There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 68 - 67. Adorable Chicks

The seventh floor was filled with a strange atmosphere of mixed emotions—there was astonishment, apprehension, and even fear and excitement swirling between the guides.

Among the other departments in Trinity, the seventh floor was the one that saw Zein the most, from the day of his orientation to the time he came and go to the office space.

However, none of them knew exactly what his role was within the guild except that he had a golden badge. They just saw him as this scary-looking guide with a cold and reserved personality, who manhandled a 3-star scout that one time.

Now that his position was revealed, the man seemed even scarier. Zein had softened his vibe during the last few days, by trying to relax and wearing Reina’s clothes. But that recording of him fighting a monster seemed to return the fear they had upon him.

Although, along with that fear was also admiration.

It was the afternoon after the executive meeting, and Chief Guide Abel Hertz had told all the guides to stay in the guide lounge after they finished their guiding duties. Abel told them nothing, but it was clear that it had something to do with their new superior and the new division under him.

Some of the guides had tried to ask Abel about it, but the Chief Guide only told them to wait. They were whispering and speculating among themselves, but the moment the elevator door opened and they saw the figure in a black uniform, all went quiet inside the guide lounge.

The only one who wasn’t tense during all of this was, of course, Abel, who welcomed the tall guide cheerfully. "Are you done with Iddina?"

"Mm," Zein only nodded briefly, which enhanced his reserved vibe. He threw a glance around the lounge, where the guides were suddenly tensing and avoiding his eyes. "All is here?"

"One is sick and two still rest after their guiding session earlier. I’ll relay it to them, don’t worry," Abel looked at the tensed guides with a brotherly smile.

What a bunch of adorable chicks.

Zein walked toward Abel, whom all eyes were focused on. The lounge had no stage, obviously, but they had a mini bar window that was always used as a standing spot for anyone who wanted to make an announcement.

"As you already know, this here is Guide Luzein, the new guide that’s directly appointed by the Guildmaster," Abel started the introduction. "And as you also already know, a new division will be made under Guide Zein’s command and tutelage. I will let the man himself explain it further."

Even if Zein didn’t stand with Abel, his black uniform and tall build already stood out enough, easily drawing the attention of the room—the guides, the seventh-floor staff and guards, the twin receptionist, also his new assistant Alice.

The deep blue eyes swept the crowd once, and the room fell deeper into silence. Zein didn’t speak or do anything for a whole minute, and as the room started to be filled with confusion, he reached up and retracted his mask, baring his face to the whole room.

There was nothing special about it—he just felt like it was something he needed to do. This wasn’t a rogue guild or a borderland, where people had various notorious pasts and were hidden and elusive was nothing uncommon. This is a guild that had been treating him well so far, and home to people whom he wanted to trust.

Furthermore, some of these people would be working under him for at least the next six months, and for the chosen ones, it would be for the duration of the reclamation project. So, he thought that he could show them his face at least once.

Apart from Abel and the lucky guild members that had breakfast in the dorm’s cafeteria at the same time as Zein, no one in that room knew what his face looked like. And those who knew also seemed to prefer keeping it to themselves.

And just as Abel had thought, when Zein showed his face, the tense atmosphere shimmered down, as their eyes blinked in a daze.

Trinity was known to host a lot of good-looking espers and guides, to the point that others mocked the guild as an entertainment agency. But even among them, Zein was undoubtedly top-tier.

It was funny, but just by showing his face, Zein unintentionally shed his tough and scary persona. If one didn’t look closely at the deep and stern blue eyes, one would think the guide was an extremely pretty man who they’d want to ask for a drink and something more. Abel understood then, why Zein wanted to hide his face.

"I won’t say much," Zein said as he swept his gaze toward the awed crowd. "I’m sure you’re all competent enough to understand what the Guildmaster means and want to achieve through the establishment of this division,"

The guides were looking at each other, some biting their lips from the sheer pressure of remembering those action sequences this pretty man in front of them had done.

"No, no one asks you to be like me," Zein sighed for a bit. Showing the things he did in the Deathzone wasn’t such a good idea in Zein’s mind. It was something that only he could do, with his sharp senses and magic energy reserved. It wasn’t something that could be imitated by other guides. "But those who had come inside the dungeon should understand why creating such force is important."

