Chapter:14
Clink!
"Cheers!" four of the members of the squad yelled and clashed the glass mugs.
And started to drink the foamy golden liquid from it.
Gulp. Gulp.
Right now Leo's squad was at the Rustic Woods Bars at Stage 4.
The bar is run by a man named Jamal Crawford.
They used to be a bartender and learnt some basic cooking here from Tom.
Before opening a small bar at Stage 4.
"Ah…" Han Ji let out a sigh placed his half-emptied mug on the table and tried to grab the grills placed in front of him.
"Han Ji!" Bella yelled.
"Huh?" He exclaimed at the sudden mention of his name.
"Thanks a lot!" She exclaimed as she placed the huge mug in front of the bartender motioning for a refill.
[A/N: the author here is not a drinker, so has no idea how these things work and will just go with his experience of watching this stuff in movies and anime.]
"Eh? For what?"
"C'mon don't act like a fool! If you didn't let that Plague Elf make the noise we would have just escaped and missed out on such a huge jackpot!"
She said and grabbed the mug and started to drink more.
Han Ji looked at her with an even more confused expression.
He would have expected them to get mad at him and wouldn't have minded an hour's worth of lecture from these guys for not being careful but pain not in a million years.
'Um… is she going to ignore the fact that we all and especially I almost got killed?'
"No printers, only fax!" DRC replied while
rating his mug.
'What the? This guy too? wasn't he the one who got chased by the whole d*mn horde?'
Han Ji was trying his best to not spit the drink out, here he almost got killed by a hound this guy got chased by a whole d*mn horde and now they are acting as if nothing happened.
"Hey, don't thank him." It was Leo's voice.
Even though Han Ji didn't want to hear it, he was at least thankful that the leader was that one here and was going to criticize him.
'At least the leader here is alright up there.'
"It wasn't just him, Chad was the one to step on the tail of the creature he deserves the credit to!"
'What did he say?'
Han Ji almost thought he'll fall off the bench.
'Ok…not even the leader here is sane, I know I should not think like this towards these guys here who saved my life but…. I can't help.'
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Bella said.
"Oh yeah! Thanks to you too! Chad!" It was DRC.
They all motioned their mugs towards Chad like an imaginary toast.
Han Ji turned towards Chad, too.
He narrowed his eyes to slit, which wasn't hard for an Asian.
'I hope he's not like others at least?'
Chad just returned the gesture with a similar motion with his mug and with a smile on his face that almost said he only cares about alcohol.
'I mean his Russian, what can I expect…'
Han Ji's brain now imagined Chad holding a bottle of vodka, wearing a winter hat, and riding a grizzly bear in the snow.
He immediately shook his thoughts away.
'And I am the one who talks about hating to be racially stereotyped.'
"Hey, Han Ji," Leo asked.
"You know, here if we have to escape some taxes as individuals there is one way to do it."
Leo said with a not-so-evil smirk.
When Han Ji, heard that his ears perked up
There will not be a single individual out there who would not want to get rid of taxes.
"How?"
"Well you see here Tracer can come together and form an organisation, by swearing brotherhood and making a clan, that has a requirement of 5 people at the least"
Han Ji already knew what he was about to say now.
"So you're going to make a clan and want me to join you guys?"
Leo was about to say but then stopped and looked at Han Ji's face with a blank expression.
"Precisely… So would you like to be a member of the 'All-Stars' Clan?" Leo asked and sipped his drink.
Han Ji who was also drinking choked on his drink.
Cough.Cough.Cough.
"Cough… what type of a name is that cough.."
"Yo? Yo? Yo?" DRC yelled.
Han Ji turned around to look at the angry Indian guy with a scowl, alongside the furious Italian girl.
"What do you mean by that Asian boy?! I and this guy here are the ones who came up with that name!"
Bella yelled while pointing at DRC.
When Han Ji heard that, his blood ran cold, he knew for a fact that these two were the most important figures in the team and one of them was the girl who wouldn't mind cutting off his head.
