Horicon City, right outside the D-rank dungeon.
"Wow, the dungeon entrance over here is pretty extravagant. If I didn't know already, I'd have confused it for an S-rank dungeon," Ray Park mumbled to himself as he sat inside a cafe and took a sip from his coffee, gazing at the Dungeon entrance building that was located just across the street from where he was sitting.
"Of course. It's one of those expensive private dungeons, after all. Only accessible for the fancy-pants people with membership cards." A sweet, feminine voice entered his ears, and Ray turned his head to his right and found the waitress who had served him coffee earlier, a girl with curly black hair and bright blue eyes, standing next to him.
"I'm sorry for eavesdropping, but I had to give you the bill and I ended up accidentally hearing you speak." She spoke with an awkward smile on her face before placing the bill on his table, to which Ray smiled in reply. "That's alright. I don't mind being listened to."
"You look like you're not from around here." The waitress asked with a curious gaze, and Ray gave a short chuckle. "And you look like you should be working."
"Not many people today." The waitress pointed at the empty seats as she spoke. "So why me, Miss… Alyssa?" Ray asked as he read the name tag that was pinned to her clothes.
"I don't know. You seemed different, I guess. Or maybe it's because you're new here." Alyssa replied, one hand on her hips and the other on her lips. "So, you're not going to tell me your name, mystery boy?"
"It's Ray Park." Ray answered her question and pointed at the Dungeon entrance building. "I'm one of the, uh, fancy-pants people with a membership card."
"Oh crap.." Alyssa cringed as soon as he heard Ray's response. She bit her lips, embarrassed about her comment about the private dungeon hunters, which had now come back to bite her in the back. "I guess I can't take that comment back, huh.."
"Probably." Ray spoke with a calm smile as he leaned back.
"In my defense, you did seem different from all other fancy-pants rich people that enter the private dungeon." Alyssa replied with an embarrassed smile, and Ray raised one of his eyebrows. "Is that a compliment or an insult?"
Alyssa acted like she was deep in thought, before replying with a wicked smile on her face. "Well, you're pretty good-looking, so I guess it's a compliment."
"Is that so?" Ray smiled back as he stared at Alyssa, who nodded her head in a cute manner. "So? Do you forgive me for my fancy-pants comment, Mr. Park?"
"Oh, I don't know about that. I mean, forgiveness doesn't come easy." Ray shrugged his shoulders with a sly smile. He then stood up from his seat and turned, now directly facing Alyssa as he continued, "But I have heard that involving yourself in recreational activities do help in such situations. Like maybe a date, perhaps?"
"Alyssa!!" A loud and angry voice interrupted their conversation before Alyssa could reply, causing her to tilt her head to the side and reply immediately. "Yeah, manager?"
A bald man stood at the counter, pointing his finger at one of the tables. "You didn't get their order. Hurry up."
"Yes, sir." Alyssa nodded her head and walked towards the table, sneaking a glance at Ray before whispering softly, "I get off at 6 in the evening."
She walked away, and a faint smile appeared on Ray's face.
Romantic relationships.
It's a tricky thing to handle when you're a hunter. Some people make it work. Others fail to do so. A few simply decide not to get involved in them in the first place.
Ray too had been in a relationship once. In his second life. He had found someone, and like everyone else, he too believed that she was the one.
After he died in his second life and was reincarnated, he tried to find her once again. After all, it was just the same life all over again. It was the same world. The same city. The same people. The same her. Nothing would change. Everything would be just like before.
But Ray had forgotten about one thing. Although everything else remained the same, he was not. He was different. Different to the Ray who had reincarnated for the first time. Despite his world resetting back to the past, the reincarnated Ray was someone from the future.
And although his relationship started out relatively the same way, in reality, everything was slightly off. The decisions he made were now different and more polished, and as a result, it affected some of her decisions as well, leading to a shift in their future.
And all of a sudden, Ray had woken up to a realization that he was now living a completely different life. The small and insignificant changes had finally added up, morphing into something that he couldn't recognize. The person he thought he knew well wasn't acting like how he was expecting her to act, and every second with this person only made him feel as though he was rewriting the life he cherished so much.
In the end, the relationship didn't last. She left him, and he didn't have the courage to call her back.
'Ah, I thought about something unnecessary again, didn't I?' Ray shook his head, before crossing the street and walked towards the Dungeon Entrance Building in Horicon City.
It took a while, but Ray did find peace and was able to move on. He still believed that she was the one whom he wished to share his life with. It's just that the life he shared with her was already over.
'I guess that's one of the curses of having the ability to reincarnate.' Ray thought to himself as he pulled out his golden hunter license card and placed it in front of the holographic scanner outside the entrance.
[ Login successful. Welcome, Mr. Ray Park, to the Horicon City Dungeon. ]
An automated voice echoed out from the speaker situated right above the scanner, and at the same time, a faint green light flashed from the watches worn by the two guards who were standing in front of the building.
"You can enter by pressing your hand on the door handle, Mr. Park." One of the guards explained, and Ray did as he was told.
Swoosh!
It seemed that there was a fingerprint scanner on the door handle, because as soon as he pressed his hand against the handle, the doors flung open, revealing a beautiful white and gold interior with a design that was similar to the interior of the Obsidian Guild's Hunter Testing Center.
'Do all these private companies hire the same designer?' Ray felt like he had to know.
"Welcome, Mr. Park." A woman who looked to be in her late twenties walked up to Ray. "I saw that you have booked a dungeon expedition for today."
"That's right, I have." Ray nodded his head. That was the first thing he did after he beat up his bullies and took all their money.
"Very well. May I ask when your party might arrive?" The woman asked, and Ray shook his head. "There is no party. It's just me."
"Just you, sir?" The woman's eyes widened with surprise, and Ray nodded his head with a calm expression on his face. "That's right. Just me."
"... I see." The woman replied after a few seconds of contemplation. "Well then, follow me."
She turned around and walked towards a hallway, and Ray followed her. The hallway led them to a large metal door which resembled a vault door, and beside the door was a large cabinet that seemed to be locked.
The woman walked towards the cabinet and pressed her finger on what appeared to be a fingerprint scanner, and the doors of the canine slid open, revealing a variety of weapons, artifacts, medicines, potions and other materials.
"Everything that you see here is at your disposal." The woman waved her hands at the objects inside the cabinet as she spoke. "Of course, that is if you are willing to pay."
A smile appeared on Ray's face. 'Well, well, well… I guess it was a good thing that I came across those bullies.'