"You are aware of your rank, aren't you, Mr. park?" Mr. Young looked annoyed as he spoke, and Ray waved his hands once again. "Oh, I am very well aware that I'm only a measly D-rank. But I'm merely proposing to join the expedition for a single day. That's all. And don't worry, I'm not incompetent. I promise that I won't interfere with any of your work."
Mr. Young thought about it for a few seconds. "Alright, fine." He replied in a serious voice. "I was once your age, full of energy and vigor, so I can see why you must be so excited about this sinkhole. But you only get to join us for a single day. And you're sent back to the entrance the moment I feel like it might get too dangerous. Got it?"
Ray nodded his head in response to his words. "Thank you, sir." Ray exited the cafe after exchanging a few more words with Gerald Young. Mr. Young watched the young man exit the cafe with squinted eyes before murmuring under his breath, "Interesting.. very interesting."
Phew!
Ray let out a sigh as he stepped out of the cafe. He had thought keeping the existence of the sinkhole a secret until he could get more information about it, but the fact that the Hunter Defence Department already knew so much about the weird phenomenon meant that there was no use in keeping quiet. He would've only gotten on their bad side had he not cooperated and kept telling them lies.
And considering what Gerald Young and his team would do to revolutionise the hunting process in the future, there was absolutely no need for Ray to get on their bad side from their very first meeting.
"But still… to think that they already got their hands on my location tracking data.." Ray couldn't help but be concerned for the safety of his private information. After all, location tracking data as well as video recordings that were taken inside the dungeon were all supposed to be protected data, accessible only by the client himself.
But it wasn't like he would be able to take them to court over a matter like this either. He was a nobody right now, and they were a big government department. There was no way he'd be able to win against them.
'I guess it'd be best to inspect the video recordings quickly and delete them..' Ray thought to himself as he got on his motorcycle and rode off, heading in the direction of his house.
Back in the cafe, Mr. Young took out his smartphone, dialled a number, and placed it close to his ear.
"Good morning, sir." The voice on the other side replied almost instantaneously after picking up the call. "What can I do for you?"
"You know the kid that we looked into yesterday?" Mr. Young said in a curious tone as he scratched his long beard. "Ray Park, the hunter who was the last person to enter the Horicon dungeon?"
"I do remember him, sir. What about him?" The person on the other side asked, and Mr. Young paused for a second, contemplated about his answer, and replied while twirling his moustache. "Keep an eye on the kid. He'll be joining our expedition tomorrow."
"I'm sorry, sir?" The person on the other side sounded confused by the words spoken by the Head of the Hunter Defence Department. "Did you say that a D-rank Hunter would be joining our expedition?"
"That's right. It'll only be for a single day, and he'll sign also sign an NDA in order to not disclose any details about the sinkhole." Mr. Young gave confirmation about the addition of the D-rank Hunter into the dungeon expedition party, so the person on the other side could only agree to the decision made by his superior. "And why do you want me to keep an eye on him, sir? Do you think he's suspicious?"
"No, no. I don't think he's suspicious." Mr. Young denied the accusations. "But I do think that he's an intriguing person."
"I have seen his classified file. He's pretty good for someone who's just started out as a newbie." The person agreed with Mr. Young's compliments. "Do you perhaps think that he's worthy of gaining an invitation to participate in the Hunter Defence Tiger Sector Examination?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Kevin." Mr. Young let out a short chuckle as he leaned back on his chair. "It's true that he might have the potential to take part in the special recruit examination, but it's still too early to tell. Who knows? Maybe we'll be able to assess his true skill tomorrow."
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Ray returned to his home and entered his room. He then walked towards his computer and turned it on.
"Now, let's see what I was able to record." Ray said to himself as he took out a small flash drive and plugged it into the computer. He then opened a video file, and his entire screen had been filled with the footage of his previous dungeon expedition.
Ray immediately skipped the video file to the part where he witnessed the Black Bug mutants attacking the Dragontooth Lion. That was the event that made him the most curious.
He couldn't find the reason as to why the Dragontooth Lion, a creature that was known to be highly aggressive and incredibly reflexive, would act in such a weak manner. Perhaps he'd be able to find the answer in this video file?
Ray watched the short clip multiple times with an intense gaze, but no matter how many times he rewatched it, he couldn't spot anything special within the clip.
"I really don't get it. There has to be something that I've missed. But what on earth could it be?" Ray scratched his head and stared at the monitor with a puzzled and frustrated expression. There has to be something that he was not seeing.
"What is it? What am I not able to-" All of a sudden, Ray stopped speaking, and his eyes widened with surprise, as though he had just figured out something. "… see..." Ray finished his sentence, after which he immediately opened up the sound wave software on his computer.
'Maybe it's not something that can be 'seen'.. but heard.'
Ray opened the video file inside the soundwave software, and started playing around with it, applying various modifications and filters over it and changing the frequencies in order to find out what he was missing.
"Come on, come on….." Ray bit his lips as he listened through various modified versions of the audio file. He could feel that what he was looking for was closer than ever. He just needed to look for it.
"Show it to me, damn it!" Ray gritted his teeth as he went through the different audio versions one after the other, and then, all of a sudden, a loud and strange ear piercing noise entered Ray's ears, making him fling the earphones off his ears and onto the ground.
BAM!
Ray stared at the earphones that were dangling in the air, just above the ground, with a shocked expression on his face.
What the hell was that strange sound?
Ray picked up the earphones and placed them back on his ears once again, this time adjusting the volume in order to make sure that his eardrums didn't rupture.
ZEEEEE!
A strange noise entered Ray's ears, making him raise his eyebrows in response. He then stared at the video file to which the audio was synced to, and realised that the strange noise was actually being produced long before the Black bug mutants exited the sinkhole, only stopping after the Dragontooth Lion made its appearance.
Ray rubbed his chin and stared at the footage with his eyes squinted. "Is this noise the reason for the Dragontooth Lion to be behaving in such a strange manner?" Ray didn't know for sure, but it definitely could be a possibility. And right now, it was the only strange thing he could find that might be the reason for causing the Dragontooth lion to behave in such an odd way.
There was also the fact that the actual frequency of the audio was something that normal humans couldn't hear, which was the reason why Ray didn't notice anything special when he witnessed the strange situation.
'But perhaps it could be heard by these monsters.' Ray thought to himself. After all, they are in fact, animals from another world.
'And it didn't seem like it could cause any behavioural problems on humans…' Ray came to the conclusion after listening to the audio file a few times, but he still felt the need to be careful. There was a possibility that it could have a different effect when hearing it for real.
After listening to the audio a few more times, Ray glanced at his phone, and a sinister smile appeared on his face. "Well, I guess it's time to head back to Deranzo Street."
Ray couldn't help but feel enthusiastic to meet with his old 'colleague', Franklin, once again.