“Oh, that was good stuff from Williams,” Wang Wei said. “How about A for him?”

“A minus,” Steele said. “He should have made Morales shut up sooner. And he could have talked more to Roberts and calmed him down.”

“True.”

The other two agreed with Steele.

“And Banks?” Wang Wei asked. “He did about as much as Williams overall. He did far less to keep the team stable, but they would have been much slower without him, especially at the end.”

“B plus,” Steele said. “He shouldn't have needed Williams' help to keep his cool.”

“Yeah, B plus sounds about right,” Wang Wei said. The other two agreed. “C plus for Morales?”

“That’s too generous,” Hugh said. “His actions in the first room were almost moronic. I’d say C minus.”

“D,” Steele said. “He was such a useless teammate.”

The four graders spent a few minutes discussing Marco’s performance. They gave him a C minus.

“And for Roberts,” Song Hyun-woo said with a sigh. “D?”

“I was surprised that he got so far on his own,” Wang Wei said. “C minus for me.”

“D,” Hugh said. “His performance in the trap section was surprisingly good. Not as good as Caraway, but good. However, it didn’t make up for his mistakes.”

“I agree,” Steele said. “D for Roberts.”

Then they had another seven teams to judge. Another team of four judges was looking at the rest of the teams at the same time.

Each competitor was given a numerical score for their team’s course completion time. Then their grade was converted to a number and added to that team score.

Raine ended up at 12th place, Stanbury at 14th, Marco at 17th, and Edgar at 20th.

. . . .

Raine glanced at the email from June as he headed for the door. Huh, 12th place. Oh well.

Kayden and Reo made the top ten, which wasn’t much of a surprise. Kayden was athletic and easy to work with, and Reo was a careful person with a sharp mind. But damn, Max and Arnett got eighth and ninth. How did that happen? And Cecily is at 16th. Wow. She’s probably pissed.

He closed his phone, left the apartment, and went down to the lobby. It was 6:45 AM, and every one of his teammates was asleep.

He made his way to the corner store to get some canned coffee. He was eager to get the keys to the Lexus and drive around the place instead of walking everywhere with his injured leg.

He sighed. Another week, then I finally start my two months of rehab.

He thought about the $120,000 average pay and the $3,000 he was going to get in two days.

Getting shot sucked, but it had been worth it.

I’ll put the money in bonds, he thought. Maybe one grand in something high risk. He entered the corner store.

He carefully avoided the alcohol section, so he never even saw it as he grabbed a can of coffee, bought it, and stood outside to drink.

I wonder if there’s anywhere decent to sit outside. There have to be some seats around here, right? He started looking around.

That’s when he spotted someone shuffling over from the Gilman Tower. A short girl with a bob cut and slumped shoulders.

Raine debated with himself whether or not to greet her. She hadn’t seen him yet. She was staring at the ground.

Cecily let out a long sigh and mumbled something to herself. It was along the lines of ‘This sucks’ or ‘Life sucks.’

He took a wild guess as to why she was heading for the corner store. It didn’t seem likely, but he wanted to make sure he was wrong.

“Hey,” Raine said.

She jumped.

“W-What the hell?” she said. “Where did you pop out of?”

“You aren’t 21 yet, are you?” Raine asked.

She blinked. Then she sighed. “Go away.”

This moron. “Catch,” he said. He tossed her the canned coffee in his hand. “Better to have that than alcohol.”

She caught the can and tossed it right back to him. Sighing, she shuffled into the corner store.

Raine watched as she went inside. He stared at the door for a few moments. Then he shrugged and went inside. Who knew I could be such a nice person?

She was going straight for the vodka.

Raine put down his can of coffee on the counter. She was going slowly enough that he managed to catch up to her just after she grabbed the vodka. Raine pulled the vodka out of her hands and put it back on the shelf.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cecily asked, glaring at him.

“I should be asking that question. What is there to be so depressed about? Your team placed in the team competition, even if you didn’t do as well as you wanted to in the individual competition.”

“Mediocrity is nothing to be happy about. Will you fuck off?”

“Alright.” He shrugged and turned to the cashier. “She’s under the legal drinking age.”

“Son of a bitch,” Cecily said.

