There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Chapter 52. The Golden Badge

Zein stared at his hand as he walked through the hallway toward the elevator he came in earlier. Ah...his body moved before he realized it, casually exercising his show of affection.

’Haa—this fickle heart...’ Zein wanted to reprimand himself. But then, it wasn’t like he was still mad at Bassena, so that was probably why his subconscious mind moved his body without proper thought.

"Mister Zein?" a soft voice calling out to him and Zein put his hand down. They were inside the elevator now, and it seemed like he’d been staring blankly at his hand for a while.

Zein looked at his side, at the guide that looked at him inquisitively, but still with a kind smile. Abel was what people would call a ’normal’ guide. An average build of 170cm, a fairly good-looking feature, and quite a delicate body whose exercise routine looked as if comprised of only stretches and a morning walk. As opposed to Zein, who was 10 cm taller and built with muscle like an esper.

"What’s with the ’mister’? Aren’t you going to be my boss?"

Abel laughed as the elevator slowly went down. "That’s not the case. Since you’ll be an executive, our position is the same. And if we go by guiding rank," he turned and made a finger gun at Zein before continuing. "Won’t you be higher than me?" _{freēwēbnovel.com}

Since Zein would exclusively guide the five 5-stars belonging to Trinity, he basically had a higher hierarchy than the division head that would only take care of 4-stars.

"I’m a newbie, though?"

"A newbie with seventeen years of experience?"

"There’s no record of that," Zein shrugged. He did have the experience, but his license card would have a clean record, as if he was just awakened yesterday.

"The sentinel world dictate by power," Abel replied with a simple smile and a wink.

Well, that was true enough. Even if Zein only awakened yesterday, as long as he had the largest vessel, he would stand at the top of the pyramid. That was the benefit of having clear, legitimate measurements. "Just call me Zein, then."

"Fine, Zein," again, Abel chuckled. "What would you like to do now? Guild tour? Or should we go straight to the dorm? But I heard you spent a long time on the road, and with the events today, it might be too exhausting to experience the guild’s compound. Would you like to rest first instead?"

Zein observed the guide beside him. He couldn’t say that he was good at reading people, but Zein thought that Abel looked as kind as what the face showed. Or, rather than kind...how should he put it...

"You looked like you’re good at taking care of people," Zein commented instead of answering.

"Hmm...I get that a lot," Abel replied with a smile. "The Guildmaster told me that’s the reason I became the division head,"

A kind, natural caretaker that also knew his worth, aside from being an A-class guide—Zein got a glimpse of what his coworker was like.

"So? Guild or dorm?"

"Dorm," Zein answered readily. It had been a few days since Zein last saw a proper bed, and no matter how used he was to harsh living, sleeping well was still essential to him.

"Good choice!" Abel clapped his hands once. "It’ll take a while to tour the entire complex, so it’s better to do it tomorrow. I’ll explain the general things about Trinity on our way,"

"But do you have time to do this kind of thing?" Zein tilted his head. "Isn’t this like, I don’t know...an assistant job or something?"

At that, Abel raised his brows and tilted his head to stare at Zein, eyes narrowed and looked like there were a lot of things he wanted to ask. But in the end, he just replied simply. "You know that if not me, the one showing you around would be someone of higher rank than me?"

Zein then remembered Bassena and Han Shin’s eager intention to be his tour guide and chuckled. "I get it. What should I call you, though?"

"You can just call me Abel," the guide replied as the elevator smoothly stopped at the lobby. "It’ll be shorter to use the rear entrance to reach the dorm."

Just like before, as they stepped into the lobby, some people ended up looking at them—or rather, at Zein. Clearly, it was because he was a stranger without any identification card, not even one for a guest. But the gaze was still less than when he walked with Bassena earlier, and without accompanied by nervousness.

With that, Zein could observe the lobby more leisurely. He finally could appreciate the luxurious feeling of the place, although Zein had no sense or idea about aesthetics. He just felt that everything looked expensive, like those shiny antique collections of Umbra’s Guildmaster.

How funny that those precious-looking vases and objects were simply lobby decorations here. Things placed in a public space with high traffic like a lobby meant that it wouldn’t be a big deal even if it was accidentally damaged.

There was a big, semi-circular structure not far from the entrance that seemed to be a receptionist booth, manned by four different good-looking people in white uniforms and iron badges.

Talking about uniforms, Zein realized that most people fleeting about wearing uniforms, including the guards. He saw some who used plain clothes, but he could tell immediately that those were espers.

Abel too, wore a uniform. It wasn’t a blazer suit like the others, however. It was almost the same as what a government guide would use—double-breasted with a banded collar—although the quality of the cut and the fabric was much higher.

Feeling Zein’s gaze, Abel smiled and started to explain. "Right, this is the first thing I’ll tell you about Trinity," he said as they walked further beyond the receptionist’s desk, where the people there smiled and nodded toward the guide. "As you can see, people contracted to Trinity wore uniforms—ah, you’re supposed to have a fitting tomorrow, by the way, for your uniform. Anyway, looking at the uniform colors is the quickest way to tell people’s rank here."

"So, it’s not only differentiated by the badge?"

"Oh, you recognize it too? Yes, we also use that, but there are some differences between them. I’ll explain it to you later, but let me tell you about these places first," Abel paused in the middle of the large hall with something that Zein could only describe as an abstract sculpture. Like a centerpiece, it was surrounded by cushioned benches. Seating places were spread out around the hall, so it looked like a lounge.

Abel pointed to the left then, where Zein could see what he understood as a restaurant through the glass wall. "We have an eatery here," and then he pointed to the right, "and a coffee shop, too. It’s the holy grail for overtime workers since they open for 24 hours. Of course, you have to pay, since it’s not covered by employee benefits, but you can also use your points for that."

"What points?"

"Performance points," Abel moved toward the coffee shop while explaining. "It’s like a reward you get when you did good, like contributing greatly to a project or mission, exceeding your quota, good behaviors—things like that. It is distributed monthly and recorded here," he tapped the badge fastened on his collar. "Those points can be exchanged for anything in the guild’s compound, including food, drink, and equipment."

"Even equipment?" Zein raised his brow, following Abel toward the bar counter. "Like weapons and combat suits?"

"Uh-uh," Abel nodded with a smile. "There are even things that are only available for the guild and are not being sold publicly. Oh, and artifacts too."

Huh, even artifacts? Zein felt more amazed than looking at the luxurious interior.

"Yeah, people can use an auction, sure, but they need to wait for quite some time since it’s not held daily. The espers here prefer to sell their artifacts here and receive points so they can custom made their equipment. It sure is nice being affiliated with Mortix, right?" Abel explained with a grin. "Well, not that I really know, since we guides don’t really need equipment. Ah, what would you like to drink? It’s my treat,"

There was not much line so they easily reached the counter, where various beverages were listed behind it. Zein had no idea what those drinks were, something with coffee and something with chocolate, something blended, something with milk, something with the names of ingredients Zein never encountered in his life...

In his confusion, Zein just answered in a daze. "Something sweet..."

Seeing the frown of flabbergastion in Zein’s eyes, Able laughed softly and ordered something to the barista. "Would you like to have the whipped cream?"

’What the fuck is whipped cream?’ was what Zein thought. "Sure," he replied nonchalantly.