"What the fuck is this guy doing? Where is he from?"
"He seems to be from the group from Malovia."
"Fuck! They’re fucking us over! Now that he’s moved, we’ve got no choice but to move."
The other teams present all turned to glare in Seth’s direction. Normally, inside a gate, the safest place was always the starting point. That was where most teams stayed long enough to assess their surroundings, confirm their location, and determine their objectives before moving deeper into the Gate.
The moment someone moved, the Gate would start.
While this wasn’t the case for all gates, a lot of the Gates were like this.
It was only natural that Seth’s behaviour incurred the wrath of the other members of the ’Suicide Squad’.
"...I guess these are the standards set for the Guilds that aren’t part of the main island."
Of all the Guilds present, only those from the Comet Guild were from the Central Island. They were also a borderline King-Grade Guild like the Severed Stars Guild, but with the difference between the two islands, a Queen-Grade Guild from the main island was practically the same as a King-Grade Guild from another island.
"What should we do? Should we take over? Or let them do their thing?"
Naturally, being the strongest Guild, they wanted to take leadership of the operation. They believed that they had the most experience and were also the ones who had the slightest chance of clearing this gate.
Although this was deemed a ’Suicide Mission’, there was still a glimmer of a chance that they could be successful in clearing the Gate.
If that were to happen...
"Michael, stop him."
Philip Rasmus, the Section Chief of the Anomalous Department of the Comet Guild, gave out a brief order.
"Understood."
Not a moment later, a young man with a clean-shaven head and sharp features disappeared from the spot, stopping right before Seth.
"Wait a moment."
He held his hand forward and stopped Seth right in his tracks.
"What’s the matter?"
Kyle and Zoey both looked helplessly at each other. Needless to say, they both already understood what was about to happen.
"Everyone, listen to me for a moment."
Before Seth could move or say anything, Section Chief Rasmus stepped forward, attracting the attention of everyone present.
"I’ll cut straight to the chase since we didn’t have a chance before. I want our team to take the leading position for this Gate. All of you should be aware of our Guild and our experience. We are the most suitable ones to lead this Gate. Especially if we want to survive this entire ordeal."
The Section Chief’s words brought frowns to the faces of the other teams.
However, upon reflection, his words made sense. He was indeed the most qualified person. Not only was he part of a Guild from the Central Island, but he was actually quite a renowned individual himself.
He had yet to reach the global rankings, but he was still well-known.
"If there aren’t any objections, I’ll carry on with the operation—"
"Are you sure you’re the best suited for this?"
A voice suddenly cut off the Section Chief.
When he turned his head, he saw a disheveled-looking man about his age, dark circles carved beneath his tired eyes. Covering his mouth and yawning, the Section Chief of the Severed Stars Guild spoke.
"Eh... Not like I’m doubting your capabilities or anything like that. I know you want to do this for the sake of taking credit and all that bullshit, but I kind of think that we don’t really have time to think about shit like that."
The Section Chief scratched the side of his face.
"...Why make it complicated? Work together as a team. No leader. Why does there need to be a leader? And if you really want to have a leader, we should be the ones who are most suitable since this gate comes from our island. We might know what is happening better."
"Oh?"
Philips’s face darkened.
This Section Chief... He really didn’t hold back with his words at all. Trying to be a leader to take credit? More qualified because they came from this island?
He really wanted to laugh, but held himself back.
Instead, he looked towards the others.
"In that case, should we have a vote? Should we see which proposal is more appealing?"
The other Section Chiefs looked at each other. In the end, a vote was held.
The result?
Comet Guild - 5 Vote.
Severed Stars Guild - 1 Vote.
With the exclusion of the Comet Guild and the Severed Stars Guild, there were six other teams.
In the end, it was an overwhelming victory for the Comet Guild.
Most of the Guilds present knew of their reputation and felt that they were the most reliable. This was a Gate that involved their lives, and as such, they decided to put their trust in the most reputable Guild.
"Well, fair... I guess?"
