I stared into the bar, my eyes locked on the group that had just laughed at me. "Right now I probably can't do anything to them." That fact was obvious. But even so, I'd already decided I wouldn't run. I'd face them again.
"Hey! Kid, want another beating?" Mocking voices rang out from inside the bar, followed by their cruel laughter. Yeah, the way I looked right now was pathetic. I probably really couldn't do anything to them.
But rage made me speak up. "In three days... I'm coming back to kill every last one of you!" After saying that, I immediately turned and walked away. Three days? Holy shit! What the hell did I just say? But whatever. The words were already out there.
I was right to say that. They killed my family! Makes you wonder how someone can do crazy stuff like this after their whole family dies. Don't they feel sorry at all?
Honestly, I didn't know either. My feelings had gone completely numb. Like this kind of thing had become normal in my life. But if you asked whether mom, dad, and my sister would want me doing this... I wasn't sure about that.
But I didn't care! No matter what, within these three days, I had to deal with them completely. Erase them from Stone City for good! A city called "The Fortress of Protection." Sounds nice, but inside it's rotten to the core. Nothing but killing and looking down on the weak.
Scattered thoughts swirled in my head until I reached the Hunter Guild. I pushed through the doors. The atmosphere inside was still lively as always. I looked around left and right for Kylo... ah, there he is.
"Kylo, I need to ask you something." I walked straight over and sat in the chair across from him, staring at his face seriously.
"What's up? What's going on?" Kylo raised an eyebrow at me.
"How do we figure out our Soul Type?" I asked directly. I wanted to know what power I'd gotten.
"Huh? Usually when you close your Soul Rift, you know immediately, right?" Kylo answered with a confused expression.
"Really..." I mumbled quietly. Disappointment started building in my heart. Then suddenly Kylo asked a question that made me jump.
"So anyway... how exactly did you manage to close your Soul Rift, Rift?"
That question made the image of that middle-aged woman flash through my mind.
Oh right, I haven't told you guys how I met that woman yet. Okay, going back to when my family was killed... I stood there frozen like I was cursed. Shocked by what I saw. Couldn't do anything. Shaking all over.
But I couldn't stand staying in that house any longer. The smell of blood, the silence, everything was driving me crazy.
I ran out of the house randomly, not knowing where to go. Just wanted to get as far away from there as possible. I wandered through the narrow alleys of Stone City with a broken heart. My tears had dried up, leaving only emptiness in my chest.
I don't know how long I walked until my feet brought me to the abandoned outskirts of the city. Nothing but old abandoned buildings here. Cracked walls, holes in the roofs, nobody around.
I sat down on the cold ground, back against an old brick wall, drowning in despair. Didn't know what to do next. Didn't know if there was any meaning left in life.
Whether it was coincidence or fate, I don't know. But while I was lost in that darkness, suddenly I heard footsteps approaching. I looked up with bloodshot eyes and saw a middle-aged woman standing in front of me.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Her short words were like yanking me out of a trance. I slowly looked at her, tears still streaming down my face. My eyes were bloodshot red, my body trembling nonstop.
"Who... who are you?" I asked with a shaky voice.
The woman blew out smoke rings and sighed softly.
"Want revenge?" Revenge? What was this woman talking about? Her question wasn't what I expected at all. What I needed then was... someone to help my family.
"Want power?" I couldn't read the look in her eyes. Yeah, I wanted power. But where could I get it? I wanted to answer like that too.
"That thing on your neck, want to close it? Your Soul Rift?" Huh, close my Soul Rift? Could she really do that? Would she really help me?
"What do I have to do...?" I answered her.
"It's risky, just so you know. But I have an offer."
"No... I just want my family back," I answered weakly, my heart clenching.
She chuckled in her throat. "Your family situation, I can handle that for you," she said. "But after this, you have two choices. One... die miserably and keep getting oppressed here. Two... get up and fight. Get revenge for your family."
"I suggest you think about it carefully."
Revenge for my family? Would mom and dad really want me to do that? Probably not... When she said she'd handle the family situation, she probably meant help arrange their funeral.
Two choices, but when I thought about it carefully, it was like there was only one choice I could make. I wouldn't let those bastards keep oppressing me! After they did something so horrible to my family. They wanted me to keep getting trampled by them? In the end, the result would probably be the same anyway... they'd probably kill me too.
"The second way... what do I have to do?" I decided to ask.
She smiled at the corner of her mouth. "Good guts. You're one in a hundred who'd dare answer me like that," she said. "In this city, there are many people I've tried to reach out and help. But you're the first to accept."
"Follow me." With that, she led the way. I had no choice but to follow her.
Then she started explaining some kind of creepy ritual procedure... it was a path to closing Soul Rifts that I'd never heard of before...
And that's how I ended up meeting her... but I chose to lie to Kylo about all this.
"Well... when I saw my family lying in pools of blood..." I started telling him with a trembling voice, pretending to be extremely traumatized.
"That's enough, Rift! I get it. You don't have to keep talking!" Kylo quickly cut me off. His face was full of sympathy.
I could only nod silently, but in my heart I remembered that today I had something important to do... I had to test my power!
"Uh... I'm gonna go take care of some business," I told Kylo and got up, walking straight to the job board.
My eyes quickly scanned through the various job postings until they stopped on one.
[C-Rank: Eliminate 1 Soul Either in Ghost Town Sliver / Reward: 630 Credits]
"This one." I mumbled to myself, pulling out that job posting. "Time to get serious!"