BXBX NOVEL Chapter 609 Hunting For A Job
Keng followed the group as Ritsuka trailed next to him. The jobs building was at the edge of the first year building. They had opted to drive there and were buzzing with excitement as their final member would be finally going on a mission with them. The job building was smaller than Keng had thought it be.
It was a brick building that looked like a square building randomly set up. As Keng stepped in, he naturally found himself looking around. It was larger on the inside than it was on the outside. It was pristine and decked out with tech. Large screens showed jobs, current information on the state of the different parts of the city and Academy announcements.
Despite it being a Saturday, many students were here. A mixture of groups and students who were going solo were lined up and waiting to look at the screens. The front desks had a growing line that were coming back from their missions.
"Woah." Keng whispered. "This place is too decked out."
"Keep up. The jobs will go fast if we're not quick enough." Ritsuka patted Keng's back. They moved over to the job boards. People were lined up and waiting for the others in front to pick their jobs. People would debate, click on a job and then the job would turn red. The process seemed quite simple.
It didn't take that long for the group to get to the job board. The huddled around it with Ritsuka pushing Keng to the middle so he could see what was happening. Manny turned to look at him and motioned at the screen with his hand.
"This is the job board. It's on a digital board that updates on what jobs are left. Any jobs in black are still available. Any jobs in blue are currently being looked at by another group. Typically you don't want to be an asshole and take that job because people are discussing, but you still could. Red jobs are taken jobs. These jobs will fade after it's been accepted on their own tech." Manny explained.
"You can scroll up and down through this and look for a job that would suit us. Also, you can get access to this through the Academy app. If you're with a team, you'll automatically be given access. If you're a Merc, you'll have to apply for it with the front desk. I did some searching on the way here and I think these jobs could be interesting for us."
Manny flicked and circled three jobs. They lit up in yellow. He looked at Keng and the others. "Yellow is the current options we're looking at. It'll be blue for the others." Manny added. Keng nodded and tapped the middle of the screen. The three jobs pulled up side by side.
"District 47: Hellhounds. Gather Hell dust from the Hellhounds and bring back 45 Hellhound teeth."
"District 25: Disruption. Find the growing Goblin camp and eradicate it for any future growth."
"District 97: Gloria. Find Gloria and bring her back to the appointed meet up point."
"Gloria?" Evan questioned aloud. "Someone's stuck in a District? Isn't that dangerous?"
"For civilians, yeah. I assume Gloria is someone who can handle themselves." Manny replied. The others seemed more interested in this one than anything else. Manny turned, noticing everyone was done reading and addressed the group. "So which one do we want?"
"Gloria." Liz pointed. A mark flew up on the quest.
"Gloria." Evan and Olivia answered. Two more marks flew up. Manny looked over at Ritsuka and Keng.
"Gloria." Ritsuka answered. Manny's eyes landed on Keng. There were four marks on Gloria. Even if he said something else, they would still do the mission.
"I guess that's what we're doing." Keng pointed. "Four votes is the mass majority."
"Gloria it is." Manny touched and held the Gloria job. It pulsed, rippling as the two other jobs faded. Gloria turned red and grew bigger. Evan tapped at his watch a couple of times and held it up to the board.
"You should be getting a confirmation on your watch or phone." Evan told Keng. Keng's watch buzzed on cue. He looked at it, noticing the Gloria job on it. It was a "D-tier" job.
"A D-tier job? Have you guys just been doing D-tiers?" Keng asked looking up at Manny and the others. They all nodded.
"We've been taking it slow. We did a high C-tier and almost got our asses kicked." Olivia commented, accepting the job on her watch. Keng clicked it nodding. The last member clicked it, marking the confirmation of 6 out of 6. A green checkmark flew up and the job instantly locked on the screen. It shrank as Manny clapped his hands.
"Let's go to District 97!" Manny happily shouted. The others turned and moved to the stairs. Keng followed with Ritsuka and Manny besides him. "The teleporters are upstairs. It works just like us teleporting around the Academy grounds. Put in the information and we'll get beamed over in a flash."
"Ah." Keng nodded. They climbed the stairs, avoiding the students who were descending.
"Hey Manny!" A couple students waved.
"Hey, how'd it go?" Manny ask as he continued to climb. His head turned and stopped as the other students stopped, temporarily.
"Great! I'll tell ya later about it! Good luck to your group!"
"Thanks. See ya later." Manny waved and continued to climb the stairs towards his group.
"You know everyone, huh?" Keng asked. Manny cracked a smile and nodded.
"Being in the Academy Twelve has its perks." Manny replied.
"Or you being a playboy." Keng shrugged. He turned to follow the others as a familiar face appeared.
"Lee?" Sara's voice cut through the air like ice. Keng's face hardened. Sara stood a couple of feet away from what he assumed to be her group members. She had a strange face on her. Shock, worry and awkwardness. "Y-you are back… I'm… I'm really glad you're back." She moved straight to him, hugging him.
Ritsuka and Manny watched as Keng's eyes widened.
'Why is she hugging me?' Keng wondered. He lifted his hands and pushed her away. Sara's eyes grew wide as Keng took a couple of steps back.
"I—" Sara began to say when Keng cut her off.
"You think you can just waltz back like nothing happened?" Keng asked. The other members of Keng's team and Sara's team stepped off to the side as students seemed to slow to a stop. Drama was about to ensue. Keng puffed his cheek as he looked away from her.
"W-what are you talking about? I—"
"How's your Freshman boyfriend?" Keng asked, looking at her. Sara definitely had nerves of steel cause she didn't seem to mind the jab from him. "He doin' okay? I mean, I guess he should be since you probably don't even care I was kidnapped for two whole months."
Sara scoffed, brushing her hair away. She couldn't believe her innocent reaction to seeing him for the first time in months was taken as a misunderstanding. She began to say something when Keng shook his head at her. He started to walk away as Sara grabbed his arm. Keng stopped and looked at her hand on his arm.
"I think there's a misunderstanding… I was just worried about you… Nothing more." Sara told him. She turned to look at him as he pulled his arm away from her. Keng turned to her and the sapphire and ruby eyes flared with Silver energy. His cold demeanor grew even colder as Keng's teammates realized he was about to do something.
"Misunderstanding? So you're just hugging me because I'm back?" Keng asked.
"That's all. What did you think I'd do? 'Oh, Lee let's get back together?' Why would I go back to a psycho?" Sara retorted. The crowd began to mutter as Keng stepped forward. Sara moved backwards, hitting the railing as Keng stood very close to her.
"Psycho?" Keng smirked. A strange energy poured out of him. It wanted him to go feral and rip Sara to shreds. "Who's the psycho here, Sara? You… or me?" His voice started to shift and distort as Olivia put a hand on him.
"Lee, not here." Olivia whispered. "There's people watching."
"So let them watch what happens when—"
"That's enough, buddy. You're still not in the right mindset. Let's go. We got a job to do." Ritsuka lightly tugged at him. The energy in Keng's eyes faded and he reluctantly was ushered away from Sara by Olivia and Ritsuka. Sara smiled as she began to follow.
"I think that's enough, Sara." Manny blocked her. His eyes were cold and she knew he didn't want her to get involved anymore.
"Why? Want that to yourself?" Sara motioned. Manny's lip twitched as he looked around. "Crazy on crazy? You can have him all to yourself!" Her loud words echoed around causing Keng to stop.
"Hey… Just keep going." Olivia whispered. Keng's hand bundled as he turned to look over his shoulder. He could feel the rage pouring from Manny. Manny took a deep breath and looked at the crowd.
"Couldn't be more shameless, could you Evans?"