He paused for a bit, staring at the guides he knew always had trouble inside the dungeon based on the information that Abel provided him with. "Survival—that’s the only objective of this division."

A shift happened then—just slightly, but Zein could recognize some gazes; determined ones, dumbfounded ones, skeptical ones. He committed those eyes and their owner to his memory.

"I’m giving you until the end of the week to submit your applications, which you can give to the siblings," Zein looked at the Sahaegi siblings, who bowed their heads. "The Guildmaster had given me full authority to put whoever I want inside this division, so even if you don’t apply, you might still end up there."

The room stirred by that seemingly authoritative statement. A lot of guides looked visibly worried about being put inside the division. After all, they saw how close Zein was to danger in the video and how harsh the environment was—wherever that ’dungeon’ was.

Who would willingly throw their comfortable life to always roam inside the dungeon along with the espers?

That being said, not everyone thought like that. The more pragmatic guide raised their hand. "Um, Sir, may I ask something?"

"Yes,"

"What..." the guide paused for a bit, contemplating their question. "What would we do in the new division? I mean..."

"You’ll train," Zein answered right away, staring straight at the one asking the question. His eyes were sharp, but there was a subtle smile on his face that softened the hard future of his answer. "You’ll train your body and mind so you can withstand any dungeon that may come your way."

Another guide that was standing behind the earlier guide followed carefully. "Aside from our regular guiding?"

"Of course," Zein replied matter-of-factly.

Abel chimed in then, with a strangely joyful smile on his face. "In case you didn’t know, Guide Zein is also responsible for the guiding of all 5-stars in the guild." fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

"What?!" this time, the sound was coming from the other A-classes.

Despite the exclamation, however, there was a brightness in their faces, the same expression that was plastered on Abel’s face. "So we don’t have to give any of them emergency guiding anymore?" an A-class, Nadine, remarked with sparkling eyes.

While the 5-stars usually had their cleansing done in the Temple, there could be times when emergency measures needed to be taken, especially inside the dungeons. And for those who had been with Trinity from the start like Abel and her, and had the experience of guiding the 5-stars often including Bassena—especially Bassena—there was a certain persisting trauma about the many burnouts they had before the policy changed to Temple cleansing.

"That’s right," Abel patted the black-cladded shoulder lightly. "We can dump them all on him, pre-cleansing and emergency and whatnot,"

The A-class who asked the question parted her lips and paused for a bit, before giving her salute to the new guide. "My respect for you, Sir," she remarked with a grin, along with the other A-classes. Except for Arden, who was still looking at Zein with a mix of fear and envy.

"Give me your application then," Zein shrugged his shoulder off Abel’s hand and brought the other guides’ attention back to him with a clap. "Once you don your black uniform, everything will change," the blue eyes swept the crowds once again. "From your guiding quota, your schedule..." Zein smiled, and the pretty face shone even more, giving highlight to his next words. "And your pay,"

Now that was a change that everyone seemed to be on board with. The room filled with murmurs again, although it was significantly cheerier this time.

The tall guide smirked then, only for a second, enough to make the guides shudder. "Oh, this guy will join the training regime too, for fun."

"Hey!" Abel swatted the thumb pointing at him with pursed lips, narrowing his eyes at the smirking guide before breaking into a helpless laugh. "Yeah, I’ll join the training too, although I won’t be wearing the uniform."

That seemed to shift the mood into a favorable one even more, so Abel took the chance to remind them. "Remember to turn in your application through the siblings if you want in. Don’t worry too much about having to perform like Guide Zein, because no one demands you to. Think about it like this: you’ll have to come to the dungeon in rotation anyway, so wouldn’t it be better if you can get paid more and have a higher degree of survival?"

Another heated murmur ensued, and the chubby Brisk raised his hand as Zein activated his mask again. "Um, Chief, then what should we call Guide Ze...Zein..." he paused for a bit, grinning sheepishly. "Do we call him Chief too, or..."

Abel smirked then, glancing at Zein with a tilted head and fingers rubbing his chin in contemplation. "Call him Captain,"