Kill the Sun

"Good news, Boss said that he needs three more Extractors, and he's planning on getting them from our team," a middle-aged man with black hair said to a team of ten people in front of him.

The others all looked at each other in surprise and excitement.

Finally, they had a chance to become Extractors!

This opportunity was one of the biggest reasons for accepting this job.

This was the Investigator team of Dark Dream.

Naturally, as people who had already worked for Dark Dream and who had already come into contact with Specters, the Investigators were very often the favorite candidates for new Zephyx Extractor positions.

In essence, becoming a Zephyx Extractor was a big promotion.

The Investigators already earned around 5,000 credits per month, which was quite a lot for the Outer City, but becoming an Extractor often meant a tenfold increase in pay at minimum.

Of course, the increase in power and status was even more valuable.

As the Investigators looked around, they became more excited.

Only ten of their people had been called into the meeting.

In total, there were around 30 Investigators.

So, did this mean that Boss would only look through the ten of them?

If so, that would be amazing!

"Will he choose one of us?" one of the men asked the leader in front of him.

"Yes, one of you," the leader said with a laugh. "I already sent him all the files, and he said that everyone present is considered for the position."

The ten of them grew more excited.

All of them wanted to become Extractors.

And three of them would achieve their dream today!

Sadly, or luckily, depending on the viewpoint, the team leader and his two substitutes were not considered for the position, but that had been clear from the very beginning.

In order to stop the team leaders from abusing their power and making them seem better for promotion, Wyntor and Nick had only hired rejected Zephyx Extractors for the team leader position.

This meant that the team leaders already had gained an ability from a Specter, but the ability wasn't good enough to become a Zephyx Extractor.

But on the other hand, they were paid 9,000 credits instead of 5,000.

Such a large number of credits made them part of the richest 5% of the Outer City.

"When will we know who is chosen?" one of them asked.

"By the end of today," the leader said with a smile.

This made the Investigators even more excited, and they started to talk to each other animatedly.

"How will he choose them?" another one asked.

"Well…"

At that moment, the door to the room opened, and a tall and extremely muscular person walked in.

The Investigators all quieted down.

Boss was here!

Nick looked at all the gathered people with furrowed brows.

Silence.

"Aman, come to meeting room two," Nick said before leaving the room again.

Everyone looked at one of the Investigators.

Aman, the Investigator who had just been called, took a deep breath and left.

Everyone else started to talk with each other.

They were all talking about what kind of questions Boss would ask them and how to best answer them to be chosen.

Should they say that they are brave and strong to show their confidence, or would that make them appear arrogant and difficult to manage?

Should they lie about which Specters they had come into contact with to make them seem more experienced?

Should they praise Boss to get into his good graces, or would that disgust him?

Should they say they were outgoing and liked talking to others to make them seem like they fit well into a team, or would that make them appear lazy and easily distracted?

The Investigators had worked with Nick several times before, but they didn't really talk a lot.

Nick mostly talked to the team leaders, and the team leaders relayed his orders to the team.

At most, they had made a small bit of small talk.

Nick always seemed friendly and genuine, but was he really like that with his team?

What if he was a tyrant who wanted total discipline from his team?

After about ten minutes, the person that Nick had called came back.

He seemed neutral, and the people couldn't tell if he had done well or badly.

"Cryon, you're next," he said to someone. "He's waiting in meeting room two."

Cryon took a deep breath, nodded, and left the room.

By now, the people could tell that Nick was calling them in alphabetical order.

Cryon walked across the corridor and entered meeting room two.

His heart was beating loudly in his chest, and he had already started to sweat out of anxiety.

"Good morning, Cryon," the muscular and intimidating man said with a friendly tone and smile. "Please, take a seat."

"Good morning, Boss," Cryon said as he sat down.

Silence.

"Now, how are you with Specters?" Boss asked with his deep voice.

Cryon became even more nervous.

This was such an open question!

How was he supposed to answer that?!

"I…" Cryon started.

The intimidating man didn't say anything and just waited.

Cryon almost felt like he was sitting in front of a Specter.

This was the Chief Zephyx Extractor of Dark Dream!

All in all, Dark Dream had over 50 employees, and the Chief Zephyx Extractor basically decided who got hired and fired among the Investigators and Extractors.

And they were talking about Cryon's future!

If he messed up, he wouldn't only not get his promotion but might even get fired!

Cryon felt like his heart was beating in his head with untold intensity.

There was only silence in the room for 20 full seconds.

"I don't know," Cryon eventually said with a nervous and awkward smile. "Except for the Puppy, I never met one."

Nick wrote something down on a sheet of paper.

"And what about the Puppy? How did you handle it?"

Cryon's mind froze again.

He had no idea how to answer that question.