"And that's all that transpired... I don't believe I've left anything out, did I? " Soren, as he repeated the same events he experienced to Harold, just like how he did so to Morgan, while Harold listened with a focus expression and wrote on his notepad. Once he finished his recounting of the events he experienced, the hospital room was in a state of absolute silence for almost an entire minute, before Harold was the one to break it, as he finally finished writing on his notebook.

"Interesting... Could you give me a description of this woman? Anything from her characteristics to her clothing." Once Harold requested that, Soren easily complied, as he didn't mind explaining anything about her appearance, since he doubted he would ever meet her again and it wouldn't matter for him, since he had no intention to go back into the dark labyrinth that nearly ended up traumatizing him.

"Let's see if I got it right, short and black hair, black eyes, over two meters tall, a towering muscular body that's capable of benchpressing an average adult male and an attire... full on black leather clothing. One last question, out of ten, how would you rate her beauty?"

"Umm... Does it even matter?"

"It does! *ahem* I mean it does..." Harold nearly yelled out, before reigning back his enthusiasm and putting on calm expression once more.

"Alright..." 'You perv.' Soren added mentally, as he put away his judgemental thoughts and gave his answer. "She's a nine out of ten. Is this enough for you?"

"Plenty. Now... Let's get to business, shall we? We've got some really important topics to discuss, such as your standing in our company." Harold stated, as he put away his notepad and started his explanation. "Normally, having one of our company testers going through the... city, multiple times might I add, is more than enough to put them under watch and protection, as it is currently one of our top priorities and we wish to prevent any and all preventable casualties, so any and all manpower that can be obtained and used for this project, is more than welcome.

But, and that's a big 'but', you are not a full-time registered AionTech employee and instead, you are, or rather were, a part-timer, whose job was only to perform simple tests on our AT-0 helmets, for the sole purpose of providing feedback on their usage, for future AT helmets, meant for commercial use by our customers. It would only last a few months and after the end of the test, aside from your payment, you would also be rewarded with one of our future, commercial models, with more features and the ability to still be able to play on the realistic version of the game. Although it isn't stated in our contracts, it is something we are obligated to do so from our CEO and upper management, as a way to thank everyone who put their lives at risk, even though they wouldn't need to do so.

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Unfortunately, you were somehow able to dive deeper than you were supposed to and now, our previous arrangement is null and void. Instead, I'm here to give you a few options and I need you to think extremely carefully about your choice. In fact, I want you to give me your answer in a few days, as this choice will impact your life in more ways than one. Are we clear on that?"

Soren could only nod silently, as Harold started presenting his offers. "Good... The first option I can give you, is to hire you in our company as a full-time tester. It's as simple as that and I've already given a brief summary of some of the benefits you can get out of it. Of course, you'll be required to move in our company dorms and unless in case of a dire emergency, you won't be allowed to leave the company compound. Also, food and shelter will be handled by the company and there will be a substantial increase on your payment, but you'll be required to work for a minimum of eight to ten hours through different environments of our choosing and not just BCO.

The second option is to try and keep the part-time job contract, but with more restrictions. For starters, the amount of people that will be joining for your tests will increase from two to four, with one of the two being an overseer. Next, you'll be required to move either to our company compound, or near it, since all testing will be required to be done in the company itself, as performing tests in the usual commercial apartments is far less secure than doing it there. Also, the amount of testing time will be increased from a minimum of four hours to six, for a minimum of five days a week. Aside from those changes though, the contract will stay the same so any and all previous terms still apply. The only addition is that whenever you enter the city, you'll be required to give a full report of your actions and experiences there, as well as anything else of note that could benefit us, such as information on the flora, fauna, environment and the populace."

"Um... What if I wanted to abstain from this choice completely and instead just left all of this behind?" Soren asked curiously, after letting Harold finish explaining the second option.

"You can not." Harold bluntly stated with a shake of his head, before continuing with a serious expression. "The only way you could abstain is either by some sort of miracle or the involvement of one of three major families, at minimum. Even if that somehow happened, you would still be required to to cut any and all ties with anything AionTech related, be it products or people and you'd also be required to be under an oath of silence to keep quiet about everything that happened during your part-time work with us. So I suggest to not entertain those thoughts."

"Can't say I didn't see that one coming..." Soren commented weakly, before asking. "Are there any other options I don't know about, or are those two my only options? Because both of them would make it harder for me to keep my shop open, if not requiring me to close it down completely."

"Your shop?"

"He means the Resting Ground. It's a coffee house on the outer edges of the city. Although it's not well known, its coffee rivals some of the best coffee houses in the central area." Morgan explained in a calm manner, while also catching a glimpse of Soren's smirk, before it quickly disappeared.

"Do you have someone else to run it?" Harold asked curiously, but Soren shook his head, as he was both the shop owner and its only employee.

"Hmm... *sigh* I'll see if I can do anything, but don't expect too much. For now though, I suggest you try think my offers through. Think them really though. Don't make a choice you'll come to regret." Roland stated with a solemn expression, before taking his bag and leaving with one last greeting, leaving both Soren and Morgan in silence, before Morgan followed quickly right behind him.