Chapter 2 - Sunshine Tourism Co.

I woke up from bed at 6 AM, like I normally do. Today was a weekday, a Monday to be precise.

I was just a normal everyday business owner doing business things.

I ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, took a shower, did my skincare routine, and dressed up for work.

My workplace wasn't that far, it's only around 5 minutes of walking distance.

'Hmm.... Weird, did I forget something?'

I looked around the streets. They were deserted.

Trash littered the ground, cars burned down to pitch black, and buildings were on fire. That was the sight I experienced.

'Ah, I remember now.'

Suddenly, the repressed memories came back.

'The world has gone to shit.'

I quickly hastened my steps towards my destination.

Arriving at my workplace, I inspected the building closely.

'Good, no significant damage has been done.'

Entering the building, I saw that my guys weren't anywhere to be seen.

'They must've gone back to their homes.'

I recalled what happened yesterday.

After the weird flash of light, it felt like I was being hypnotized.

'Everyone else was probably the same. Something hypnotized us all into going back to our homes and sleeping as if nothing had ever happened.'

After I thought about it a bit more, it felt stronger than just mere hypnosis. It felt more like brainwashing.

'I have to call the boys.'

I pulled out my phone and tried messaging the group chat.

'There's no internet and no call signal? Is my phone broken?'

I tried dialling the emergency button, hoping that it might still work.

A few minutes passed and the emergency call still didn't connect.

'I guess I'll just wait here at the front door. The others would definitely try to go here first. We need to group up and figure out what exactly happened.'

****

Time passed and I finally saw some people.

At first, they were normal people roaming around the streets, likely also trying to figure out what had happened.

Then, I saw some looters. Thankfully, this area was well-known as a crime area, so they were only passing by, not wanting to mess with the local crime organizations.

I was also holding a pistol to warn people not to get close to me.

Finally, one of my "employees" had come.

"Boss! It's good to see you!"

"I need you to guard this place with me, did you bring a gun?"

"No..."

"Sigh, then go inside and get one."

"Alright!"

Soon, the "employee" named Jack, came out of the building holding a modernized version of an AK-47.

"You brought out the newest model?"

I questioned him.

"U-umm, if it's not allowed, then I can bring out an old one."

"Forget it, just stay here and wait for the other guys to come."

I answered as I rubbed my temple.

"Did you see the other groups while coming here?"

"No, but I heard from a friend that the big guys ran away with boats."

"Did they run yesterday? Or today?"

"He told me it was yesterday."

'So it's empty right now?'

Soon, other "employees" also came, some with their own weapons.

After everyone had gathered, it was already noon.

The crowd of "employees" were noisily chatting about yesterday's apocalypse.

"SHUT UP!!!"

I raised my voice and loudly exclaimed.

"Listen to me!"

My "employees" hushed themselves as they listened to my announcement.

"This morning, I woke up at 6 AM. At 7 AM I reached our building here to wait for you guys. Did you guys know what I saw?"

They were confused, but some nodded and looked up the sky.

"The skies. Everything was different!"

I then proceeded to explain a bit more.

About how the stars were abnormally filling the skies. About how the morning sky looked like a galaxy wallpaper for your phones. About how the sun rose from the West.

"Don't you guys get it? We're not on Earth anymore!!!"

I might have been reading too much fantasy novels, but this was honestly the only explanation I could think of.

Then, one of my "employees" raised their hands.

"Yes Connor?"

"Boss, don't you think that's a little bit too much?"

"You saw a giant fucking cybernetic squid invading Earth yesterday, and you think my explanation is far-fetched?"

"But-"

"Yes, I know. Correlation doesn't mean causation, but do you have a better explanation?"

"...."

"You've all probably checked your phones and noticed that there was no internet nor was there a call signal, right?"

They all nodded at my words.

"Well, that means that there's probably no satellites."

"But Boss, why are we still in the city then?"

Jack asked immediately.

"Now that I'm also confused about. Maybe the entire city was transported to another world."

"Boss, I think you've been reading too much isekai novels."

"Shut the fuck up, Jack!!!"

"...."

"Here's what I'm planning to do."

I proceeded to explain my plans from here on.

Our "company" was only a company on paper.

The general public referred to us as legal gangs, but I prefer to refer to ourselves as a legally listed criminal organization.

We're not the violent type because that's just not my style, but we do pack a punch when confronted.

Our business mainly relies on smuggling illegal immigrants into the city-state, Pandora.

Ironically, the city-state that was supposed to allow all citizens of UN nations as legal citizens of the city was being gatekept.

Because the size of the island was only about 4 times the size of Singapore, the city's population had a hard limit of around 10 million, give or take.

Truthfully, the actual total amount of citizens reached up to 12 million.

Who were these extra 2 million people? Well, they were mostly "illegal" immigrants.

On paper, our "company" dealt with tourism for the city. My company's name was "Sunshine Tourism Company", but we refer to our underworld self as Abyss. I chose the name myself because it sounded cool.

It was an open secret that we were one of the many crime syndicates smuggling individuals into the city for a high price. Other crime syndicates also targeted this legal loophole.

The unfortunate effect of this, was the creation of a pseudo-legal underworld area in the city. It was commonly nicknamed "The Blackhole", due to attracting every shady and criminal organization.

This underworld area was home to a multitude of criminal organizations.

The Triads, Mafia, Yakuza, and many other gangs and criminal organizations were located here.

My current plan was to first dominate this entire area of the city. From there on, further plans would develop.

I explained to the guys about how the big criminal organizations ran away from the city using boats while the alien squid was invading. Meaning, The Blackhole was currently devoid of anyone in charge.

Our group was fairly huge, but we didn't escape due to how our organization worked.

The ones left in The Blackhole were small gangs and local thugs. Though they were dangerous, they weren't capable of messing with us.

"If things work out enough, the entirety of Pandora might just be ours!!!"

I proudly announced to the crowd of 363 "employees".

"WOAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

They cheered in fervor.