The cashier, a young man Raine guessed was a high-school student, gave him a thumbs up. Then his attention went to his smartphone.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Cecily asked Raine.

I should be asking you that. You’re the one depressed just because you didn’t get first place. He held back a sigh. Okay, let’s start with praise. It’s fine to be a little obvious.

“You’re a talented person trying to drink away your problems. I can’t say it’s nice to see that.”

“Leave me alone,” she said. She squeezed past him and strode to the door.

“Hey, failure sucks. But it’s better to suck it up and learn something from it than wallow in self-pity. Drinking won’t fix anything, and it won’t help you win next time.”

She went out the door.

Come on, I had more to say.

After a moment, he shrugged. Ah well. I tried. He grabbed his can of coffee from the counter. He pulled the tab and drank. Dammit, it’s bubbly from us throwing it around.

. . . .

Late in the morning, Raine’s team received emails from June requesting that they come to the Costas Hall at noon. She noted that they would be told about their job, and they were free to refuse if they wanted. But anyone who refused now would have to hear the same thing again next week.

They all accepted, since they had nothing to do.

“It’s about damn time we hear something about the job,” Arnett said.

“I know, right?” Max said. “Let’s go find out if we’re really going to become supersoldiers.”

The other two who received the email were Raine and Vick.

Why the Costas Hall, though? Why not just gather all the employees at that huge hall and tell us about it together?

“Why do you think we’re going to the Costas Hall?” Vick asked, sitting on a beanbag. “Are we going to get injected with superhuman serum or some shit?”

“Needles suck,” Max said. “I’d rather take a pill.”

“You two sure have wild imaginations,” Reo said.

“Odds are that Hopkins is actually a company owned by the CIA and we’re all about to become CIA agents and fly off to China or Russia,” Kayden said.

“Woah, you also have some wacky ideas, dude,” Vick said.

“It’s more realistic than becoming supersoldiers,” Kayden said with a shrug.

“Guys, hold on,” Arnett said, “have any of you considered that we might have to do some shady shit?”

“It’s possible,” Reo said with a nod.

“Yeah,” Raine sighed.

Everyone else reluctantly nodded.

“Overthrowing a government for the CIA, maybe,” Kayden said.

“Drug dealing seems more likely to me,” Vick said.

“Then why do we need all this training?”

“Drug dealing in the middle of nowhere?” Arnett suggested.

“We wouldn’t need to be good with bows,” Reo said. “In fact, I can’t think of a good reason why that’s part of our training.”

“Oh my god, I got it. We’re going to deal drugs in a warzone for the CIA,” Max said.

Arnett smacked his forehead with his palm.

“Fuck it,” he said. “We’ll learn what it’s about soon. Let’s just hope it isn’t some crazy shit.”

They spent the next hour talking, snacking, and getting ready.

Then they went down to the lobby and headed for the Costas Hall. There, they saw June standing near the entrance. She greeted them with a smile and told them where to go.

“Max, Vick, and Arnett, please head down the corridor and enter the second room on the right,” she said.

Why are we getting split up? Raine wondered.

“Reo and Kayden, please head to the room right next to where those three went. Raine, Lukas, and Grant, please head to the third floor. The first room on the left once you’re out of the elevator.”

The three of them headed for the elevator and took it to the third floor.

“What do you think this is all about?” Lukas asked while they were inside the elevator.

“I imagine they’re going to try to persuade us about something,” Raine said.

“It’s possible they’re going to tell us something that could make us want to quit,” Grant said.

They were somewhat nervous as they stepped out of the elevator. They entered the room that June had told them to.

It wasn’t a large room. Inside, there were five office chairs surrounding a table. One of the chairs was right next to the window that stood opposite to the door.

Song Hyun-woo blew a cloud of smoke out the window and extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray on the table. He greeted them and told them to sit down.

“So what did you guess the job is about?” he asked.

It was an unexpected start to their conversation.

Lukas answered first. “Spy work for the CIA.”

“Drugs, to be frank,” Grant said.

“Something related to the government,” Raine said.

“Those are pretty standard guesses,” Song Hyun-woo said. “When I joined Hopkins four years ago, I thought I was going to become a supersoldier.”

My god, your thought process was like Max’s. Raine nodded slowly.

