"Ugh."
'Why is it so bright in here? And why does it feel like I went through a blender?'
"It seems you've woken up, let me go get the doctor." A… nurse? Says that and walks away.
Scanning the room, I can see I'm in a hospital. 'How did I get here? No, how did I survive the drowning and blood loss?' I inspect my left arm only to find it in perfect condition. 'I know modern medicine is good and all, but this is too much.' While attempting to move it, I realize it feels like it was never broken in the first place. 'Did they get a healer to fix it? But to do it to this degree, they must've at least been C rank. No one would go that far for a porter.'
Interrupting my endless worries, a doctor and a woman in a suit enter the room. The woman is tall, with broad shoulders and a muscular look. 'Judging by her looks, she must be a fighting type hunter from the association.'
"Excuse me miss, would you mind giving me a minute. I need to do a final checkup now that the patient is awake."
When she hears the doctor say that she nods and closes the curtains for him. 'She's should be here for the investigation on the incident.' After I finish answering the doctor's questions, he stands up and leaves the room. Now only the lady and I remain.
"Hello, my name Natalie García. I work as an investigator for the Hunters Association," she says.
She then pulls out an ID from her jacket and shows it to me. 'A rank?! Well, makes sense. Linked dungeons are a big deal. Even if that wasn't enough, there's also the ruins. It's not uncommon for artifacts to appear in such areas…the ring!' I look at my right hand and see its missing. I panic.
"Uh- uhm. Excuse me ma'am," I stutter.
I then come to regret those words when I see her face contort into a frown.
"Do. Not. Call me ma'am. Understood?" She replies with anger.
"Ah! Yes, s- sir? I just wanted to ask some questions."
She looks at me like I'm the most stupid person she's ever met. After a moment of silence, she sighs and says,
"Alright, you just woke up and are probably confused. You can ask away."
"Thank you. What happened? How did you find me? Who healed me? Also, w- "
"Hold on! How do you expect me to answer if you keep talking?" She says, interrupting my barrage of questions.
"R- right, sorry." I grimace 'How pathetic, why does she intimidate me so much?'
"First, the hunters that claimed the dungeon came out running without clearing it. As per protocol, we asked them about the circumstances of their failure. They quickly mentioned how the E rank dungeon had somehow connected with an A rank one. The association scrambled to gather a second group, this time using 8 A rank hunters. During the group's run, they found you floating in some water. You somehow were still alive, and they pulled you out. Regarding the healing, you had no injuries when they found you. You've been asleep a couple of hours," she answers all of my questions.
'No injuries? Was it the ring's doing? Let me ask her about it.'
"Ah then, did you find anything in the ruins?" I ask.
"Find anything? You mean artifacts and such? No, the team found nothing but rubble. Some poor guy even had to dive in the filthy water they found you in. All that for nothing."
'If they didn't find it, who took it? Was it the person that pulled me out of the water?'
After my questions, the lady then proceeded to interrogate me on the events. I lied about how I ended up alone in the dungeon. If Alan and the rest found out I snitched, they would kill me. To hide the events surrounding the ring, I made it seem like I didn't regain consciousness until now. With the last part of my story ending in me falling to the water, the lady stopped asking questions. 'They cleared the dungeon; they didn't find anything, and no one died. Considering those facts, why would they care about an unlucky porter.'
Wrapping up the interview by giving me her card, Natalie left the room. Alone, I can finally rest, I made it out. 'Still, I can't help but regret losing the ring. It was from the king of the other dimension; it was probably very valuable. What was the other thing? Oh yeah, the bloodline. How could I forget that horrifying experience?' I inspect my body, trying to find something different with it, but to no avail.
When I try to sit up, my entire body complains with massive aches. Only then do I notice my exhaustion. 'Thought so…' Deciding I should get some rest; I get comfortable in my bed. Soon enough, sleep comes to me.
Next morning, I feel extremely refreshed. Once again, I try to sit up. This time, it's not my body that stops me. 'Tom!' A bundle of curly brown hair is on top of my hair, preventing me from moving. Sensing me worming about, Tom wakes up in a daze. 'He must've been here all night.' After a couple of seconds, he lunges at me.
"Ouch! You're hugging me too tightly Tom!" I yelp.
"My bad! I just thought you weren't going to wake up again," he replies.
"What? Don't be so dramatic, I'm sure the doctor told you I was fine."
"He did, but I still worry okay. What were you doing alone in a dungeon!? You could've died!" he says with worry.
'I better skimp on the details, otherwise he will get a heart attack.'
"It was an accident that's all. I promise I'll be more careful next time," I say, trying to soothe him.
"I don't want there to be a next time! Why don't you just quit being a porter?"
Tom's face is full of frustration, like the ones the representatives had in the memories. 'He must be feeling the same impotence they did.'
"We've talked about this, no other job that requires so little qualifications pay this well. We desperately need the money," I reply solemnly.
"Then I'll drop out of school and get a job too! It would lower our expenses and if we combine two lower paying jobs, they'll pay more than being a porter!" He retorts.
"What? No! That would just hinder your future, even more than mine."
With a resolute face, Tom says,
"If hindering my future means yours isn't in danger, then I'll take it."
…
"Are you crying?" He asks.
"Eh? Who's crying! Something got in my eye! When did you learn to talk back so much huh?"
Sighing in defeat, I make up my mind and say,
"Alright, I'll stop being a porter."
"You mean it!? Then, what about the money?" Tom asks.
"Don't worry, I'll figure it out okay? You stay focused on school."
"Alright, I'll focus on school, as long as you promise it won't be dangerous," he says, glaring at me.
'His intuition is crazy; I swear he has a sixth sense.'
"Cough, I promise, cough."
"Say it properly!" Tom hits my shoulder when he says this.
"Alright, alright! I promise! Nothing dangerous."
Hearing that, he smiles. A smile so wide it looks like a slice of watermelon…
"Pfft. Hahahaha." I begin to laugh.
"What's so funny? I'm serious!" Tom says, trying to hold back his own laughter.
He soon caves in and joins me, giggling. We then talk about his first day in high school. He talks about all the people he met and the friends he made. 'Such a bright kid, it's not a surprise he's made so many friends already.' For the first time since the dungeon, I'm safe.
Later that same morning, the doctor tells me I'm being discharged from the hospital. I'm glad Tom brought me some fresh clothes, mine had gotten a little… wet. After filling in the paperwork, we make our way to the subway. When we arrive, we bump into a military checkpoint at the entrance. A soldier stops us and says,
"Sorry, sir, a dungeon gate opened in the middle of the tracks. This entire line is closed."
"Oh, alright. Thanks." I reply.
After deciding on taking the bus, we finally arrive at our apartment. It's a small 2-bedroom apartment that the government gave us. I still need to pay rent, but finding a place is hard enough so I'm thankful. The real estate market has changed a lot since the dungeons appeared. We only got this apartment because a dungeon break caused our previous home to be destroyed. It was a D ranked dungeon, but the monsters that poured out were more than enough to destroy a couple of buildings. It would've been worse, but the association responded swiftly. No one was at fault for failing to clear it before it broke since the dungeon appeared underground. We didn't even know it was there until it was too late.
'The house was the least of our losses though…'
"So? What do you wanna eat?"
Hearing Tom say this, I push those thoughts aside. Tom's cooking is no joke, he's always tried to shoulder some of my burdens and cooking is his greatest success. Salivating, I say,
"Some pasta please!"
"Alright, let me get started and get some rest." Says tom with a smile.