Chapter 117
He had already expected something like this would happen to him. Even though Aaron Kwok had never fought creatures tied to the supernatural before, especially 'Demons,' his Exorscist would flare violently and push his resolve to drive them away, even turning them into the force that pulled him back from death itself.
As if existing in two realms at once, the physical world and the subconscious. Aaron once again recalled the bitter memories from before he ended up like this, in this place, and became what he was now. Or perhaps, something even worse than the ordinary days he had lived through, filled with lies and inevitability.
His memories drifted back ten years earlier, several months before he received a fate he never could have imagined.
"Hey, kid," a man said firmly. "Why do you want to work in a place like this?"
The teenager in ragged clothes, his face covered in dust, hesitated after hearing the man's question.
With trembling lips, the nameless teenager answered honestly about why he had come here.
"I... I just want to survive by doing this..."
"By stealing?" the man cut in as his deep old brown eyes stared at the blank yet hopeful face of the nameless teenager.
"Of course," the nameless boy replied rather apathetically.
The man who had been speaking with him lowered the brim of his wide black hat slightly, unable to believe the determination shining from the teenager's face.
Even though he knew stealing was wrong and violated both the law and society's morals, despite the fact that he himself did it, he still firmly believed that stealing to survive should never involve a child as young as this nameless boy.
Letting out a deep sigh, the man in the black hat approached and placed both hands on the nameless teenager's shoulders, while his companions remained busy carrying crates filled with stolen goods from the rented carriage into the abandoned building's storage room.
"Kid, it's not that I want to reject your request. But I don't want you getting involved and thinking you should work like your uncle here."
"But why, mister?" the nameless teenage boy asked enthusiastically.
'Hmm, how do I explain this so he'll understand and leave this filthy line of work?' the man thought in confusion, unsure how to deal with the teenager who had suddenly followed him all the way here, even after several of his companions had pointed revolvers at him, yet none of it made the nameless boy waver in the slightest.
After carefully arranging his words and figuring out what to say to the nameless teenager,
He let out a short sigh and said in a rough restrained voice, "Eh, I just remembered that you can't work with me."
"..."
The nameless teenager stared at him while tilting his head slightly.
The man in the black hat scratched the back of his neck, feeling like the teenager was toying with him.
"What's your name?"
"..."
The pupils of the man in the black hat widened for a moment as he finally realized why the teenager had acted so apathetic toward his companions earlier, and even toward him despite the sharp intimidating expression he wore.
"Your parents? Do you know your parents' names?"
Instead of answering with words, the nameless teenager let out a hiss like a snake, as though he did not want to discuss it. But to survive, the nameless teenager chose to tell him anyway.
"They divorced, my older sister's always sick, and I live on the streets trying to find a way to cure her so she can take care of me like she promised."
Hearing the somewhat apathetic answer from the nameless teenager, pity and guilt immediately filled the man's heart.
"Are you telling the truth?"
"Ck, if you don't believe me then check for yourself," the nameless teenager replied firmly and rudely.
The man in the black hat was startled because it was the first time someone so much younger than him had spoken to him like that.
To reward the boy's determination and nerve, the man in the hat whistled, and the sound immediately halted the activities of his companions moving stolen goods in and out.
"Why'd you stop us?" one of the men in a simple robe asked.
The man in the hat looked around, watching his companions carrying crates filled with different things as he searched for the crate containing the money he had stolen earlier, the one he had marked with chalk in the shape of an X.
After spotting it beside one of the thieves nearby, he immediately approached him.
Then he stood in front of the man with a sharp gaze before whispering something.
"Friz, give me 5 or 10 Pace for that kid."
"Hah? You sure you wanna give stolen money to a kid like him, Zain?"
The man in the hat smiled and quietly replied, "Of course. Now hurry up and give me the amount I asked for."
Friz let out a long sigh, feeling pressured by him, then opened the crate and took out the requested amount before handing it over, while his left hand still gripped the crate.
"Get lost, you bastard," Friz muttered, feeling like he was being played with.
Zain chuckled softly as he turned around and walked steadily toward the nameless teenager.
"You guys can continue moving the goods."
"Alright..." they all muttered together, except for Friz, who continued staring sharply at Zain as though he was hiding something from everyone else.
Once he stood a few meters away from the nameless teenager, he stretched out his hand, holding several banknotes directly toward the boy's face.
"What's this?" The nameless teenager stared curiously at the money and at Zain's actions.
"Can't you see? Or are you pretending to be stupid?"
The nameless teenager immediately showed a sly grin as he accepted the five banknotes, each worth 2 Pace, without the slightest hesitation. Then he quickly but carefully stuffed them into the pocket of his oversized, tattered knee-length pants.
"Leave this place, and don't tell anyone anything about it."
And from that night onward, the nameless teenager used the money Zain had given him to survive day by day and to buy medicine for his sickly older sister.
The following night, the nameless teenager returned to the place where his older sister lay resting on flattened cardboard covered with straw to keep her frail body warm from the cold floor inside the nearly collapsed building, which was filled with tiny creatures like rats, cockroaches, stray cats, and spider webs hanging everywhere, proof that the place had witnessed countless events over a long period of time.
Sensing footsteps and a chilling presence approaching, the weak woman opened her eyes wide even though she could only see her younger brother's face vaguely.
"Ukhuk, ukhuk..."
