Chapter 12 - Let's Return to the Rabbit Hole

On a sunny day, at Angga's office, where people were busy with their work hours.

It was given that every person there was absorbed into their work, including Angga, who was in the production room to handle the stuff for the production phase. A while ago, they gathered in the meeting room to discuss the technical matter to produce some content that will be added to the office's social media later.

A team of three people, including Angga, was in the middle of shooting a canned product until their boss, Panji, someone who was in the middle of his thirties, called Angga specifically.

"Angga, come here for a second." called someone who was currently carrying a cup of warm coffee.

The said person looked around him to ensure that it was only him that his boss called. His coworkers gave him approval to go away for a bit since it was Mr. Panji, the one who gave everyone here their monthly salaries. 

"Yes, sir? Something that I can help?"

"Nah, it's not particularly something you have to do. You know, I just want to talk about your channel." He sipped some coffee.

"What about it?"

"I see that you're working great to expand your channel, especially your 3D abilities. It's incredible, and I don't know you're an expert on that matter all this time. Is it got something to do with your disappearance previously?"

"Haha, thanks, Mr. Panji. But I'm not certain about that. I just like to hole up in my room nowadays."

Mr. Panji definitely hit the mark, and Angga deliberately brushed it. There's no way Angga could produce something great like that if it's not pre-made or something else he directly recorded with his mirrorless camera.

"A new hobby, huh? In the end, it's good to improve since it's related to creating content. So, I'm interested in giving you some small endorsed projects. Are you in?"

"Thanks for your offer, sir. I'm quite interested in that project. But could you give me some time? You know, I happened to get this another endorsement offer project by myself, so I want to try this first since it's my first time and make sure not to mess up the projects from you."

"Oh, you got your own? That's great, but maybe you can slide in on this project since I think you'll do great with whatever the product is."

"No, sir. I have to try this by myself. I don't want to deliver a bad product for our customers."

Mr. Panji looked at Angga's gaze, which made a strong impression on him. No matter what, Angga insisted that he wanted to do his own project first and then happily receive another project from him. If he pushed Angga to do this, it probably won't end well.

One another sip from Mr. Panji.

"Noted. Just let me know your product when you're finished."

"Certainly, sir!"

One more offer came from the boss himself. So, Angga should ascertain his way of producing more and more quality videos since there were more opportunities presented on his way. It would be such a waste if he let go of all of them, so Angga stood up right now before the banyan tree, which had carried him to another world previously.

"Here we go!"

If his assumption was wrong, then Angga has no way of producing the same quality video, just like those on his channel. He bet on this chance that the portal was still there or not.

Angga raised his camera slowly and shot the part where the blue dot appeared on his previous travel. He moved the camera slowly since he needed to composure himself while checking the reality. If this bet is off, then he had to abandon all of his–

"It's there!"

The blue dot was there, floating between the branches. Angga jumped in joy regardless some children who wanted to play with their neighbor looked at him for a while until he stopped. One of them had been thinking that maybe she didn't want to be a weird adult like Angga, who was overjoyed by a banyan tree.

"Alright. Time to go back to the world where the fantasy exists."

Thus, the human guy jumped from his world to another by shooting the banyan tree and activating the portal.

At another place, Aleid was enjoying his warm tea while reviewing some documents on the table. The door suddenly opened and when he glanced over, he coughed.

"Hey there, Aleid, enjoying your afternoon?"

"Angga? But Clara said you went back to your world?!"

"That's true. I managed to go back here. I have my own personal business now."

Aleid attempted to fix his glasses a few times, "I-I see, a personal business. I guess it's pretty important, nevertheless."

"You bet! This is the chance that I will become a top content creator. With the privilege of accessing this different world compared to mine, I'm sure that I can use it well for my videos."

"Well, that's a nice ambition to have, Angga. I'm sure you can achieve the height you're wishing for since I was amazed at your video last time. We too, as a Resources Guild, aim to be a great creator so we can contribute to our society."

"Thanks! Good luck with our own goals!"

Angga smiled toward the goat guy, and Aleid nodded in acknowledgment.

"Actually, I'm just making sure that my way here is not a one-way road. Since I know I can be here and back to my world, then that's my schedule for today."

"Really? That's pretty amazing, Angga. Perhaps since you can't do any normal magic nor possess a power to survive before the war times so, you can do the world travels where anyone else that I know here cannot."

"When you put it like that… yeah, maybe you're right, Aleid. That's why I have to utilize this only talent of mine, right?"

"Just as you said."

"Thanks for your wisdom, Aleid. Well, I have to go back. See ya."

Angga also successfully came back to his world by shooting the blue dot on the Ounen Tree, just like before. Basically, what Aleid has said is right. He has to utilize what he can do for now.

So, he officially accepted the juice endorsement offer, asked the client to send a few samples to be used in the advertisement and received the goods after a few days of Angga's approval. He put everything he had in his backpack and proceeded to the town of Canau, towards the town tavern, without stopping by the Resources Guild–Angga had asked Aleid for directions before, so he knew where to go. He thought that he could say hi to everyone when his business was done.

During his stroll, Angga captured footage of the town's activities this evening for his own stock. He was also thankful that his magic ability somehow prevented his camera's battery from depleting so he could take any footage without any concern to save the battery.

The human guy arrived at the front of the tavern when he realized a big shadow loomed over him in a split-second notice.

"Eh–"

His body was hit by someone–or something and rolled on the ground for a bit. It's too sudden for him to process, so when Angga opened his eyes while lying on the ground to check what or who hit him and currently sitting on his body, a sight of a tall woman was before him.