“June told you,” Song Hyun-woo said, looking at Raine, “that the work was neither unethical nor illegal, I believe.”

“Yes, back when I first met her,” Raine said.

“It’s true,” Song Hyun-woo said. “It’s not unethical or illegal. But it’s gruesome. You’ll fight and kill some unusual creatures.”

“Like?” Grant asked with a frown.

“Have you ever played a fantasy game before? This is a serious question, by the way.”

“Of course.”

“Imagine just about every monster you’ve seen in it. When you start work, you’re going to meet and kill most of them in real life.”

Raine couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Grant asked.

“Ah well,” Lukas said. “At least the signing bonus was nice.”

Song Hyun-woo nodded. “Pretty normal reactions,” he said. “Until you see something interesting.”

He snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened.

What the hell?

“Well, that’s embarrassing,” Song Hyun-woo said. “Earth is annoying like that.”

He got up and stood next to the window for a few seconds.

Raine and his two teammates glanced at each other. They saw the disappointment in each other’s eyes.

“Okay, we should be fine now,” Song Hyun-woo said. “Magic.”

He snapped his fingers.

A small flame burst out of nowhere an inch above Song Hyun-woo’s hand.

Then it disappeared in an instant.

“Nice magic trick,” Grant said after a moment.

Raine nodded. It was an impressive trick.

Song Hyun-woo rolled up his sleeves and opened his right hand to show that there was nothing in it. Raine saw nothing on his fingers either.

“Hoffmann, watch my left hand,” Song Hyun-woo said to Lukas. He raised his left hand. “This is no trick.”

Then he snapped his fingers again. A small flame burst out of nowhere again.

How is he doing that? Raine got up and took a few steps closer. Grant did the same thing.

“Can you do it again?” Raine asked. He watched Song Hyun-woo’s hand closely.

Song Hyun-woo snapped his fingers again. Once more, a flame appeared.

Raine had no idea how he did it.

“What the hell?” Grant said.

Song Hyun-woo took a deep breath. “It’s not easy to do this on Earth,” he said. “In a week or two, you’ll know just how difficult this is,” Song Hyun-woo said, taking his seat again. “My boss did the same thing when I joined. I thought it was a trick even after he repeated this half a dozen times in a room like this one. So we went to the roof. Then the ground floor. Then I told him I wouldn’t believe him until he did it while we were a canoe in the ocean. We actually paddled about ten yards off the beach, and he did it again. Do any of you want to go to the ocean?”

“No,” Raine said. He still believed there was a trick to the flame, but he was curious about what else Song Hyun-woo had to say. He and Grant took their seats again.

Grant sighed.

“Anyway, what’s the fantasy monster nonsense about?” he asked.

Song Hyun-woo opened his briefcase and pulled out three sheets of paper. He slid one across the table to each of the three people in front of him.

Raine took a look. It was a detailed drawing that depicted a humanoid creature with a slight hunch and a bald head. It looked like it was roaring, revealing a mouth full of teeth that looked much like a human’s, though slightly sharper. In one hand, the creature held a sharpened stick. In the other, it held a rock.

“A goblin?” Raine asked.

“A goblin,” Song Hyun-woo said with a nod. “An artist’s depiction of one.”

“Not a photo?” Grant asked. “You can’t really expect us to believe that something like a goblin exists without photo evidence.”

“We have no photos. You can’t take metal to the other side. That’s why we told you to bring as little metal as possible to the island.”

“What other side?”

Song Hyun-woo reached into his pocket. Raine thought he was going to show them something, but Song Hyun-woo was just getting another cigarette.

“You aren’t going to be working on Earth,” Song Hyun-woo said. “In a week, you’ll go to a place we call the New World. As it sounds, it’s another world.”

“This is getting more unbelievable with each passing second,” Lukas said. “Really, goblins and another world?”

“It’s really up to you whether to believe it,” Song Hyun-woo said calmly. He lit his cigarette and took a puff. “But think about it. Why do we care so much about having you learning a language that you've never heard of?”

It’s true that I’ve never even heard of Ephrian. But that doesn’t mean it’s from another world. Raine had tried to look for it online before to no avail, but he decided to do a second, more thorough search later.

