"Nick," Wyntor said with an annoyed expression as he entered Nick's office, "I need you."
When Nick saw Wyntor's expression, he furrowed his brows. "What's up?"
"The two of them still complain and refuse to back down," Wyntor said.
Nick's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Still?!" he shouted.
Wyntor nodded. "I'm not sure if I'm overthinking or not, but this seems suspicious."
"Imagine one of your closest colleagues or friends died at work. It would probably take a couple of days or hours to come to terms with it. I don't think you would immediately start complaining about not wanting to work and wanting to see a new Specter."
"If I were in their shoes, I would shut up and work with the Blood Horse for at least a couple of days. If I still had issues by then, I would slowly find a way to deal with it."
"Yet, they don't want to work with the Blood Horse even once!" Wyntor shouted with annoyance.
"Even I have worked with it!" Wyntor added.
Yes, Wyntor had worked with the Blood Horse.
While Wyntor wasn't working as an Extractor, he still was a Mid Newbie, and if Dark Dream could afford it, it would definitely help to improve the power of their CEO.
A more powerful CEO was smarter, harder to kill, and could live for longer.
The CEOs were never amongst the most powerful Extractors of the Manufacturer, but they were at least of average power.
Because of that, Wyntor worked with the Blood Horse from time to time.
"Do you really think so?" Nick asked with furrowed brows. "Maybe they are just insanely unreasonable."
Surprisingly, Wyntor didn't immediately answer.
Instead, he rubbed his chin in thought.
"Maybe," he said. "We bought the three of them from Ghosty's Lab. Maybe they just gave us a bad batch?"
"They definitely have what it takes to be an Extractor. After all, they worked with several Specters already without any major incidents."
"But it's also possible that they might be spies."
"Spies?" Nick asked.
Wyntor nodded.
"What if they just want to see as many Specters as possible so that they can create a profile? Learning all about how to work with our Specters might save lives when another Manufacturer takes them."
Wyntor sighed.
"Or they are just THAT unreasonable. Nevertheless, we have to deal with the issue."
Nick furrowed his brows. "What do you want me to do?"
Wyntor looked into Nick's eyes. "If I had the power, I would do it myself."
Nick could already tell what Wyntor was about to say.
"I need you to knock them out."
Nick's eyebrows rose.
"I thought you wanted me to kill them," Nick said.
"The Dreamer is going to do that," Wyntor said.
"Oh," Nick uttered before looking at the table with an uncomfortable expression.
Silence.
"Can't we just fire them?" Nick asked.
"That's what they want," Wyntor said. "At least, that's what I assume they want. I can't see any other reason for acting this obnoxious and problematic after one of them died."
"Now that they know so much about our Specters, they probably want to get fired and then join another Manufacturer with the information they gathered."
"They know that they have to give up all their equipment if they quit while also going into debt, which is why they want to use this information to get a good offer from another Manufacturer."
"At least, that's what I'm assuming."
"Nick, if we don't want to get trampled by our own people, we need to set an example."
"They agreed to work with the Dreamer. I have that in writing."
"If anyone asks, I can simply show the contract, and their cause of death will also check out."
Nick took a deep breath.
He was reminded of Pator.
"Fine," Nick said.
Luckily, this was different from when Nick had to kill Pator.
First of all, these were adults.
Second of all, they were Extractors.
Third, they were assholes.
Fourth, Nick was older and more mature.
And lastly, Nick wasn't the one killing them.
He was only killing them indirectly.
'I guess I have to get used to this,' Nick thought with a sigh.
Wyntor nodded. "Thank you, Nick. I'm sorry that I have to ask you to do this."
"It's fine," Nick said as he slowly stood up. "It's part of the job, I suppose."
A moment later, Wyntor and Nick left Nick's office and entered Wyntor's office.
As soon as they entered, they saw two young men sitting on two chairs in front of Wyntor's desk.
One of them looked at Wyntor with furrowed brows. "Sir, we don't feel comfortable with being left alone in your office like this."
Wyntor walked to his desk and sat down.
Meanwhile, Nick closed the door to the office behind him and waited in front of it.
"Why?" Wyntor asked.
"Because we don't want to needlessly be suspected of going through confidential documents," the same guy said. "We're not accusing of anything, but what if you misremember how a piece of paper has been placed and wrongfully assume that we snooped around in this office?"
Wyntor just chuckled.
"This entire room is under constant surveillance. I was going to check the footage after our meeting anyway. If you had gone through my stuff, you would be working with the Screaming Coffin for the next couple of days," Wyntor said casually.
"Oh, never mind, then," the same guy said.
Meanwhile, Nick narrowed his eyes.
He knew exactly that Wyntor's office wasn't under surveillance, which meant that Wyntor was bluffing.
And sure enough, it had worked.
As a Mid John, Nick's senses were superior to the average human's, and even though the two of them did their best, Nick definitely noticed a couple of signs of fear and panic in them.
"Nevertheless, we think that leaving us alone is disrespectful and humiliating!" the same guy said again, complaining even though he had just said never mind.
'Are they trying to get fired before Wyntor checks his so-called surveillance footage?' Nick thought.