"What? Another kid has symptoms of Essential Heart Manifestation?" The administrator of unit 302 sighed. "How's his condition?"

The voice from the other side of the phone replied. "Even though he occassionally steals and begs, his condition is far better than his peers. I say, he's got a shot at this."

"Fine, report his identity, status and others... according to the protocol."

"He's the brat you mentioned before, Nanchoko." The female administrator of unit 302 in her early-twenties, Nanchoko, perked her ears. "He's that 'Unwanted Hand' Belite who's been giving trouble for the local Law Enforcements."

Nanchoko frowned slightly as she barely remembered that name.

'Ah!' A flood of information entered her brain as she instantly remembered Belite. "The one with no parents or any affiliation to local gangs and often works alone? That sixteen year old?"

"Yes." The voice from the other side, her best friend nodded. "That's why I called you, take him to the Bellowing Embers Captivity and Research Foundation(BECRF) and make sure he goes through necessary protocols before experimenting... Don't mess this up like the one before."

"Yeah, yeah." Nanchoko sighed softly. 'This one's likely going to be a failure, there have been more than 500 casualties this year after all.' She then said. "Charge him with stealings of real Bright Emblem armours and Imperial Guns... And as for how we found out about it, let's just blame it on that Blevoics' merchandise truck."

"Alright."

...

"The bait is in place, Miss Nanchoko. The Target, 'Unwanted Hand' Belite should be appearing near your unit soon."

"Got it." She replied, lacking much enthusiasm.

She had already witnessed hundreds of deaths of people from every age, gender and backgrounds. No one was spared from the 'Essential Heart Manifestation' may they be sons of nobles or Superhumans themselves.

'Even though many beggers and those living in rough environment can be better accustomed to pain, there have been plenty of these who have died before. Their mortality rate is even worse than...' She softly shook her head as knocks resounded on her door. "Come in." She said plainly.

Creak.

The door slowly opened as it revealed a sixteen-year old boy who had an average build and height. His facial features were slightly above average as he had black hair that were short and tidy while he wore grey shirt and pants that were provided by BECRF themselves.

There was nothing remarkable about this boy, he was someone you would witness everyday on street and would forget easily.

Nanchoko sighed as she asked him about the situation even though she knew it beforehand as the boy replied expectedly with an expression that showed he was bored and was merely a third person.

"Alright, let's go." She dragged him into the V-91 HMV that she had recently bought and shoved him into the back seet. She then opened the door to the front seat and sat down.

'Wait, why does he look relieved that I'm sitting in the driver's seat?' Slightly puzzled, Nanchoko looked at Belite who wore a relieved expression on his face but she then continued her indifferent act.

"Um... Excuse me?" The boy started asking questions but there was no reason for her to answer — she shouldn't build a sense of familiarity to ones who would die anyway, or else it would come bite her back one day in the future.

After arriving at the designated unit, she jumped down from the top as the boy climbed slowly into the sewers as she announced her arrival as well as that of the target.

She then led the target to the rendezvous point her teammates had set-up and handed him her mobile phone which was used to keep track of all the experiments and was quite expensive.

But it didn't come from her pocket so it didn't matter. And as she was getting compensated for the damage...

Leading the cautious yet calm boy into the room in where he would probably be massacred, Nanchoko sighed to herself.

'Another one...'

Just as the boy, who was calm throughout the whole of their journey and even obeyed her obediently unlike others who tried to run at the smallest of chances looked at the monster 'Ratland' gnawing at the bones at his front, he finally lost his cool.

He started blabbering stuff which seemed like nonsense at first but made Nanchoko feel surprised in her heart. But she tried her hardest to make a poker face just like the time she made when the boy held his arms in the air in surrender to stop her laughter.

She appeared indifferent to the boy's words, which was accurate to the current situation alot and even chuckled to herself once the boy underestimated himself by calling himself just a 'bit smarter' than his peers.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

However, before the boy arrived at his conclusion, she had to cut him off or things would become more complicated than they already were.

"And all this implies to one thing, that is—"

"Boy." She said, making her tone heavier than usual and making her gaze chillier than usual. "I do not care nor know about what you've said so far. But let me make this clear to you."

Then, she blabbered some nonsense which the boy was forced to believe due to the grim situation.

"Honestly, if I knew this boy could remain calm and rational in front of danger, I would've devised a better scheme..." She said as she sat down in the room that was situated just above ex-01, where the boy was currently getting beat up by the monster.

"But because the situation was chaotic, he was forced to believe it with no choice in front of him."

Flaming white, who was beside her looked at the huge screen in front of them where the boy rushed forward at 'Ratland' and frowned. "That's definitely stupid."

"Maybe the boy has given up," Blazing Fury who stood next to her replied. "It would've been far worse if the 'Ratland' we found was equivalent to 8th Circle."

"What happened to the one who's prowess was equal to 8th Circle anyway?" Nanchoko asked in curiousity. "Did the management take it away? I'm a 7th Circle, you know. I could easily handle tens of 8th Circle monsters."

"Oh," Blazing Fury looked at the screen where Belite was lying down on the floor after getting kicked in the gut. "It is said that the 'Ratland' equivalent to 8th Circle was killed, reasons;suspects, unknown."

