Yun clasped his hands together and furrowed his brows.
"Let's not talk about our services for now. Do you even have the money to hire us? Although you may have experience, a kid like you won't have any money to spare, right?"
Asher quietly pursed his lips, and Yun relaxed his gaze slightly.
"I understand, only testing the waters? Or do you want a more detailed overview?"
How convenient, the man seemed to have guessed his thoughts perfectly.
"Yes, a summary would be nice. Can you explain the ranking system that Finn told me about earlier? About the one from Canard to Star of the City, I'm... confused at how the names are assigned, to be honest."
Yun sighed. When he opened his mouth again, an odd note of disappointment tinged his voice.
"Nevermind what I said about you having experience. But I will explain it to you, regardless. The Hana Association assigns the grades from Urban Myth up to Star of the City, through the various reports of the Offices-"
Hana Association... That must be one of the Associations Mei told him about.
The way Yun explained it, the Offices gave information about the danger level of certain threats to the Hana Association. Then, the Hana Association compiled the reports into a concrete 'grade' of threat level.
Asher nodded, taking in this new information.
"So, how are the threats classified? What's the difference between an Urban Myth and a... Urban Legend, for example?"
All the different terms swirled in Asher's mind, confusing the newborn soul.
"The tasks given to the Fixers are graded from Canard to Star of the City in accordance to their potential danger to the City. Canards are the weakest, so weak that Offices may choose not to report it to the Hana Association. Any Office worth hiring can directly handle threats of those ranks."
Yun set down his cigarette to the side, snuffing out the tip with his finger.
"Urban Myth contains small time thugs and criminals, usually in small groups of ten or less. Urban Legend to Urban Nightmare typically contains syndicates, cults, and in rare cases individuals. Often times these Legends, Plagues, and Nightmares are subsidiaries of higher order threats, such as the Fingers of the City."
With that, Yun stopped talking and lounged back in his chair. Asher blinked, leaning forward for a continuation that never came.
He cleared his throat timidly.
"So you're just not going to explain what 'Star of the City' is at all?"
Yun merely rolled his eyes, and Finn giggled on the sidelines as well.
"Listen, kid. Stars of the City have nothing to do with ordinary Offices like mine. Their influences have merged with everyday life and the culture of the City itself. Only the highest grade Fixers can even dream of confronting the Stars, and they have lives of their own, too."
Yun's gaze broke from Asher's for an instant, his eyes flickering to the carpeted floor.
The man's throat trembled.
"People die often in this line of work." Yun's crushing words stifled the air. Finn glanced at his Captain, sensing the pain in his voice.
Someone... Someone was missing here.
Finn cleared the chilling atmosphere with a faltering grin, further elaborating as Yun took a drink out of a flask in silence.
"See, even if they can, alotta people choose not to deal with Stars. They're just too unpredictable."
Asher didn't understand the tension in the air, pressing onward without much thought.
"...So the Thumb and Eight Chefs will just exist forever like that??"
Will the man that demanded money off of Mei just get away with what he did?
Yun's eyes sharpened. Veins bulged on the back of his hand as he clenched his hand into a fist.
"Why do you think the titles change from Urban Myth, Legend, Plague and whatnot, to 'Star' of the City? The answer is that the Hana Association has deemed them as 'Stars', the lights that shine over all of us. They are nigh godlike entities. It would be best to remain silent about such matters."
Asher tilted his head. Godlike? What was that?
Again, he had no baseline, no examples to set as 'godlike'. Was the System 'godlike'?
"So the entire City is controlled by these Stars?"
Finn's eyes flicked back and forth comically at the bullet-like exchange between Asher and his Captain.
Yun leaned back in his chair.
"Meh. Stars die, too. When the reward gets high enough, more and more Fixers will try to subdue it. Particularly by the Fixers that are given unique titles from the Hana Association itself."
'M'kay...'
Asher was disappointed by the limitations of Offices. If this one was limited to taking Urban Myth class requests, was it even capable of handling Hal? Even Asher could beat Hal easily in his current state. Yun's Office definitely wouldn't be able to handle a Sweeper, that was for sure.
"You must think we are weak, but even Grade 10 Fixers like Finn are essential in keeping the relative order of the City."
