I'm curious about what's happening outside. Although I haven't been keeping track of the time, it's likely that several hours have passed by now. I have no knowledge of the world outside. I will find out later.
This time, I entered the gate without closing my eyes. As soon as I passed the swirling mix of black and blue glowing gate, to my disappointment, I found myself under the watchful gaze of a stranger.
Three strangers occupied my bedroom. One kept watch by the door, facing outside to my living room. One was talking on his phone, the last was staring me down. I was about to ask what those people were doing in my bedroom when…
"HE'S ALIVE!" the woman watching the gate yelled.
I flinched in surprise at the welcome. The other two snapped their heads towards me with looks of astonishment.
"Are you okay? Do you need any emergency treatment? How many fingers am I holding up!?" she said.
Darting her eyes all over my body. I don't think she intended to, but at one point when she was raising or curling her fingers, undecided on which to pick. She flipped me off with both of her middle fingers.
"Survivor sighted in team 3, just left the gate." The guy with the phone said.
Unlike the woman, the phone guy didn't seem to have any ill intentions. I relaxed a bit.
"Hey, I'm fine! Who are you, and what are you doing in my bedroom?"
The phone guy cupped the phone with his free hand and positioned his phone at a distance from his ear.
"Yes, sir! I'll ask and relay the message." He said as he put his phone away and approached me.
"Hello! Arild Dahl I presume? I'm Tobias Berg. Nice to meet you! We're from Troms county. We belong to the new national government branch related to the global system event."
He reached his hand out to me in greeting; I mirrored his action, unknowingly accepting his handshake.
"Nice to meet you too, Tobias. What can I do for you?"
"Our job is to get control of the current situation. We're in charge of tracking all structures created by the system and people who have entered them."
I gently nodded my head once in understanding. He relaxed the grip of his hand as we disengaged the handshake before he continued.
"I'd like to know if you have awakened?"
I briefly considered the question before deciding to share honestly about my experiences.
"Yes, I did. What about it?"
Tobias gave an honest-looking smile.
"Great! I'm sincerely glad you're okay! We were about to give up hope with the reported time you've been in there."
These government guys probably didn't expect people to grind for hours on their first time visiting a dungeon.
"Sorry I made you wait. I didn't expect anyone would wait for me. I spent some time experimenting inside the dungeon."
"That's our job for now, so don't sweat it too much. Honestly, things are hectic at the moment. We would have preferred if everyone waited before interacting with the structures until we had more information. We knew that to be... An unreasonable expectation." He sighed.
"Your neighbor has been very concerned for your sake. You should talk to her before we continue our conversation. She's downstairs in her own apartment."
I went outside of my bedroom to head down. I stopped in my tracks and returned to see Tobias with the phone attached to his ear again.
"Uh, could you maybe wait in the living room instead?"
"Ahh! Of course, of course! We'll just need to have someone outside monitoring. Excuse us for breaching your privacy."
...
I knocked on Jennifer's main door.
"Who—who is it?" Her weak voice came intermittently with sniffles.
"It's me, Arild! Everything is f—" The door flew open.
*FWOOOM!*
"YOU #$&@£ @#/%#¤!!!"
"C—CALM DO—"
"£&#@+$ @#&/%!? #@%€¤???"
"I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING! YOU'RE SPEAKING IN CENSORED!"
...
After exhaustive explanations to Jennifer about how extremely careful and deliberate I was in the dungeon. She eventually calmed somewhat.
"So.. since when did you return to find me gone to the dungeon, exactly?"
"I DIDN'T EVEN GE—" She stopped abruptly. She closed her eyes and started breathing deeply while mouthing some numbers. I didn't know what was up with that.
She put on a very unnatural smile. Her mouth was twitching as she tried again.
"I didn't even get to my damn door before I returned to keep watch on you." She spoke with a strained voice and a forced smile, barely moving her mouth the entire time.
"What?! That quick?? You really have that low an opinion of me, that I wouldn't carefully heed your warning!?" I was greatly offended.
"WHAT THE $@&# IS #%¤&....."
…
It turns out that I wasn't greatly offended. I had spent another 15 minutes exhaustively apologizing for my behavior. She eventually calmed somewhat.
...
I was back in my living room with Tobias.
"So, is your neighbor doing better now?"
"Uhm, yes. She was very excited to see me!"
"Oh!, that's good to hear! She seems very caring for you. Are you two perhaps related?"
"No, not really. She's been like a second mother to me ever since I moved here 6 years ago when I was 18, always nagging and pestering me to eat dinner at her place. Apparently, frozen pizzas and ramen noodles 7 days a week isn't a proper diet."
"I—I see. Can't say I disagree with her... back to the topic at hand."
"Would you be okay with meeting the branch manager as soon as possible? I know it's a lot to ask, but we have encountered no survivors yet who spent as much time as you in a dungeon. The manager might also offer you a favorable deal to make it worth your time."
"Of course! I'm willing to help."
We made our way outside the apartment. There was a military helicopter on a nearby field.
What? Since when did that get here? I should've heard it coming.
Then I remembered listening to close-quarter outside voice for 30 minutes, earlier.
We entered the helicopter. The female official was already inside, waiting. The last one remained by the apartment to keep guard. We took off towards the island city of Troms.
My first time in a helicopter. From this new perspective, I delighted in the panoramic view of my hometown, soaking in the familiar sights with a renewed appreciation. Then it hit me.
I completely forgot about work!
I'm sure my boss will understand. Maybe I can quit…