I wake up after about 7 hours of sleep
"Damn it's morning already"muttering under my breath I stand and look at my bed,because I slept without changing my bloodstained clothes because of being exhausted,my already worn out matress and sheets are covered in blood stains
I look and sigh "well..they were very old already,If this exploration goes well..I can get enough money to buy a novel matress and blanket..probably"
I make my way to the floor bathroom common to the tenants of the floor and knock on it,a shrill voice resounds from inside
"Wait up asshole ..it's not like you own this place so wait till your turn comes"
Sighing deeply,I wait until the person comes out..it's the lady living 2 rooms next,she constantly bickers with her husband and her shrill voice can pierce your ears so loud it feels like a bullet has passed next to your ear ,she mutters something then looks at me in disdain"What is it you fucking brat,can't wait a minute ,go now"
I don't say anything and go inside expressionldssly...the moment I enter the stench assaults my nostrils and I feel like collapsing...I cover my nose and mouth with my hand and calm down a little
"Its no use the quicker I finish the better"
Thinking this I turn on the tap and change my clothes after wiping my body with a wet cloth ,as I was cleansing myself I hear the voice of the grumpy landlord
"Hey!whoever you are inside,do you think you can use water so carelessly,use it properly or I will take extra money from you"
I sigh and adjust it ,after a while I come out,seeing me come out the landlord looks at me and says in a mocking manner "If it's isn't mister no ranker up"the landlord who knows that I am still stuck on the same lowest rank as for the last two years since living here yaps to me mockingly commenting how I am useless and stuff...if only he knew how much I have suffered
"Well anyway good for me I won't have to see your face anymore"
I ask the landlord in confusion "huh?what do you mean?"
The landlord laughs and says"oh you don't know?you are getting evicted today'
"What?but why? what wrong thing did I do?I even pay the rent on time?"I ask in confusion and in panic because the landlord is infamous for doing as he pleases in his property and evicting people as he wished ..as for why I wasn't evicted you ask?well when I left home I brought my savings with me,with which I signed a contract living here for 2 years and paid all the money together ..thus binded by the law he couldnt kick me out...I did think that he might do this...but I also thought there was a chance he might not this since I did pay him money and I would be able to do so again..guess I was still to naive
"Why you ask?well because I found a better tenant who can also pay securely"
"Bu..but I was laying also didn't I?"
"Oh?but your contract has expired and what guarantee is that you can continue paying me so I should extend our contract?from the looks of it ...you are in a very poor state"
"But I am going on an exploration today..I will get a paycheck and pay it"
"Judging your capabilities you can die anytime there...I don't want to put up with you anymore"
Despite how much I tried to convince him he didn't yield and even threatened to call the cops on me...I gritted my teeth..knowing that I didn't have any choice I started packing my thing and was about to leave calculating what should I do now when the bastard landlord said
"Hold up,give me this much money first"saying so he handed me a receipt
My face paled seeing the amount and I screamed at him since I was not living here I could atleast do this much
"Why?on what basis should I give you money?"
He replied plainly"Dont you see the state you left my apartment in ,such worn out walls,floor"saying he pointed to many things and explained how I owned him money despite knowing pretty well that this place was already weakly built and many damage were already done,but I knew how this landlord was and knew there was no use trying to convince him,I gritted my teeth and said"I don't have any money"
The landlord glared at me"what did you just say?"
I shouted at him"I said I didn't have any money and you know damn well that these damages weren't done by me"
The landlord smile sinistirly and said"I know but what can you do?I will call the police and get you into the jail..as for money?..leave your stuff behind"
I tried to convince him but he pulled out his phone,typed the cops number and threatened...having no choice..I picked up my phone ,some basic stuff and made him sign an agreement that we were over so he couldn't rob me anymore
While leaving I went and turned behind to look one last time only to find that bastard smiling...I made my way to the city where people ridiculed me on my way...as I reached the MEG branch nearby I was informed that I was kicked out of the team
I ask the receptionist"what?why?it was just a lowly expedition,it's not like someone would take my place?"
The receptionist even though looked like didn't want to talk to me ,still had to due to rules and explained"A yound master of one of the rich families was going to have his first exploration so he bought this and is going with his team"
"Then...can you arrange me another exploration"
"No ..I don't have anything that will fit your capabilities which can ensure you to return alive unless you want to die"she didn't stint back on saying as she listed out hurtful reasons why I wasn't qualified on any of the available exploration..despite being hurtful they were true... explorations which suited my capabilities were very weak and didn't appear commonly..only in a few days...