“The New World is a place of second chances, of incredible opportunity. But it can also be a place of despair and danger. It depends on how well you prepare.”

Song Hyun-woo took another puff of his cigarette.

This is so absurd. But damn, if he’s lying, he’s one hell of an actor.

“I’m going to guess the pirate threat was a lie, then,” Raine said. “You just used it as a way to indicate how dangerous the job was, right?”

Song Hyun-woo blew smoke out the window. “The pirate threat was real,” he said. “Three years ago.”

“Wait, so what happened to the pirates?” Grant asked.

“They’re dead.”

How? Raine wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

“How?” Lukas asked.

“Steele killed them. Not far from the island, they shot at her with AK-47s and tried to board her ship. She fired an RPG-7 back.”

“Jesus Christ,” Grant said. “Self-defense, I guess. But still.”

Raine wasn’t too interested in hearing more about that, so he changed the topic. “Why didn’t you tell us all this earlier, when we got on the island?”

“There are usually quitters in training,” Song Hyun-woo said. “We don’t like giving much information to people who are just going to leave the island without doing work.” He took another puff of his cigarette and exhaled out the window. “For that reason, don’t tell anyone from the other teams about what we’ve talked about. You’ll get fired if you do. Several people are on the verge of quitting, so we want to see how they do in the last week before telling them anything.”

“We’ll probably get some strange looks if we talk about this anyway,” Raine said. Lukas and Grant agreed.

Song Hyun-woo nodded. “I know what I’ve said about the New World sounds crazy to you three,” he said. “But ignore that for a second. Imagine yourselves trying to kill goblin. With a sword and a shield.”

“No guns?” Raine asked.

“No guns. We’re working on that.”

With a shrug, Raine went through the ridiculous exercise of imagining himself fighting a goblin. All he really had to do was slam it with a shield to stun it, grab its legs, and throw it onto the ground. Then soccer-kick its head.

“Does the goblin get a fantasy power boost?” Raine asked jokingly.

“No, it’s about as strong as a fit adult man,” Song Hyun-woo said.

“I’d just pick up a rock and whip it at its head,” Grant said. Lukas nodded.

“It has great reflexes, so it would probably dodge that,” Song Hyun-woo said. “But in any case, would any of you have qualms about killing it?”

“Depends,” Grant said. “Why would we kill it?”

“Because they burn down villages and steal from humans,” Song Hyun-woo said.

“I’d kill it without a problem then,” Lukas said. Raine nodded. “But this feels like such a ridiculous thing to talk about.”

“That’s fine. The last thing I’ll say is that I recommend you work your hearts out in the next week so you don’t die,” Song Hyun-woo said, leaning back in his seat. “And that’s it. You can go now.”

. . . .

June blinked as she watched Max high-five Vick.

“Dude, fantasy world!” Vick said. “That’s way fucking cooler than being supersoldiers. And we’re way less likely to die.”

“We’re still pretty likely to die,” Arnett said. “Think about it. Fantasy. Real life. Before you know it, an orc is putting a blade in your gut and a little goblin is reaching into your pocket and taking your wallet.”

“We were number one in the team competition,” Max said. “We aren’t going to die like extras in a fantasy film.”

“Exactly,” Vick said. “June, how often do the top teams die?”

I better not mess up my answer. Things were going better than expected, and she didn’t want to mess up the positive impression Max and Vick had of the New World.

June took a second to think. “Hm, I think one person from the top team three years ago died recently,” she said. “But that’s the only person I can think of.”

“How did he die?” Arnett asked.

“Well, I heard he fell off a cliff while getting chased by a dragon. He went for a job way over his skill level.”

“Dragons, people,” Vick said. “Can they talk?”

“No, unfortunately not,” June said. They’ll burn your face off if you get close.

“Damn.”

June smiled wryly.

“Anyway, I don’t really have anything more to tell you three,” she said. “And I have to get to the next group soon.”

She should have finished ten minutes ago. Instead, the three in front of her had just kept bombarding her with questions. She held back a sigh. And these were supposed to be the easy ones.

“Ah, alright,” Vick said. “Thanks a lot.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Arnett said.

Max waved. The three of them left the room.

June breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god. It’s finally over.