Chapter 6 : Into the Unknown

“Hey, do we really have to do this?”The young man with white hair turned to look at the girl who was about half a head shorter than him. He was lanky, wearing a loose white t-shirt. The girl beside him had jet-black hair, intelligent blue eyes, and distinctive pointed ears. She wore a fitted black shirt that complemented her figure. They were none other than Kamiyama Rin and Annie Cross, two polar opposites.“What, you planning to live off air this month?”Rin turned his head back. Before him stood a massive stone gate, three or four times larger than Annie, adorned with intricate mythological carvings that glowed with an eerie yet captivating blue light, like a sweet trap luring them into hell.Rin’s face stiffened at the sight of this cursed thing. He didn’t like it one bit, but he had no choice.“It’s definitely for the money and survival, not for some grand passion or noble ideal,” he thought to himself, the words echoing in his mind.It all started a few hours earlier…“Hey! Have you paid the electricity bill yet?”Annie’s voice echoed from the kitchen. The spicy aroma of curry wafted through the house, overpowering the scent of the barley tea the lazy guy had just brewed.On the other side of the house, Kamiyama Rin sprawled across a gray sofa like a corpse. One hand rested on his forehead, the other lazily clicking the remote to find a video he wanted to watch. He yawned widely and responded sluggishly.“No need to worry, those old geezers cover our living expenses here.”“You sure about that…?”“If I’m wrong, I’ll just sell this house. Problem solved.”“Talk is cheap…” Annie muttered under her breath.DingA notification sounded from the phone on Rin’s table, a familiar chime he could instantly place.“What does that damn organization want now?”Grumbling, he grabbed the phone to check the message, expecting it to be from BONES. But it wasn’t. It was from the landlord he’d never met. After reading it, Rin’s face turned pale.“A few days left to pay the rent. Don’t forget to include electricity, water, and internet bills.” The message was followed by a detailed breakdown of the costs.“Huh? Who’s that from?”Annie emerged from the kitchen, carrying two steaming plates of curry that filled the room with their rich aroma.“Oh, uh… nothing… it’s nothing.”Caught off guard, Rin reacted like a thief caught in the act. He quickly turned off his phone, jumped up, and rushed to help Annie set the plates on the table.“Uh… really, it’s nothing…”“N-Nothing, I swear! Come on, let’s eat.”DingThe phone chimed loudly again, its screen lighting up with a message so glaring that Annie swiftly grabbed it.“You’ve got three days before you’re evicted.”“Rent: 150,000 yen.”Rin winced.“Electricity: 100,000 yen.”Rin’s face darkened.“Water: 50,000 yen.”Rin covered his face.“Internet: 150,000 yen.”Rin collapsed onto the table.“T-Total… 450,000 yen…”Annie’s voice trembled as she read each line, each number stabbing like a dagger into the heart of a broke student like her. In her entire life, she had never seen such a massive sum. She turned to Rin with a murderous glare, a stark contrast to her usual gentle demeanor.Rin’s expression didn’t change—not because he was calm, but because he was already half-dead from the second line. The weight of it was enough to make his heart want to flee.“Three… three days… Alright, guess I’ll sell the house quick then…”Rin forced a weak laugh, trying to deflect.“Maybe… maybe the old man sent the wrong message. I didn’t use that much—”Ding“Make sure to pay on time, Annie, Rin.”The next message was like a final verdict, sealing Rin’s fate and cutting off his lies. With no other options, he reluctantly opened the organization’s exclusive app to find a job. What he found was a task in the very place he’d left behind—Old Trork City.Back to the present. As Rin stood frozen before the colossal gate, his mind swirled with chaotic thoughts, wondering,“Did I take on the right mission?”Or perhaps,“Did I come to the wrong place?”Meanwhile, Annie didn’t hesitate. She stepped forward, her hand ready to touch the glowing gate without a hint of doubt.“Hey…” Rin suddenly spoke, causing Annie to pause and turn back.“What’s up?”“Uh… do we really have to do this? This thing looks more like a trap from some movie…”“And how else are we going to pay the landlord?”Annie crossed her arms, her sparkling blue eyes staring intently at Rin, making him feel inexplicably guilty despite doing nothing wrong.“This is the highest-paying job we could find. Go ahead, check the rank D or C missions—any of them pay better? Or are you planning to grind small-time jobs for three days straight, no sleep, and still not even cover half?”