"Gah! Hah... What the f*ck was that!?" Soren screamed loudly, as he shook his head around and slightly calming down, after confirming that he woke up in his apartment.

"What was what?" Lucas asked, as he was picking up the leftover garbage from their takeout.

"Y'know... Well... You saw it, right? The weird city... buildings... Whatever that entire thing was!"

"I have no clue what you're talking about. After logging off, the only thing I got was darkness on my monitor, as the game was on the process of logging you out. Hell, I can even show you right now." Lucas then took out his laptop and played the last couple of minutes of a 2-hour recording, which showed him logging off and around an entire minute of pure black footage.

"No way... You're pulling my leg right now. There's no way I just imagined the city and the light. Those must have definitely happened."

"You sure you weren't just seeing shapes in the darkness? It's a fairly common thing within our tests, since it does take a minute or two for logging you in and out of the game, so you brain stays in that darkness and might be simply trying to see shapes and provide visual information or something like that. If you need to need to know more about this stuff, either ask Nora or just search it up or something. Speaking of which, think you can wake her up from the bathroom? She's been stuck there ever since dinner and I bet by know that she's off to her own la la land."

"Wait... You mean she's been stuck there for over two hours? How!? My bathroom doesn't even have a lock. Didn't you even try to check on her or knock the door at least?" Soren asked incredulously, as he rubbed his temples to reduce his stress.

"I don't want to be on the receiving end of waking her up."

"Huh!?"

"Just wake her up from the bathroom already."

*sigh* "You're some help, alright?" Soren muttered sarcastically, before deciding to go towards the bathroom and knocking on its door. There was no response, so Soren decided to knock again albeit louder, but just like before, there was no answer back. With a hint of worry, Soren decided to bash hard at the door with his fist, but was still met with the same silence as before and immediately opened the door, regardless of the consequences. Unfortunately, his head was met with a surging wave of pain, as a phone struck him on his face.

"Don't you have any f*cking manners!?" Nora yelled out furiously, as she used the nearby shower curtain to cover herself.

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"Urgh! F*cking hell... The hell is wrong with you!? F*ck me... Why are you still in the bathroom!? It's been two hours! There's no sh*t that'd take someone over two hours to excrete!" Soren asked furiously, as he turned his head away and trying to massage it from the pain.

"Don't you see I'm still using it!? I'm not done yet, so get out."

"Look, urgh... If the reason you're staying in there is for the fear of the tacos coming out, just know that it was just a little harmless joke and that your bowels will be fine." The moment Soren said that, Nora immediately closed the door and within seconds, both the sound of the water tap and toilet echoed at the same time, before they stopped and she came out, albeit with a colder expression.

"Look who finally decided to come back to the realm of the living. So, how was your meeting with the grimy-" *bash* "Ouch!" *bam* "Stop!" Lucas called out smugly, before Nora started grabbing him from his hair and started bashing his head with a furious expression, while Soren slowly walked away and hid behind the hallway's door.

"Um... Guys? If you wish to fight, could you please go outside at least? I'd like to rest for tonight and I don't exactly want to worry about keeping my front door unlocked." Soren asked cautiously, but was completely ignored by the two of them and had to wait for over ten minutes, before Nora got winded and stopped beating Lucas, who despite being beaten, was in normal condition.

"Urgh... Couldn't you have held yourself back a bit Nora?"

"Against you, I don't have to hold not even a single bit. Anyways, are we leaving or what? Our shift's over and I'd like to rest fast, since I have the morning shift and I'd like to get my four hours of sleep, before starting them."

"Yeah, yeah... Don't worry, I've already picked up most of our stuff." Lucas explained, as he took the helmet and put it in his jacket, before turning his attention towards Soren, who was currently dumbfounded. "I'm very sorry about my colleague's behavior."

"It's fine... I'll... just see you tomorrow. Same time...?"

"Same time. Good night." With that last greeting, Lucas and Nora left his apartment, while Soren collapsed on the ground from the tension drop while thinking to him if his current contract was a good idea. As Soren was thinking that, a certain man was in a conversation with a certain woman.

"Why didn't you tell me that his whole taco in the bathroom thing was because of a sickness? I could have left the bathroom over two hours ago."

"Well, I couldn't leave him unsupervised Nora. Who knows what he would do while I was away."

"Relax. We're not in the company where the chiefs are breathing down our necks 24/7 Lucas. You can afford taking it a bit easy. Besides, he's just a temporary tester and the contract will be over, once they finish the double state tests."

"I'm not exactly worried about the contract, since it will end eventually, whether I like it or not. I'm worried about something else right now."

"Oh? Mind telling little old me about it, Lucas?"

"It's nothing to get yourself concerned with Nora. Just focus on your own work. Anyways, my bus stop is right around the corner, so see you later."

"Yeah, yeah... See you later. Just don't go getting your killed or anything." Once the two of them split with each other, Lucas then took out his phone and dialed a number.

*beep* *beep* *click* "Morning boss. Hope you don't mind waking up at one in the morning."

"I'm still on shift Lucas. You don't call without purpose, so what's the matter Lucas?"

"I got good news and bad news. Which one do you want me to start with?"

*sigh* "Start with the bad news first."

"Soren came across the city. For now, I've dissuaded him from its existence, but I doubt I'd be able to trick him for long."

"Hm... This is indeed a problem... For now, try to keep him in the dark for as long as possible. I'll see what I can do to keep it under wraps on this side as well. What about the good news?"

"Well... He came across the city, but only for a few seconds. So he shouldn't have had any major interactions within the city."

"Hmmm... It's probably the best case scenario for everyone. For now, keep your eye on him and update me on his actions. Also, don't forget to send me the compiled data by morning."

"Yeah, yeah... Got it Mr.Harold. You'll have it ready by daybreak." *click* *sigh* Seriously boss... You sure know how to put me through work... Can't wait to get my day offs."