Click!
Zoey's apartment door opened with a soft click, the door creaking as she pushed it open. Zoey entered her apartment, closing the door behind her and leaning against it for a while.
She began to contemplate today's events, the constant mockering, Christine's support, and especially the words that the boy had said. A groan escaped Zoey's throat as she let out her frustration, pushing herself off the door and flopping onto her bed, not even bothering to change out of her work clothes.
"Damn it...." Zoey cursed under her breath, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Her nails dug deep into the bed sheets, her knuckles turning white. Her mind kept drifting back to the times she was a child, silently clinging to her fantasies of being a Hunter just like the heroes she read about on a daily basis.
"How could fate be so cruel...." Zoey spoke to herself, her voice a broken mess, "How come I was chosen to bear such a fate...."
"Why me...?"
"What on earth have I done to deserve such mistreatment...." Zoey's soul hung on the edge of despair, her hopes in this life crushed by the massive weight of reality.
'Why did I start this Journey in the first place? To gain freedom? I never had any to begin with, and I certainty feel like I have none right now.' Zoey started to question her decision to leave her home, she just wanted to love and be loved, to be a Hunter, a hero, somebody in life.
'Sigh...there's no hope for me in this life...' Zoey thought turning around on her bed to stare at the ceiling, her fiery crimson eyes once shining with radiant determination, now had no light in them, no fire, no determination, nothing.
'Maybe I should give up-' Zoey's thoughts were interrupted as she heard knocking on her door, her eyes widening for a moment as if waking up from a nightmare.
"C-coming!" Zoey exclaimed, jumping off her bed and rushing to the door. She grabbed the handle and opened the door to reveal a short grumpy granny, holding onto a cane for support and staring her dead in the eyes, this was the landlord.
"Zoey!" The granny started, "Your rent is due in three days!" The granny said, jabbing a finger into Zoey's chest, making her groan at the sudden assault, "And you better pay this time."
Zoey nodded, clutching the spot where the granny poked her at "Don't worry, I'll pay it this time." Zoey promised, but her words didn't carry any weight, they were soft and fragile, already knowing that she might not have enough money to pay this months rent.
The granny stared at her for a moment, before walking away to return to her place. Zoey sighed as she closed the door and flopped back onto her bed. "I can't die yet without paying back that rent...that's for sure." Zoey muttered to herself.
Then as she closed her eyes once more, her thoughts drifted back to her dream of being a Hunter, her heart began to long for that excitement, that possibility for enjoyment.
"Should I just do it? It feels like I'm throwing my life away by just doing this job." Zoey said to herself, grunting in frustration. But before she could contemplate further, her stomach started to growl, a reminder that she hasn't had anything the entire day.
Zoey sighed as she stood up and walked towards the kitchen and opened one of the drawers. There she found a cup of Ramen Noodles and quickly heated them up in her microwave, before quickly eating them up and throwing the cup in the bin.
"Ahh..." Zoey let out a satisfied sigh as she had regained some energy in her body, her eyes falling on the drawer where the utensils where kept inside. She pulled it open and grabbed a sharp kitchen knife, her reflection staring back at her from the sharp blade.
She stared at it for a moment, before putting the knife on the table "There's still no dungeon for me to try....where could I find a nearby dungeon?" Zoey contemplated, closing her eyes to think.
A loud crackling sound catches her attention, the sound of reality itself breaking and twisting echoing through the air. Zoey immediately rushes to her window and pulls back the blinds, looking into the distance.
"It sounded really close by..." Zoey thought, quickly rushing to her door and stepping out, impatiently trotting down the stairs and running behind her apartment complex.
"!!!" Zoey's eyes widened immediately as she gazed at the dungeon entrance behind her apartment complex, a mystical portal crackling with a swirling blue and mystical light, the pressure of Mana eminating from the entrance adding a bit of weight to her shoulders.
People started to complain about the sudden noise that appeared behind the apartment, since it was night time, many people were awoken from their sleep. After a few minutes the sounds of footsteps approaching could be heard, followed by confused murmurs.
"What's going on here?" The granny from before appeared, walking with a small crowd of irritated people. Her eyes widened immediately as she gazed at the dungeon that appeared behind the apartment complex, "A dungeon!" She exclaimed suprised.
Many suprised gasps followed as the people laid their eyes on the dungeon entrance, a mix of fear and awe filling the air among them.
"Zoey, get away from there, it's dangerous!" The granny barked, shocking Zoey momentarily as she was too focused on the portal infront of her to notice them appearing.
She nodded, walking toward the small crowd of people. Before standing amongst them and staring at the portal, a sense of wonder filling her being.
"Somebody call the Hunter Association, I want this dungeon cleared before anything could happen to my property!" The granny ordered, looking back at the crowd of people, her eyes boring into Zoey's soul that caught her off guard.
"Alright..." Zoey said, turning around and quickly running back to herr apartment. She pushed open her door, and quickly grabbed her phone, dialing the Hunter Association hotline.
"Hello, Hunter Association, what is your emergency?" A female voice answered, her tone polite and professional.
"A dungeon has just opened behind our apartment complex, please send over any Hunters available." Zoey replied.
After a few minutes the woman said, "We're very sorry to report that there aren't any Hunters available for tasking at the moment," The woman on the other line responded, "We won't be able to clear the dungeon right away, so you'll have to wait for tommorow."
"Could you tell me the pressure the dungeon was emitting? It's another way to measure the difficulty scale of the dungeon." The woman asked.
"The pressure wasn't very strong, it was a bit light actually." Zoey responded.
"Oh! That sounds like an F-Rank Dungeon, it shouldn't be able to break for a long time." The woman responded.
"I understand, thank you." Zoey said before cutting the call, shoving her phone into her pocket, walking back to the back of the apartment complex.
The granny turned to see her approaching, "Well?" The granny asked, raising a brow.
"The association won't be able to send any Hunters at the moment, so we're going to have to go back home and wait, they'll only be able to arrive the following morning." Zoey said.
the granny sighed in dissapointment, clicking her tongue "Well, you heard her. Go back to your homes! I don't want anybody entering that dungeon, for I won't be responsible for the loss of your lives!" The granny yelled, pushing the crowd back aggressively.
Zoey watched the people leave the area one-by-one, their murmers and voices growing softer with every second, before going silent, with the only thing producing sound being the dungeon ahead of Zoey.
She stared at the dungeon entrance with a tense expression, her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched, her thoughts at war with each other.
'The dungeon, I have a chance to explore it since there's nobody here. I can do it, I can prove them wrong and show them that I can be a Hunter as well!
But, what If the monsters are stronger than anything I could handle, the only thing I have as a weapon is a kitchen knife. F-Rank is still relatively close to human level, so the monsters inside won't be that powerful....except the Boss maybe, but I'm going to try fighting the Boss monster, that would be suicide!'
Zoey clutched her face, sighing at her indesciveness on the situation. 'I've been a coward all my life, a disgrace to my family and to myself, I can't continue to live like this.'
Zoey thought, removing her hand from her face, a determined expression on her face. She decided that she was going to enter this dungeon, despite the risks it showed.
She quickly went back to grab the kitchen knife before returning to the entrance of the dungeon, she got out of her work clothes and dressed into something more comfortable, a black hoodie with dark jeans and sneakers.
She took a deep breath, steeling her nerves and readying herself to enter the dungeon.
'Alright, let's do this.' Zoey said to herself, walking into the mystical light. A warm and strange electrifying sensation spread throughout her body as she passed through the entrance, dissapearing from the outside world.