Zach slowly raised his teary-eyed face to look at Thomas and said.
"Why did you hand him your card? Are you trying to recruit my son to his death as well?"
"…"
Thomas turned around to look at his partner on the sofa, nodded at him, and his partner went outside to start the car.
"That wasn't my intention. You and your family are free to call me if you need anything. In due time, we'll retrieve your son's corpse from Whitesky's wilderness and bring it to you for proper burial."
Thomas said.
"I want you to leave and take your card with you. We do not want anything from you government dogs!"
Zach said.
"Please… Zach."
Alissa touched her husband's hand, tears streaming down her face, and tried to pull him back down to the sofa, but he didn't want to.
"I understand.
"However, the families of the deceased are liable to be compensated for their loss. You may call my number about it."
Thomas said and headed over to the door, but then Zach ripped the card from Kael's hand and threw it towards him.
"Take it with you!"
Thomas caught the card between his fingers, placed it down at the under-window table, and said.
"I am required to leave this card. You can tear it into pieces and toss it into the trash if you so desire once I've left."
Thomas said, then opened the door and stepped outside, but while closing the door, he locked gazes with Kael for a moment.
Zach took the card to the trash bin and tossed it inside.
"Huff… Huff…"
He covered his eyes with his hand, bit his lip, and kept smashing his hand against the counter of the kitchen.
"…"
Kael kicked the backpack to the corner of the living room, then stumbled upstairs and peeked inside his little sister's room.
She was lying on the bed, her head buried in her pillow, and was crying softly.
Kael closed the door, entered his room next to hers, and flopped down on his bed, feeling a mix of guilt and helplessness.
'I am sorry, brother…'
He closed his eyes and smacked his leg.
When Soul received the recruitment letter from Thomas, he came to Kael to discuss it—he wasn't sure whether he should accept it.
In the end, he could see from the eyes of his brother that he wanted to see that world—Whitesky in all its glory—and thus Kael convinced him to go there.
If he hadn't done that, Soul would most likely have stayed on Earth, still studying in the same classroom as him and getting ready to graduate.
Instead, he was now dead.
"Haah…"
Kael opened his eyes, sat on the edge, and mussed his hair—his brain was running on overdrive as he kept thinking about what Thomas said.
"Kang Huang?
"I met him once.
"Soul took me to meet them at his girlfriend's villa, and I only remember having one impression of him—sleazy."
Kael scratched his nails along the back of his neck.
"Kang Huang lives in Whitesky. I know that he doesn't have a family, so there was nothing for him on Earth, so he just moved to Whitesky altogether.
"My brother was also basically living there, but he visited here every three months or so. If Kang were living here, I would go to visit him.
"I want to know how my brother died…"
Kael put his thumb inside his mouth, stretched the corner of his mouth, and then let it go—it made a popping sound.
He stood up, made his way to the desk, and just sat down—he stopped moving and just looked to the sky.
It was an orange sky, but it soon darkened, and when the yellow wheel of fire hid itself behind the horizon, the stars began to twinkle in the night sky.
With perked ears, he heard the sound of shuffling footsteps in the hallway and then the closing of the door.
"…"
Kael pulled out his phone and checked the time—it was ten at night, and this was usually the time his family went to sleep.
He noticed that there were messages from relatives—it looked like one of his parents told them the ugly news.
It wasn't widespread enough for his classmates to send any messages, but he doubted they would message him either way even if they knew.
The relatives talked about how sorry they were and that Soul was a brave "hero" for going to Whitesky and that he should be proud of his brother.
'Of course I am proud. I just wish I could tell him that myself.'
Kael pocketed the phone, stood up, and sneaked out of the room—a darkness had swallowed the house, it seemed.
He went downstairs, kept his footsteps light, and went to the trash bin of the kitchen—after rummaging through the leftover food that almost spilled out of the bin because no one wanted to eat at dinner.
And then he found the calling card—it was a little crumpled and dirty from being in the trash but still readable.
He took out his phone, dialed the number shown on the card, and pressed it against his ear—it rang and rang before finally a voice answered.
"Hello, this is Thomas Rheiner of the Recruitment Agency. Who may be calling?"
"It's me… uh, Kael Mizuchi, the brother of Soul Mizuchi. You gave me the card earlier today."
Kael said.
"…I do remember."
A voice turned deep on the other side, and at first, it sounded like he was in the middle of doing something but stopped that after he found out who called.
"About my brother's corpse. You said it isn't in your possession. When do we get his corpse back?"
Kael asked.
"…The retrieval of the corpses is being handled by Whitesky's Corpse Collectors. The place where your brother met his demise hasn't been cleared by the Guild just yet.
"First, they must send a party over there to clear the area of any remaining threats, and only then are Corpse Collectors allowed to go over there."
Thomas said.
"Threats? Who killed my brother exactly?"
Kael asked.
"…A wild group of Rav'akari. It came as a surprise to many, as your brother wasn't that deep in human territory that they might encounter some.
"They were about fifty clicks away from the capital city, Rask. It is the first time that Rav'akari has ventured so deep into our territory."