Songs in the Void

Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.

While Tatsuo sat at his table and ate his meal, Sadao and Chiho followed Mayumi into the MgRonald's break room. As soon as they were all inside, Mayumi turned around to face her two employees.

"I have to say, I'm very disappointed in you, Maou-San." Mayumi said in a stern tone as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Although you haven't been here for long, you've shown yourself to be an exemplary member of the staff. So, I never expected you to make a mistake like that."

"I'm sorry, Mana--- I mean, Kisaki San." Sadao said, correcting himself midway through his sentence after Mayumi glared at him. "I was just worried about Chi-Chan. And well… I didn't really think my way through the situation when I thought she might be in trouble."

"Maou-San…" Chiho murmured while she stared at Sadao with a blush.

"*Sigh* And I commend you for your willingness to protect your co-worker, Maou-San." Mayumi said, her expression softening as she spoke. "And because the customer did not seem to mind, I won't discipline you for this incident. But I need you to do more to assess a situation before you act. Am I clear?"

In response, Sadao straightened his back and put on a resolute expression.

"I will take your advice to heart, Ma'am." Sadao said resolutely.

"Seriously, you're just lucky that customer is so forgiving." Mayumi said while shaking her head at Sadao's antics.

"Yeah, Soramoto-Kun is always like that at school." Chiho added, finally joining the conversation.

"Oh, you know him, Chi-Chan?" Mayumi asked in a curious tone.

Sadao also turned his attention to Chiho with an interested gaze.

"Well, kinda…" Chiho said as she fidgeted because of Sadao and Mayumi's gazes. "I mean, he's in my class at school. But we don't really talk much. Actually, he doesn't really talk to anyone. Wait, no, there is one girl he talks to… Or maybe it's more correct to say that she talks to him? But anyway, any time he does talk to anyone, he's always polite and helps anyone who seems like they need it."

"He sounds like a good kid." Mayumi said with a smile.

"Now I feel even worse about what happened." Sadao said. "And the fact that he had just helped you when you dropped the tray makes it even worse."

"And that's why I said you--- Wait, did you say Soramoto?" Mayumi asked after interrupting herself.

"Uh… Yeah?" Chiho replied while tilting her head in confusion. "Why? do you know Soramoto-Kun, too?"

"No, not at all." Mayumi replied while waving dismissively. "But I do recognize the name Soramoto. I remember a kidnapping case from a news report a long time ago… Eight or ten years ago, I think. What was his whole name, Chi-Chan? Though, I doubt the report was about the same person. I mean, there was never even a report that he had been found."

"Um… It's Soramoto Tatsuo." Chiho replied.

Immediately, Mayumi's mouth fell open while a shocked expression appeared on her face.

"Don't tell me…" Sadao said in a dumbfounded tone.

"Kisaki-San, do you think he was the same boy who got kidnapped?" Chiho asked, her face turning pale a she did so.

"Well, Soramoto Tatsuo was the little boy's name back then." Mayumi replied while shaking her head. "And that isn't exactly a common name. So, there's a good chance it was him."

Hearing that, Chiho's hands flew to cover her mouth as she looked at Mayumi with wide open eyes. Sadao, on the other hand, lowered his head with guilt clear in his expression.

The reason Sadao was hit so hard by this whole incident was due to his past. Because of a mistake in judgement, a lot of lives were ruined before he came to live in Sasazuka. And now, another mistake in judgement could have caused trouble for Chiho and Mayumi.

'I need to apologize to him.' Sadao thought to himself. 'I have to make up for my mistake. How can someone be above others if they can't own up to their mistakes?'

In fact, Sadao's ambition lay in rising up the corporate ladder and gaining a position of power in the world. Though, that stemmed from the position he held in the past, as well.

Meanwhile, back in the dining area of the restaurant, Tatsuo was holding his burger in one hand while his other hand was resting on top of his smartphone. However, it did not take long for him to move his hand away from the phone.

"There." Tatsuo muttered while chewing a bite of his burger. "Now that the [Dimensional Chat] is on my phone, I can pull it out whenever I get chats or notifications instead of looking like a crazy person just staring off into space."

