Chapter 42: Prideful

However, an anomaly was still an anomaly. Regardless of how weak it could potentially be, Hook still didn't dare to challenge it.

"We agreed that I would only be responsible for the recon side of things. I'm not fighting anyone!"

"I know, I know," Adam reassured as he summoned Hellhound and began to fuse with it.

In the wake of his transformation, he had become stronger, and his appearance had also become quite terrifying. In terms of physical appearance alone, he didn't look any less sinister than the clown anomaly.

However, he didn't immediately lash out as he wanted to see what was going to happen next.

According to Chloe's memories, what happened next was that the bill was paid, and the group departed. After she returned home, she had another argument with her mother, and that was followed by what seemed to have been a sleepless night.

However, in the middle of all of that, there had to have been a passage of memories that had been concealed, and Adam wanted to see exactly what had happened on this timeline under the Mist of Truth.

"Let's go..."

After their speakeasy escapade, Chloe and her friends began to leave.

They were relatively alert and safety-conscious, as evidenced by the fact that they still remained together in a group upon leaving the speakeasy.

Following their departure, the clown anomaly also left the speakeasy to follow them.

After that, the scene completely vanished.

The speakeasy was situated deep underground, and after riding on an elevator to the ground level, one would arrive at the end of a dark alley. However, the group of girls had only made it to around the middle section of the alley when a gunshot suddenly rang out. The sound of the gunshot and the fire erupting out of the muzzle sent the group into a blind panic, and they began to flee in a blind panic. Right at this moment, a pair of hands reached out of the darkness before grabbing onto Chloe.

"This is it! This is where the problem arose!"

Adam immediately pounced at this point, yet right as he made an attempt to capture the clown, he was suddenly struck by a hazy sensation, following which a burst of sharp pain shot through his arm.

Immediately thereafter, Adam was withdrawn out of the psychic world.

After returning to the real world, Adam found himself in Karen's room once again, and he discovered that Kim Hee-cho was the one who had given him that disconnection notification.

"Why did you do that?"

"Why did you do that?"

Both Adam and Karen raised the same question in unison.

"You're paying us 80,000 to find out the cause for your daughter's condition, and the cause has been found," Kim Hee-cho explained as he turned off the projection. "There is no contract or even any verbal agreement for the provision of any additional services. You get what you pay for. We're not a charity organization, wouldn't you agree, Adam?"

Adam fell silent upon hearing this.

Indeed, the most difficult part of the job was still yet to come.

The clown didn't appear to be all that powerful, but one would be extremely foolish to judge an emotional anomaly by its cover.

There was a great deal of risk present in fighting anomalies, and he really did need the money. 80,000 was far below the market price for eradicating an emotional anomaly.

"According to the current market rate, even an unqualified adapter psychotherapist would charge a fee at least in the hundreds of thousands to eradicate an emotional anomaly of that caliber," Kim Hee-cho said in an unhurried voice, completely unfazed by the furious Karen. "We're just charging money to provide a service. There's nothing personal, so there's no need to get angry."

Everything that Kim Hee-cho had just said was quite reasonable, and as Karen cast her gaze toward her daughter, who was gradually awakening, she also came to realize just how serious the problem was. If things were to continue in this fashion and Chloe's emotional trauma remained untreated, there was a very good chance that her behavior could become even more extreme in the future.

Karen nodded in response. In the real world, she wasn't a smoker. Instead, she pulled out a piece of bubblegum as a substitute.

"Alright, let's get back to business. I agree with what you said, but what you told me earlier indicates to me that you charge a far lower rate than others in the same industry. If I had hundreds of thousands to spend on resolving this problem, why would I have come to you?"

"Because our adapters are no less competent than our competitors," Kim Hee-cho replied as he pointed at Hook to make an example. "You saw him just now. Do you think the average adapter psychotherapy clinic would be able to offer such an exceptional scout?"

Even though there was no chance for the average person to interact with adapters in everyday life, Karen had done some research on adapters on the internet, so she knew that Hook was indeed a great scout, as evidenced by the fact that he was able to solve all of the mysteries so quickly. "I don't know, but he did do a great job. However, he also said that he wasn't going to be participating in any battles."

"That's because he doesn't need to. Our battle personnel is even more impressive!" Kim Hee-cho said as he pointed at Adam. "Did you see the werewolf that he transformed? Do you think that clown would stand a chance against him? There's no chance! The power of a werewolf has already been portrayed in countless movies. With him on the job, there won't be any issues."

In reality, Adam was more powerful than Kim Hee-cho had anticipated.

In contrast with the average person, he was an agent in an area that specifically dealt with psychotherapists and divinators, so he came into contact with adapters far more frequently.

Thus, he knew that it was extremely rare for someone of Adam's age to possess this level of power and skill.

Furthermore, he was aware of the different classes of adapters, and it seemed to him like Adam was an invocator, but he was capable of fusing as one with the entities that he invoked, and that was exceedingly rare. In fact, Kim Hee-cho had heard that only extremely skilled adapters were able to accomplish this, so this was obviously a massively pleasant surprise.

This was also the reason why Kim Hee-cho had decided to raise the price.

"All you need to give us is another 300,000, and we'll take care of everything for you. What do you think?"

"300,000!?" Karen almost jumped up from her chair upon hearing this. "This is extortion! I don't have that much money!"

"I can help you take out a loan. You're in a very high-earning line of work, so you should be able to take out a loan of this sum."

"No, I can't, I've already taken out the maximum sum I can on loan," Karen replied with a shake of her head. "I've used up all of my credit points for this apartment and my loans."

"In that case, you can mortgage your house to me," Kim Hee-cho said, unwilling to make any concessions.

At this point, Chloe had already woken up, and Karen turned to her with a conflicted expression.

Chloe's face was bright red with chagrin and embarrassment as she recalled the truth that she had concealed this entire time. She was an excessively prideful girl, and as a result, she was always demanding too much out of both her mother and herself.

Adam recalled from one of his lessons at Layton Academy that one's pride had a direct correlation with how aggressive one was.

Chloe's excessive pride led to her attacking her mother's occupation while also actively hiding her own sexual assault. There was no avenue through which she could vent her aggression, so she could only turn to abusing animals.

This was a very typical case commonly seen in psychology.

If her negative emotions continued to develop without being addressed, then the consequences would prove to be catastrophic.

Karen looked at her daughter, then swept a reluctant gaze around her apartment, as if she were being forced to choose between the two things that she cherished the most.

She was working as a stripper in order to live a better life, but now, she was being forced to choose between her daughter and the life that she had built.

After grappling with her internal conflict for a while, she made a decision.

"Alright, I'll give you the 300,000..."

"Hold on." Right at this moment, Adam rose to his feet. "How much money do you have right now?"

"A little over 120,000."

"Alright, I'll take the job for 120,000," Adam replied with a nod.