I Reject Quests

Branch B-3 Hospital.

Rewen's eyes abruptly shot open. The first thing he did was observe his surroundings. He was in a normal hospital bed lying down wearing the same loose clothes he had from earlier. The room was relatively empty with a few shelves filled with medicines. 

He looked at his hands. Upon seeing that he wasn't injected with saline, he comfortably raised his upper body. 

"Urgh…" A groan came out from his mouth. For some reason, he has a terrible headache. 'Why is my head hurting?'

A second later, the headache was gone without a trace.

Just then, the door opened and three people came in. They were Cal, Denny, and a nurse with some papers in her hand.

"Rewen!" Denny exclaimed and went near to him. Holding his arms, she asked in a worried voice. "How are you feeling?" She didn't ask if he was feeling okay because she knew that he wasn't.

"I'm fine. How did this happen?"

"That's what I was about to ask you." Denny helplessly looked at Cal.

Cal stepped forward and looked straight at him. "How did you feel when you fell unconscious?"

"I don't know… I… I remember talking shit to Svety, then… and then…" Sweat dripped from his forehead and he seemed extremely out of breath. 

"What, what's wrong?" Seeing his condition, Denny anxiously turned to the nurse. "Please see him."

The nurse quickly checked his pulse which appeared normal. But before she could say anything, a voice sounded in her ears. "It's fine now. I… think it's because of interference. Can I do a check-up?"

"You think you have interference?" The nurse didn't know how to respond. As far as she was concerned, interference is rare. He just fell unconscious and that's a common thing to happen.

"Miss, he has been tested to have interference," Cal said from the side.

"Ah…" Realization dawned upon her face. "But then, why do you want to do a check-up once again?"

Rewen had a grim expression on his face. "My condition possibly got worse."

***

Half-an-hour later.

A middle-aged doctor went through the reports in his hands once again and sighed.

Rewen sat opposite to him. Behind him stood his cousins - Cal and Denny.

Denny was quiet while Cal patted Rewen's shoulders once in a while.

"Rewen Klofar, I suppose?" The middle-aged doctor asked to confirm.

"It is me." 

"Before I show you the reports, I want you to tell me how you are currently feeling."

"I'm fin-"

"Please be honest with me." The doctor seriously said.

Rewen sighed. "It feels bad. Very bad. My limited vocabulary isn't doing justice to what I'm feeling. If there's an analogy I can compare my condition with, it would be akin to red ants eating up my brain. Every time I make any movements, I feel like a red ant bits a part of my brain. The pain lingers on for quite a while but before I can get a chance to rest, I'm forced to make another movement because of the pain I felt because of the first. The cycle never stops."

Cal and Denny flinched when they heard him.

Although they didn't know what it was like, it didn't stop them from realizing that it's the most inhumane pain they had ever heard of.

The middle-aged doctor nodded. "That's one way of describing it. Since when did you start feeling this sort of pain? According to your previous report which was very recent, it looked like you had Stage 2 Interference."

"Well, to be honest…" Rewen showed a hesitant look. "I have felt this pain for the past two years."

His cousins' heart stopped when they heard him.

'He endured this level of pain for over two years!?' Not only his cousins but the doctor himself was shocked when he heard this.

"Why? Where are the previous reports? What about the painkillers? Did you not have them?" The doctor got agitated. He has been working in the profession for many years but this is the first time he had heard something this crazy.

"I didn't tell anyone."

"Yes?" The doctor looked like he had heard something wrong. "Wait a minute, you hide the fact that you had interference for over two years? Why?"

Rewen lowered his head and didn't say anything.

The doctor let out a long sigh before turning to his cousins. "I presume, you are his guardians?"

"I am. It's a complete negligence on my part." Cal admitted.

"Unfortunately, that isn't going to do anything. Here's the report. Read it and understand what you have done." 

Cal silently took the report and both the siblings started reading it.

"He did nothing wrong." The doctor said, taking off his glasses. "I may not agree with it but I sort of understand the boy's mentality. If he revealed that he had a Stage 5 Interference, he would probably have to drop out of his school and lie on his bed all day. What about his parents?"

"They… don't live here." Denny said with a dry throat. She never expected Rewen to have Stage 5 Interference.

"Hah!" The doctor scoffed but didn't say anything.

Denny's pupils shrank as she went through the report. "Why does he suddenly have Stage 5 Interference? A few days ago, he was tested to have Stage 2!" 

"It's called a Break. It's a common occurrence among patients with Stage 4 and 5 Interference."

***

After getting out of the hospital, Cal looked at Rewen. "Rewen, drop out of the academy." 

"I'm fine, aren't I? Do I look like someone who has interference?" Rewen grinned widely.

Denny had indescribable emotions on her face. "It's not something to joke about. Rewen, this is not the time to act stubborn." 

'This is turning out to be more troublesome than I thought.' Rewen finally decided to act seriously. "I promise that I'll drop out of the Academy if I do something out of control."

Cal didn't appear convinced so he looked at his sister. "What do you think?"

"Ask Uncle and Aunt."

"Yeah, I should do that."

"Wait, don't do that."

"Are you out of your mind?" Cal didn't pay any attention to Rewen and simply took out his phone.

"Can you wait a minute? I have something to discuss with Denny in private."

Rewen pulled in Denny to a corner who seemed confused. "What?"

"What if my parents decide to take me to where they live? Did you forget about X?" He didn't bullshit and got to the point.

Denny instantly understood what he was talking about. Few seconds, she smiled. "I'll think of something."

Rewen sneered. "You think you are very cool? Cut the hypocrisy. If you want to die so badly, then commit suicide for all I care. But don't be this sad of a hypocrite."

"..." The response she got was completely different from what she expected. She wanted to rage and argue but then decided against it. 'I can't psychologically pressure him. It might worsen his condition.' Aside from that, she also knows that what he said was not far from the truth but didn't want to admit it.

Moments later, they returned to Cal.

"Cal, let's give him some time."

"Give him some time? Do you know what you are saying? His condition is extremely bad. I can't say what would happen if his condition gets any worse." Cal used a rare aggressive tone.

"I know… but… how about we watch over him for this month?"

"No."

***

Eventually, Rewen and Denny managed to convince Cal.

"This is beyond crazy. Uncle would skin me alive if he knows that I'm hiding something this important." Driving the car, Cal berated both of them.

"Tell them I forced you to do this."

"It's not that simple… forget it. Tomorrow, I'll be contacting the academy. Hopefully, they won't dare to be negligent about him. Also, Denny. See that he doesn't get bullied or harassed."

Denny rolled her eyes. 'Is there anyone from the academy that can bully him? Speaking of which, how exactly did he become strong all of a sudden?' This wasn't the first time she thought of this. At many instants, she wanted to ask but was hesitant. 'He has his own secret. It's better to not pry.'

"Give me your phone." Rewen suddenly asked.

"Why do you need it?" Denny didn't like others going through her phone.

"Give me a number."

"You are still on about that!?"

"It's essential."

***

Svety's Apartment.

Yeri stood behind a door and knocked. "Svety, there is some important news about him."

"I don't want to hear it." - Was the voice that came from the door. After returning home, Svety was holed up in her room.

Yeri, as her bodyguard, knows what happened. In fact, she knows more than what happened. She was there at the time when Svety visited Rewen and saw everything. At first, she was naturally disgusted by his conduct and wanted to land a few hits on him but she refrained from doing so. The reason being - 'This way, the toxic relationship would end.' Of course, if the situation escalated, she would have stepped in.