With that, Tatsuo picked up the smartphone on the table. Then, he opened the [Dimensional Chat] app. However, he was surprised by what he saw. Instead of just the [Dimensional Chat] tab, Tatsuo was able to look at his entire [System] with is [Smartphone].

"This is even better than I expected." Tatsuo said with a smile. [Anyway, let's check the mission. I'm sure there is a time limit that I have to accept it by, right?"

Using his smartphone to navigate to the [Dimensional Chat] tab, Tatsuo then opened the [Missions] sub tab and read the mission's description.

{[Missions]

-A mission is available for the members of the [Dimensional Chat]

[Mission #1]

-Objectives

Become a Dungeon Explorer. Unlock [Energy Stat]. Become a Silver-Ranked Dungeon Explorer. Clear 2 Event Dungeons on Earth. Clear 1 Event Raid on Earth

-Number of Participants: Unlimited. Join Quest? Y/N

-The quest will start automatically in 6 Days, 10 Hours, and 3 Minutes.

Note: If participants are not chosen by the time limit, they will be chosen at random.

-Reward: 2,000 Coins; Random Reward; 4 Random [Dimension Chat] Invites.

[Begin Mission]}

"Hmm… This sounds familiar." Tatsuo muttered while stuffing a handful of fries into his mouth. A moment later, while chewing the fries in his mouth, the taste of fried potatoes gave him an epiphany. "It's the one with the 'Potato Witch'… What was it called again? It was a Korean Novel… It was by the author, Toika. Damn it… What was it called again?"

For the next few minutes, Tatsuo continued to rack his brain for the information he was searching for. However, it had been well over fifteen years since the last time he read that particular web novel. But right around the time he finished his fries, he remembered.

"Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society!" Tatsuo exclaimed aloud, receiving a few odd gazes because of his outburst. But he could not be bothered by those gazes. He did, however, lower his voice as he continued to mutter to himself. "Well, I guess that's not so bad. I mean, even though the main character spent three years on the fifth floor, he only took a year to get to the twenty-fifth floor… Fuck, I could be in that world for a long time…"

Thinking about how the narrative described the beginning of the main character's journey, Tatsuo could not help but deflate.

"No, I'm not like that guy." Tatsuo said as he balled up the burger wrapper. "Even after raising his intelligence, that guy was still kind of an idiot. On top of that, I fight much more efficiently. Plus, I know a lot about the dungeon. So, I can avoid some of the dumb shit he went through. Yeah, I'll be fine."

Picking up his tray, which now carried the trash from his meal, the uneaten apple pie, and about half of his orange cream shake, Tatsuo walked over to the trash can and threw away the trash before stacking the tray with the other used trays. After that, he looked towards the counter. When he did, he saw that Sadao and Chiho had come back out from the break room and were ready to start working again.

"Bye, Sasaki-San." Tatsuo said after seeing Sadao and Chiho. "I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Uh… Yeah… See you on Monday." Chiho replied in an awkward tone.

At the same time, Sadao was looking at Tatsuo with a guilty expression. Seeing that, Tatsuo sighed. Then, with the remained of his shake and the apple pie in hand, he walked up to the counter, which did not have any customers in front of it at the moment.

Seeing Tatsuo approaching, Sadao flinched. However, he did not look away. So, when Tatsuo reached the counter and extended his hand for a handshake, Sadao was surprised.

"Hey, man, no hard feelings, alright?" Tatsuo asked with a smile. "I know you were just trying to protect Sasaki-San. So, there's no point in acting like that, okay?"

Hearing that, Sadao was dumbfounded. Despite his surprise, however, he reached out and accepted Tatsuo's handshake.

"Um… Sure." Sadao replied, not really knowing what to say.

"My name is Soramoto Tatsuo." Tatsuo said, introducing himself as he released the handshake.

"I'm Maou Sadao." Sadao replied. "And I really am sorry about what happened. I should have asked instead of jumping to conclusions."

"Maou?" Tatsuo asked in a feigned tone of surprise. "What are you? Some kind of demon king? Hahaha!"

