Extra's Descent

Brandon arrived at the hospital and stepped inside.

Looking around, there, he could see the receptionist, wearing a full white attire.

He approached her.

"Good evening, I'm here for Miss Evelyn Cessna."

"Evelyn Cessna? Could I ask for your identification card, Sir?"

"Okay."

Brandon handed his identification card to the nurse.

"Okay, let me check if your name is in the priority list."

The nurse began typing on her keyboard.

"Let me see, Brandon Locke…. Brandon Locke…. Ah, there it is."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Then, the nurse raised her head, meeting Brandon's gaze and returned his card.

"She's in room 305."

"Thank you."

Just like that, Brandon walked ahead and entered the elevator.

Ding!

A chiming sound rang, and Brandon arrived at the third floor.

After roaming the halls, looking for the right room, Brandon found the room soon after.

[305]

Creaaaaak….

The door opened slowly, and Brandon took a deep breath. The entire room smelled quite like how a hospital was supposed to smell.

Smells like alcohol, if he had to describe it.

"Evelyn—Ah? Miss Vanessa?"

There were two people in the room.

Evelyn, who laid in her bed with a smile plastered on her face, and the familiar sight of Vanessa Glory, seated on a stool.

"Brandon?"

"You really are alive….."

While a sense of familiarity washed over Evelyn, Vanessa had a different reaction. Most probably, Evelyn had told her what had happened, meeting him inside the blackmarket, and such.

After all, Evelyn had been gone for quite a long time. For that reason, Vanessa must've been keen on the stories she had to tell.

"Long time no see, Miss Vanessa."

"You're calling her 'Miss,' but not me?"

Evelyn retorted, while Vanessa stood up and gave him a hug.

"Still fixated on that?"

Brandon tilted his head and Vanessa pulled away.

He hadn't realized it back then when he first met Evelyn.

But the moment he laid eyes on her, he felt strangely comfortable.

Now that he could peer into the memories of Raven Blackheart, he understood why.

It was because Raven, or rather, Jin, was Evelyn's benefactor. The person who had taught her how to control the [Celestial] affinity.

There was a reason for Jin's actions.

Because he knew of Lucian's death, and he knew of Evelyn's potential.

As if the novel, or more precisely, the tome had only told the story that he was supposed to know, there was a bit of fixation on Evelyn's strength.

It was so Brandon would be interested in her.

For that reason, Brandon was quite fond of Evelyn.

Like she was a little sister to him.

It was quite ironic now that he thought about it.

But regardless, this was information that Evelyn didn't know.

Brandon neared Evelyn.

"How are you feeling?"

"Great. It still hurts to move around, but Doctors say I'll be out in about two weeks or so."

"Oh, are you going to accept that teaching job?"

"We both are."

Vanessa's voice rang from behind, placing her hands proudly on her waist.

"You got offered too, Miss Vanessa?"

"Why do you look so surprised?"

She honestly asked, tilting her head with a frown on her face.

"I thought you'd return to your modeling job."

"I'm still doing that on the side. Besides, I like teaching."

Of course, that had always been Vanessa Glory's personality. But what's surprising was Evelyn's.

She would most probably grow far–stronger if she focused on herself instead of others.

As if Evelyn had read his mind, she opened her mouth.

"It's much better if the youth gets stronger as well. I'm not one to speak, but this is where Lucian Frost was wrong. While he became the strongest, the others were left in the dust. Now that he's gone….."

She stopped speaking further.

But Brandon surmised what she was trying to imply.

This entire continent relied way too much on a single person. For that reason, the moment he died, the Milis continent saw it as an opportunity.

It was much better to have ten stones instead of pebbles and a single stone.

For how Evelyn was discovered, apparently, Zed threw the ring directly at her the moment it activated.

The ring was actually configured to the Academy. As soon as it activated, Evelyn appeared in the Academy halls.

It was most probably why Brandon appeared inside the labyrinth.

However, there was still a mystery.

His injuries had magically disappeared. That, and his teleportation had a time–lag.

Something must've happened in those seven hours.

Regardless, Brandon had no clue.

The memories inside his head…. Jin's memories weren't omniscient. He only knew what he knew, and the same went for Brandon Locke.