'Sh*t shouldn't have said that!'
"Wha- what did I say, all I said was, 'What a name is that! So cool!'."He forced a smile but it was clear that it was fake. Moreover, he has cold sweats running down his face.
The duo of the boy and the girl approached him slowly, setting their mugs back on the table.
The bar owner just took a look at the duo and the only thing that came to his mind while looking at them, while walking was…
Menacing.
He pulled out his walkie-talkie and informed the bouncer, "Hey…watch out for these two here… they might do something not so good if we don't pay attention."
"Hah?!" DRC exclaimed while placing his arm around Han Ji's neck.
"You think we are stupid buddy?!"
Bella yelled.
Both of them had a cynical smile that can make a kid p*ss his pants with a single glance. Their eyes were burning with the fire of rage.
It almost felt like it was Han Ji's uncontrollable imagination, or there was an aura of darkness leaking from these guys.
"He-he…" He let out a nervous chuckle.
While Bella cracked her knuckles and DRC tapped his toes on the ground stretching his ankles.
'I am doomed..'
"Aaaah!!"
His scream was heard followed by sounds of several punches, kicks and thrashes.
Leo just sweat dropped sitting there feeling sorry for Han Ji and continued to drink from his mug.
'mon Dieu…'
He thought and turned away while bringing the mug closer to his lips.
"Ba Dum Tss."
***
"So here dude check this out!"
DRC said and handed him the same tracer's jacket but there was a slight difference between them; the silver star logo on the shoulder and left side of the chest.
It was a pretty stylish vector-designed star and had an 'S' mark on one of the strokes.
[A/N: You guys can check my Instagram where I have posted the Original Logo of the All-Stars Clan, designed by me obviously.]
That Silver star made the jackets cooler than the already were.
"Our Clan's custom uniforms, designed by me!" Leo commented from behind.
'I mean it's the same but the logo just adds the cherry on top.'
"And that's our Clans logo" DRC added.
And then Bella came from behind and showed him a black gas mask with silver straps with the same logo printed on the canisters.
He looked at the mask, with a raised brow.
'They even got custom masks?'
"These are our custom masks!" She said with a huge smile.
For the first time when Han Ji looked at her, he didn't feel like she was the type of girl who might shoot someone's face
'Well someone did say no one is completely dressed without a smile.'
"I figured it out the moment you showed it to me."
He commented.
"Hey dude I need you to pay attention, I need you to do this now!" DRC replied with an excited tone.
"Huh?" Han Ji exclaimed.
"Follow me now."
DRC raised his right fist and then raised his thumb, index finger and pinky finger.
"Do this."
He added.
Han Ji followed whatever DRC did.
Then DRC made the same sign with his left hand and placed it behind his right one and crossed his left hand's ring and middle finger on the palm of his right hand.
Making a shape that resembled a star.
Han Ji was now surprised.
'These guys even had hand signs?!'
Since Han Ji used to live in America he wasn't unfamiliar with hip-hop and gangs.
And their cultures he might not know everything about them but what he has heard is from here and there.
He knows that in America there are many gangs and they have their outfits and hand signs, which are their symbols.
And now he was joining a Clan here which follows the same things.
"Yo, is that something like–?"
"A gang sign?" Leo said with a huge grin.
"Yes! It is!" Bella added.
"Yeah! Since you were raised in America, it was expected of you to know about these!" DRC added.
"So…? The Clans here are just the same as the gangs back in our world?"
"Well, yeah and no, till a few years Clans were nothing but just several people working together, first just names the only symbols of the clans.." Leo said.
"..Later on, a Clan called The Blood Dragons decided to make their jackets, masks and Hand Signs, and then it all became popular, even big Clans like the Raiders and Quiddity Slayers followed it too. "
He added.
"Oh, do we have some dance moves too?" DRC asked.
"Ah, I think we should!"
"Oh yeah!" She yelled with a smile.
