I Reject Quests

Tony McBreth and his subordinates analyzed the video footage of everything that had happened inside the B.C. Market building.

As soon as they started watching, they were dumbfounded.

"This… how old is he again?" Tony paused the footage and questioned his subordinates.

"Recently turned nineteen, Sir."

"Are you serious? Since when has he been involved in training mana?" Tony asked even when he knew the answer.

"It's been two weeks."

"Two weeks. That can't be true…"

***

Klofar Residence.

Yeri and Tervon were consoling Denny. It has been two hours since the death of Rewen and she had been relentlessly crying since then.

"...And then… and then, a dark aura rose up from his body and… and it healed his body. His… his eyes were dark. Not just his iris or pupil, but the entirety of his eyes was black. I couldn't stare for too long because it seemed too scary." Denny recalled the events that happened two hours ago.

"But then, after X struck him, he didn't heal himself. Are you saying that it's because of the change in the eyes? You said that it had returned to normal." Yeri tried to understand the situation better.

Tervon was talking in the call.

"Hm. I understand. Okay." 

Hanging up the call, he walked to Yeri and Denny.

"I got some news." He said, taking a seat beside Yeri.

Yeri and Denny turned to him. 

"Regarding X?" Yeri guessed.

Tervon shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Denny, did you know what happened to the remote of the explosives inside you and Svety?"

"I don't remember much." The last confrontation between Rewen and X was too quick for her eyes to see what's going on.

"Then I guess you are better off not knowing," Tervon said.

Yeri frowned. "Tervon. This is important." 

"I didn't say it was." Tervon shrugged.

"Please, I want to know."

Only after repeated requests did Tervon reluctantly agree.

"From what they told me, it goes something like this. Seconds before Rewen died, he and X made a deal where both of them would hand over the control to the explosives. X deceived him and then, Rewen and he clashed with a dagger and the spear. Naturally, Rewen had the dagger while X had the spear. 

"Rewen lost in the confrontation as the dagger flew off from his hand and… then, X killed him. However, it was planned."

"What do you mean? What was planned?" Yeri confusedly asked.

"It was planned by Rewen. I don't know if his death was planned or not but the confrontation was planned. When the dagger flew off, it hit the remote that was in the air and destroyed it."

"What?" Yeri exclaimed in surprise.

Denny had an even bigger shock.

"There is enough evidence to prove that the entire thing was planned." Tervon followed. Even he found it hard to grasp the fundamental nature of the deceased red-haired young man.

Denny closed her mouth and closed her eyes.

Yeri didn't know how to continue talking about this and decided to leave her alone for some time. 

"Where is Mr. Klofar?"

***

Mr. Klofar carried his second son Ron and looked at his wife mourning for the death of his first son. Ron was peacefully sleeping in his arms, unaware of the fact that his Big Brother had passed away.

Kneeling near her son's corpse, Viviana's body shook while her head touched the corpse's chest.

Rewen was just three years old when they left him alone. Back then, he had called them several times to let him stay with them but for them, work was more than anything. They wanted him to become independent but nobody was with him when he went through the worst days of his life. The realization that their parenting had failed came to them too late.

Mr. Klofar touched his wife's shoulder. 

"Let him rest now."

Viviana didn't respond for a few seconds, then raised her head. Her eyes were wet and red. Biting her lips, she desperately tried back the tears.

Mr. Klofar initially wanted to have a serious conversation with her but seeing her condition, he sighed and sat on the floor cross-legged. "It's fine. Vent it out."

***

Eastern Dream Academy.

Zelic was in her class, getting tired of the normal lecture.

'This is so boring.' She thought, then decided to take out her smartphone. 'He still hasn't seen the message? Jeez. What the hell is he up to?' 

A few days ago, she sent a video of where Rewen said something offensive to a journalist. Even though the video hadn't gone viral, she along with the friends in her group circle came to know about the video and texted Rewen. However, till now, Rewen had yet to reply to one of them.

"Zelic Dynette."

"Hm?" Quickly hiding her smartphone, she raised her head to look at Alrocit. 

"A relative of yours has arrived." 

'A relative of mine? I wonder who that is.' Zelic did as she was told. She left the classroom and went to the guest room.

"Cal? What are you doing here?" She was surprised to see Cal at this place and time. For some reason, he looked unusually serious. 'Why does his face look so grim? Even for an emotionless person like him, this is too much.'

Cal raised his head and got up. "Get your bag and come with me."

"What? Why? The class is still going on." Zelic was confused.

"It's serious," Cal said.

"First tell me what it is." 

Cal didn't respond for a while. 

Zelic felt that the issue was turning serious as every second passed by. This only served to increase her curiosity. "What… is it?" A bad omen came over her.

"Rewen is dead."

Zelic stood on her spot blankly for a few seconds. "D… did you say something? I couldn't hear it right."

"Rewen is no more, Zelic. Bring your bag."

***

43-F Street. 4:30 p.m.

On the graveyard.

Dozens of people gathered around an open grave.

Among the people who had gathered, standing at the front were Mr. Klofar and Viviana. Behind them were Viviana's sister and her husband who were Zelic's parents. Zelic stood with her silent group of friends - Kesha, Gill, Junar, Salica, Evans, Denny, Bianca, and even Alfred.

[A/N: Alfred = Svety's step-brother. I don't have faith in your memory. Sorry not sorry.]

By now, they had realized the purpose of Rewen showing up with them.

At one corner stood Svety. She had no expression on her face. It was unknown what she was thinking of. Behind her were her two bodyguards.

"Rewen was just at my place a few days ago. He was a fine man and was at the prime of his youth. What crime did my sister and her husband commit to deserve this?" 

It was Aunt Presilla, Zelic's mother. 

Her husband had a solemn look on his face. "Tragedy doesn't knock at our door before happening. It just happens. Rewen was too excellent of a man. His simple presence overwhelmed the heavens."

Meanwhile, the young people had their own conversation.

"Did you watch how it happened?" Junar asked Zelic.

"Sniff." Zelic rubbed her red nose. Her eyes were also red. The shock of a close person dying without any warnings took a toll on her emotions. "No. The footage is with the authorities. My father put forth a request to release the footage to us. We have yet to hear a word."

"Can you explain the entire thing? I don't understand. Why would Rewen suddenly get involved with a terrorist organization and why would Denny get kidnapped?" Evans addressed the elephant in the room and finally asked the question that everyone wanted to ask but couldn't.

"Yes, Zelic. I know it's hard for you but we were close to Rewen and deserve to know about the cause of his death." Following Evans, Kesha spoke up.

"I feel like this is related to Svety." Bianca vocalized her conspiracy theory.

Salica was in disbelief. "You can't be serious…" 

"No. She isn't like that. I don't particularly like Rewen but as a long-time acquaintance of his, I feel bad about his death. However, don't bring my sister into the fray. She has nothing to do with it." Alfred rejected the idea. 

"Lick your fucking sister's ass somewhere else!" For some reason, Gill got mad. As Rewen's closest childhood friend, he was very affected by his death. Even when he knew it was unlikely for Rewen's death to have anything to do with Svety, he couldn't forget the fact that Svety was someone who had raped his friend. 

The more he thought about it, the more sorry he felt for Rewen.

And he wasn't the only one who thought like this.

"What the fuck man? What did my sister ever do?" Naturally, Alfred wouldn't back out after he said that. 

Gill was even angrier when he heard the rebuttal but just as he was about to speak, he heard a voice from his side. 

"Now's not the time and place." It was Kesha.