The Section Chief didn’t look too bothered, shrugging his shoulders before looking at his team.
"Follow along with their orders from now on."
He then looked at Seth.
"Especially you."
"....."
But Seth just remained quiet, staring at his surroundings with his dark gaze.
"Good."
Rasmus clapped his hands satisfactorily.
"Since everyone has decided to put their trust in us, it is best that we hurry up with our objective. We currently don’t know the situation within the Gate. The only thing that we know is that the scenario is an ’Office Space’. What is the goal of the gate? What are we supposed to do? Let’s look around for clues regarding the main objective."
The order was rather straightforward.
Gates all had structure and rules. Because the scouts didn’t dare go too deep into the Gate, there wasn’t much information regarding the main objective of the place.
However, it wouldn’t be too difficult to figure out such things.
Usually, a Gate gave away the objective rather quickly.
"Let’s check the nearby cubicles. We might be able to find some clues there. But be careful. You might never know what could happen."
Click! Click! Click!
Even now, each cubicle produced numerous clicking sounds.
The number of cubicles numbered in the thousands, and with Rasmus’s warning, one of the members of his Guild stepped forward and moved towards the nearest cubicle, sliding the door to the side.
Everyone held their breath in that moment, their bodies growing tense as they prepared themselves for what was waiting for them on the other side.
But—
"Eh...?"
"Huh?"
To everyone’s surprise, the cubicle was empty.
The setup was simple enough. A long table was fixed to the cubicle walls, running along one side before turning sharply into the corner and continuing down the other. A single chair sat tucked beneath it. An old, bulky computer rested on the desk, with a thick monitor, yellowing keys, surrounded by scattered papers, a stapler, and a few forgotten office supplies.
Most surprising of all—
Click! Click!
The keys moved on their own, as if something invisible was pressing down on them.
"...."
Everyone grew silent, staring at the keyboard for a moment.
Then, all eyes turned towards Rasmus.
He turned to a short-haired girl next to him as she closed her eyes. Eventually opening them up again, she shook her head.
"No."
"...Alright."
Rasmus nodded and walked in.
"There doesn’t appear to be anyone sitting on the chair. It appears as though the keyboard itself is an anomalous object. Be careful of that. In the meantime, look through the documents and see if you can find anything."
The order was simple enough, and several people moved into the cubicle to review the papers.
"Hmm. This seems to be an accounting paper for the sales of a game?"
With a member of the Comet Guild picking up the paper, he frowned while looking at it. Scratching his head, he looked at another paper.
However, the result wasn’t much different.
It was another accounting paper.
"Something feels off..." As this was happening, Kyle entered the cubicle. Because of its size, not many people could enter. He had to squeeze his way in, and as he scanned the place, his eyes eventually fell on the red stapler on the desk.
The moment he caught sight of it, his expression changed subtly.
’Why does it feel familiar?’
The more he looked at the stapler, the more familiar it felt to him.
His heart sank after a moment, and just as he was about to move towards it, someone moved towards it before he could.
"No, wait—!"
But it was too late.
The moment the person touched the stabler, blood spurted in all directions as a heartwrenching scream filled the surroundings.
"Ahhhhhh!"
"....!"
"Huh!?"
"Careful!!"
When all eyes turned in the direction of the scream, everyone’s face changed drastically as they caught sight of the scene presented before them.
"Haaaa! Haaaaa!"
With screams filling the room, every gaze snapped toward the man’s hand, now covered in staples. The staples had pierced through his skin, dozens of them, jutting out at crooked angles as blood leaked in all directions.
But that wasn’t all.
With each passing second that he held onto the stapler, more and more staples appeared on the man’s hand, moving up his arm.
"Quick!"
"Stop it! Take the stapler away from him!"
It was also in that moment that Kyle’s expression changed as he suddenly recalled why the staple looked so familiar.
"I’m sure of it. That’s..." Kyle muttered, his heart sinking further down his body. "Elcid Class, VILE - 042, The Blind Stapler."
That was....
One of the anomalous objects contained within their Guild.