After conversing for a while, they decided it was time to leave and let Evelyn rest. With such thoughts, Brandon and Vanessa stepped out of her room and left the hospital shortly after.

"Where are you going after this, Miss Vanessa? I can give you a ride."

"Thanks for the offer. But I'll have to refuse."

Vanessa's eyes darted around. As she realized the coast was clear, she breathed out a sigh and whispered.

"...You know how the media are these days."

"Right."

Bunch of nonsense.

"It was nice seeing you, Brandon."

"You too, Miss Vanessa. See you at the academy."

"Mhm."

After leaving off with those words, Brandon called for a taxi and got on.

Vroom—!

There were certain calls he was waiting for. He had already left a message for the specific people. However, there was still no response.

"Seems like I can take it easy for today."

***

Brandon arrived at the karaoke place.

It was quite noisy. The sound of music echoed across the hall, despite coming from the other rooms.

He halted in his steps as soon as he arrived at the right room.

"Ah, room three."

To— Tok.

He knocked on the door.

But there was no response.

In fact, he couldn't hear anything coming from the room.

To— Tok.

"...."

Still nothing.

Were they playing a prank on him?

To— Tok.

He knocked three more times.

With a frown on his face, Brandon checked the group chat.

—I'm here. Where are you guys?

He waited for about three minutes for a response.

But the response never came.

For that reason, he scrolled up the group chat.

He stopped at a certain point after a certain message from a certain purple–head caught his attention.

—@Brandon Locke. We left the door unlocked. Just open it when you arrive.

He did do that at first before he knocked.

But it was locked.

"....?"

Now that he twisted the doorknob, it seemed like it wasn't locked.

No, it was definitely locked at first. Brandon was sure of that.

Creaaaaak….

Slowly pushing the door open, what greeted his sight was….

Bang——!

Confetti.

And,

"Surprise!"

They all shouted in unison.

"Welcome back, Brandon!"

As if it was his birthday, confetti slowly fluttered all over the room. On the table, Brandon could see cake.

Brandon blinked his eyes, startled. Blinking again, he voiced out his appreciation.

"Thanks."

"Come in, come in."

Amy slowly closed the door for him.

Brandon took a good look at each and every one of them.

Raven, Reinhard, Claire, Rachel, Sarah, Cyrus, and Amy, who was standing right behind him.

"Go on, sit down."

"Woah."

Amy pushed him from behind, leading him to sit in the middle. Beside him, was Raven, and on his left was Reinhard.

"Is this….?"

"Chocolate cake. You like chocolate cake, right?"

Reinhard asked.

"Yeah."

He did. It was most probably Rachel's doing.

"Hehe~ Now that the man of the hour is here…."

Amy seemed to be up to no good.

"You have to sing first!"

She presented the songbook, as well as the remote.

"Eh, me?"

"Of course."

Brandon shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. Though he wasn't quite confident in his singing, he appreciated their goodwill.

"Thanks for this, guys. Really feels like I'm home again."

"Now's not the time to be emotional. Let's save that for later."

Claire rebutted his attempt.

"Later?"

"You'll see."

Seems like they prepared a lot for today.

Brandon couldn't help but smile as he continued looking for a song.

As soon as he did, he entered the correct number on the remote. Shortly after, the song started playing.

Claire seemed to have been taken aback by his choice.

"Eh? A foreign song? Can you even sing that?"

"That one's pretty old as well. 2008?! Are you some kind of grandpa now?"

Amy exclaimed.

"Just caught my attention."

Brandon shrugged.

"The song is pretty popular. But for some reason, the artist is unknown, as if he vanished out of thin air. No one knows anything about him."

"Oh, you're pretty knowledgeable about this, Sarah."

Claire raised her brows.

Sarah responded. The words wouldn't stop coming out of her mouth.

"Yeah, I heard it was quite popular back in the day. They said it was actually a student who sang this for their school's competition."

It was a song he had once seen in Amelia's playlist. It was her most played song on her app.

Brandon stood up with the microphone near his mouth. The others sat in silence, waiting for him to start singing.

[Kim Hajin – If]