Secret organisations had similar systems, as they all enforced strict rules to guard their secrets and formulated punishments and rewards to control their members. Also, such organisations kept their members constantly occupied, so they had no time to question anything.
I saw that the Second Virtue used Honey Traps, as a female employee gave me a pamphlet that looked like it was from a model agency. I saw that the list was quite detailed and closed the pamphlet to stare at the woman, who looked like an efficient person. (EN: Honey Trap-a stratagem in which irresistible bait is used to lure a victim.)
“Do you have any preferences?”
“Angela, are you off-limits?”
The woman’s eyes widened, and then smiled. That had been my first night at the Second Virtue’s group.
**
I had chosen Angela, which would obviously be a fake name. I chose her because she was the first pre-Awakened I met inside the Second Virtue’s organisation. I prioritised her needs more than mine, and armed guards had come into my room because of her loud moans. (EN: ^_^ )
“Somehow it seems all my tiredness is gone.”
Angela looked satisfied, and she blushed prettily as she laid her head on my chest. I massaged her neck and shoulder to further relax her. The air was still warm.
“Are you the same as me?”
She nodded yes after a moment.
“At first, I had thought I had gone crazy after playing video games.”
“Most of us did before coming into our group.”
“I want to know what the group’s leader wants to do with people like us. Our abilities are not that strong.”
“There are various people with various abilities, and there’s quite a synergy when they meet.”
“Like how?”
“Leonard, you got only insignias from boxes.”
Angela’s hand trailed to my chest near the insignias.
“While insignias are temporary, skills are permanent. However, getting five insignias is a feat in itself.”
“Why is that a feat?”
“We don’t get that many quests. If you want more boxes…”
Angela left her words hanging and changed the subject.
“You haven’t heard anything else from Mikhail, right?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“He will teach you starting tomorrow.”
“Won’t you teach me now?”
I kissed her hard and rolled on top of Angela’s body, and she let out a surprised laugh. Her eyes were warm when those laughs had turned to moans.
“You’re even more beautiful from this angle.”
“You don’t need to flatter me, as you have already greatly interested our leader.”
“No, you really are pretty. I was travelling through Europe hoping for a meeting like this but had not expected how things would turn out.”
I lay down again and spoke while looking at the ceiling.
“I did walk in here on my two feet, but frankly, I’m scared. I wonder if I made the right choice.”
“Everyone would. I was like you last year. But, we’re good people. Leonard, do you think I am a bad person?”
She looked like a naïve kid, and that had been the worst thing to be in my past life. I answered her.
“I know people can change anytime according to their goals, and that is what I am afraid of. Angela, think of what happened last month in New York. Tens of thousands died that day. I cannot believe yet that he is gathering us for a good cause. Am I strange?”
“No, you’re being careful. However, you will know soon.”
“That’s the wrong thing to say. I need a purpose I can understand and agree on to be faithful to your group.”
Angela then let out a word.
“Dungeon.”
“Dungeon?”
“There’s one planned for next week.”
**
I spent a week blending in the Second Virtue’s group. I became friendly with those who could speak English like Angela and the Second Virtue and worked hard at marksmanship practice that was quite useless inside a dungeon. The trainer praised me, and while I had everyone’s attention, I was still a loner who was just a week in. The Fourth Virtue spoke to me one day.
“You’re either a liar or have lousy luck like me.”
“What do you mean?”
“How can you have five insignias but no skills?”
The Fourth Virtue turned his gaze to the sparring rings where prior-Awakened with skills were training. I saw a familiar face. He had been an S Class hunter who had been a guild leader under Revolucion. However, he was still weak.
That was why this group prioritised useless marksmanship training rather than their skills with inconveniently long cool down times, which showed this group had not gone into a dungeon yet. After all, no one knew yet that firearms did not function inside a dungeon, and it was logical to train with weapons that they understood, rather than relying on abilities that were not only incomprehensible, but of weak effects as well. The Second Virtue’s computers had no records regarding dungeons, either. (EN: The implication is that Sun has hacked into the Second Virtue’s computers.)
“When can I see our leader? It has been a week.”
“He is a meticulous person.”
“When will you treat me like I’m really a member?”
“You’re already one of us. Learn German before you blame someone else. That’ll help you blend in.”
“I can speak English, Japanese, and Korean. Isn’t it too much to ask me to speak German?”
“You don’t have to practice marksmanship anymore if you’re that good, so spend that time on language. I know you’re smart.”
“Then let me meet the leader.”
“There will be a time. Why are you whining like a baby?”
“I had come here not for the money, but the new world you described to me. However, things are not what I had expected. When can I see a dungeon? Isn’t it this week?”
“Was that the reason?”
“What else?”
“…That’s not for us to decide. Wait.”
The Second Virtue had been absent from the day I came here as he was busy preparing for the group’s first dungeon. I learned in bits from Angela that he seemed to have gone to scout the dungeon with a few others.
As the Second Virtue was not stupid enough to step into a supernatural space himself, I received a call from him at night. He had come back to the mansion.
The Second Virtue had received a diamond spoon from his parents and had been born in a family with a magnificent past. The fact he was at a disadvantage, dishevelled from travel, did not lessen his looks. He nodded at a guard who moved from behind his back to the door.
“Please excuse me for welcoming you only today, Mr. Leonard Lee. I am Joshua.”
I saw that he was wearing two F class rings on the hand that asked me for a handshake. It was highly probable he would have not gotten his major skill, ‘Osiris’s Domain.’ That had been an amazing skill. His grip was weak as a civilian’s, which made me want to reveal myself and grab his neck to order him to submit to me.
I could teach him our world’s rules that way but instead pretended to smile like him.
“Call me Lee.”
“How are you doing?”
“I like the nights.”
“I try to give my people ample rewards for keeping you here. But I heard you refused money?”
Joshua would have had my background searched, but he would have only found fake family ties and records of fake paper companies made by my people.
“What can we reward you with instead of money?”
“I want to see the new world. I know that’s the dungeon, and you have a plan to go there. Please let me in. I am ready.”
“Come here.”
Joshua took out six profile documents from a drawer. Two of them were prior awakened, while four had been “human” mercenaries. Joshua stamped all of them a word.
[Missing]
Joshua looked at the red letters as he opened his mouth.
“The dungeons were not a new world filled with prizes but they may be hell.”
I had never heard his voice lose confidence in my past life, but now it was desolate.
“What happened?”
“I had been about to tell everyone what I had seen and let them decide for themselves. You can decide then, too. Let’s go.”
All the prior-Awakened were gathered in the dining room surrounding a long rectangular table. Joshua sat at the head while I was at the bottom seat. He spoke briefly in German, and people started to murmur after he ended his speech. It was then the Fourth Virtue approached me.
“He says that the advance party of six members had gone in about ten minutes before the dungeon entrance closed down. We do not know whether they are still alive. Our leader wants us all to rescue them, and he is going with us. Now’s your time to choose.”
He looked at me fiercely.
“Will you go?”