[The rupture that happened at 5:13 P.M. in District 2 yesterday was handled well by Team Zero, which was the newly formed strike team consisting of all S-Ranks in the country, and with the help of available nearby espers...]
I watched the screen of my 100-inch TV with dead fish eye. It's only been a few hours since the rupture incident and the news had already spread all over the country. The destroyed building had been repaired by the repair team and life had returned to normal by night.
"Ah, the screen flickered again."
The reason for my dead fish eye was this, the TV I had been relying on for the past year suddenly broke down.
"What a shame, it's the limited edition with great features too. Should I buy the same brand again? But I don't want to…"
This TV was created by an electronics company called RetroV, the company Ethan's parents led. Given my position as the CEO's son, if I requested to buy a new TV late at night, I could imagine it being delivered within the next few hours.
But aside from not wanting to inconvenience people, the reason I didn't want to order was because the parent-child relationship between the two was horrible.
And how did I know that? Of course, it's because there was never a single call from my parents over the last year.
I tried calling them, but the line was always busy. And when I visited the company, they turned me away at the entrance.
It's obvious they didn't want to have any business with their youngest son.
"Let's just check the online store instead. Maybe they have similar ones with this feature too."
At least that was what I was going to do, until my phone rang and I read the caller's ID.
[Ethan.]
"Yes, it's Ethan."
The voice coming out of my phone was unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time. A stern and deep voice, a tone even my own father rarely used.
It was Ethan's father.
[Next Sunday your cousin Brian is going to get married, so come to the main house on Saturday.]
When I opened my mouth to answer, the call had ended with a click.
I frowned in confusion.
'Is this how you speak to a son you haven't talked to in years? And why are you only telling me two weeks before the ceremony?'
A sigh escaped my lips.
Neither Wilson nor I were close to our parents, let alone our cousin. So there's no way for us to obtain information about our family other than from our parents.
'Next Saturday, it's 10 days from now. I still have plenty of time to prepare.'
"Ah, right, I need to order a new TV- Wait, how many zeros are there?! Are you robbing people?!"
I scrolled the official store of RetroV and found even more expensive products.
'Is it worth it to buy a TV this expensive?'
Looking at the TV then the phone call history then back to the TV again, I pondered.
"Should I ask for a discount?"
.
.
"What's with this atmosphere?"
Shelly asked when she walked into our team's meeting room.
Her reaction was a given. After all, three espers in this room were acting dramatic. Cedric, who's usually on his phone, was lying his head on the table. Xain was sprawled on the chair with his limbs all over the place, and I was trying to drink my tea with shaking hands, which made it spill everywhere.
"Haha, they are just exhausted after morning training. Please continue."
Ilyas was the one who answered in our place.
She squinted her eyes and gave us a suspicious look, but let it slide.
"Before I begin, good job handling gates and rupture in your first few days of starting. The higher-ups are satisfied with your performance."
Shelly pulled out a stack of documents and handed them to us.
"But because your performance is better than expected, they asked me to give you more gates with different difficulties to handle, including A-Rank gates. So don't complain to me, complain to the higher-ups."
Troubled groans came out from our mouths. Somehow, we were shoved with even more work than what we already had.
"I think it's best to sort out which gate you want to raid from now. I'll leave you guys to decide it for yourself. Report to me after you're done."
Shelly left after leaving us that message, she even had a look of pity in her eyes.
I picked up the stack of paper and selected the few urgent ones first. Ones like rescuing civilians, gates that harmed the surrounding buildings and the ones on verge of breaking out after being neglected for too long were the ones I prioritized first.
After a few minutes of selecting, from the 47 request papers, a total of 16 were laid out in front of us.
"You guys pick one each."
The three men besides me didn't hesitate to pick whichever paper they wanted. I also picked one and declared to them.
"We will clear these 16 gates within today and we will split the rest into the next two days."
"We will what?!"
Roar of protest erupted in the room. I knew it would be hard for us to clear that many gates within a day, but that didn't mean it was impossible.
"Considering our current time, which is 10:43 A.M., there's still exactly 377 minutes before work hour is done, the gates could be cleared within a day if we finish each within 20 minutes, no? I asked you to pick one each to decide the order."
Xain slammed the desk, "You and your 20 minutes ideal! Do you want us to drop dead?!"
"I don't enjoy doing it either. But, imagine this, Xain. Would you rather have 3 days of hard work and rest for the week, or would you rather delay your job, let civilians die and get your esper's license revoked?"
Raising my head from the stack of papers, I scanned the faces of my teammates, "But don't worry, if you just bear with my request this one time, I'll make sure we get a fair amount of workload in the future. I also don't want to see my members suffer, so trust your captain a little, will you?"
My last sentence was met with silence. Leaving them with their own thoughts, I rose up from my seat.
"Be ready within 15 minutes, prepare well, it will be a long day for us."
I gave them a smile of encouragement and took my steps leisurely to the door. Just when my hand reached the door handle, I could feel something flow down my nose.
"Ethan?"
Ilyas called out my name, but I didn't dare to turn around. Holding my nose with one hand, I turned the doorknob and walked out fast. I could hear Ilyas shout with concern, but my number one priority right now was the restroom.
Spotting one, I immediately got in to wash my blood-soaked nose. Luckily, it's quite empty as it's still the busiest hour for the bureau's employees.
'It's starting to happen more often.'
Even when I didn't use any of my power, I still got nosebleed. If this got worse, I might need to be hospitalized.
'No, it's fine, I'll just ask for stronger medicine.'
At least until this story ended, I'd have to manage. Ilyas was the only one who could lift the impurities from my body, but I couldn't exactly ask him to guide me day and night, that would be selfish of me.
'I'll ask for extra guiding sessions with him if needed.'
But for now, I decided to focus my attention on the gates.
So, within the next three days, we raided gates like madmen.
Sometimes we split up into two groups, especially for A-Rank gates.
Our schedule was meeting, enter a gate, defeat the boss monster, get out of the gate, and repeat.
Three days felt like three years of suffering.
And finally, on the last day of the nonstop raid, we stepped outside our 47th gate.
"Ugh, I'm dying."
"I'm sick of gates now."
Xain crawled on the ground like a zombie and Cedric was retching while leaning on the nearby tree. Our body state after nonstop fighting was certainly at its worst. Ilyas beside me also sighed tiredly, he had to constantly guide us little by little in every spare time we got while keeping up with us going in and out of the gates.
Shelly came approaching us, she gave each of us a sympathizing look before saying her praises.
"Haa… We have such a shitty boss. It must be hard for you guys. Good job."
"What are you saying? This amount of gate is nothing to us, right guys? Haha..." I said while gritting my teeth. I was ready to throw hands with the one agreeing to give us this order.
"If you want to lie, at least stop your shaking legs and hide your murderous intent, it's scaring everyone." Cedric commented.
Shelly sighed and said to us, "Go home and rest. I have already scheduled a focused guiding day for you guys tomorrow, so Ilyas, please prepare well."
"Yes, ma'am! Don't worry guys, I'll definitely give my best."
Though we were all tired, Ilyas' radiant energy somehow revitalized the mood around us. As expected of our protagonist, he's like a little sunshine full of energy.
And after days of blood and tears, we could finally relax.