In response to Tatsuo's question, Sadao flinched once again while smiling awkwardly.

"Anyway, like I said, no hard feelings." Tatsuo said. "You just made a mistake. As long as you don't make the same mistake, then you'll be a better person for it. Well then, I'm gonna get home, Mom should be done setting up for my birthday party by now."

"Huh?" Chiho exclaimed in surprise. "Soramoto-Kun, is today your birthday?"

"Yeah. Just turned fifteen." Tatsuo replied with a smile.

"Wha! I didn't know that." Chiho said in a panicked tone. "Ah! Happy birthday, Soramoto-Kun."

"Thanks." Tatsuo said, accepting graciously. "Well, if you wanna stop by and have some cake after you get off work, I'm sure my mom won't mind. She's been telling me I need to make some friends. I've been telling her I have a friend at school, but she keeps saying that only talking to one girl when she talks to me isn't what's called making friends. So, if you stopped by, you'd really help me out… Then, Mom might get off my back about it. I guess I should text Tsukamoto-San about it, too…"

Like that, Tatsuo grumbled about how his mother is always telling him to make friends and how it was hard to make friends after only being at a school for months after being kept away from meaningful human interaction for years. However, it was quiet enough that no one heard him.

"Um, sure." Chiho replied with a smile. "I get off work in about an hour. I can ask my mom if it's okay. And if it is, I'll stop by."

Sounds good." Tatsuo said with a smile, Chiho's replied breaking him out of his annoyed grumbling. Then, he turned to Sadao. "And since you seem to be friends with Sasaki-San, you can drop by, too, Maou-San."

"Huh? Really?" Sadao asked in a shocked tone. "but you just met me."

"Well, I think I have a pretty good eye for people, Maou-San." Tatsuo said with a grin. "And anyone who would jump to a conclusion like that to protect someone else, can't be a bad guy in my book."

Sadao could only look on dumbfoundedly.

"Anyway, let's exchange numbers, I'll text you my address." Tatsuo said, not giving Sadao a chance to recover.

"Oh, my phone is in the break room."" Chiho said as she quickly turned around "I'll get it real quick and exchange numbers with you. Then, I'll give it to Maou-San later. We're not supposed to have our phones in the dining area."

"Sure." Tatsuo replied with a smile.

Like that, Tatsuo engaged Sadao in small talk while Chiho went to get her phone. Meanwhile, Mayumi, who had come out a moment after Sadao and Chiho, watched the entire interaction with a smile.

'Chi-Chan was right.' Mayumi thought to herself while leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. 'He made that invitation because he could see how Maou-San was feeling down after what happened. He really is a good kid.

Eventually, Chiho returned with her smartphone. Then, she exchanged phone numbers with Tatsuo. After that, Tatsuo bid the two goodbye while texting them his address. He Also texted the Tsukamoto-San he mentioned earlier, as well. Then, after thinking for a moment, he texted his mother to let her know that he invited three people over for the party.

After that, while walking home, Tatsuo opened the [Dimensional chat] app on his phone and started looking over the mission again.

"So, becoming a Dungeon Explorer might be hard to do." Tatsuo said while looking over the mission objectives. "I mean, I don't' really have any say in that. But if I do, the rest of the objectives should fall into place. I mean, thanks to the story, I know there are Event Dungeons in Yeongdeungpo and at Osaka Castle. And not long after those events, a month after the dungeons show up, maybe, China will have three Event Raids. Hopefully, I'd be able to steal one of those, or even help the main character and his father with the one they take on."

By now, Tatsuo had arrived outside of his apartment building. So, he put his smartphone into his pocket. Then, he entered the building and called for the elevator to go up to the penthouse. Once the elevator arrived, and he pressed the button for his floor, he leaned against the wall and continued to think about the mission.

"I need to make some defensive gear before I go, though." Tatsuo muttered to himself. "I only have a week. I hope it will be enough time to make something. Otherwise, I'll be going in naked, so to speak."

With that, the elevator reached the penthouse level. Then, Tatsuo stepped through the open doors.

"Mom! I'm home!" Tatsuo shouted, announcing his return.