Chief's Office.

4:32 A.M., November 27, NF. 112

Kim Dokja turned off his supervision terminal, stretched out his shoulders and with an audible 'crack'. All the finished papers, along with his terminal were all swept aside, marking the end of this week's work. Now that he no longer had work to distract himself, the buzzing and chirping sound in his ears was louder than ever.

Ever since he returned, work had been piling up on his desk. Stacks of papers covered almost half of his sight. Thanks to his capable assistant - Yoo Sang-Ah, the MBCC still could operate normally while he was gone, however, her authority only allowed her to maneuver their forces and related matters. As a result, all the documents requiring the Chief's approval were left behind, waiting to fall on his head like an avalanche.

Kim Dokja knew he needed rest, but the buzzing auditory hallucinations were too noisy, while his mind was completely sober. Everything that happened prior was still vivid, while this week somehow felt like a dream. Everything was solved, yet memories of that time kept resurfacing in his dream in the most uncomfortable manner possible. As a result, every time he woke up, he felt even more debilitated.

Kim Dokja took a few steps toward the snack counter, each felt like trampling on clouds. He sighed, and reached out to the teapot, only to find out it was already cold. "Do not drink cold overnight tea!" - Yoo Sang-Ah always scolded him for that. He shyly retracted his finger and turned to the water dispenser instead, pressing its 'hot water' button.

While sipping warm water, he looked out of the bulletproof glass window, to the city far away, in a daze. It was already long past 4 A.M, yet DisCity was still as lively as ever, with countless lit windows and advertisement panels. A giant billboard with the figure of a beauty could be spotted far away, reminding him of the one he met inside Eleven's realm. That time, she suggested if he had any problem, feel free to let her know.

It had been months since that incident, but everything felt like yesterday.

In his murky mind, Kim Dokja saw himself walking out of his office and headed downstairs. The guards walked past him, didn't notice his presence at all. As if he had become a specter that walked in a different dimension, separated from their mundane world.

Instinctively, Kim Dokja knew his current state was abnormal, however, his legs didn't have any intention to stop and kept leading him to the side entrance. A few meters away, the early bus for MBCC staff could be spotted at the gate, waiting for people in similar uniforms to get off. He patiently waited for the last person to leave, before stepping on the step treads, not even making a sound. Someone behind him was complaining about a sudden cold breeze, but he was too dazed to pay attention.

Later, when he recalled it, the dangerous signs had already shown.

Kim Dokja thought he must have dozed off, as just after a blink of an eye, he suddenly found himself surrounded by a bustling city. A line of shops and stores stood next to each other, filled with customers in all kinds of fashion. Sunlight was dancing on his eyes, making him couldn't help but squint his eyes uncomfortably.

Usually, when going out on missions, he always wears a special hooded suit with a mask provided by the MBCC, so there were, in fact, not many people who knew his real face. Because of this, there was lots of speculation and even some quite strange rumors circulated around about his looks, that he was very ugly or had scars on his face, etc...

Kim Dokja admitted he was somewhat hurt upon learning about that, but gave up on cleaning up those rumors soon later.

The short nap cleared his mind slightly, returning some sharpness to his senses. He felt gazes on him, but none carried malicious intent, only curiosity. He followed the gaze to meet some school girls in uniform turned away, while awkwardly hiding their phone. A bone-chilling breeze filled the bus as it stopped and its doors opened, blowing away half of his drowsiness.

It was only now that he realized he didn't have his trench coat on.

No wonder why people had been giving him strange looks.

The end of October to the beginning of January this year was predicted to be the coldest one in the recent decade, yet here he was, dressed in only a shirt and pants.

A familiar pain rose from his stomach, along with a feeling of numbness spreading gradually from the fingertips, signaling that he needed to eat. Kim Dokja looked down at his phone, an evenly 11 number that marked 20 hours from his last meal greeted him.

Following others down to the bus stop, he felt a bit at a loss, unsure which district of DisCity he was in. Until his sight met the address on a nearby shop board he realized this wasn't his familiar DisCity at all. The MBCC had several bus lines for its staff and guards, connecting to other cities around it. Based on the distance, bus schedules are also adjusted accordingly, the earliest line leads to...

A second pain made Kim Dokja have to clutch his shirt, so he decided to overlook this matter and find a dining place.

The streets were filled with people going out for lunch on a chilly yet sunny Monday, either taken away or eaten right at the restaurant. Due to this, almost every restaurant in sight was packed. Even sidewalk eateries couldn't avoid this fate, with people balancing trays of food as they sought out the perfect spot to savor their lunch.

After walking past a whole street yet couldn't spot a single vacant restaurant, he had no choice but to take a turn to a less crowded street, while keeping tabs on his surroundings. Colorful and crowned shopping streets slowly turned simpler, with townhouses laid close together.

