Knox opened the door to his office, he was carrying a large bag of frozen food that his mother had made to give to Kai. This morning his mother had been so busy packing everything into one bag, even though Knox said to order a delivery to send it to where Kai lived now, his mother scolded him to give it to Kai directly.
"Oh?"
"Huh? Why are you here?" Knox still holding the doorknob, his eyes met Kai who was at his desk, using his computer.
Kai laughed awkwardly as he got up from his seat, the man rubbing the back of his head, "I'm just going to check something."
Knox closed the door and looked at the man, he sighed, put the large bag and sat while tapping on the table in front of him, signaling Kai to come closer to him. He had expected this to happen ever since his little brother sent him a message last night, Knox could easily guess it even if Kai didn't say it directly. Luckily this morning he came earlier than usual, caught off guard.
"I told you not to be curious about Noah Miles." He said while massaging his forehead.
Kai scratched the back of his neck as he grinned at being caught, he sat down on the sofa and pressed his back against the soft sofa in the room, raising his head looking at the ceiling.
"You left that confidential file in my office, did you think I would turn a blind eye and not read the whole thing?"
"Not for you to find out thoroughly, you just need to read it and forget it."
"He's the Esper I'm working with." Kai knitted his eyebrows together.
"You can ask him directly if you're curious."
Kai showed his surprised face at Knox's words.
Knox didn't care, he certainly didn't want Kai to find out about Noah Miles, the man belonged to the government. If Kai knew how Noah Miles got to be the way he was now, Knox was sure it would be another matter, this kid, rather than being afraid of reality he would definitely take another path. Sympathy. And Knox was sure that wasn't a good thing.
"Take this, mom packed everything for you." Knox changed the subject, opening the large bag that had been on the table.
Kai looked into the bag and Knox could see the twinkle in his eyes when he saw all of mom's cooking that had been packed into portions to be frozen and reheated later.
"Indeed, only mom knows what's best for me!" He squealed with delight.
Knox put his chin on his arm, looking at Kai who was cheerfully moving the bag closer to him. If Knox doesn't quell the boy's curiosity, he'll continue to go to great lengths to find out all about Noah Miles on his own. Knox couldn't ignore him.
"What do you want to know?"
"Huh?"
"About Noah Miles, what are you so curious about?"
Kai, who had been wearing a silly smile, now looked much more serious. He kept the bag, oh, Knox knew that look. That kid was really serious about his curiosity for Noah Miles.
Back then, when Kai first awakened, he had a high fever. His mother who found Kai unconscious in the room with such a high fever panicked and called Knox with cries and screams, yes, his mother was a little overly concerned about Kai.
Kai graduated from college one year earlier than expected, he wasn't a genius, he was just diligent. Yes, Kai was studious, he wanted to learn and was curious. That helped him in everything. But after graduating from college he asked for time not to look for a job right away.
"I want to do research!" He said at the time.
Their mother is a person who worries easily, after the death of her husband and her husband's coworker who died and leave his son alone, Knox's mother became a little bit fussy to agree to all her children's dreams. After hearing Knox was not working as an active guide ─a guide who accompanied esper into the dungeon─ his mother just felt relieved.
Likewise, when Kai decided to become a researcher, their mom agreed.
"Anything, as long as you don't go as an active guide." That's what their mom said.
But at the age of twenty-four Kai woke up as a guide after having a fever for two weeks, their mom cried non-stop. His mother couldn't accept both of her children becoming a guide, even with Knox she still worried a lot, afraid that one day Knox would be asked to become an Esper's personal guide. Being a guide for their mom was a catastrophe, but after the training and the results of Kai's compatibility with the Esper's did not get the results it should have, their mom was relieved because they said that Kai would be placed in the laboratory to do research.
And now that Kai was the biggest Esper private guide in the country, until today their mom only knew Kai couldn't go home because of lab work and he was living in the dormitory.
"Did you hear me?" Kai waved his hand in front of Knox's face who had been lost in his own thoughts.
"Continue..." Knox said.
Kai frowned slightly, but he continued.
"I noticed a lot of oddity, like Noah Miles' name being No. 003 and more. Especially after I've been guiding him for a month now, I feel like he's being sent to newly opened dungeon tasks too often."
As Knox had guessed, things like that are what make Kai curious. Yes, Knox was not a curious person. Him being someone with a fairly high position here didn't make him curious about many things, when he first learned the facts about Noah Miles he just brush it off. He felt it wasn't important to him, unlike Kai.
"Let me sort out which one I should answer first." Knox said, he crossed his legs in front of Kai. The boy waited with eager interest.
"As for why he's called by a code name, I think you should ask Noah Miles directly. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to explain. Especially for the higher-ups, it's a confidential matter. Then, as for why Noah Miles is always assigned to enter the newly opened dungeon first, it's because it's his job." Knox looked deeply at Kai, seeing how the boy reacted. Kai was like an open book, he was easy to read. He was a shy boy but also expressive to the people he was close to, he was outgoing and kind. Knox didn't want the boy to get involved with the government because of his curiosity. Ah, damn it, it was his fault for doing the compatible test on Kai.
"His job? What do you mean?"
"He's the only- ah no, he's now the only Esper with the highest rank who can be active. Some Esper with ranks similar to his have not been able to work actively and enter the dungeon directly. While the guild as well as the government had to be aware of the development of the newly opened Dungeon, they had to study the terrain, difficulty level, and also the monsters within. From the beginning, that was Noah's job."
Kai stayed where he was. He really didn't know much about the work of the Esper, so far all he knew was that the Esper had only been assigned to fight monsters in the Dungeon since the Dungeon had appeared. But it turns out that in addition to that, the Esper is also divided into several tasks. Esper who is assigned to research the Dungeon, retrieve information about the new Dungeon and its contents and Espert who is assigned to fight monsters in each Dungeon so as not to create chaos in the city.
"Isn't there some Esper with rank AAA+ or S besides Noah?"
Knox averted his eyes, "Oh, right, in the file it mentions the rank of Noah Miles huh?"
Kai gave a small nod.
"Right, but, I say again, that was Noah Miles' job from the start. He's been assigned to always be the first to find out new dungeons."
To be more precise, from the beginning, Noah Miles was used as bait or a sacrifice by the higher-ups because he could not die.
Just as Kai was about to ask again, his floating screen appeared.
NOAH MILES GUIDE, REQUIRED.
IMMEDIATELY. URGENT.
SENDING TELEPORTATION ROUTES ● ● ● ●
Kai was surprised to see the notice, he checked Noah's body condition. There was no mistake, everything was fine. Just as he was about to press another button, Knox's floating screen popped out.
KNOX WOOD. URGENT.
SENDING TELEPORTATION ROUTES ● ● ● ●
NEW DUNGEON OPENS!
The two looked at each other, and when they pressed the teleportation button they arrived at a place on the outskirts of the city. Many people had already arrived including the residents who were asked to stay away by the police, roadblocks surrounded them. So many sounds, so much noise.
"No! Noah can't come in! Noah! Noah! No!"
Kai turned around and found Luka being blocked by three officers from entering the open dungeon.
Kai and Knox walked over, their eyes rounding when they saw the three Esper corpses with two gruesome Guide corpses covered by the officers. They looked white with their eyes and mouths wide open, like they had just seen something horrible.
"They are A and A+ rank Esper from other regions." Knox whispers.
A floating screen appeared in front of them.
A NEW DUNGEON OPENS: The Echoing Depths