The second mission ended at the same time as before. After everyone got back into the garage where the van parked, they immediately were told to get back to their own room. There are two differences now. First, the team members are very cheerful because of the huge success. Second, Obsidian didn’t come with us to get onto our floor where all the member rooms are. This only makes Elio’s curiosity increase and gets distracted by what happened today with his team. But at the same time, he also can’t let his guard down. He needs to improve his hacking and breaking codes skills. As he tries to improve his skills, he needs to practice and teach his ace for it too. Elio takes a deep breath and washes his face. “Focus, Elio. Focus.” He says to himself toward his reflection on the mirror. A few minutes of calming himself down, he wipes the water from his face with the towel. He takes another deep breath before going out from the bathroom then heads to his room again to learn and search for more codes that he can break. Week passes by week and it’s already been 4 weeks that Elio already worked here. All of the regulations he did were the same in those weeks. Elio starts to feel bored but still curious about the regulations. It’s too normal and would be easy to predict if these keep happening. But then another thing that takes all of Elio’s curiosity is that the company literally changes everyone in the group but the three of them stay in the same team. Where are the others? Why do they need to be changed? Is there any specific reason that they need to be kicked out? However Elio thinks that there is one thing for sure in this company that everyone probably didn’t notice. Rules. Some kind of rules that apply for everyone yet they didn’t tell what the rules are. That’s how complicated this company’s work is yet somehow three of them are still in the save category for this company. Today is just another day after work, which it’s already noon around 3PM in his apartment. Now Elio doesn’t have much to do since he already mastered all of the books and codes that he found. He becomes faster, quicker, and sharper to break any security codes. All of the money that he got has already been transferred into his account through the call service like before since he still can’t go outside his room. Who is not bored and feels desperate when you get trapped in your room and do everything the same exactly like yesterday for 5 weeks? From here, Elio actually already feels wanting to leave the company but the question is ‘how’? The only time he can get out of his room is when he has the planning and working days. When he got into the elevator to go for the meeting, he already tried to choose other floors but that’s not working at all. Besides that he stayed in his room and did anything that he could. If he needs anything, he gets it through the phone call. There are two things that Elio thinks right now. First, since Elio is also well known as someone who is very greedy to get a lot of money, he still feels those rewards that he already transferred on his account are still not enough. Second, he wanted to leave this company so badly that it sometimes stressed him out when he got home. Money is literally the only reason why he doesn’t want to leave this company. “Ahh..” Elio lets out a loud sigh as he slams his body to the nearest couch. Since he just got home, of course he knows that tomorrow will be a very boring day because there is nothing he can do. “What time is it?” He opens one of his eyes as he turns his head toward the clock on his wall. 3.48PM “Maybe I should take a nap.” Elio says and yawns. Come to think of it, Elio never had a nap for a month already. All the time he spends only for learning, studying, and breaking all of the codes. Maybe this is the right time to fix and have a healthier life, huh? His eyes already feel so heavy and he slowly drives into sleep. **** “Hey..” a voice is calling him out quietly. The vision is still pitch black probably because he is still sleeping. Seems like someone is calling inside his dream. But how can? Elio lives alone, right? “Hey..” it becomes a bit louder than before but Elio barely responds to it. His eyes twitch from the calls and he wants to open his eyes. But the time he tries to open his eyes, suddenly he feels a heavy headache which makes him grimace in pain. “Chalcedony..” That person who keeps calling him suddenly using his nickname in his new company. The sound also becomes clearer and louder than the second one. Elio realizes that he needs to immediately open his eyes because of the way he got called. However the heavy headache is the dominance as it makes it harder to open his eyes. “Chalcedony!” The sound is now totally clear and it seems like that person is shouting at him. From that, Elio opens his eyes widely and looks at the voice’s source. There are two people in front of him now, Onyx and Obsidian. Their current condition makes Elio's eyes widen a bit. Both of them are handcuffed and trapped in different cages. “Why are you-” Elio just about to stand up from where he is sitting right now but something is holding him. He looks down as he sees his arms locked and chain circling his body with the chair. “Huh?” Elio says confusedly and his voice is a bit cracked. First time of being handcuffed right after he woke up, of course only made him panicked. True that Elio is already trained in his emotions and how to stay calm in every situation but he never thought that he would be in this situation. “Chalcedony.” This time, it’s Obsidian who calls his name and Elio looks at him immediately. “We’ll be fine. Trust me.” Obsidian says firmly as he tries to calm him down. Obsidian