Charging past Kaufman, William looks at his terrifying, yet smiling face as Mi-Yung is pulling him away like a child.

I hate this...

“Hmph, what was his problem?” Mi-Yung pinches William up and asks straight to his face, all the way back in the hallway.

“You seem to be very familiar with him, m-miss Mi-Yung.”

“Familiar my lunch! I don't respect him one bit.” she glances back while crossing her arms between her chest. Obvious hints of a liar.

“What if it was a coincidence?” William guesses.

“No way. I bet he has some eyes on you.” she counters while knowing nothing about what went behind the scenes between them.

Not like William doesn't want to tell her.. it was... Yea. He doesn't want to tell her after this exchange.

Back in the exhibition, Kaufman strolls around while admiring the work put on this place.

Swords, spears, shields, and many kinds of weapons are within this exhibition. He likes this one because he uncovered this himself. From the destruction of the Egyptian museum in Kaira. He could afford to be nostalgic about the premise of fighting the Rank 7 Yellgrawl in the middle of the destroyed museum.

A smirk on his face, a familiar cloaked figure goes unnoticed by his side.

“Enjoying the view?” the cloaked man says.

“Enjoyed the view?” Kaufman asks in return.

“T-t-that's.. not what... No... Yes.” the cloaked figure says in an awkward manner.

“So?” Kaufman, unbothered by his taunt, asks for the results of whatever they decided on.

“Boy seems to be interested in the way of organization, but it all could be for the purpose of the examination. He is quite clueless if I am being completely honest, sir Kaufman.”

“Good. Good. Richards, you are not THAT disappointing.”

“Though I must say, sir, it is such an unconventional thing to be so interested in this boy. Why so sudden?” Richards asks.

“Because I can. Is it not the words Mi-Yung said? I like these words. Quite direct and fierce. With not talking back like I used to. Now, look at me. Time was tough for me and I hear that all the time.” Kaufman caresses his vest while he believes he is looking quite good in it.

“I doubt many people would argue about your position. Rank 8 is no easy feat, as we are all aware of it, sir Kaufman.” Richards comments while being more polite than ever.

“No Rank is worth the effort of going with the countless people in return. It is so tragic, yet so lonely path. I am rather nostalgic about it though. I wonder if it is because of that boy or something else.”

Richards does not know the thing to say to such words.

“Anyway. Pardon my rather foul mood. What about the involvement of the Mi-Yung? I knew she would be very interested even without knowing too much about any bigger details, but this will exceed my expectations.” Kaufman further asks the little spy that acts independent of anything.

“She... She is variable, to say the least. I should go back to them. What do you say, sir?”

“Depends on yourself. I have certain doubts about Mi-Yung, but her interest is indeed genuine. Do not bother her, but any additional information about William is fine to seek. Nothing would change the ending outcome, as it is still rare to see anything. It all comes to the choices, since that's how it should be done.”

“But...”

“No buts. Mi-Yung could be variable, but so as everyone else. It's not like her talk could have any bigger impact on the result since the boy won't end in the Federation. That is at least my guess.”

“As you insist, sir. I will be on my way.”

“Do what you want, but remember, Mi-Yung will go through me first, then you. Go.” Kaufman says while remaining the same pattern of looking forwards and enjoying the scene in front of him. There is no longer anyone on his side, as no steps even sounded anywhere.

“Victor Gale... That name rings a bell to me... His son... what about the mother? I still need to know more. Though, even his father was famous for being quite a powerful Menace. If he is like him... Talented or whatever... I want the last path for myself, or I will end... myself.” Kaufman mumbles in thoughts, as his own research proved more results than Richards. He is a little paw after all. A rather intriguing one at that, but using him is fine. Finding him so willing and hard-working is no issue for Kaufman's needs.

6th floor of the Grand Library of the Federation. At the moment, Mi-Yung is stepping back and forth in a nervous pattern of unease.

“Is something wrong?” William asks. They are both in front of many doors in this hallway. William doesn't even have time to ponder about the sight on his left, where the scene from the 6th floor, is quite frightening.

“I am thinking. I am thinking.” She says twice.

William leans on the railing and gulps down a mouthful of water from his bamboo bottle. This bottle comes in a clutch, as thirst is the most annoying thing in the world. Hunger could be forced down a little through sheer will, but no thirst. That is common sense. Looking down, such height is one of a kind inside experience.

“Hmph! No way. Let's go inside and deal with what you SHOULD know. Not like Kaufman stopped me, and if he will, I will damn sure remember it.” She decides and grabs Kaufman's full-pass card from William's pocket.

Approaching different doors, she opens one in a different location from one William visited before. Having the big letter V, it is a roman numeral that differentiates the same-looking doors.

Inside is a small long entrance for a single person to go through. This little corridor ends in a white light.

Walking after Mi-Yung, William notices her worsened mood, but as with girls and women alike, he is quite inexperienced. Her mood is up to her alone.

Entering the wide room, William glances around and sees a row of closed cabinets with numbers. There are also a few with letters on them, and a few rows with tables and chairs in the middle of everything.

Each cabinet has a door with a similar handle as the one with the numeral V. They have a corresponding part of the design for the unlocking mechanism. A card is needed to unlock these.

“Alright, I don't care too much what to choose anyways. What is even the highest or most dangerous Dark being you have met or is aware of, William?”

“Being? What is this room? Archive of the monsters?”

“Yes,” she utters a single answer.