"Hell yeah, I'll think of some dance moves."
***
Han Ji sat back in his room alone back at Stage 1 and took out his notebook from the backpack and started to write.
'It was a long day.'
[Journal Entry:6]
[So, where should I start….last night I missed the chance to write an entry due to the hangover from the party and also since DRC and Bella knocked me out…]
Still remembering the punches and kicks he received gave him pain.
[..And now I signed in as a member of the 'All-Stars' Clan where I have a uniform to follow, so we get some privileges called 'Guild Discount' and special guild IDs and drawbacks we can't deny requests for working on an Official Raid, which are Raids, organised by The L.A.B. but those raids are pretty rare and it all is worth it for a discount of 40% off on everything, I like the idea of Hand Signs though and the Hand Sign DRC came up with is pretty dope just like the logo Leo designed and since now I am also a member of the same Clan as them, I can officially say that I am one of them now.]
Han Ji took a moment to read the journal entry.
'Hmm, Pretty good.'
He thought and closed the notebook and placed it in the backpack.
He soon crashed on the mattress and went to sleep.
***
It's been a few days since the All-Stars got the big money as a reward and they all have been living back on Stage:1.
Leo and Chad improved the interior of the 'All-Stars' Clan's office.
Better table and chairs, a separate room with beds so they don't have to sneak back into their houses after late-night meetings,
Since after lockdown you can get a penalty for being out of bed.
They have added some more foods to the pantry like jam buns, cookies, biscuits, and cream rolls.
And they have a huge amount of Milk O' Fortune too now.
It's soybean-based milk made on Stage 4 by a research department of The L.A.B.
And is sold throughout the Stages of Labyrinth by L.I.T.S.
It's not that expensive but it's almost a product that does not need to be bought in bulk since it's specifically made for people allergic to nuts.
But since Leo's best friend, DRC insisted it could not be helped.
And some more stuff.
Right now they were having breakfast at the Diner.
"Huh? So your father left you, your girlfriend left you and you live away from your mother?!" Leo exclaimed.
Han Ji just gave him a slight nod.
All three looked at him with a sorrow full faces and raised eyebrows.
"So…No father?"Leo started
"No mother?"It was Bella.
"No B*tches?" That was DRC.
Han Ji dropped his spoon into the bowl.
He looked at them with an annoyed expression.
He already knew that it was a name reference.
"I hate you all…" he muttered under his breath.
"Pffft!"
"Ksahaha!"
"Ahaha!"
Three of them laughed at him.
Their laughter was heard through the restaurant.
Other customers cringed at them or ignored them.
But suddenly the restaurant doors opened as a man in a black suit, wearing black sunglasses and an earpiece walked in.
He then walked towards a table where the All-Stars were having breakfast.
"Excuse me?" The man said in an emotionless tone with a straight face.
Leo, who noticed this man the moment he walked in, looked at him and formed a soft smile.
"Yes?"
"Are you Mr Leonard Cohen, the leader of
All-Stars Clan?"
Leo was about to reply but.
"Yes, that's the man you're looking for," DRC added.
Leo looked at him for a moment and turned back to the man.
"Whatever he said was true."
The man reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a Green ID card that had a familiar maze-like logo and text on it.
"I am Terrance Murphy, the Chairman of the Labyrinth Adventurers Bureau's Tracer Service Centre, may I have a word with you?"
When Leo heard that this guy belonged to The L.A.B and had himself left his office to meet him and have a word he knew what was about to happen.
"I am all ears."
"Mr Cohen, recently a new Semi-Stage was discovered at Stage:13…"
"Huh?"
"Heok!"
"...!"
"What the–!"
"Am I hearing the right thing?"
Everyone who heard that was surprised it was pretty uncommon for New Stages to get discovered and a Semi-Stage was even more uncommon.
Semi-Stages are stages between Stages.
For example,
Stage 0.2 is a Semi-Stage of Stage 0.
"I am here to request Aid from your Clan to help explore that Stage."