can see through how Elio is feeling right now, how panicked he is in this situation. Even though Obsidian already tried to encourage him, the panic inside Elio can’t seem to settle down. Who is Obsidian anyway? Elio only knows him around 5 weeks and those 5 weeks he doesn’t spend much time with him. Barely knows him, barely talks with him, the only time they meet is when they have work and nothing more. Obsidian just his teammates and how Elio suppose to trust him? He is not like Lucas.. But Elio also realizes that he can’t show how he feels right now. From what Obsidian told him, he only responds with a nod and tries to take a deep breath. Hoping that he will calm down in a bit. However, suddenly the door behind Elio opens which makes Elio’s heart thumping even faster than before. “Happy to see you survive, heh.” someone’s voice comes behind him and Elio totally remembers whose voice it is. That person slowly walks to stand beside Elio which gives Elio a chance to make sure of what he recognizes is correct. Just as he thought, it’s his interviewer. Although he wears black blazer and complete with the clothing accessories, he already looks totally different than before. Not only that, he also changed the look on his face with piercings and his hairstyle. Also the first time Elio met him, the aura is not as strong as this, this is just on another level. He is not coming alone in this room, there is someone right behind him. There is a woman with height and hair color that is the same as someone that is crossing Elio's mind right now. “Ew.. this sloth is still in here? What a surprise, huh?” She says with a disgusting face at Elio as her eyes look at him from his head to toe. Elio's eyes widened a bit from hearing her voice. Even though right now her voice is not as childish as back then, he recognizes it right away. Her voice tone, the way she speaks, her accent, it’s her. This person is the same as that nerdy woman, the vice-manager. Her looks turns upside down with that hair down, same dress code as her manager, and that glasses. The gaze that she gives to Elio only lasts for a couple seconds and she turns her head forward to Onyx and Obsidian who are in the cages. “These two?” She asks her manager, who is Elio’s interviewer. “Yep, you still remember those two, right?” He replies with a smirk on his face. The woman responds by looking back to back from Onyx and Obsidian. Slowly her smirk appears on her face as she lets out a chuckle. “Ohh.. I see..” She says and starts operating something on the tab that she has been holding on to. Elio only looks at her with a confused face, totally having no clue of what is going to happen next. Some options come through his mind after she says that. Is he going to do the same thing like his test before? That is the first possible thing that comes through Elio’s mind. The woman takes three steps back and gets behind the manager as he turns on the nearest microphone. “Sorry, I need to drag you guys in this kind of manner.” Elio’s interviewer says with an apologetic voice and none of them dare to give any reply to it. Three of us stay silent as both Obsidian and Onyx are glaring at the manager and his vice. Elio notices the way both Onyx and Obsidian are glaring at his interviewer and quickly gets the signal that there will be another ‘test’ for three of them. “No one gonna ask?” He asks innocently and still no response at all “Alright then.” He says and chuckles. Return his attention back to the tab in his hand before giving it back to the woman next to him. “Good luck.. I guess?” He says as he walks towards the exit door behind Elio. As soon as Elio’s interviewer leaves the room, the woman starts groaning in frustration. “Hahh… Why do you guys pretend like you totally understand the assignment? Stop putting on a smart image, will ya? Geez disgusting..” She says and looks at us cynically. Elio looks at Onyx who is still locking her stare towards the woman as well as Obsidian in the other cage. “Aihh so arrogant..” She says and lets out a loud sigh while pitching the bridge of her nose “Do you guys have any idea what you are going to do here?” She looks at each of us and both Onyx and Obsidian stay still. When her eyes land on Elio, Elio knows that he needs at least to respond to her. Not like the others who keep ignoring her. “I don’t have any idea about it.” Elio says and shakes his head slowly. “Good. Finally someone is being honest, huh?” she says sarcastically and scoffs. That leaves the room quiet again. “Alright then, just a quick explanation since no one seems to be interested in it.” She continues and turns her attention back to the tab she’s holding. “You” She says while pointing at Elio “You need to break all the codes as fast as you can.” She tells Elio about what he needs to do. Strangely when Elio looks around, he can’t find any laptop or device that he needs to break the code that the woman is referring to. Just about to ask her once again, the woman points to the other person and tells them what they need to do. “You both work together.” She says and touches an option on her tab that opens both of their cages. “Just a small hint is that one of you needs to be the bait and the other will take it down.” she continues, which makes both of them exchange looks. Right after she is done explaining it, Elio quickly speaks up. He already learned that if he hesitated in just a second, he might miss it. “Miss!” He calls with a bit loud voice and thankfully the woman turns her attention to him. “Where can I break the codes?” Elio asks. The woman doesn’t say anything yet she just walks towards Elio's seat and bends down to reach Elio’s right ear. “You are a graduate university