"I know that I’m not very friendly. In fact, I know that I have no friends. No..." I paused for a moment before correcting myself. "I do have a friend, and that’s Kyle."
I pursed my lips.
"...I know that I’m not the friendliest of guys, but am I that unlikable?"
I scrolled through my phone. There were no messages besides a few spam ones ing from some random phone numbers.
It was almost as if nobody even cared about my twenty-day disappearance.
"This is odd."
I didn’t really know how to feel.
Heartbroken, if anything.
"...."
Rubbing my brows and staring at my phone, I started to feel that there was something off about the current situation. While it was true that I was unpopular, given how Kyle was, I found it hard to believe that he would pletely forget about me.
’Something definitely happened while I was gone.’
...And that something had something to do with the weird system.
I pressed my lips together and looked at the door of the office.
Taking a step forward, I paused when I felt something in my pocket. Taking a moment to dig into it, I was surprised to pull out a fragment.
"Oh."
I stared at the sight in pleasant surprise.
"Right, the gate cleared. Of course, I’d receive fragments."
I dug into my pocket and retrieved several more fragments. By the time I was done, I had taken a total of five fragments, a couple looking extremely pure, while a few others were a little bit murkier.
’I wonder what the attribute for these is.’
I planned on testing it later. Just like the purity. I was a little disappointed to see that the purity wasn’t extremely pure for all of them. This suggested that I hadn’t cleared the gate perfectly.
This left me somewhat confused.
’I led everyone towards the exit. I pretty much did all the work. Realistically speaking, I should’ve gotten at least an ranked gate and the scenario. It was within an opera house, and recalling the note on the poster, something clicked in his mind.
"That must be it...!"
The Section Chief pressed his hand against the table and stood up. Staring at the empty wall, he turned to look at Clara.
"That right there is most likely the clue regarding the gate. The Jester’s..." The Section Chief paused, his expression turning strange as Clara wore a similar expression, drawing the same conclusion as him.
"He’s practicing."
"He’s training."
The two spoke at the same time.
The Section Chief sat back down on the chair as he mused over the situation.
"The Jester was using the gate as some sort of practice place for his uping performance. While I don’t understand why, one thing is clear."
The Section Chief tapped the table, and the lights turned off.
A flash sparked on the wall, and a video began to play.
Da Dang—!
What followed was a haunting, yet beautiful tune.
Listening to it, the Section Chief was certain.
"This right here is the key to clearing the gate."
His eyes sharpened as he listened to the tune. But before he even had the chance to get excited, Clara spoke, "While I do agree with you, Section Chief. I think there are other things that we need to worry about."
She pressed a small remote as a certain image appeared.
The Section Chief’s excitement faded rather quickly.
Instead, a certain gloom took over his expression as Clara’s next words forced the room into a biting cold.
"An anomaly belonging to a rising ranked gate managed to infiltrate our group and leave the gate. Right now, the anomaly is roaming somewhere. Most likely growing stronger by the day. What should we do about this?"
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