As Nick closed the door behind him, he heard Pator's voice coming from the living room.
Nick hadn't entered loudly, which meant that Pator hadn't noticed that Nick was now with him in the small apartment.
"I just don't know, Horua."
Pator's voice sounded tense and troubled.
"I just don't know what to do."
"I've been stuck in this horrible position where I have to choose between two horrible things."
"Do I keep reporting these things and do more damage to Master Wyntor, or do I come clean and lose all of my qualifications?"
Nick slowly and silently walked through the hallway.
"If I tell Master Wyntor what's been going on for three years, I will be severely punished, thrown out of the household, and I will get all my belongings confiscated."
"No one would want to hire me anymore since something like this is the worst thing you can do as a servant."
"And with no job, I will be thrown out of the Inner City."
"And then, I will be thrown into the Dregs."
"Even more, I will lose everyone I know!"
By now, Pator's voice began to tremble again.
"I don't want to lose everything!"
Pator sobbed.
By now, the door to the room had silently opened, and Nick absentmindedly stared in Pator's direction.
At this moment, Pator stood in front of Horua, who was sitting on the bed.
Horua's expression was almost identical to Nick's.
"I wish I never accepted," Pator said through sobs as he cleaned his eyes with his sleeves.
"But I was just eleven! How could I have known that things would turn out this way?!"
"I always thought that it would just be a small side gig to earn a couple of credits."
Pator took a deep and shaky breath.
"Who could have guess-"
CRACK!
A splash of blood appeared on Horua's face.
Pator's body fell forward, his face hitting the edge of the bed.
The back of his head was completely smashed in, parts of his brain having scattered across the room.
Nick stood behind Pator's corpse, his right hand covered in blood and brain matter.
Nick looked down at Pator's body.
Then, he slowly bowed down and grabbed Pator's neck.
Crk! Crk! Crk!
When Pator's neck stopped resisting getting pushed around, Nick stood up again.
For just a couple of seconds, Nick looked at Pator.
His eyes were opened wide.
His mouth hung open.
A pool of red was rapidly growing beneath him.
Nick just watched for a bit.
Then, Nick walked to the side and grabbed a roll of one of many paper towels.
Pator had bought a bunch of these to deal with Horua's messes. Leaving the room every single time to get something to clean was unnecessary.
Nick unrolled the roll until he had a huge ball of paper towels in his hands.
Then, he shoved the ball into Pator's opened skull.
After grabbing some more, he put them into Pator's mouth and nose since they were also bleeding.
A second later, he took one of several bags and pulled it over Pator's head, fastening it with some straps.
Nick lifted the corpse and put it on one of the rugs inside the room.
This was quite an expensive room, which was why they even had something as luxurious as rugs.
Lastly, Nick rolled the rug with the body in it up before putting it to the side of the room.
With the body dealt with, Nick went on to absentmindedly clean the floor of Horua's room.
It took several minutes and many, many towels, but eventually, Nick got everything.
After inspecting the room thoroughly, Nick stood in the middle of the room.
He glanced at Horua.
That was when he saw the big splatter of blood on Horua's face, which had dripped down on his fresh clothing by now.
A kind smile appeared on Nick's face.
"Oh, let me get that for you," he said in a caring tone as he pulled more paper towels off the roll.
After carefully cleaning Horua's face, Nick changed his clothes as well.
When Nick saw Horua all clean and fresh, he nodded in satisfaction.
"Sorry, but I can't stay right now," he said as he bowed down to lift the rug. "I have to work."
Nick put the rug over his shoulder and slowly retreated from Horua's room.
After carefully closing the doors, Nick's smile vanished again, replaced by blankness.
Absentmindedly, Nick walked down the staircase.
When Nick exited the staircase, the clerk from earlier noticed him, and he had to blink a couple of times in shock.
"Nick, you can't just take our rug with you!" he shouted as he ran towards Nick.
"Bill me for it," Nick said with a neutral voice without turning around. "I need it for something."
The clerk was shocked and grabbed the side of his head in confusion and frustration.
"You can't just…"
He trailed off as he saw Nick just casually walking out of the hotel, not paying the clerk any attention.
For a couple of seconds, the clerk just watched Nick cross the road and enter the warehouse on the other side.
In the end, the clerk went back into the hotel to ask his supervisor about what to do.
After entering the warehouse, Nick closed the door behind him and walked up to the Screaming Coffin's Containment Unit.
He hadn't seen anyone in the warehouse so far.
However, he also didn't have the brainpower or motivation to think about where everyone could be.
He just wanted to be done with this matter and continue his life.
Nick opened the employee door of the Screaming Coffin's Containment Unit and stepped inside.
Inside the Containment Unit, Jenny, Trevor, and Wyntor turned to look at Nick.
Nick's eyes regained focus as he blinked a couple of times in surprise.
"Oh, didn't know you guys were still in here," Nick said with a bit of surprise. "I thought you would have gone home."
When the three of them heard Nick's casual tone, they felt like they had been stabbed in the chest.