Luckily, after passing 2 blocks, he finally spotted a restaurant in a corner.

The exterior was rather simple and classic, with brown and white as its primary tone. Two large arched windows were its main light source, while the middle one served as the entrance. The whole restaurant looked like a structure that had just been lifted out of some English city during the Industrialization period. A large word 'Garden' graciously sat on top of the wooden door.

Through the glass, there were apparently none inside, but Kim Dokja didn't have much stamina to consider further. He pushed the door open, and a ringing sound followed.

The quiet and warm atmosphere inside suited its exterior perfectly, reminding him of a 5-star restaurant he went to before after a meeting. Its quietness also enhanced buzzing sounds in his ears, but between collapse on the spot from famish and auditory hallucination, he would rather pick the latter.

At least the latter could be ignored.

A teenage girl with shoulder-length brown hair quickly walks toward him:

"Excuse me, we haven't...."

But the moment she saw his face, her face paled immediately, like she had seen a ghost. Her lip bobbed up and down without a single word, completely dumbfounded. Kim Dokja could guess the other half of her sentence, smiling awkwardly:

"Is the restaurant not open yet?"

What an unfortunate timing, he wondered if he had enough energy to walk another block...

His voice wasn't loud, almost on the mumbling side from exhaustion, yet it still snapped the girl out of her confusion, she blinked and quickly regained her composure:

"N-no, my apologies, how many people, please?"

"Just one."

She led him to an empty table with a follow-me gesture, before handing him the menu. Kim Dokja's sight started to blur, fireworks and black spots exploded in the corner of his vision. Without further ado, he picked out some simple dishes before all of the words turned into jumbled spaghetti.

Despite his exhaustion and fuzzy senses, his mind was still running with thoughts. As the girl figure gradually went behind the kitchen, Kim Dokja started to think about what to do next. He only had a blurry recollection of this morning, but wandering out of the heavily guarded MBCC in a half-unconscious state, not to mention as far as going to another city - was definitely an alarming sign.

The next thing would be contacting Yoo Sang-Ah, stopping her, and maybe other Sinners, from turning the MBCC upside down. Although it might be a bit too late now.

Kim Dokja opened his phone again and used his instinct to find Yoo Sang-Ah's number, noted a long list of red missed calls from his assistant. A bit of guilt surged in his throat as he pressed 'call', he thought idly about arranging a vacation for his poor adjutant who was always working overtime.

His call was picked up immediately. On the other end of the line, a series of questions bombarded his eardrums like a bomb. Yoo Sang-Ah was the first:

"Are you okay? How did you get past the guards? No, where are you right now?"

In the background, Hela's yelling can be heard, loud and clear:

"Chief! I swear if you dare to disappear again I will *******----"

...And a lot more, made Kim Dokja's head spin.

After pulling the phone away while waiting for them to quiet down, he briefly explained his situation, skipping some parts like how he got out unnoticed (since he also had no idea). To conclude, he intended to take a short vacation in NeoHive, so there was no need to go searching for him.

"... Please proceed with everything as usual, I already took care of everything on my desk, so things should go smoothly for at least a month or so."

Yoo Sang-Ah's heavy sigh could be heard clearly on the other end, but she did not object:

"I see, I will prepare a leave application for you. How long are you intending to stay there? Have you found an accommodation?"

"Around 3 days would be nice; I haven't found a place to stay, but it will be sorted out soon, no need to worry. I'll send the address later."

"Got it."

When the call ended, Hecate asked immediately:

"How is he?"

Her voice was drowned out by OwO and Hela, so she couldn't ask Kim Dokja directly. Yoo Sang-Ah eyed the monitors in front of her, it was playing the security footage from this early morning. However, no matter how many times they check, none of them show how their Chief left. The last one was when he stood in front of the window.

She answered Hecate:

"Exhausted, for sure. Please prepare yourself, I need you guys to go check on him."

The kids shouted in surprise:

"What?"

"He said he's going to take a vacation and to not go look for him, shouldn't we leave him be?"

"Ah, but the last time he went on a vacation, he got dragged into Miss Enfer 'Witching Hour of No Return'..."

"..."

The group quickly went silent, their chief's tendency of attracting danger whenever he went out alone was nothing new to the MBCC. Hecate asked:

"By checking, do you mean protecting?"

Yoo Sang-Ah nodded:

"Yes, I will inform everyone who will go later. Now, please return to your class."

With that, Yoo Sang-Ah drove all the kids out of her office, worries still lingered in her eyes. Their workaholic chief, actively taking a vacation?

The probability of this happening was even rarer than winning the lottery.

"I better arrange a comprehensive check beforehand..."