Miss Maria heard the sound of the doors slowly opening, and she immediately turned her attention towards the entrance.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
A group of ten men entered the Dungeon Entrance Building with large briefcases in their hands. Every single one of them wore black suits and dark sunglasses, and the man who walked in the middle of the group with a large moustache and beard on his face seemed to be their leader, as his outfit appeared to be a bit different from the ones worn by the rest, with gold stars pinned on both his shoulders.
Maria couldn't help but gulp down her saliva due to the immense pressure she was feeling. The group of men stopped right in front of Maria, and the man with the large moustache and beard took a step forward, his eyes scanning an anxious Maria before asking her, "Where's the portal?"
"Of course. Please follow me, Mr. Young." Miss Maria did a small bow before turning around and heading towards the hallway, and the man with the large moustache and beard, Mr. Young, glanced at his subordinates and motioned them to follow him.
Miss Maria led them towards the giant metallic vault door behind which the portal was present.
Beep!
She pressed her card against the scanner and the doors opened with a loud noise, and the portal was revealed to the group of men.
"Jay, Min," Mr. Young snapped his fingers and two men took a step forward from the group, replying in unison with a salute. "Sir!"
"You two will be co-leading the mission today." Mr. Young turned around and stared at the two men who were looking at him with expectations in their eyes. "Take the primary squad along with you."
"Sir, yes sir!" The two men replied in unison once again and saluted Mr. Young, before walking towards the rotating and noisy portal, and four men followed their lead, each of them bowing their heads and showing their respect as they walked past Mr. Young.
BZZZZZ!
The group of six men walked up to the extremely noisy portal and stared at it for a few seconds before stepping inside, disappearing from everyone's view.
Mr. Young then turned his attention towards the three men that were remaining. They were all carrying large backpacks, and Mr. Young snapped his fingers before he spoke up. "Set up the analyzer rig quickly. I want the dungeon mapped out within fifteen minutes. Get me all the data that you can find."
"Sir, yes, sir!" The three men saluted Mr. Young and replied in unison as soon as he finished speaking, after which they ran towards the portal, placed their backpacks near it and started to unpack.
They took out multiple electronic equipment that were extremely high tech and placed them right next to the portal. They then took out their laptops and began accessing some sort of software program, which Miss Maria assumed had something to do with all the equipment that they laid out on the floor.
"Miss." Maria's heard the voice of Mr. Young calling for her, and she immediately turned her attention towards him. "It's Maria, sir."
"Miss Maria," Mr. Young nodded his head as he walked towards her. "I'm going to need you to get me all the information you have on your database about this dungeon. And I'm also going to need you to get me a list of all the hunter parties who entered this dungeon in the last 3 months."
"Uh, I can get you the information about the dungeon, sir, but I don't think I have the authority to provide you with information about our clients." Miss Maria replied with an anxious voice.
"Is that so?" Mr. Young squinted his eyes as he spoke, clearly showing his frustration on his face. Beads of sweat began to drip down from Miss Maria's face.
"Hm, this is a bit frustrating. But I'll have a talk with your CEO and try to get permission." Mr. Young responded after a few seconds of contemplation.
"I understand," Miss Maria nodded her head in response. "Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?"
"Yes, there is." Mr. Young snapped his fingers as he spoke. "From today onwards, the dungeon is to remain closed for the public until we say otherwise."
He handed a piece of paper over to Miss Maria before continuing, "Here's the order. Don't worry, I've already had a talk with your higher ups, and they've approved it. You can call them to confirm if you want to."
"Ah, yes." Miss Maria responded with a smile as she received the paper containing the order from him, after which she left the men in black alone and returned to the front desk.
"G.K." Mr. Young shifted his attention towards one of the men who were putting up the equipment. "Yes, sir!" A young man with blonde hair leaned back onto the wall and responded to his leader. The young man, G.K., had his laptop placed on his lap, and Mr. Young asked, "Do you think you'll be able to hack into the database of this Dungeon branch?"
"Well, I mean, I don't know for sure, but I can certainly try, sir." G.K. shrugged his shoulders as he answered the question asked by his leader. "Is there anything specific that you'd like to access?"
"I need all the information they have about the people who've accessed this dungeon in the last 3 months." Mr. Young asked G.K. with raised eyebrows before continuing, "Can you do that for me?"
"I think I might be able to do that," G.K. replied while scratching his chin. He didn't have a confident expression on his face, but that didn't seem to affect Mr. Young at all. "Just make sure that you don't get caught."
"Sir, yes sir!" G.K. replied with a salute, after which he instantly turned his attention towards his laptop, getting to work almost immediately.
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After taking Alyssa for a night ride and dropping her back at her apartment, Ray rode his motorcycle towards Deranzo Street, which was a few miles away from Horicon city.
Unlike Horicon city, which was a large metropolitan city that was known all over Korea for being extremely clean and modern, Deranzo Street was located in an area which was known as a place inhabited by the poor, criminals and also for dealings of illegal drugs, medicinal herbs and otherworldly minerals that were extremely rare to find.
"Regardless of which time period I'm in, this place always looks the same," Ray remarked with a nostalgic grin as he parked his motorcycle near a closed shop, and he walked towards a small alleyway, where both sides of the alley were filled with people sitting inside small made-up shops and trying to sell others all kinds of weird materials.
"Now, where the fuck is he hiding?" Ray murmured under his breath as he walked through the alleyway, ignoring all the shopkeepers who were whistling and calling loudly in a desperate attempt to get his attention.
Ray wasn't interested in what any of them were selling. He was scannirhe entire alleyway, searching for a certain someone.
'There he is!' All of a sudden, Ray's eyes suddenly lit up, and his gaze was fixed on a small blue tent and the young shopkeeper who was keeping an eye on the products. The shopkeeper had the appearance of a frail and weak teenager with some form of disease that made his skin bloated. Anyone would feel bad for the young boy if they happened to pass by his shop.
"Hey, kid." Ray, however, spoke with an enthusiastic voice, almost as though he was speaking to a friend, catching the young boy completely off guard for a few seconds.
"What would you like to buy, kind sir?" The boy recovered after a few seconds and spoke in a weak and pitiful voice, but Ray continued smiling joyfully and answered, "Oh, I did come here to buy something…."
He then leaned forward, staring right into the young boy's eyes before continuing, "…. But what I want to buy isn't here, Franklin."
The boy's eyes widened with surprise and his hands started to shake. "You don't want to make a commotion here. Trust me. It'll end badly for you." Ray shook his head and pointed his finger towards the back of the alleyway. "Let's go to the back."
Ray left the place after finishing his words, heading towards the back of the alleyway, leaving the young boy all alone.
"It still stinks over here," Ray stood near the end of the alleyway and waited for the young boy to arrive. After a few seconds of waiting, Ray heard the sound of footsteps approaching, and the young boy appeared from the corner, his expression anxious and nervous.
"Who sent you?" Shockingly, the boy's weak and pitiful voice had disappeared, and was replaced with the rough and hoarse voice of a middle aged man. "Is it Bill? Or Todd? What do you want?"