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He could only faintly hear noises, but he was beginning to understand what was at play here, going off of his experience outside.

This overwhelming night…I think the darkness is stifling sound. So not only is our vision hindered, but our hearing…? He realized.

"Come on," he ushered for them to follow as he opened the door to the stairwell, "I\'ll bring you to our leader. Sorry, but I\'m not trying to get my ear yelled off for bringing you in under his nose."

"I understand," Xiaodan nodded with a reassuring smile.

Another walk up the lengthy, echoing stairwell didn\'t do wonders for his exhausted body, but it was thanks to his new skill that he was able to continue pushing without stopping.

Unhelping was the fact that only two candles were placed within the dank stairwell: one at the very bottom, and one at the very top, leaving them mostly in the dark as they marched upward together.

After what felt like an eternity, he reached the office of the Gangcheori leader, looking back at Xiaodan and nodding to reassure them before knocking on the door.

"Come in," Dae-Seong\'s voice was heard from the other side.

He opened it, walking in with the lonesome survivor following in behind him.

"Dae-Seong," he called the leader\'s name as he entered.

The middle-aged man was at his desk, visibly stressed out from the predicament the entire world had just been plunged into as his mess was a desk, illuminated by only a few candles within the office.

As soon as the glasses-wearing, composed man looked up, his eyes widened slightly at the sight of the unknown face beside the red-haired member.

"...Jeong-Hui, who is this?"

Before he could introduce the Chinese, adrogynous figure for them, Xiaodan stepped forward themselves, placing their hands on the sides of their long-sleeve tunic with a certain air of confidence.

"I am Xiaodan, a solo player, level twenty-two, martial artist class! I can cook, clean, and fight! I can\'t really read or write very well, but I\'ll do my best!"

Xiaodan bowed after their boisterous, confident introduction, wasting no time giving their status to Dae-Seong.

What the?! I thought it was clear that I\'d handle it! He thought.

The Gangcheori leader was stunned, sitting there with his hands in front of him as he stared at the adrogynous figure.

"...I see…" Dae-Seong quietly replied after a moment of silence, "And Jeong-Hui…Do you vouch for this person?"

It was an important question. Being on the receiving end of Dae-Seong\'s stone-cold, deciphering gaze, he couldn\'t do anything but answer honestly.

If Xiaodan for some reason turned out to be a bad apple, it would fall on him as the one who vouched for them.

"I do."

–He answered confidently without hesitation, finding a cheerful, thankful smile from Xiaodan who looked up at him.

"I see," Dae-Seong said, "There is nothing further to discuss then. I\'ll leave it to you then to show Xiaodan around and get them acclimated to Gangcheori."

"Really…?" He let out in surprise.

Dae-Seong adjusted his glasses, "It may be a pressing time, but that\'s all the more reason we can\'t abandon anybody. You agree, don\'t you?"

Being on the receiving end of those words, he knew them well; in his darkest hour, it was Dae-Seong that extended his hand to him.

"Mhm!" He nodded with a smile.

"...Besides that, did you get the supplies?" Dae-Seong asked.

Without wasting a moment, he showed the spoils of his scavenging to the leader, who was satisfied with the findings.

"Good job," Dae-Seong held a small smile, though it shined brighter than any other, "...I knew you\'d be right for the job, Jeong-Hui. These are dark times indeed, at the moment."

The leader looked at the windows that made up the back wall of his executive office, of which nothing could be seen in the completely abyssal night.

"Not only has Hell risen, but this darkness is another fiend of its own," Dae-Seong said before looking back at the two of them, "...Help Xiaodan settle in. Get some rest–it\'ll be needed. Patrols are changing starting now. We must patrol the compound itself–swapping out throughout the night; nothing is safe anymore."

"Got it…" He nodded.

It was a bit dreadful to hear, but it was the truth, nonetheless.

As they left the office, he and Xiaodan ventured to the rooms, finding his floor as he would prefer to keep them close.

"The leader is nicer than I expected," Xiaodan said, "I was imagining some tough, scarred badass. An overzealous one, at that."

"He\'s definitely a badass–you got that part right," he smiled a bit, "...It\'s amazing how calm he is during all of this. Same to you."

