group. After a long time of investigation, the police could finally find their hideout. They arranged a secret operation to attack their hideout. But when the police arrived there, they found all of the people in the hideout dead.”

“….”

“They were all killed horribly. The hideout was a mess as if it was searched thoroughly but the drugs and the important documents were still left in there. It was as if the killer just wanted to murder them all. No matter how much they investigated again, the police couldn’t find the culprit behind it.”

“….”

“Back then, Mr. Rhoads was also suspected to have some connections with that group. However, no solid evidence was found so he wasn’t captured.”

“…I feel like I’m starting to understand it a little bit.”

“Right? He started getting threatening emails and letters after some time. He was too afraid to tell the police because he himself would also get caught. He thought he could protect himself with some bodyguards and cadets. But it seems like the culprit behind that massacre wasn’t an easy opponent.”

“But why would Philomns kill them? Aren’t they just some terrorists?”

“As I said before, Mr. Rhoads seemed to have something they wanted.”

“Hmm?”

Kairen could remember hearing something like that from that man. He said something to Mr. Rhoads before starting the attack.

-I will ask you kindly, give us the painting.

“A painting?”

“Yes. According to his confession, the smugglers brought a painting with themselves sometime before their murder. They offered it to the politician who supported them to earn his offer even more.”

“Why would a terrorist group go so far for a painting?”

Reyan shrugged his shoulders in his answer.

“Who knows?”

“….”

“I can’t believe we almost died trying to protect someone like that..”

Kairen felt the same. He went through so much pain to save Mr. Rhoads, a piece of trash for society…

“Why didn’t he just give it to them from the beginning? What happened to the painting in the end?”

“He was afraid they would kill him even if he gave the painting. He had hidden it somewhere secret so they needed him alive to find the painting. SMF took the painting as well after capturing society, they seem to be trying to find out if it has some secrets.”

“Hmm…”

They had arrived at their dormitory while talking. Although he was discharged from the hospital, Kairen still felt tired. So he went to sleep straight after lunch. They had still 2 days of free time so he could enjoy sleeping as much as he wanted.

And after two days of rest, he was now standing in front of a tall building, alone.

[Police Department]

Kairen was sent to the police station this time. He didn’t know the details of his mission and didn’t know what kind of work a mage could do in a police department. He was just told to go meet and get orders from lieutenant Thain.

Kairen took a deep breath and entered the building. He showed the employee some kind of an introduction letter he was given that indicated his position as a cadet temporarily working here. After getting checked, he was told that he could meet lieutenant Thain on the third floor.

Once he entered the floor, he could see some desks placed here and there in neat order and people working on them. Kairen moved past them and headed towards a door.

[Lieutenant Thain – office]

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

He opened the door after hearing a woman’s voice.

“Good morning, sir Steyton.”

“Good morning, lieutenant Thain.”

A young woman stood up from her seat and greeted him. She had a serious look on her face while observing Kairen. She didn’t have any make-up, her hair was neatly tied to a bun and her clothes were ordinary police uniforms. Kairen felt like he could sense some kind of pressure from her, the atmosphere around that person was heavy and serious.

She observed Kairen from head to toe before pointing to a seat with her eyes.

“Please sit.”

“Ah yes.”

Kairen obediently sat down on the chair on the other side of the lieutenant’s desk that was full of papers.

“Thank you for coming all the way here.”

Lieutenant Thain prepared two cups of instant coffee and placed one in front of Kairen.

“My squad’s mage is on sick leave so we had to request temporary aid. You will help us until he comes back.”

Kairen was quite surprised to hear that. He didn’t know that mages could have this kind of job as well.

“… Then I will explain the case you need to help us with.”

She picked up a bunch of papers from one side of her messy desk and handed them to kairen.

“What are these?”

“The detailed explanations you need to know about the case. Read them all later.”

“Oh, okay.”

Lieutenant Thain raised from her seat as he started her explanation.

“Things started two weeks ago when Ain Warld, the managing director of Weltyngs company was reported to go missing. Two days later another report came regarding Zak Clark, one of the shareholders of the same company, going missing.”

The woman walked slowly as she talked.

“And by the end of the week, three other people disappeared as well, all of them related to the same company.”

Kairen looked at the papers in his hands one by one. He could see the pictures of the people who had gone missing printed in them.

“In the second week, we got a whole bunch of reports regarding people disappearing. All of those people worked or were related to well-known companies. Ten people in total until now.”

“…”

‘What? Isn’t that too scary?’

“There is no solid evidence that these rapid disappearances are related to each other. Also, we have no clue of who the culprit may be. That’s why we need the help of a mage. Magic does things that humans are unable to do after all.”

“….”

“That file I just gave you contains all the information you need to know. We will move to the places related to the victims when you have finished reading them all.”

“….Yes.”