Chapter 245 – Tutorial 57th Floor (4)
Editor: Tide
“What are you doing?” I asked the tired-looking 1400, who was standing at the front door.
“Come in, treat it like it’s your own home,” I said casually.
“This- This is my home, though.”
It was quite a neat apartment. This world was similar to that of modern Earth, so the structure of the apartment seemed familiar.
By the way, he was pretty neat. I planned to clean up if the room was dirty, but that wasn’t necessary anymore.
“Sit here,” 1400 instructed.
I sat at the dining table, while he rummaged around in the kitchen cupboard and brought a plate filled with snacks and a bottle of liquor.
“Are you actually going to sleep here tonight?” 1400 questioned.
Seriously, how many times did I have to say it? I nodded in response.
“What about your home?”
“I don’t have one,” I said. No home.
1400 looked at me sympathetically and patted my shoulder.
“Work?” 1400 probed.
“I don’t work either.”
1400 sighed at my answer. “How can a B-grade man have no home or work? If you have the ability, you usually have a job and some money in your pocket. Ah, well, that’s true. Only if you have the ability.”
What did he say?
1400 quietly poured the sparkling wine into my gla.s.s. I took a look at the living room while sipping slowly, the smooth wine sliding down my throat.
All I could see were ordinary household objects. Among them, there was only one ambiguous object.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing to the thing.
“Game console.”
I got curious about this ‘game console’. It looked like a public phone booth that could fit three to four people. Were you supposed to go in there?
“Do you want to try it?”
* * * * * *
“It’s been four days already. One more round?” I asked.
“You’re crazy.”
Game consoles were like those standard FPS games in arcades. It just happened to be a little more advanced than that of Earth’s. There was only about half a generation’s difference. Perhaps if I stayed on Earth longer, Earth would’ve become more similar to this world. The only difference would be that they use various kinds of superpowers instead of guns, but in my opinion, that wasn’t very unique.
Anyway, the games were fun. I asked 1,400 for some basic rules and played a little bit in single mode.
After gaining some confidence, I suggested betting. “Wanna make a bet?”
1400 initially declined the bet; perhaps he was worried I would lose.
“Scared?” I taunted. 1400 immediately accepted the bet.
The bet was a good idea; I could stay at 1400’s house an extra day for every game that I won.
1400 said it was a ridiculous condition, but I was able to win four games and secure four days at his house.
[You’re really good at this. Anyone would think that you’re taking advantage of him.] Ahb.o.o.boo said.
Taking advantage? It wasn’t called taking advantage when the other party agreed to play along.
“Hey. Let’s play another round,” I said and restarted the game.
After playing for a few times, I got used to controls. Now, I think I could win even with a few disabilities.
“No, I refuse to play anymore!” 1400 yelled.
“Oh, ho. I got the kill. Is it already my fifth win?”
Miraculously, I secured a five-day stay. 1400 grumbled as he came out of the game booth, lying on the couch in the living room.
“How crazy. Is this really your first time?!”
Even though he complained, he didn’t revoke my five-day stay. Was he going to doubt me because I won the game? Apologies if your pride got hurt.
It was always better to play the game seriously. If you still want to be kind, you can repay the loser with some grat.i.tude. If you become too meek, those who like taking advantage of pushovers will stick to you like a leech. Fortunately, 1400 was not that much of a pushover.
“You said you didn’t have a job earlier, right?” 1400 asked.
“Yes.”
“Then, would you like to work with me?” 1400 asked if I had any thoughts of working at his workplace. After all, staying at his home would require me to pay rent.
“Of course, I’ll pay accommodation fees.”
The condition for clearing the 57th-floor stage was death, which likely meant to collect as much information as possible before I die.
I thought of the black sphere, the hovering asteroid, the superhuman sealed inside, and the plan that was drawn up to rescue that superhuman. However, there was nothing I could do until the operation began.
“What are we supposed to do there?” I asked.
“It’s the same as what I told you about earlier. Come forward when people need help. Usually, we mediate conflicts between superpowers or stand guard at a crime scene. Sometimes, we guard or track criminals down. Oh, I don’t stakeout since it takes a long time.”
“Okay.”
There was no reason to be displeased with this work. The more the people who got involved, the easier it would be to get information about this place.
[I think it’s okay for me too.] Ahb.o.o.boo belatedly expressed his consent.
1400 left the house to make a quick run to the store. While drinking wine, I leaned back on the sofa, enjoying its slightly rough, yet comforting texture against my skin. At this sight, Ahb.o.o.boo said, [You’re walking around like it’s your own house.]
“He said I could stay here. That makes it my home too.”
[What kind of logic is that?] Ahb.o.o.boo questioned disdainfully.
* * * * * *
“You didn’t sleep?”
“I did. I just woke up, though.”
When 1400 returned, I was playing a game in the living room. Although I felt comfortable, I couldn’t fall asleep quickly. The feeling of unease I always had when on a stage refused to secede. The addictive game console didn’t do much to help my insomnia, either.