Xiaodan seemed surprised by his comment, laughing a bit as they placed their hands behind their head while walking, "I\'ve been on the move through the city since this all started. This isn\'t too big of a change for me–if anything, it just got better! I\'ve got a place to stay."

Seeing how excited the youthful person was for Gangcheori and the safety net it provided, he couldn\'t help but feel fulfilled.

"Thanks, Mr. Jeong-Hui."

"Huh?" He looked at them.

"Well, if it wasn\'t for you taking a chance with me…I\'d still be out there," Xiaodan bashfully displayed their gratitude with a small chuckle.

"Oh, that? Don\'t mention it," he smiled as they walked down the stairs, arriving on the fifth floor.

Passing by his own room, which was "#108", he stopped down the hall at the vacant room, "#114", opening it up for Xiaodan.

–

"Woah…It\'s so big!"

Xiaodan stood in the center of the room before flopping down onto the bed, moving their arms and legs as if creating a snow angel.

They sure are chipper…Well, I already knew that, he thought.

"You can find the food and drinks downstairs in the lobby–and don\'t be afraid to introduce yourself to the others," he said.

"Alright," Xiaodan smiled, seemingly enamored with their new room.

Before he could head out of the room, he was stopped as his name was called by the silver-haired, adryogynous new member.

"Mr. Jeong-Hui."

"Hm?" He looked back at them.

"I\'m a boy, by the way," Xiaodan told him, sticking their tongue out in a cheeky manner.

"Ah…"

He quietly left the room, closing it behind him as he stood in the hall silently for a moment as that information sank in.

"A boy…?"

Holy crap–if that\'s a boy then…Get it together, dumbass, he told himself.

–

Exhaling, he pressed his back against the wall before sliding down, sitting on the carpet as he rested his head against his arms.

He watched the burning wax that formed light in the wall flicker as it sat atop one of the hallway tables.

"...This is all real, isn\'t it?" He mumbled to himself.

It took awhile for it to be fully realized, but once the adrenaline had settled, it all felt as if it flourished harrowingly before his eyes.

The scourge of Hell, the wrath of Heaven, and the suffocating darkness; on all fronts, they were being assaulted. It was something he already knew, and so did all the rest of the survivors–"God" sought the destruction of humanity.

However, with the turn of the "Final Culling" being spurred into creation, it was all the more clear that their triumph over this herculean hardship was not expected, nor supported.

Passing through the halls, he looked up to see Binna, the brawny, blonde-haired woman who took up the job of maintaining the hotel itself. Contrary to her usual, energetic self, he could see bags under her eyes with stress embedded in them.

"Hey," he greeted her quietly, still sitting on the floor with his back to the wall.

Binna almost seemed not to hear him, taking a moment to reply as she passed by, "Hey, kid…"

As she passed by without another word, he could understand well what that stress was, and where it stemmed from:

Our own "creator" wants us dead, he thought.

For some reason, that thought struck somewhere deep in him–it wasn\'t that he felt any sort of sadness for failing that cruel deity in the sky, but what he felt was an immutable sense of helplessness knowing that the all-powerful creator truly sought the destruction of humanity.

"--"

Even so, with dark bags beneath his eyes and little strength in his hands, he clenched his fists shut as a reminder to himself.

That God can go to Hell for all I care. I\'m sure everybody else would say the same. I don\'t care if he created this world, me, my friends, or my family–they\'ve taken everything away from me. They intend to take it all away again. If by some stray miracle I can make it through all of this, I\'d really like to send one straight to his jaw.

Just a bit more than two weeks left to go…He thought.

Without intending to do so, he managed to fall asleep while sitting on the hallway floor of the hotel, finding himself drifting away while watching the flickering flame of the aroma-exuding candle.

Something like a bad dream woke him, though he forgot all about it the moment he woke up, slowly blinking as he opened his dreary eyes.

"Mmgh…" He yawned into his hand.

As he looked up, he immediately found something off about the corridor; the clean, white walls had shifted into a different material completely–a dull, worn wood.

He stood up, rubbing his eyes and looking again as the flicker of the lonesome candle continued to show him the walls that shouldn\'t be there.

"Am I going crazy?" He mumbled to himself.