Sunny swerved his bike onto a scanty winding street and came to stop before a building deep in its bowels.

  Shabby, almost derelict, was the only word that could be used to describe what he was looking at. It was a two storey apartment with nonexistent windows covered by sheets, and a shattered sign.

  An abandoned hostess’ apartment. Really?

  Sunny sighed, placed his helmet on the steering of his bike, and went into the apartment.

  Dust filled the air, stale with the occasional dull scent of moss. The stairs creaked underneath his weight as he walked up them, and he had to duck under spider webs more frequently than he would have liked.

  His troubles came to an end soon enough when he found a door to the end of the hallway on the first floor. Unlike the rest, it wasn’t hanging for dear life to its hinges, and had a bit more cleanliness to it.

  Sunny knocked.

  No response.

  He knocked again.

  Still no response.

  He leaned closer to the door, placing his ear on it. He heard a crash, the kind that was heard when a person went bumbling to the floor. He pulled back and banged on the door this time. Surely that would make certain he was no longer ignored.

  “Give it a rest, will ya?!” said a voice on the other side—a familiar one, and still quite spiteful for no reason—confirming his thoughts.

  “I will if you open this door,” Sunny replied, trying his best to hold himself back from laughing.

  Shortly after, the door flung open and a lady in her late twenties with frizzly hair like she had just been electrocuted, and brown eyes made pronounced by her round glasses, appeared.

  “Hello, K,” said Sunny with a curt smile. “Been a while.”

  K eyed him from head to toe, then scoffed.

  “Fuck you, Sunny,” she spat. “It’s been a whole year.”

  “Hence the ‘been a while’,” Sunny replied, taking a step back as he was reminded of K’s old habits.

  She was fond of throwing a nasty hook whenever she was even slightly annoyed at someone. And the wrinkles on her forehead at Sunny’s words told him all he needed to know.

  “What’d you want?” K asked with a snort. “Think you can just waltz back into me life whenever ya fancy it, eh? I’ll have none of it, I’m telling ya. Leave.”

  Sunny nudged his head in the direction of her room. “Can’t you let an old friend in? Then we can talk.”

  K raised a bushy brow.

  “How’d you find me?” she asked.

  Sunny shrugged. “You’re not that hard to find, you know? Not many girls speak crudely and walk around with spikes for hair. All I had to do was ask around in your usual shopping spots.”

  K clicked her tongue in disappointment at herself.

  “Well? Can I come in?” Sunny added.

  K took a moment to consider it.

  She had always been weak to Sunny’s requests—always. They’d known each other for far longer than he had known Janeth, and he’d known Janeth ever since they were little kids. K, however, wasn’t just a friend. She was practically his family, albeit quite the rebellious one. They had, apparently, been placed side by side in the hospital when they had been born, and had grown up holding hands. Sunny didn’t believe that; but what could he say when her parents and his parents had claimed it was so?

  K clicked her tongue as she scratched her exposed belly under the loose singlet she wore.

  “Fine,” she turned around. “Don’t you dare touch anything, though. I won’t hesitate to have ya out of here in a heartbeat.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Sunny rolled his eyes. He had never liked touching anything of hers in the first place. The few times he had made that mistake, chewed gum found its way onto his palms.

  The thought stuck with him so badly that he used his feet to shut the door behind him instead of grabbing hold of the handle. There was no saying where K could have placed her gum.

  “So? What’d you want?” she asked as she found her way to her computer desk near one of the two windows in the room.

  Sunny took his time replying. He glanced around the room first, and, just like her, it was unkempt.

  Takeaways were littered everywhere, ramen packs, chinese food, name it. She had a bed to the far end of the room—a tiny thing that was fit for a boarding room only—and around it were more things littered about. A punching bag hung from the ceiling to a corner, gloves and dumbbells on the floor just below it. And, the more notable of her litters, the gears and equipment arranged to a more discrete corner in her room, like a separate technological base in a madhouse.

  Sunny felt like he had stumbled into a recycling centre. The whole place looked even worse than his gym, and that was only such way because it was being put up for sale.

  The only thing that kept Sunny walking further into the room was the fact that he had been in worse places than this. And those places were K’s first apartment and her second. He had not been to her third, so he could only hope that she had at least tried to keep that one neat enough. But she wouldn’t be in a fourth if she had anyways, so he was probably just being delusional.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “What?” K snorted from where she was seated. She reached for an empty bag of chips on her desk and pulled a gum from within it, tossing it into her mouth. “Gonna tell me to clean up? Act like me mum again?”

  He wouldn’t dare. She would pummel him into the ground.

  “How’s she by the way?” Sunny asked as he sought out a good location for him to have his seat. He ended up settling for her bed, crossing his legs. “Is she doing all right?”

  K waved a hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. Bumbling about like the wannabe model she thinks she is. Wonder when she’s gonna let that rest?”

  Sunny pursed his lips. “She is a model, though.”

  “Yeah, for ‘em grannies,” K snorted. “Enough of that. What’re you here for, Sunny? I know you didn’t come here for a little-willy visit now, did ya?”

  Sunny winced at K’s talking pattern. It was a rather fascinating style of speech, one she had just, out of the blue, smeared her tongue with. He was used to it now, though. So it no longer bothered him as much as it used to when they were still little children.

  As for why he was here…

  “I need your help,” Sunny started, perking up in seriousness.

  K, on the other hand, wore an amused expression.

  “Been, what, five years since me heard you say that?” K mocked. “What’d you dig yourself into? Must be a deep hole for the mighty ‘ol Sunny to ask for me help now, ain’t it?”