After breakfast with 1400, I finished getting ready for work and dressed in a uniform that 1400 had lent to me. The outfit consisted of a large vest, but the front of the garment was rather hard. I wondered how long it would be able to withstand the brute force of supernatural powers.
When I asked 1400, he replied, “Of course, it can’t bear the destructive force of superpowers. If someone grade C or higher decides to attack you, the vest isn’t going to do anything. But it’s better than walking around with nothing. It’s light, too, so it shouldn’t be too troublesome to carry around.”
I muttered, “I see.”
After I finished preparing, I lazed around on the sofa and asked 1400 if he wanted to play games, but he said he didn’t play games during working hours. Oh, my G.o.d. He’s so uptight even at his own home; he was tougher than I thought. In the end, I dazedly held a gla.s.s of water and sipped it occasionally.
An hour or two later, the device in 1400’s pocket rang. Checking the device, he said, “We have a dispatch request. Let’s go.”
Finally! The moment I had been waiting for. 1400 said his job was to resolve disputes between superhumans, and I was looking forward to seeing what kind of superhumans would be fighting.
* * * * * *
“You son of a b*tch!”
“F*ck you!”
I want to go home and play games was the first thought that came to my mind as soon as I saw the children shouting and swearing at each other.
The request had come from an ordinary school, so I had been very excited when I heard about this location.
What had happened at that school? Did a superhuman run away to a school with children and take hostages during a battle? Or was the battle area just near this school? Even though I entered the school with a pounding heart, I soon let out a sigh in disappointment.
Two young children were fighting against each other. One of them had a blue eye, and the first one’s face seemed to have been punched. If each other’s superpowers were used, they shouldn’t be bruised, but have their heads blown off instead.
“Both are energy-related. I’m in trouble,” 1400, who was standing next to me, murmured.
I asked why he was in trouble. 1400 explained patiently. “When their powers collide with each other, it’ll cause an explosion.”
“What’s the extent of the explosion?”
“The upper floor, lower floor, and half of this floor will certainly be blown away.”
That was a wide range. In that case, the school would have to be shut down. There would be a hefty amount of reconstruction if the building were to blow up.
Nearby, teachers were quietly evacuating students, and it looked like they were trying not to provoke the two superhuman students who were fighting. Several teachers were clinging to them, trying to stop them somehow.
“Shut up before I blow you away, you b.i.t.c.h!” one of them growled in anger at a teacher.
He’s going a bit overboard with his language.
“Oh my,” I said monotonously. Young children cussing? What a shocker.
“There are only a few options. Wait until they’re exhausted. Or, if we’re lucky, they’ll make up by themselves.”
No matter how hard I looked, it didn’t seem like those rude children would make up, so I asked how to attack them.
“I take one, and you take one. Can you do it? I would have done it if it were just one person,” 1400 explained. “It’s dangerous to rush in hastily. Because I have no experience, I may fail to control my powers, and if I do, it will cause a ma.s.sive accident.”
Oh, Lord. Two rude children were fighting, and it caused such a huge problem. This situation was a side effect in the world where superpowers were randomly given. Many young people had high power.
Most of us improved our abilities with gruesome effort, but some were naturally born with G.o.d-like powers. And such skills were considered priceless. Outside of this world, there had never been an instance where unqualified children were given abilities.
In many ways, this was a bizarre world.
While I was thinking, 1400 went to talk to them, and upon seeing 1400, the children stopped fighting. Was it because of the B-grade embedded in his uniform? I had a feeling that was the case.
The reason the children seemed to shrink away in front of 1400 was because he was both superhuman and a B-grade.
Both of them were intimidated. That alone made things much better, but even then, the situation did not settle down.
[This place is amusing.] Ahb.o.o.boo commented.
“Yea,” I agreed.
[I still think it’s a little unfair though.] He said quietly, talking about the way people got superpowers randomly. [That easy-to-get power in all of them feels a little strange.]
“You’re appalled by it, aren’t you?”
[Yes.] Ahb.o.o.boo and Seregia answered in unison. Seregia, who usually remained silent, answered the same.
The two were from the same world, a world full of criminals who transcended law enforcement using brute force. Civil wars were rampant among humans, and whenever there was a moment of peace, someone would manage to stir up trouble.
For Ahb.o.o.boo and Seregia, strength was precious, and it was only natural to pursue it through hours of training. I could understand because I knew their greed for power and their fierceness.
While I was talking to Ahb.o.o.boo and Seregia, things took a new turn.
“Do you know who my father is?!”
Ah, I had seen this a lot in Earth dramas. I no longer felt the need to listen to the children’s whining. I formed a transparent ball of energy behind the necks of the children and proceeded to hit them on the back of their necks with it.
The children fainted, and their superpowers naturally dispersed as they lost consciousness. I was prepared to dissipate their powers by force, but it was a waste of effort.
1400 looked at me in bewilderment. The teachers looked at me curiously as well.
I decided to answer their questions about what happened. “Invisible frog.”
I summoned the frog from the ring.
“Kea-ek!” As soon as the frog was summoned, it croaked cheerfully.
Tutorial 57th Floor (4) Finished