"You–"

"Hey, Angga. I've been searching for you. It's rude not to say anything when you're going to go home. Especially when I don't know if it will be my last time seeing you."

Somehow, Angga could feel Clara's gaze alone, and she totally disagreed with what he did in the town's west part. To go away without any words of goodbyes wasn't proper.

"For that, I'm sorry Clara. The process was so sudden that I barely had time to think, and when I realized, I was already back at my world."

"Safely?"

"As you can see, I'm healthy without any scratch on my body."

Clara looked through Angga's body from head to toe.

"The important thing is I'm here and able to meet you. Next time I go back, I'll make sure to say a proper goodbye to you."

"Alright then. You're good to go, Angga. As long as you reflect on yourself," she said with her usual grin.

"Of course. Thank you, Clara. 

The lion girl stood up from Angga so he could be back at his feet again while cleaning some of the dust. Some interested people gathered around and quickly dispersed since nothing more happened between the two.

"So, what's the deal this time so you return to this place again?" asked Clara.

"In short, I need more footage of this place for my personal project. It involves the advertisement thing, just like what I did for the Repose Lodging before."

"And now… you need that footage in the tavern?"

"That's right. Also, I'll treat you to some nice food at the tavern as an apology. They got something like that, right?"

"Really?! Yep, they got stuff like that since their food is also anyone's favorite. Alright, let's go inside, Angga. You gotta treat me delicious food!"

She was somehow in a good mood and already imagined what kind of meat she'd have for today.

When they entered the tavern, an alien yet homey vibe greeted Angga, who had never stepped into this place before. He researched what kind of place the fantasy tavern would usually be depicted in his world, but to think that it's not really different from what the internet told him made him wonder if maybe someone before him came to this kind of world and told the tale.

A quick charm that instantly captivated Angga was the diversity of the customers who enjoyed their time here. A group with full armor was jesting to each other while drinking in a questionable amount, perhaps a group of adventurers. Some other sides were also full of casual people of the town, judged by their casual clothes, which were unfit for fight or adventure. A Sharp Teeth guy was busy preparing the orders and putting the drinks on the table–the owner of this tavern–to deliver the quality food or drinks all by himself.

Everything seemed like a phenomenon that could be called order in pure chaos because of the diversity and loud talk that happened all over the tavern. Yet, a single Sharp Ears lady waitress who brought the orders to the customers' tables worked earnestly without being bothered by anything. She was working here, so it was her everyday thing, and Angga somehow saw her as the balance of this tavern. Whenever she came to any table, anyone was overjoyed because they could greet her and jest to each other.

"Pretty lively, eh? Especially the waitress. Everyone seems to love her," Angga commented.

"Oho, does that mean you are also interested in her, Angga?" There was Clara with her stupid grin.

"Yeah, right. As if I'm gonna interested with anyone who I barely meet."

"Haha! Okay, let's meet the owner. We have to order from him before we can get our own table."

When they reached the tavern owner's table, Angga let Clara order anything she wanted while he was good, with a few loaves of bread and small meat accompanied by a fresh drink. Due to Clara's excess orders, the owner needs time to prepare what will be delivered to their table. Angga reached for his gold pockets and paid the orders without thinking.

"Is that what you've got from the Repose Lodging ad before? You didn't use it in your own world, Angga?" inquired Clara.

"I'm not. These golds have no certificate in my world, so the price will be reduced, and it'll attract authorities if I use it too much."

"I don't understand. So, is it a bad thing to use it there?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"That's too bad. But cheer up. You can buy a house with all of your funds there."

"You can buy WHAT?"

One can buy a house in this town by only producing a single ad video. Truly, it is a fantasy of people from Angga's original world.

Arrived at the table, Angga put some juices on the table and started taking some shots. Clara tilted her head when she saw a weird-looking bottle before her.

"Is that something you could drink?" the curious lion girl asked.

"Spot on. It's a beverage product from my world that I have to make its advertisement. Just like we did in the lodge, I need to take as many shoots as I can."

Using his total control camera ability, Angga moved the camera to circle the product or take shots from various places and heights. No one was bothered by his floating camera since they were enjoying their own drinks while Clara carefully observed what the human guy would do. Still, Clara's curiosity grew strong, so she tried to look at the juice product from every angle she could while sitting. Of course, Angga wouldn't miss the lion girl's adorable gestures.

"Well, uh, can I try for a bit? I'm totally interested in the flavor of beverages from another world."

"Wait a bit, Clara. It's not the time. We should hold for–ah, there they are!"

"Enjoy your food!" the waitress smiled cheerfully and instantly gave Angga and Clara a bright energy.

The amount of huge meat served on the table totally blew Angga away. Clara would jump in any moment from her seat and feast on the chunks before her if only Angga didn't halt her. The sight of this abnormally too much meat on the table would be great for his video, so he rearranged the meat with the juice as the highlight. Only a few moments of shots, and then it's done!

Since Clara had to wait until Angga was done, she tried her best to contain her drool. The human guy also needed to rearrange the position of every item on the table for more references, so it definitely took more time.

"Hey, Angga… are you done?"

"Just a bit more!"

Clara pouted while growling in disagreement. To restrain her hunting instinct was surely pretty tiring to do.

After a few rearrangements and a few checks on the camera's screen, Angga gave the woman before him a big thumbs-up.

"It's a great shot! I'm sorry to hold you back, Clara. You can enjoy your food now."

The lion girl went feral.