"Fuck! This is serious." Alice said. "I've been in my dream all along."
"Excuse me?" Mark looked at her, confused. What was she talking about now?
"Ah, I knew Boss wasn't the type to apologize. I've only known him for a day but he doesn't look like the type to apologize at all. This must still be in my dream."
Mark found that a bit offensive and cleared his throat but Alice was still over the edge with her theory.
She got up and clapped her hands.
"Well, if it's my dream, I can do anything, right?" She laughed excitedly and Mark massaged his nose bridge.
Why did he have to be the one to take care of this?
These S-class awakeneds were all crazy, having one or two loose screws in their heads.
"Miss Alice," Mark called but Alice shut him up before he could say anything more.
"Shut it, dream Boss. I'm trying to conjure a bucket of fried chicken here." She said, pressing her index fingers on her temples and 'meditating' with her eyes closed.
Mark gritted his teeth. Really, why did he have to put up with this?
He approached her, took her hand at the cost of losing his own hand, if she were to get angry at his action, and turned her to face him.
"This is not a dream." He declared harshly, losing his perfect indifferent composure he has kept up at all odds.
Alice, looked at him, stunned.
"Well, if you put it like that, while holding me like this," she eyed his hand. "I have every cause to believe that it's a dream. You wouldn't lose your cool otherwise."
"What don't you want to accept?" Mark asked. "This isn't a dream. Why would I even be in your dream?"
Alice shrugged and made a funny guess.
"Room service?" She said and he immediately let go of her.
How old was she? Where did she get the term room service from? And why would he even...?
He watched Alice sit on the bed and cross her legs waiting for what he was going to say next.
He sighed. This was hopeless.
Why were Earth's greatest heroes filled with weirdos and wackos? Couldn't there be a normal one among them?
One like Devon at least. He was the closest to sane amongst all the S-class awakeneds he had met in his line of work.
Mark watched Alice, who didn't make any move but stared at him, waiting for him to speak. Then, all of a sudden, he started getting intimidated.
'What is this?' he thought and grabbed his neck. It was suffocating. She was simply staring at him so why was he feeling like a heavy weight was resting on his shoulder and blocking his airflow?
It was like she wanted him to confess.
On a normal note, professionals were not supposed to be in the cell when the awakened prisoners were free from their restraints, because no one knew what they would do to them.
They could hold them hostage in exchange for their release or even go as far as killing.
But he took Alice lightly. He felt that she was just some inexperienced teenager who wouldn't pose so much of a threat so he got careless.
Alice, who was simply staring at Mark, waited for him to speak while silently singing in her head about how much she wanted to eat.
It was almost like she hadn't eaten a thing. Why was she so hungry?
She stared at Mark and wondered,
'Since he insists this isn't a dream, can I ask him to get me more food instead?' her eyes glimmered with greed. 'Two buckets of chicken should suffice... for now.'
She was busy with her thoughts when suddenly, Mark fell to his knees, shocking her.
"The fuck?! What are you doing now?" She asked but he shivered in fear. "How could this not be a dream? This is definitely not normal." She thought out loud.
"Miss Alice, I apologize for bringing your food late." He said and she wondered, hadn't he already apologized for that?
Then, she beat her fist on her palm with a sudden discovery.
"Did you guys use a skill on me and lock me up in my dream?" She asked. "And it's making me see you apologize all over again, right? I'm pretty smart, aren't I?" She said, but that was far from it and a sweating Mark continued.
"It wasn't only because I was busy with the emergency. I could've gotten another guard to bring in your food but I assumed you would have little to no need for food since you are an S-class awakened. I was negligent."
Alice tilted her head to the side. Okay, she got that he made assumptions, and that was why she had to go to bed on an empty stomach, but what was this about her being an S-class awakened?
First, she was charged for being an awakened, and now she was being mistaken as an S-class. Was this also why he said she was the only one capable of leading a raid team into an orange gate and above?
It was crazy.
"So, this ain't a dream." She said and got up. "But this is far more crazy than a dream."
Mark felt the pressure lifting and he was finally able to lift his head again.
"I don't get why I'm being mistaken as an awakened, not to talk of an S-class at that." She said and turned to him. "I'm not an awakened. I'm really not."
"You can stop playing games, Miss Alice." Mark said, cleaning the sweat off his head. "After watching the video, anyone can tell you're lying."
"Huh? What video?"