I now understand why the journey was more enjoyable than the destination. The company you keep will always make any journey worth it. Though it would've been more enjoyable if we weren't stuck in this endless maze of pool hell.
Mr. Jin Woo Sung and I are tireless trekkers; we can walk for hundreds of miles, yet we wouldn't even be exhausted in the slightest. However, our new friend, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, is just a normal human.
Because he wasn't anything superhuman, Mr. Sung summoned his shadow bear for Kiyotaka to mount. The shadow bear's name was Tank. Such a fitting name for a durable shadow.
With this, we can take fewer stops and maximize our chances of finding the exit. To ease our boredom, we'd have a conversation every hour or so. We'd talk about anything.
I managed to get a glimpse of both my new friends' lives.
Mr. Sung apparently likes black suits, similar to what he's wearing right now, and would always buy the ones with the best quality. He wasn't a fashionista or anything, but he always liked looking sharp.
Kiyotaka can speak without providing anything concrete. It was smooth and rather impressive. The only thing that I managed to learn about him within two days of almost endless travel was that he likes yogurt.
Whatever that is.
As for me, they asked about my ability. It wasn't anything special. I told them that back in my world, Od Laguna would provide me with some tricks up my sleeve to help me become a proper hero.
Anyways, Mr. Sung was now slowly warming up to me, seeing me as a reliable entity.
As for Kiyotaka, he's new to the party, so his mind is a jumbled mess right now. He's trying to cope with the fact that he's stuck in an endless dungeon and that there may be no way out.
He also asked me if there were dragons where I live. Yes, there were indeed dragons in the place where I live. He was amazed but only for a fleeting second.
No matter how we distract ourselves, we still can't truly rest or relax. This ceramic tiled pool dungeon was unnerving. Mr. Sung was always on edge, as if he were seeing shadows moving in the corner of his eyes that weren't his.
The air was damp, and our surroundings were lifelessly grey and white. There's almost nothing to stimulate our senses. The still undisturbed water inside the pools felt like piercing eyes at this point, always watching our moves.
There was one location where we stopped to take in the view.
It was easy to explain but, words wouldn't do it proper justice. A whole city could fit in that wide, empty hole. Try to imagine that you're in the middle of an ocean.
Now, remove the water and replace the ocean floor with ceramic tiles. Also, replace the sky with ceramic tiles along with the horizon.
The mental image still doesn't do it any justice.
It was an empty country-sized pool that was brightly illuminated by these lights with a never-ending power source. Kiyotaka managed to dislodge one a few days ago, and there were indeed wires inside the ceramic walls.
He suggested that we follow it, but Mr. Sung interjected that there's no need. His shadow soldiers were relentlessly scouting ahead of us with no rest and no stone left unturned.
Mr. Sung said that they're so far to the point that the distance between us and the shadows was almost the scale of a small country. Kiyotaka was the only one who was surprised by the information, though.
Anyway, we stopped to rest in this room with a empty country-sized pool. Mr. Sung and I weren't physically exhausted in any shape or form, but we needed a mental break. However, our break was cut short when Mr. Sung suddenly rose and told us to follow him.
"There's another portal!" Mr. Sung said as he destroyed the wall behind us and then rushed ahead. I swiftly followed, and so was the bear that Kiyotaka mounted. The journey was rather lengthy; it took us five hours to finally arrive.
We had to make some stops just so Tank could catch up.
Mr. Sung could have instantly teleported to the shadow soldier's location, but he instead led us to the location. What a thoughtful guy.
...
...
...
We've arrived, and there was indeed a tear in the air. Although Mr. Sung calls it an portal. There was dried blood splatter all over the floor near the tear. They were focused on the blood trail, though there was something more pressing.
I see the distinct footprints of three people with different shoes and sizes. I relayed this information to them, and Mr. Sung now wanted to enter the tear.
"Wait, let me handle it first," I said, extending a hand but not touching the tear.
"I see a place just as infinite, but this one is more colorful. It has rows and rows of shelves, containers with items in them." I said, an idea popped up in my head.
"Looks like a shopping district..." With that, I finished my guessing.
"Did you use one of your tricks?" Kiyotaka asked.
"You could say that," I replied with a smile.
Mr. Sung's shadow soldiers were all instantly summoned, and it was amazing. Not a single shred of exhaustion or stress on them.
"Is it decided then? We use this entrance?" Mr. Sung said.
"If it leads to an exit, sure," Kiyotaka said with some reluctance.
"I have no issues with that."
We've all reached out for the tear, and our environment switched in an instant.
We were now in this clean and neat place, the air was more lively here, and so were the surroundings. There was this music from above, it served nothing other than probably eliminating the ringing silence of the ears.
The shelf container measured approximately three meters wide by two meters tall and displayed an array of colorful items. There were shelf containers to my left and right, extending for what seemed like miles.
I could still see them neatly lined up in the distance.
"These cans actually have something inside them, and so are these cereal boxes." Mr. Sung said as his shadows cautiously explored the surrounding area.
"Oh?" I said, picking up another discarded uniform similar to Kiyotaka's. "I guess your competitor was here too? Ain't that relieving?" I said with a polite smile.
Kiyotaka kept a straight face, but I noticed the subtle split-second expression shift. Whomever this person was, Kiyotaka doesn't want to see them, or rather doesn't want us to see them.