Ep. 6 — Chapter 23: Safety (2)

Leon nodded his head with a happy expression, putting a piece of bread in his mouth. He barely finished chewing and spoke to me, "Yes, of course! Wait, no, I don't mind. But before that…" he pointed at me, looking down and back up with an awkward grin. "Let's get some clothes for you, Sir Rayes."

Hm? Ah, yes. Apparently someone had stripped me of my clothes. "Who…"

"Oh that's me. Uh, your clothes were ripped up and messed up so I changed you out of it. I made sure no one else saw, so don't worry." Leon clarified, seemingly innocent with his way of explaining things. And he was more worried about me being changed by random people than the fact that he stripped me. I was still wondering what goes on in his mind at times. Either way, I was glad he went so far to help me. Again.

Leon quickly moved past me and to the small wardrobe in the room, searching through its variety of clothing choices. There were so much, that I wondered if they belonged to someone else in this safehouse. Also, who set this place up in the first place?

And the fact that Leon mentioned that it's 'official'. You could do that?

Leon came back with a set of clothes and pushed me out of the room and into the bathroom across the hall, slamming the door shut behind me. I was a bit too surprised to act, but decided to lock the bathroom door after me.

I turned to the mirror above the sink and stared at myself in the mirror. It was me. Rayes Kim, staring back at myself. The same familiar face and the arches, and the stubbles appeared from my chin and the sides of my face. And there was even a fresh scar. A small one, just along my jawline. My hair is a dishevelled mess, sticking out all over. Just by a glance, anyone could guess that I was probably some sort of beggar. And although I am on the poorer side, I'm not a beggar.

So many things have happened, and here I am. Still alive, surviving this hell on earth. It really came as a surprise now, as I was never the lucky type. I'd say the only good luck I've had in the past few years was landing a job at the cafe-slash-bookstore. And the fact that I haven't been fired yet. Ah, and the game.

I started to wonder if me getting the game was really a lucky thing or not. No, it definitely was. Had it not been for that game, I would never have survived those first few rounds. And this Game was only the beginning.

"Leon?" I don't know why I thought he would be waiting outside the door, but both to my surprise and unsurprisingly, he replied almost instantly.

"Yes? Do you need something?"

"...Why are you waiting?"

"That…I, uh, I was waiting for you. Just in case you finish and get lost in this place…?"

It came out as more of a question than a statement. I suppose I can't really hate him at all. The pure innocence in his character is most definitely something that would only exist in the heroes of stories. And, in a way, he is my hero in this story. Several times.

Sometimes, I felt as if this world was programmed. Though it probably is, since that bull-monster creature talked about the system as if it was alive or conscious.

Wait, I should probably check my stats now. Just how much did I level up after completing the main quest?

—

Rayes Kim ≪Level 23≫ [#100]

Race: Human

Class: [Undecided]

Rank: D+

Title: [None]

Attributes: [Lucky Number 100! (Lv. 1)], [Lives More Precious than the Rest (Lv. 2)]

Stats: [Strength (Lv. 25)], [Agility (Lv. 25)], [Durability (Lv. 25)], [Mentality (Lv. 19)], [Magic (Lv. 5)]

Skills: [Basic Martial Arts (Lv. 8)], [Lightweight (Lv. 6)], [Chain Mastery (Lv. 11)], [Inhuman Interpretation (Lv. 2)]

Abilities: [None]

—

There was still an empty section in my profile. Abilities. I had some Abilities whilst playing the game, most of which were fire-type, since my attribute was fire. In fact, the profile doesn't showcase my element attribute either. I only stared at the words 'None' on the screen that listed my Abilities. I suppose it is soon time for me to acquire my first Ability. And there's also 'that'…

I took off my underwear and hopped in the shower. "Leon, don't wait out there. I'm going to take a while."

Who knows how long he'd wait if I never said anything. Though, I received no answer from him. He probably had already left after I questioned him the first time. I turned on the water and placed my hair under the running water. It's cold. It's been a few days since I last bathed, or even cleaned myself up in any way, to be honest. Once the water warmed up a bit, I stepped into the shower and allowed the warmth to hit my back, running down my entire body. I brushed back my hair with my spread fingers, allowing the water to run through it. The feeling was refreshing, and also soothing that I felt dozy, even though I had just woken up.

I just stood in the shower as the water hit my body and dripped down to my feet, and into the drains. I watched as the water raced down my feet, falling to the side and trying to catch the ones that manage to get to the end of my toes and dripping off there, into the drains. My head raised up a bit and I looked around to find some sort of shampoo or soap. There were none. But for now, I was content with this much, at least.