  Sunny clicked his tongue. He momentarily wished he could pull Merlin’s hair at this moment. What had he been thinking telling the boy he would handle it? Not only had he gotten himself mixed up with really dangerous people now, he had brought himself to the doorsteps of the deranged woman seated a few steps from him.

  “Me thought you were into the shamanism gimmick now?” K continued, her chin resting on the back of her palm as a smug smile spread her lips apart. “Bonked a ritual?”

  “No, I didn’t bonk a ritual,” Sunny replied, unable to hold himself back anymore. “It’s something else.”

  “Bonked an exorcism, then.”

  “Stop it,” Sunny sighed. “This is a serious matter. I need you to help me craft my very own smart-glasses. One with video, audio, and a distress signal to the Consortium Guild; perhaps add in any other thing you might consider useful.”

  K frowned. “The fuck would you need that for?” She paused, eyed the black leather jacket he wore, and ramrod herself straight on her seat. “Shit. Youse in the spy gimmick now?” Sunny almost facepalmed. She was technically right, but still… “Who’s ya working for? The blue house?”

  “Like hell I would be working for the blue house,” Sunny shook his head. “Look, I got myself mixed up in something dangerous, okay? And before you say I’m stupid, it’s not my love for money that got to me this time. In fact, I don’t know what came over me. I just told him that I would take care of it, and now I have to take care of it.” Sunny dug his hands into his hair and pulled. “Goodness, Merlin is running me crazy. I should never have let him rent my gym.”

  Despite Sunny’s grumbles, K had a bright look on her face. Sunny knew that look. She was having fun; not because he looked like he was suffering—even though, to her, that was definitely a good enough reason to be amused—but because all he’d said had captivated her.

  That was bad.

  “What’s this job?” she asked, salivating. “Fill me in. Quickly, now!”

  Sunny shook his head. “No.” K frowned. “Just help me with the smart glasses.”

  K blinked and folded her arms. She chewed her gum loudly and then spat it out into a filled trash can beside her desk.

  “No,” she said, and Sunny had known that was coming. “If you want me services, then ya gonna have to open your mouth. Otherwise, head to an electronics store and buy smart glasses there. Think me services is for free, do ya?”

  Sunny had considered doing exactly as she had said. The problem was he needed something custom made, due to needing an emergency signal button to the Consortium Guild. He was about to place himself in a very dangerous position for a kid he had just met a few months ago—which, honestly, was absurd—and wouldn’t be caught dead taking things for granted.

  But if he tried to request for custom made smart glasses from a brand, it would be too expensive. K was a cheaper option, and her fanaticism with technology, along with all he had seen her make, gave him hope that she could help him out in the way he wanted.

  However, he didn’t want to endanger her in the process.

  “They aren’t ordinary people, Kyu-Ri,” Sunny started. “It’s dangerous.”

  K’s shoulders dropped slightly at those words. Her carefree expression vanished, and she took a moment to consider his words. Calling her full name always reminded her of the direness of whatever situation was involved in their conversation. Which was why Sunny always did that whenever such was the case.

  She sighed a few seconds later.

  “Then all the more reason to have all the help ya can get, eh?” she said.

  Sunny realized there was no stopping her.

  And, if he was being honest, he could do with the help.

  When he thought about it positively, gathering information on a drug even the Consortium couldn’t find would certainly earn him a good reward for his troubles. And, more importantly, he would be saving a child with a bright future from stumbling into his death. So, failure wasn’t an option.

  He sighed.

  “All right,” said Sunny, and K perked up. “I’ll explain everything to you.”

  Sunny relayed exactly all Merlin had told him about what had happened with his friend, Nikolai, and, also, what little he had come across during his findings to K. He had hoped mentioning the part where he had met Mouse would send shivers down her spine, but it only made her lick her lips in excitement. He had known K was deranged, but experiencing ecstasy in the prospect of danger was another thing entirely.

  “Hold on,” K chimed in when Sunny was done with his explanation. “Youse saying this Nikolai guy’s still alive and kicking, eh?”

  Sunny frowned. “Yeah.”

  K jumped up from her seat, even more excited than she had been a second ago.

  “Oh, shit.” She bit her nail. “This is freaking exciting.”

  Sunny was confused. “What is it?” he asked.

  K shot Sunny a disappointed look.

  “Really?” she said. “How could you have missed it?”

  “Missed what?” Sunny’s forehead wrinkled out of impatience.

  “The boy’s alive,” K said. “They shoulda killed him, don’t ya think?” Sunny blinked. K continued, “Don’t ya get it, dimwit? The only reason the boy’s still alive is because they didn’t need to kill him.”

  Sunny’s brows jumped up.

  “They knew he had lost his memories,” he said.

  “Exa-fucking-ly.” K nodded.

  “So it’s either they knew the drug would wipe his memories, or…”

  “...Or they’ve got a spy,” K jumped in. “That’d explain how they also cleared up the club and any evidence before the Consortium Mages arrived, don’t ya think?”

  Sunny couldn’t believe he had missed that important detail.

  No. The truth was, he hadn’t missed it. He had just shoved it aside as impossible. Because the prospect of a spy meant that someone working for a villainous organization was either within Prestige Academy or the Consortium Guild. And such a thing was even preposterous to think.

  But, now, he could see it. And he could understand why the legal bodies wouldn’t want to believe that was true as well.

  “So,” Sunny continued, “the drugs shouldn’t be our first concern then?”

  “No,” K said as she stopped her excited pacing and glanced at her computer. “We gotta catch the spy first.”