I walked out of the building and sit on a bench thinking about my life,few passerbys went by ... some looking at me with sympathy due to the stiched clothes I was wearing..even though I changed into different clothes..all clothes I had were of low quality..some looked with disdain ,and many different expressions
Some children were passing by ,as one tried to pass by me his mother dragged him back..I heard her saying that he shouldn't come in contact with a pathetic person like me
I smiled bitterly and looked at my phone
"I should give up now"I kept moving for the past 2 years thinking things might get better...but nothing went.... I was tired now...exhausted..devoide of hope...but even if I gave up If were to stay alive I would have to endure ,so I looked at my phone and searched the current expeditions finding the most dangerous one which I could barely accept with my rank which didn't have any chance of me surviving..which was fine..because I didn't want to live now...so I chose an exploration that was high risked... atleast I could die with exploring something I didn't and with excitement...I went inside again and confirmed my entry
The receptionist looked at me"well if you do select this you will die ..you really want to accept this?"
I nodded expressionlessly ,the receptionist didn't say anything wanting me to go away as fast as people ...the only reason she even asked me this question was it stated in the guidelines that explorers were to be told of the risk before going...she didn't say anything handing me a permit..well not handing just putting on the side making it clear she didn't even wanted to touch me... however it didn't affect me...I picked it up read the details and went to the location...but before going I decide to go into one last place...the nearby location I went to with my brother when I was kid..he was the only one who understood me ,if he were here I would definitely be living happily...but he left long ago...and many levels in backrooms followed logic different from reality with many having different time flow ..it was possible that he might come back decades later in the future despite having aged a little or he might actually reach the past while being an old age man...back then he left ..he was leaving to explore the unexplored locations and knew what might happen thus he left with a goodbye...I couldn't place my hopes on him now.. .yet I wanted to atleast remember him one more time... I went to a public park some distance away from a mountain of our city...well basically a taller bill then most hills..and sat down and remembered my past experiences...
"Goodbye brother...I can't just place my hopes on your return and wait...sorry for not trusting you...I just...wish to rest now"
After few minutes I stood up and made my way to the location,after reaching their I saw the team..the leader was a rank 3 distortion with 3 vectors under him and about 15 no-clippers...they looked at me and one of the vectors,a brute like man said
"You ? What is pathetic looking person like him doing in our group"
Another vector a female replied"let him be...cases like him aren't few..many people can't survive in this world and give up hope and decide to gamble their lives on a high ranked exploration so that they might gain something"
The brute like vector snorted"how foolish..well even he dies we won't be accountable right?"
The woman replied"I saw the details of the people participating in this exploration,his details told that he had signed a contract that we won't be held accountable for his death until we killed him ourselves "
The brute said"well even if we do we can cover it haha,what can you even do"said that brute looking at me
I didn't say anything he continued"well don't worry I won't kill you ,you might die out there yourself,I don't want to get haunted by your ghost"
Throughout the conversation I stayed silent like they were talking about another person becaus what they said wasn't wrong ,that's what happened was...many people even used these explorations as their murder grounds.. but I was prepared to die..as for gambling my life in a hope..I already knew the reality.. something like this happening was very rare...I just wanted to experience some excitement before I died
I saw the other people looking at me with different expressions like sympathy,disdain ,mocking,schadenfreud and others...only the leader was unmoved..it seemed like he had experienced this enough to be unmoved by it
After some time the team was ready and stared to move out...we would no clip into a location in level 0 (lobby)it was not possible to just no-clip wherever we wanted but were entering a safe point of MEG which MEG connected to this rift...after enough advancements they were able to create small scale rifts in their locations in the real world which were linked to some specific places thus making it possible...our target was to explore level 0 make it level 1 and reach a safe point of level established by M.E.G and gain whatever we could on the way and return...it looked low level but this was what my capabilities allowed me even after I signed a practical death declaration..
We moved to the rift and No-clipper together...it was easy to no-clip..the people who had the basic ability to no clip just had to go to a place where no clip was possible and try to phase through the no clip point which could be either a wall ,the floor and whatever by focusing on the sensation one gets when reality starts feeling unrealistic...their were also syringes to stimulate these feelings but they were only used by those rich fellas.
We went into the no-clip point one by one and no clipped ..since it was secured point we would all be let to the same place
I noclipped and fell to the ground..what terrible luck and opened my eyes and instantly shuddered...I was not with any of the members ..heck their weren't even trails marked by a tape nearby so that I could follow them..I only saw yellow wall ,fluroscent lights and felt a damp carpet and behind me was large room which was like a floor which had many square gap that seemd to go to the void at regular intervals with very think spaces to walk between
Where the hell had I fallen to?