“Well… yeah, this is the highest-paying one…”Rin sighed, unable to argue, and followed Annie as she pushed the gate open. Despite its imposing appearance, the stone doors were surprisingly light. With just a bit of effort from someone like Annie, who exercised regularly, they opened easily.The chilling sound of stone grinding against stone was heavy and faintly eerie, sending a shiver down Rin’s spine. His hair stood on end, and he instinctively swallowed hard.Whoosh… whoosh…Cough, coughA thick layer of dust mixed with icy mist poured out, making them both cough violently. The surreal space before them gradually came into view.Before them lay a path paved with ancient, cracked, dust-covered bricks, seemingly centuries old, stretching deep into the darkness. The air was thick, damp, and carried a familiar metallic tang.“This path… it’s probably a different dimension…”Annie said, her eyes carefully scanning the darkness ahead. Her confidence wasn’t baseless—she had circled the gate at least five times before entering and was certain that what they saw was just a thick wall, not this dark passageway.Rin, still dazed, said dryly, “Oh, it kinda looks like the gate of that blue fox I watched as a kid.” With that, he and Annie stepped forward.As they ventured deeper into this eerie place, the stench of blood and rusted metal grew stronger, as if it wanted to swallow whole anyone foolish enough to enter.Rin frowned. He had expected this place to be bad, but he hadn’t anticipated the smell being this overpowering. Annie, meanwhile, had already covered her nose and mouth, her brows furrowed as if she wanted to leave immediately.“It’s only been a few weeks, how can it smell this bad?”Rin complained helplessly. Driven by financial pressure and the promise of a hefty reward, he and the broke student beside him pressed on.Clack… clack…The dry sound of their footsteps echoed in the cold corridor. They didn’t know how long they’d been walking; the darkness seemed to erase the concept of time. The only thing guiding them was the light from Annie’s flashlight.Layers of white mist enveloped them, growing thicker the deeper they went. But as the mist finally cleared, they found themselves in a different place—a snowy landscape with scattered pine trees and a ground blanketed in white.“What the hell!?”Rin’s eyes widened, his mouth agape. He couldn’t believe the scene before him. Just moments ago, they were in a pitch-black space, and now they stood on snow-covered ground.“W-Wait!”Annie spun around while Rin was still in shock, and what she saw made them both panic. The path… was gone. Behind them was nothing but a flat, reddish-brown wall.“The path… it’s gone…”Annie’s quiet words hit them like a cold gust—not strong enough to destroy anything, but enough to extinguish the spark of hope in their hearts.“Hey… don’t scare me like that… it’s probably just a hidden path, right?”Though his face was already pale, Rin tried to lighten the mood. He took a few steps back, took a deep breath, and charged at the wall with all his might.“It’s gotta be an illusion, right? No, it’s definitely an illusion! If I run into it like this, it’ll open! That’s how it works!”Muttering to himself, he clung to the hope that he could still dodge this mission. But…Crash!The pristine snow was now speckled with drops of bright red blood. Rin collapsed onto the thick snow, blood streaming from his nose like twin rivers, the metallic taste filling his mouth.“It’s really gone…”“Hey! Are you okay!?”Annie rushed over, kneeling to check Rin’s face. His nose was swollen and red, tilted to one side like a crushed tomato. She couldn’t help but stifle a laugh at the sight.“Annie! Get the medicine!”“Oh, right… I forgot…”Trying to suppress her laughter, she rummaged through her bag for the cheap healing potion they, as broke adventurers, often used.“Here it is.”She pulled out a small glass vial filled with a vibrant emerald liquid, containing low-grade Arkion crystals and herbal fragments. Annie uncorked it and poured a bit onto Rin’s nose.“Arghhh! It hurts! It hurts so bad! I’m gonna die!”Rin’s screams echoed through the silent snowy forest. The pain was excruciating, like surgery without anesthesia. It wasn’t just his nose—the burning sensation spread through every cell in his body.But true to its name as a “healing potion,” it worked. His nose recovered to about 85% of its original state, though the bridge was still slightly flattened, and one nostril remained a bit crooked.The more Annie looked, the funnier it seemed. Rin, both angry and embarrassed, quickly covered his face.“What are you laughing at!? It’s just a small technical error!”His voice came out muffled, partly blocked by the “wall” of his hand.“No… I didn’t mean to laugh… but, honestly… you look hilarious right now!” Annie said, barely containing her giggles.