'Oh geez, another grading system...'
"I take it that Grade 10 is low?" Asher's voice was laced with exasperation. Grades this, rankings that... Just why did the City seem to put everything in tiers?
Yun stared at him in surprise, judging his lack of knowledge.
"You don't know that either?"
But as he opened his mouth to explain, the jingle of bells pulled their attention away.
Another person had entered the building, and Finn rushed off to greet them.
Indistinct banter echoed in the empty halls as Finn and an aged woman's voice neared Yun's office.
"Captain! Clara's here again!"
Finn burst into the room, and behind him was an old lady of advanced years, with sunken eyes and wrinkled skin. Her gait was confident and steady. She plopped down beside Asher with a sigh, not even sparing a glance to him.
"Yun, boy. Something urgent has come. Very urgent."
The Captain nearly rolled his eyes, but stopped himself at the last moment.
"Your cat again?"
"Hm... Yes, my poor Judas has gone loose again. Won't you help me find him? He always wanders off without a care in the world!"
Asher's eyebrow twitched. Judas? What the hell kind of cat name is that? The name made him uncomfortable, for a reason he couldn't explain.
"Alright, should be a Canard... Finn here will find it by the end of the day, ma'am. The fee will be 50 Ahn."
The woman nodded, already fishing her hand inside of her purse. While she searched for the money, Yun turned his attention to Asher.
"You can join Finn if you wish. He can further explain the grades of Fixers to you." Although Yun gave the pretense of a decision, his tone did not reflect that. Asher suspected Yun was tired of explaining such basic things to him.
"C'mon, Asher! I'll protect you; Finn, Grade 10 Fixer, at your service!" The boy tugged at Asher's arm, pulling him out of the Office in seconds.
They once again stepped out into the outside, the ever churning smoke in the alleys stinging his lungs as he inhaled the smog. Asher stood there for a moment, confused.
"Um..."
"Yeah? What's up?"
"How will you find a cat in these alleys? And what if you get the wrong cat?"
Finn tilted his chin upwards, his face filled with smug pride.
"I've been doing all the Canard work for Captain for over a year now. I'm practically a detective, hehe~"
'Aren't Canards the easiest tasks? I don't think that's something worth bragging about...' Asher glanced at Finn skeptically, but the boy was confidently walking down another alleyway, ignoring his skepticism.
Asher nearly stopped Finn right there, because going into random alleys so brazenly was bound to get the kid killed. Asher had experienced that firsthand.
'Eh, whatever. He has a self-proclaimed year's worth of experience, anyway.'
Someone who survived for so long would bound to be skilled at staying out of trouble, no matter how carefree they acted.
Suddenly, Finn froze in front of him, rummaging through his jacket to produce two strange, tube-like headsets embedded with machinery.
"I hear voices ahead. Climb. Now," Finn whispered firmly to him, and began to slither up the wall before Asher could even process what he said.
By the time Asher looked up, Finn was already halfway to the top, ascending with spider-like precision.
Asher unknowingly followed the child upward, finding himself amazed by the change in personality from Finn and his Fixer persona.
As he neared the top, Finn pulled him up, handing him one of the strange contraptions as he did so.
Asher followed his gaze as he stared at the building opposite of them, which turned out to be a residential complex nearly identical to the one Mei lived in.
Two individuals were indeed talking, like Finn had predicted.
The Fixer's eyes turned grave, and his mouth subconsciously trembled.
"What's wrong?"
"See the girl in the white cloak? That's trouble."
Asher focused his vision. Indeed, there was a white-cloaked girl standing outside one of the doors.
A single, snow-white ponytail flowed down the back of her head, well past her shoulders. She wore a pure white cloak, which wrapped her body entirely with mirage-like fabric. Instead of a hood near the top, a wide gold hoop replaced the neck of the cloak where the hood would usually start, allowing the cloak to hang loosely on her shoulders.
Another man stood across from her, separated by the doorway, and even from this distance Asher could tell that he was trembling.
"Who is that girl?"
"...A Messenger of the Index, a Finger of the City. Of course, being a Finger means the Index is also a Star. I've only heard of rumors about Messengers before... Put the device on your ear, let's hear what they're saying."
Without another word, Finn hooked the device to his ear, switching it on.