After some time in the shower, I stepped out, dressed in the outfit provided by Leon. They fit me, just a bit bigger, so it would sag down my shoulders. The air outside of the bathroom was cold, so I shivered slightly from the sudden change in temperature. I looked around. A hallway led to another part of the safehouse, and there's the room. I suppose I should get back to the room so I don't get lost, according to Leon. How big is this place anyway?

Before I got through the doorway, Leon emerged from the end of the hallway and called out to me in his usual enthusiastic tone of speech. I turned to him and he waved me over.

"This way. There are more people to meet."

Damn. I really don't want to meet people. But Leon was already dragging me away by then, and I soon reached another part of the safehouse. A bar counter was to the right side, and several couches were lined up against the wall, with a table in the middle. A TV was mounted on the wall, and several people were sitting around, chatting and watching the TV. I had expected there to be more people, but there didn't seem to be more than around six other people besides me and Leon. One of them were behind the counter, a blonde haired woman.

She first noticed us and waved at Leon, before turning to me with a gentle smile. She wiped her hands with a cloth and walked towards us, leaning on the counter. "Is this the one?"

"Yes, this is Si–Rayes. And Sir Rayes, this is Alicia." Leon introduced us to each other.

"Sir?"

Ah, shit.

"Oh, it's because he's older than me."

"Uh-huh…? Well, aren't you a respectful one?" The woman named Alicia giggled playfully before extending her hand. "Pleasure to meet you. We might not be able to give you everything, but we hope your stay here will be as comfortable as possible, until the next assignment."

"Likewise."

"Miss Alicia is actually in her 30's despite how young she looks."

"Hey, don't you know it's rude to talk about a woman's age?" Alicia snapped and pinched Leon's cheek before turning to me. "How are your injuries?"

Maybe she's the one who placed the ice packs on me and patched me up. I nodded my head at her and traced my fingers along the bruises on my body, "I think they'll be fine soon. Thank you for doing all of that."

"Don't thank me. That's what this place is for."

By that time, Leon had propped his butt on the counter and sat down, taking a sip of the glass of water beside him. I followed after and sat on the stools lined up along the counter. Alicia poured me a glass of water and placed it in front of me, walking out from behind the bar and sitting next to us.

"We call this place, ≪Shell≫. Because of its protective outer layer, casted by the boss's Ability. It's a safehouse that was just made officially recognised by the system, a few weeks ago."

"A few weeks ago?" Leon took the questions right out of my mouth. Alicia eyed the both of us and nodded her head, and I added in as well. "The Game had just begun less than a week ago…are you…?"

I thought that she might be a character from the game. But it was weird that I have never heard about her or this ≪Shell≫ place.

"That might be true for you two. Actually, there is something peculiar about the timing of the entrance of this Game." Alicia told us, and I stopped sipping the glass of water and placed it down, looking at her with more seriousness. Leon seemed to be interested in the conversation as well.

"We all know that the cube appeared at the same time, on that night. September 4th at 12:00 a.m. However, it appears that people in different areas of the world enter into the Game at different times. So what may feel like a second to you, the ones that already entered the Game before the two of you might have been in this place for weeks, or even years before you two entered."

I was at a loss for words. It was like that? Leon and I made eye contact, an ominous feeling creeping up in me. I believe it did for him as well. Alicia got up,

"Some of those guys have been here for a few weeks, and one just came three days ago. Well, we found him three days ago. But I've been here for a few months now. It's only a bit until one year. Of course, I can't really tell that. The concept of time gets really confusing when talking about when people entered into the Game."

I got the gist of what she was saying now. Meaning, some people have more experience than others. Which might explain why that man from before was as skilled as he was and knew so much about this place, even the boss's attack pattern.

"You two should get acquainted with everyone else here." Alicia said, pointing to the other guys and walking over. "Come on, I'll introduce you."

I really hate this part.

We walked over to the rest of the people and they all turned to us. The first one to speak was a rather short guy, a big sword on his back and a large white scarf wrapped around his neck, reaching down to his knees. He was of dark complexion. "Oh, you're Rayes, right?"

"Hello there."

"Welcome to ≪Shell≫."

Several greetings came from different people. We managed to exchange names and even current levels, and they began telling their stories of how they got here. Apparently, the one with the scarf, Ali Hakeem, was the first amongst them to arrive. Of course, not counting Alicia. He was brought by the boss himself.

There was also Owen. Tall but a silent individual, and the twins, Kel and Ciel. They all looked like game characters, with their weapons and getup. I suddenly felt like the black sheep, until seeing how Leon and them got along. Maybe they could be of help later.

"Ah, there's also two more newcomers. They haven't regained consciousness it seems." Alicia mumbled. "A young lady and a child. We found them collapsed earlier. Just a day before you two arrived."

A young woman and a child.