"Old man..."
I looked as Aiko turned around, her face pale like paper after she had opened the door. I was shocked as well, what could've happened here anyways?
I hadn't seen anyone lurking around here, nor had I see any blood splatter in the compartment in front of us.
I looked over at Aiko, she had backed away from the door, now standing right next to me, Her hand tugged on to my shirt tightly.
She looked at the compartment in front of us then looked at me before pushing me towards the door.
"Oi! Don't you think you should be doing this? It's you who got us in this problem anyways!"
I sighed, walking forward. I took a deep breath, I held tightly on to my weapon as I stepped into the compartment nervously.
I looked behind to make sure Aiko was still following me before continued walking towards the next door.
I could feel a faint energy coming from the compartment that we were in as well as a hint of the same energy behind the next door... Seems like someone had gotten here before us and got rid of some trouble.
I can't say that it was useless to do that, whoever it is helped us with quite a lot. They got rid of not too little amount of lives just for us to get through safely.
Now to think about it, how did they even get rid of the bodies without leaving stains?
As I stepped forward again, my eyes widened. All of a sudden, my head had started to ring. My eyes widened in shock, when a voice began talking to me as I fell onto the ground in pain.
"Don't you think I deserve a thank you for helping you get rid of them?"
The voice had spoken again, I could somewhat recognize this voice… I'm sure it was the voice that I asked Aiko if she had heard it…
"What do you want from me?"
I whispered in a slightly hoarsed voice. I was in pain for sure, but I need this guy to be gone as soon as possible. I need to get to the head of the train and return to the main game.
I gritted my teeth, my hand clenched tightly into a fist as I looked up. Sweat had formed on my face, dripping down my chin.
Damn it, this power… at this point, I had already laid flat on the ground. I groaned, this isn't good. I'll never be able to make it to the head of the train.
I can't even identify who this person is by appearance since they had been talking in my head.
"Is my power too much for you?"
The voice spoke to me before letting out a laugh. I frowned, trying to focus and make out who might be the person talking to me.
It's definitely not Aiko… surely not Mary either. It was a man's voice from what I could hear. It was a huge problem, I had tried all I could to listen but most of the sentences I can make out aren't useful at all.
The power the voice possessed was too overwhelming for me. It was so strong that I'm not able to even reply to it.
"Oh well, we'll be seeing each other in a bit, anyway. I'm excited to meet you, Gyungho."
As the sentence came to an end, I could finally feel my strength return. As I held tightly onto my head, another voice called out my name
"Gyungho! Old man, come on, come on… out of all the time you decide to die, why now?!"
I stayed in the position I had laid in, silently. Most of my power and strength hadn't recovered yet… While I was laying there, I could feel myself being shaken again.
"Damn it! Do you want that creepy woman and the man that always follow you around to think I murdered you for the sakes of the game!? Damn you, Gyungho!"
The girl stopped for a bit, she had been pacing around before shaking me again. I frowned, sitting up weakly as the girl watched.
"Ugh! About time you got back! You scared the crap out of me you idiotic old man."
The girl crossed her arms, looking away. She was clearly angry at me. I groaned, standing up.
My head was still ringing but it was a bit better than when the man was talking... though at this point, I might as well pass out again thanks to this young girl.
To think about it, the man was pretty strange. Who would even want to go into someone else's mind just to talk to them?
I sighed, regathering the information I got from that short conversation. From the sentences that he said and the few words I was able to hear clearly without any glitches.
I'm sure he was most certainly someone or something I know. I took a deep breath, focusing my thoughts and getting myself back together.
I could feel the aura of a powerful being nearby as well as something else that I can't identify really well… was it an object or something else?
I shook my head, continuing onwards. As I walked to the next compartment of the train, I realized something was really wrong.
Every compartments I've been entering had nobody in them. Everyone just vanished, leaving empty seats and a cold atmosphere.
Even Aiko had felt the same based on her facial expression unless she's playing tricks again.
Either way, with a path cleared out for us, we were able to continued onwards toward the head of the train.
We passed through empty compartments, one after another until we reached the final. I turned around, taking a deep breath as I looked as Aiko.
"You ready?"
"Of course? Your dumb friends will kill me if I come back without you."
She paused for a second, pulling out her weapon. I looked at her sharp gaze, the one that proved she was going to murder anything that moves in her sight.
She had the same expression while she was chasing me down like a prey. I smirked, if anything goes wrong, I know she'll be able to take care of it.
She smirked at me, even with all that confidence, she was definitely hiding something. I mean, I couldn't judge either. I had felt nervous, who knows what could be behind those doors.
I took a deep breath. Something behind this door was releasing that ominous feeling. The captain must be someone insanely powerful for sure.
As I pried the door in front of me open, sweats had began pouring down from my forehead. Damn it…
I looked as the door flew open, releasing a purple gas around us. As we walked inside, our eyes widened.
The driver's compartment had nobody inside either, yet I could feel something was wrong. Aiko and I stood there in confusion until a flicker of red light caught my eye.
I immediately pushed Aiko outside once I figured out what was happening. But, by then, it was too late to save myself.
I looked behind me as a new iron door formed and trapped me inside the purple gas.
As I was holding my breath desperately, trying to breathe in as little gas as possible, the banging outside me continued.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Gyungho, you idiot!"
A voice screamed out to me but I ignored it, focusing on the situation in front of me. After a few seconds of banging, behind the door remained silence. I clenched my fists tightly, looking forward again.
As the gas began piling up and my lungs were giving up from lack of oxygen, I pulled out my sword and took in a deep breath of the gas.
I gritted my teeth, I knew there were no such thing as a free meal. There's no way they would've just let us go through those compartments so easily.
All of this had been a dream, I couldn't be wrong. As I closed my eyes, I felt the sensation of my body hitting the ground. I assume that I had laid there for a little while until I heard clapping noises.
"You've figured out."
When I opened my eyes again, a man was standing right in front of me. Before I could digest that piece of information, I looked around to see the area around me.
It was just like another dream, a void realm. It was just like Aiko's space but in a different color and the layout was a bit… off.
"So, what gave it away?"
I turned around, yawning. I had been so distracted checking the surroundings that I had forgotten about the man in front of me.
As I was about to spoke, I could feel my vocal cords closed up and my eyes widened in shock.
"You're…"
I looked at the man in front of me confused and shocked. He had dark hair and dark brown eyes along with tan skin.
He was clearly dressed as an office worker but his clothes were different. I smirked nervously, so this was the person I've had been looking for.
As I somewhat calmed down, I proceeded with the rest of my sentence and looked at him straight in the eyes. The man was grinning widely after he had noticed my calmness.
I smiled and reached out my hand for a handshake.
"…Scratch that, nice to meet you, Han Gyungho."