student, right?” She whispers quietly. The statement that he just heard just caught him off guard. Elio tries to look at the woman but her eyes are already staring at him. With that, he decides to respond with a single nod. “Then take this.” She says and gives a pen to him. From the woman’s action, it makes Elio look back to back at her face and the pen. “Just take it as a paper quiz.” She says and winks at him before she turns around to face the other two. “No question from you two, right?” The woman asks both Onyx and Obsidian as she turns around and walks towards the exit door behind Elio. But this time, finally Onyx decides to speak up just like what Elio did before. “Miss, can I ask about a bait that you mentioned before?” She asks. “Well, you’re smart enough, right? You will figure it out later.” The woman says before leaving the room. The lock that was holding both of Elio’s arms on the chair opened as well as the gate behind both Onyx and Obsidian. “Without furthermore, let’s begin, everyone!” The voice of Elio’s interviewer can be heard through the speaker in the rooms. At first the opened gate is too dark to see what is inside there. But then, as it slowly comes out and now can be clearly seen that is a large robot designed like a human As the robot starts to show up, some of the floors in the Onyx and Obsidian room start to lift like pillars as it becomes a place for them to hide from it. Onyx and Obsidian, who get the idea where this is going to be, quickly hide behind one of the pillars. Meanwhile in Elio’s room, the lights on his right side turn on and it shows 3 displays of devices that are locked in a box. Based on how it looks and what he just told by the vice-manager, Elio is only available to choose one since he needs the device as soon as he can. Each display shows different types of devices that Elio needs to choose which one is the most suitable for him. From the first to third option, the question he got will get harder to solve. First option is that the device is just a tablet which makes it harder for Elio to break the codes because of the limited and different screen display with the laptop. Second option is just a totally normal laptop without any other advantages. Last option is the fastest laptop to process the breaking codes. Without any hesitation, Elio’s choice is the third one where he will get the best device to break the codes. He quickly takes off the paper that is in front of the display. After he gets rid of it, behind the paper there are 4 combination codes just like in a suitcase. First thing Elio does is to check each of the codes because something caught his attention at the time he sees this. The first code only has four currencies of countries which are both US and UK dollar, euro, and won. The second code is numbers which are 10 options. The last one is a letter, there will be 26 options to find the correct one. After checking all of those three codes, he turns his attention back to the paper he is holding. There is only a piece of paper with both sides having the numbers to solve. Elio quickly reads the first number with lots of anticipation and awareness of expecting the most difficult questions. But after he finishes scanning it, he raises one of his eyebrows. “You gotta be kidding me..” Elio says with a disbelievement voice. “It’s too easy! Even an elementary kid can break this!” The first number has the longest words than the others but it is actually just a fairy tale which obviously comes from a United Kingdom story. At the same time, Elio also has read this story which he knows doesn’t relate with any other countries money currency. There is no need for him to read the full page story because the question must be what is the currency of this country since those are the only options. When he puts his answer, he needs to push another button to check whether his answer is correct or not. Green light which means his answer is already correct. The next number might be a bit difficult for Elio because this has fewer clues than before. There are five squares that look like a card. In the center of four cards written with 25 meanwhile the another one written with 12. All of them don’t have any symbols at all which makes Elio become more confused. Elio flinches one of his eyebrows and looks at the pen he got before. “Is it related to this?” He asks himself while looking back to back from the pen and the paper he is looking at now. “One pen..” seems like Elio thinks that he doesn’t need the pen for now as he puts it back in his shirt’s pocket “Five cards.. Is it playing cards? But it’s out of numbers.” Elio tries to think of any other games that use cards to play with and thankfully something comes across his mind. “How many of the total again?” He says and calculates the total from those five cards “One hundred twelve. It matched! It's Uno cards!” That another hint he gets as trying to know what is the answer for number two. “Uno.. Uno.. Uno..” He thinks hard again of which number he needs to put in for the second bar of codes. Suddenly he remembers that on his pen, it can be applied to three different colors which are red, orange, and black. Uno comes from the Spanish language and both red and orange are the color of that country’s flag. “Uno in Spanish means one.” Elio says as he is entering the code with his answer ‘1’ and checks it. Elio gets it right on point, his answer is correct. Surprisingly, Elio does everything correctly and quickly up until now. One last question and Elio almost drops his jaw on the floor with widened eyes. “Are they for real?” The first words that come out from Elio after reading it.
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