"Don't move around too much, and take the medicine I bought from that old woman," the nameless teenager said harshly, though in truth he desperately hoped his older sister would recover from the illness she had suffered for more than two years.
The woman, with her pale face that still radiated beauty beneath the black hair falling over her shoulders and her empty gray eyes, stared at her younger brother for a long while.
She accepted the medicine and the half-filled metal cup of water from his right hand.
"Ukhuk ukhuk ukhuk, Kien. Have you found father or mother yet?"
The teenager clicked his tongue as the veins on his forehead bulged, followed by his jaw tightening while his breathing quickened.
"Don't call me that name, you idiot Siena," he said while suppressing the anger surging inside his chest.
"But..."
"No buts," the nameless teenager snapped irritably.
"But my name isn't Siena, you know." Even in her weak condition, she still tried to correct her younger brother.
"Yeah, and I've already told you long before today that your name is Siena..."
Even though his older sister held no grudge against their parents for abandoning their children at such a young age because of divorce, she did not hate them much and felt that living together with her younger brother was more than enough.
"Yeah, yeah. Your big sister really is stupid, and I'm sorry I can't give you what you want."
The corner of the boy's lips lifted slightly, nearly forming a smile as he replied mockingly, "How could you give me what I want when you're still this sick?"
He paused for a moment, softening his harsh tone into something as gentle as silk before continuing with a relieved expression, "Thank you for taking care of me alone for almost ten years."
Siena closed her eyes as she inhaled sharply, unable to hold back the tears welling in her eyes, forcing them shut tightly.
After taking the medicine, Siena fell asleep several minutes after talking with the nameless teenager.
Watching his sister sleep after rambling about her physical condition, the nameless teenager slowly rose from where he sat.
He walked several steps away from where his older sister slept, around five meters from her, and decided to sit leaning against a cold cracked pillar, sinking into his thoughts and the silence of the building.
As the night grew later, and because of his exhausted condition, his eyes slowly forgot how to keep looking at the world. Several minutes later, he finally fell asleep as the night wind blowing through the cracks of the ruined building became a lullaby while his consciousness slowly faded away.
Several days after buying the medicine, and after realizing the money Zain had given him was completely gone, the nameless teenager left again without saying goodbye as usual, searching for money to keep both himself and his older sister alive.
Until one night, he saw a pamphlet that seemed to appear out of nowhere on the sidewalk several meters ahead while he continued walking forward, completely missing the exact moment it appeared because he had spent the entire day wandering around looking for work.
'A job?'
The nameless teenager hurried forward as if he didn't want to miss such a rare opportunity.
He bent down and picked up the red flyer to examine it himself.
"Damn it, it's just the usual midyear cultural festival performance?"
The nameless teenager threw away the flyer before immediately continuing on with an irritated flushed face.
Eventually, he arrived at a quiet alley that was still along the same route as the building where his sister stayed waiting for him. He stopped walking after seeing a man staggering into an empty building, his left hand drenched in red blood while covering the left side of his abdomen.
Because he didn't want to get involved with someone he assumed belonged to an underground group and was a criminal, he immediately continued walking away.
However, a voice echoing and piercing into his head from behind suddenly froze his body along with his breathing.
"Stop if you don't want to die."
It was the first time the nameless teenager had ever felt such pressure after hearing the murmur from one of the people standing behind him.
The man whom the nameless teenager had seen earlier covered in blood quickly scanned his surroundings and noticed a teenager standing frozen in place, then glanced to the side and saw the group of people who had been chasing him.
The man hurried inside the building in a panic, thinking those people hadn't discovered where he was hiding.
But that assumption was completely wrong when he heard screams of pain followed by an order demanding that he come out immediately.
"Aaron Kwok." The voice paused briefly before a loud shout followed. "If you don't want this kid to die, come out and surrender yourself without making any suspicious movements."
Taking a deep breath despite the sweat soaking his body, Aaron stepped out of hiding and directly faced several people, then stared at the pale-faced teenager whose thin body trembled in pain after being tortured by the group chasing him.
Aaron's jaw tightened for a moment before he bit his lower lip after realizing what they had done.
With the last of his strength, his spirituality only half restored after partially recovering earlier, and with what little strength remained,
Aaron shouted loudly toward the nameless teenager.
"If you want to keep living, open your eyes. If you want to survive, look into my eyes."
Weak from the brief torture inflicted by the people who had captured him, the nameless teenager immediately opened his eyes and witnessed something horrifying, disgusting, and filled with rage within the shadow he visualized from Aaron Kwok, who stood slightly hunched over.
Knowing the man they were chasing was extremely dangerous, especially after learning Aaron had just advanced from Retrieval to Extraction,
They attacked Aaron Kwok all at once, trying to kill him instantly before something unimaginable could happen.
But it was already too late. Aaron Kwok had already died before their attacks could fully reach him.
Feeling a terrifying pressure from behind them, they all glanced backward and saw the nameless teenager standing there with both arms crossed, staring deeply into the shadow directed toward him.
Several minutes later, the night sky that had once been clear turned dark blue as thunder roared violently, as though reflecting the events happening in front of the abandoned building. Rain poured down heavily, soaking the corpses lying before the empty building, allowing the blood to flow together with the rainwater while washing away the metallic scent of blood hanging in the air, as a teenager knelt weakly in utter disbelief, staring at what lay before him.