“Huh? No.” I’d never murdered anyone.
“In a few words, tell me what ‘living’ means to you.”
“Eating and putting food on the table, I suppose?” What’s up with these questions?
“Do you have any close family members?”
“One younger sister.”
“Is she a discreet sort of person?”
“She can be loud, but she’s the type who keeps her promises.”
“I see…” He was silent for a beat. “Would you like to travel to the Other Dimension?” he asked.
“Huh? …Sure, if it pays well.” My jaw dropped when I heard how much I’d get. They sent an advance to my sister’s bank account. I checked that the deposit had gone through, then nodded again.
What follows is the explanation I received after we moved to another room.
The Other Dimension was split into three continents. As they were all lined up next to one another, they were called the Left, Middle, and Right Continents. The military battalion of years past had been sent to the Left Continent. I would be sent to the Right. There, I’d find a dungeon called the Tower of Legions, and deep within that, the fifty-sixth floor. My job description: “Acquire the resource found there within one year.”
I didn’t really understand the technical details, but apparently if you used that material as a catalyst on a spaceship, you could make some black hole thingamajig-type engine with incredible energy output… In any case, it was supposed to be insanely crazy. I wondered how they knew that to begin with but assumed it was none of my business to ask as someone at the very bottom of the ladder. And I got the feeling he wouldn’t answer even if I did.
Six professionals and three AI units were originally supposed to be sent off on this mission, but one of the pros got into an accident at the last minute and wasn’t able to make it. I was their replacement. Given the top secret nature of the plans, they evidently hadn’t been able to prepare any understudies. I had a ton of questions, but a job was a job. Money was money. Don’t worry, be happy, I told myself.
Honestly, I was more concerned about having to spend a whole year with total strangers. Group projects had never really been my thing. I was seriously nervous.
“Oh, I almost forgot. I brought this,” I said, reaching for my résumé, but—
“No, that’s quite all right. We’ve already investigated your background.”
“Oh, I see.” So my sister’s hard work making this forged document had been for nothing.
“By the way, Mr. Interviewer, when do we leave?”
“In two hours.”
“Seriously?!”
“Seriously.” I had no idea how to respond to this matter-of-fact declaration. All the plans floating around in my mind disappeared. I needed to do one thing before anything else.
“I have to call my sister! Excuse me!”
“That’s fine, but we’ll be listening in on you.”
“Go ahead, I guess?!”
Knowing it was totally pointless to leave the room, I stepped out into the hall for privacy and called my sister. The phone rang twice before she picked up.
“It’s me,” she said.
“Hey there, Yukikazzie.”
“Gross. Don’t call me that.”
“Sorry, Yukikazzie. I’m really sorry. Your big brother’s landed himself a job.”
“You’re such a creep. Go jump off a bridge. Congrats on the job. That happened pretty fast—it’s a normal company, right?”
“Yeah, sure. So anyway, I’m heading off on an assignment in, like, two hours and won’t be able to get in touch for about a year. But don’t you worry about me.”
“You idiot, it’s straight-up exploitative!”
“The pay is good. I even got an advance.”
“Do they even give you anything resembling social security, pension, or health insurance?!”
The door opened with a clack behind me, and the interviewer popped his head out into the hall.
“We provide an excellent benefits package,” he explained. “If for any reason you are unable to return, we will compensate your sister with a fee for her discretion and additional remuneration for emotional damages. Both of these are also handsome sums.”
“He said I get an excellent benefits package. It’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, I heard him! This is all super shady! Can you put him on the line?!”
“That I must refuse. Speaking with employees’ families never leads to anything but problems,” added the interviewer, who then retreated into the room.
“It’s all right. It might be a bit dangerous, but I’ll come home no matter what. Don’t worry,” I reassured her.
“Every time you say that, I get even more worried.”
“Hmm, but the money’s good.”
“Con men always wave around a thick wad of cash. It’s the oldest trick in the book.”
“You’re so smart, Yukikazzie.”
“You’re just a total dumbass!” She was entirely right.
“It’s too detailed to be a scam. And they don’t have anything to gain out of tricking me.”
“I’ve said this a million times, but you really don’t have to worry about my leg. The doctor said once I get used to the prosthetic, I might even run faster than I could before.”
“Yeah, I bet you could.”
Even so, I still wanted to do this for her, as her older brother. I felt bad for dragging her into my own issues, but I’d rather regret trying than regret not doing anything at all. And so I had no choice but to jump at any opportunity that came my way, no matter how suspect. That’s just the kind of foolish man I was.
“Sorry. But I promise I’ll come home, so don’t worry.”
“Ugh! You’re so stupid! I should’ve known you wouldn’t listen to a word I said! Drop dead! I hope you live, crawl through hell, and come back home, you idiot!”
Click. She lost it, and I lost her. In so many ways.
The door to the room opened.
“Have you finished?” the interviewer asked.
“Yes, I’m done.”
“The clock is ticking. Let’s move on to a lecture on the other realm and get you suited up.”
I changed into the combat fatigues they had laid out for me and put a ceramic-plate body-armor vest on over them. The vest weighed very little but had various modular pouches to carry a mini arsenal of backup ammo for all the guns I’d use. They also gave me a pair of lightweight but sturdy metal-reinforced boots. As for guns, they’d prepared an AK-47 equipped with the latest features but disguised to look virtually indistinguishable from a 1953 model, as well as an M1911 Colt Government pistol fashioned in the same way. I removed the magazine from the AK-47, slid back the charging handle to check for debris in the chamber, then pulled the trigger.
Not bad. It’ll do, as long as it shoots out bullets when I need it to.
I replaced the magazine and repeated the procedure on the pistol. All clear. I sheathed my personal karambit in a sleeve on my arm, hung a well-worn Japanese-style woodsman’s hatchet from my belt, and threw on the aramid fiber poncho, which they gave me to hide my equipment, over everything for the finishing touch.
“Well, you certainly look the part now,” noted the interviewer.
“Thanks.” No need to butter me up.
After that, he spent every second we had left cramming summaries about the Other Dimension into my brain. He told me about the different races, religions, and influential powers, about the economy, cultures and civilizations, expected weather forecasts, and contagious diseases, and of course the dungeon, its rough history, its structure, the enemies lurking within, and the surrounding areas. And then, at the very end, he added one final point:
All of this data dated back half a century, and they could not confirm whether it was still relevant nor provide any details on the current situation.
We moved on to yet another room, this one wide open and bright. An ostentatious piece of equipment stood in the center of the space. Shaped like a pedestal, it looked like an altar where you’d present offerings to the gods. A bunch of people dressed in workman’s clothes bustled around it in a great hurry.
The five professional explorers stood waiting before me. There were four men and one woman. They were just casually milling about, but they never let down their guard for an instant. Though they looked genial and relaxed, I could’ve sworn I saw something glimmer deep in their eyes—that indescribable aura gained after mastering the art of this particular craft. Every single one of them had it in droves.
Do they even need me here?
“Mr. President, is this our last squad member?” asked a man with a scarred face. He gave me serious team leader vibes.