Chapter 45 – Liability

Nick left the Containment Unit and saw Horua trying to open the door of the warehouse.

"Horua!" Nick shouted with anger as he ran over. 

When Horua heard Nick's angry voice, his entire body shuddered before freezing.

Nick quickly arrived behind Horua and forcefully turned him around to face him.

Horua looked into Nick's eyes with terror.

"What's wrong with you?!" Nick shouted. 

"I-I-I," Horua stuttered. "N-No. No! I can't!"

"Horua!" Nick shouted again. "Get a grip! It's just the Dreamer! It didn't even do anything! It just looked at you!"

The Dreamer's dead eyes shot through Horua's mind again, and his body shuddered.

"Horua!" Nick shouted again. 

Horua was forcefully pulled out of his terror by Nick's shout. "Nick, I changed my mind! I don't want to be a Zephyx Extractor anymore! I want to go home!"

Nick looked with shock at Horua. "What? Why? You said you were willing to face the danger head-on! You said you have willpower and want a chance to make something of your life."

Horua just shook his head wildly. "No, I can't! I will die! I can feel it! I will die!"

"I don't want to see this monster again!"

"It will kill me, Nick!"

"I can feel it!"

"It will kill me!"

"Horua!" Nick shouted again as he shook Horua's little body a little. "Calm down! You have to calm down!"

Surprisingly, shouting at Horua to calm down actually seemed to work, and Horua took a couple of deep breaths.

"Nick, I can't go back in there! I will die! I know it! I feel it!" Horua pleaded.

Nick looked with furrowed brows at Horua.

"Come on, Horua," Nick said with a calmer voice. "It's just a big owl. You will go to sleep, have a little nightmare, and you will wake up rich."

"Even more, you also get an ability since your Zephyx Synchronizer will get attuned to the Dreamer," Nick explained.

"Just one little session with the Dreamer would forever change your life for the positive! Don't throw this opportunity away!"

Horua didn't immediately answer, and he just looked at the ground in front of him.

Silence.

As the seconds passed, Horua's breathing quickened, and his body began to shudder again.

"No!" Horua said with conviction as he looked into Nick's eyes. "I'm not going back in there!"

Nick looked at Horua with a concerned expression. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure!" Horua shouted.

The next moment, Horua looked back at the ground.

  "Can't we just go back home, Nick?"

Nick took a deep breath.

"I have to talk to Wyntor," Nick said.

"Thank you," Horua said quietly as he only looked at the ground in fear and shame.

Even though Horua felt fearful, he also felt like he had disappointed Nick.

Horua wanted to face the Dreamer, but whenever he thought of the Dreamer's eyes, his body and soul refused to interact with it in any way.

Nick walked over to Wyntor and sighed. "Sorry, but Horua resigns."

Wyntor put the sheets of paper down and looked at Nick with a serious expression.

"The kid is a liability," Wyntor said.

Nick sighed. "I know. Sorry for wasting your time. I've always seen how brave he was, and I thought that he could work with the Dreamer. After all, the Dreamer is basically just a big owl."

Wyntor wordlessly looked into Nick's eyes with an emotionless expression.

"I thought he could handle it," Nick added. "But in the end, he is just a child."

Nick sighed. "I should have known."

"This is my fault."

"Sorry."

Wyntor kept looking at Nick.

A couple of seconds of silence passed, and Nick became a bit uncomfortable under Wyntor's emotionless gaze.

"I think you didn't understand what I meant, Nick," Wyntor said.

Nick looked with a bit of confusion and worry at Wyntor.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Nick, why do you think I asked the boy about his family, friends, and social circle?" Wyntor asked.

Nick's heart rate increased, but he didn't say anything.

"Because of you," Wyntor explained. "If things went sour, I want the consequences to be as little and unimportant as possible."

"I have no issues with letting an experienced Extractor resign. They have experience and are an adult. They know what it means to break an NDA."

"But he's just a kid. You saw what happened when he saw the Dreamer."

"Kids don't know what they feel or think most of the time. They don't have enough experience to evaluate themselves objectively."

"You saw how motivated and excited he was when he told you that he would change his life and work with the Dreamer, but as soon as he met him, he ran away in fear."

"The same might happen with the NDA."

"Of course, the punishment for breaking the NDA is death, but the boy isn't an adult yet. He might believe that he will get away with it as long as he makes the other person promise that they won't tell anyone else."

"At that point, the damage is already done."

Nick's chest tightened in anxiety, but he did his best to seem calm.

"So, what's your plan?" Nick asked. "How can we solve this issue?"

Wyntor wordlessly looked into Nick's eyes again for a while.

Nick's heart rate increased even more.

"How about making him sign another contract?" Nick asked. "One that makes it even more difficult to break the NDA."

"What about sending Pator to keep an eye on Horua? I will even pay for it with my own money!"

"What if I just continue living with him until he becomes ready to face the Dreamer for real?"

Wyntor didn't answer.

He just kept looking at Nick emotionlessly.

"Nick, the boy is a liability."

"His continued existence is a danger to the company."

"There are only two ways this will go."

"One, he does not leave this warehouse and becomes an official Zephyx Extractor by working with the Dreamer."

"Two, I will make Pator escort him home, and on the way home…"

"The boy will accidentally fall through the grates in the Dregs."

"But he will be dead before he hits the water."

"I will not put my company in the hands of an eleven-year-old child's ability to keep a secret."