"But we have dispatched investigators and scouts to investigate it's death."

"Just like that?" Nanchoko asked with a frown. But her expression soon relaxed slightly after seeing Belite punch the monster. "It's a bit funny. 'Ratlands' are versatile monsters and 'Last' machineries such as guns are almost useless against them, yet he punches them..."

"Wait a minute..." Flaming White frowned slightly. "He's going through Essential Heart Manifestation!" He saw that the boy in the screen had a red flame burn on the left side of his chest as his eyes burned. "If he succeeds... Isn't that Essential Blazing Fury Heart?"

Blazing Fury's expression changed.

'Finally! I won't be the only 'Blazing Fury' anymore... Succeed, boy!' Blazing Fury's eye's were full of life as he clenched the handrest of a seat beside him, breaking it in the process.

Seeing his friend's eyes burning with vigor, Flaming White chuckled softly as he refocused his gaze back on the screen.

The red flames burning upon the boy's chest raged as it engulfed his whole body, making the boy's forehead form beads of sweat as his body sweated profoundly, making him close his eyes.

The three of them had an unchanging expression until,

The monster 'Ratland' instantly backed off in fear.

'Succes!' All three of them shouted in their hearts as Blazing Fury and Flaming White immediately went out to help Belite.

'Monsters are more sensitive to Heart Manifestations than humans. Their 'senses' could compete with those of 6th Circle!' Nanchoko thought joyously in her heart. "That promotion was mine after all." She jumped around in her chair as she watched the screen, ready to intervene if those two newbies didn't get the job done properly.

But thankfully, they did.

...

"Been a while," A young boy with neatly trimmed and tidy black hair looked at his reflection in the puddle. He sneered. "Since I've seen this face of mine."

"Why, you don't have a mirror at home?" The administrator of unit 302 joked as she appeared in front of him with a smile. "Congratulations, you have successfully manifested an Essential Heart."

"But was it necessary..." Belite nodded. "To throw a water bucket on my face to wake me up?"

"You were fast asleep." The administrator of unit 302 said as she pulled out a chair from nowhere as she sat down next to the crouching Belite. "You can call me Miss Nanchoko."

"Okay, Miss Nanchoko."

Administrator Nanchoko smiled as she nodded. "Good," she then took a deep breath. "Tell me, how and when were you suspicious?"

Belite looked up at her. "Its going to be a bit long."

"I'm all ears."

Nodding at Nanchoko's reply, Belite started. "The most suspicious thing I found was my thieving history. I stole these so-called Bright Emblem armours and Imperial Guns? What a joke?"

"How were you so sure that we didn't arrive at an conclusion due to the Blevoics' merchandise truck?" Nanchoko raised her eyebrows. "The truck could have contained extraordinary goods and it was a Blevoics truck. No one dared to touch it even though it has crashed and there was chaos all around, except you..."

"So it was a merchandise truck..." Belite sighed in disappointment. "First of all, I would've believed it if it was one of those local Law Enforcers who bore a grudge talking shit about me. But no, it was the Superhumans. Those who we, mere mortals can't comprehend."

'This kid...' Nanchoko shook her head at Belite's obvious flattery as she sighed.

"Seekers."

"Huh?" Belite asked in puzzlement.

"We, Superhumans are called Seekers."

"Ah, okay."

Under Nanchoko's bewildered gaze, he continued. "Besides, I've already bribed many Law Enforcers and Policemen whenever I've been caught. I've even went to lengths to bribe them to the extent of having my name erased in wanted posters and their 'so-called list of crimes' on my name, even for the pettiest thing.."

Nanchoko sneered hearing this but Belite paid it no heed, he knew his status was somewhat special right now due to "it" and he doubted his petty crimes would amount to much.

"I've run all sorts of errands for the policemen, to snitching on others — to snitching on their comrades themselves to gain their favour."

'Now snitching on everyone to gain your favour.' Belite lightly added in his heart.

Nanchoko narrowed her eyes as she hurried him. "Get to the point."

Belite spread his hands. "Fine."

"When I arrived in this Dungeon, the Dungeon itself was suspicious.

"Experiments on inmates, making inmates throw their bodies onto orcs and eight headed spiders? But what role does a little old me have in all of these? To serve as a meat shield? Nope, I'm too weak and frail for that."

"That was when my suspicion started to form."

'So he was suspicious from the beginning itself...' Nanchoko sighed lightly. "But what about kids of your age and similar?"

"That only made my paranoia worse in fact. Even though they could be used for experiments, they were being used for these mini-community services. Why, I wonder, bringing kids to the Dungeon and make them do these petty works when they could be used for other purposes?"

"Even though it could be excused that they were kids who have done crimes that cannot be compared to others — Please, I've seen it and the so-called 'Superhumans of Humanity' don't give..." He paused. "Don't care about petty things such as these."

Seeing Nanchoko's expression turning impatient, Belite shrugged. "And since all the people here were unreasonably kind to me..."

"False."

A voice rang out.

"That isn't how you were suspicious of us, you were suspicious... From before even arriving at Bellowing Embers Captivity and Research Foundation."

Belite frowned.