“If I have to guess... There have been Hellgars, Crimjaws, Razsgars, and Ranjaws, but nothing comes close to the situation in Camp Rountimore. Tt was decimated by the 10-meter-long Dark being with 4 limbs and a singular head with a jaw that swallowed the mountains and crushed the buildings.” William says little of what he knows. As if he talks the tale of fantasy, but knows how bad and truthful it was back then.

The names that he knows of, and what he told Mi-Yung, come from the first room that Kaufman showed. Although a lot of the names are shared with the Outside experience, there are still some which were discovered by William. Thanks to the first room on the 6th floor, he discovers the naming scheme for a few of them. All he needed is the basic descriptions of them to make him remember the real monsters.

Although the archive at that time was much smaller than this room, and even incomplete, or... made in intent to be as brief as possible of higher rank Dark beings. In this room, there could be much better recourses and information.

It could have been a Rank 7 or above Dark being, as he became aware of their rankings through that room. It would not be available for the young walkers to see, since they are such a monstrosity. There have been no descriptions of the 10 meters tall monster in a few mentions of Rank 6 monsters. So, the result must be higher and they are not for youth to see.

“Camp Rountimore. I remember that Camp. 5 years ago, which means... I see. That must have been quite tough to survive through that.” Mi-Yung recalls the name and even the topic of it from that time. She is aware of every camp outside. Be it from the past, present, or plans to build new ones.

“It... was not that bad.” William shrugs his shoulders while glancing around the room in expectation.

“I guess you are tougher than you look. Anyway, similar to the room you have seen with Kaufman. This is an archive of most of the Dark beings. There is each cabinet for every known monster.” Mi-Yung says the not-so-surprising answer. It goes along with the expectation of what William guesses, but what would be inside the cabinets is not.

William's curiosity is piqued.

“Of course, every cabinet has limits to the Rank of the Walker coming here. It is a system of the Federation, so bear it in mind. Rank 1 is up to Rank 4 monsters, then 5 to 5, 6 to 6, 7 to 7, and so on.”

“So there are rank 8 and above monsters?” William asks in excitement to Mi-Yung's face.

Once again, she got lost in her words, but it did not matter that much. Those are only the numbers, anyway. Alas, she could not help but frown from seeking the face of William.

Sneering, she punishes his face with both palms. “Perhaps you should feel a bit apprehensive about them. What is this excitement for?”

“I am showy.” he mumbles between her palms.

Getting free, he rubs his cheeks while Mi-Yung gets back to her topic.

“Dark beings... as monsters what came from the unknown, are not completely unknown to be fair. They came from this place.” Mi-Yung motioned with her arm to a piece of a scroll in one particular stance, which folds open by a swing of her hand.

There, a big photo of an alien ship is portrayed, while protruding from the waters of some sort of lake or the ocean. There is even a jungle visible around the corners of the frame.

“What is that?” William asks, as he never heard about this, or understands what this could mean.

“It is the source of the Apocalypse. To say at least.” Mi-Yung says with importance as she crossed her hands around her chest.

“M-monsters came from this? What is that?”

“It is a mile-long shipwreck that was underneath the Amazonian Lake in South America. You can guess what is this about.”

“I don't... but the apocalypse started from there, so this is the cause? A mile-long ship?”

“Yea... It is still very much the mystery of what is inside, or what even happened 127 years ago. The droughts uncovered it and what came afterward is history. We live in it, to be honest.”

“And this is not restricted? What the hell!?” he explains in shock as he finds this rather unreasonable and shocking news. Such a picture and facts about everything are mind-boggling. Such truth of death and destruction.

“Well, it is. Only walkers are aware of this. What sort of thing do you think the Federation is? A place run in the apocalypse could not be kind to everybody. I am showing it to you since it's no issue to show it to you. Knowing about it is normal for us. It's not like we can go there and end the apocalypse.”

“It should, though...” he inaudible mumbles.

“What was that?”

“N-nothing... Why are you showing me this picture? Is something more to this than that?” William pretends to care, while this still makes very little sense to him.

“Yes, and no. It is a piece of origin that is not understood that well. The monsters emerged from that place, and the rest is what it is today. Quite a sad tale, to be honest.”

“One ship to destroy the majority of humanity? The germans in the world wars should have learned from them instead.” William adds without a care of his words.

Mi-Yung, in return, caresses her temples as if pretending to not hear such a terrible analogy from him.

“Anyway. The Rank has corresponding monsters. The Rank of the Walker provides much information on the 6th floor. You must know it by now. As for this picture, it serves no purpose but knowledge of the origin. It is not much, but some learning materials about the Dark being are better done here. Almost every Walker organization on earth is part of this research program. This is a collective result of the past century and many lives.” Mi- Yung points across herself to the hundred or so cabinets.

“It is that impressive? And here I thought the Walkers were cheap and greedy. Heheheh.” Willian let the words of his mind escape his mouth, which is soon punished by Mi-Yung, who already has enough of his foul mouth.

“I swear. Although I knew your father, how in the world was your mother?!” she says as she punishes his scalp by rubbing it with her elbow. Smiling in mischief, she will enjoy this.

“Ouch. Ouch... Ahhh. Stop... stop. I was wrong. Walkers are good people. Angels of the society!” William struggles to say, while no escape is possible under her force.

“I know. I know. I am quite a good person. I am well aware of it. Thanks for telling me, Will.” she whispers to his ears and shoves him away afterward.