Be Wary of Open Doors and Corners

It was just another day for Kirou at the office. He had rounds to make in the morning and was on camera duty after lunch and finally a patrol around the building during the evenings. That was Kirou's daily routine at Sanming and he's found it quite relaxing with the simplicity of it all.

As a gaming studio, Sanming doesn't need to stick to the daily 9 to 5 grind as all the employees could meet up inside Immortal Era at any time they decide on a meeting. The reason for Sanming operating like this, based on Kirou's personal observations during his daily patrols, is to keep an account of important players and staff for when something important pops up during the days. Should an emergency take place that needs players to head to the office or should an important member discover something that needs to be brought up with the higher-ups of the guild, instead of sending messages through the guild channel where spies can be watching, the person can just log off and alert the others covertly. At least, this was Kirou's thoughts on it as he researched the various forms of politics a guild can go through in games.

Kirou wasn't that sure it would be information that would be useful to him when he originally came across it in his research of Immortal Era during the time he got discharged from the hospital but his current finds have led him to believe otherwise. Another reason, Kirou thought from personal experience, was that the important staff were being kept in one area during the days to keep watch on them.

'Betrayal can only happen when it is someone close that stabs you in the back, after all.' As Kirou thought of this, he shook this thought free from his mind. Regardless of how management runs the studio, it had nothing to do with Kirou as he was just a security guard.

As Kirou patrolled the halls of Sanming gaming studio, he eventually came upon an office with its door open. Kirou approached the door intending to close it when he overheard the conversation going on inside.

"...Are you sure about this information you obtained?" asked a rough male voice.

"The information has already been verified, Sir. Along with personally seeing the results for myself and having a corroborative witness, it is safe to conclude that the information is accurate." This time, the voice, while gentle, contained a tinge of coldness to it. Kirou recognized this voice as it belonged to Secretary Yin.

Instead of listening even further, Kirou quietly closed the door before walking away. While the information sounded like it would be interesting, Kirou didn't have the bad habit of eavesdropping on his employer. As Kirou went around the corner, however, he ran into someone, causing them to fall. When Kirou took a closer look at the person he ran into, he realized that it was Shen Jiang, the rumored gamer pursuing Secretary Yin.

Kirou offered his hand to help as he spoke, "My apologies, Gamer Shen. I never saw you as I turned that corner."

Shen Jian looked at the person offering their hand to him. When he saw that it was Wang Xu, a hostile glint flashed through his eyes before they once again returned to normal. Kirou noticed the glint but said nothing as he was wondering how he crossed Shen Jiang. Instead of taking his hand, Shen Jiang stood on his own before going around Kirou.

As he passed by Kirou, Shen Jiang spoke in a quiet voice, "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't need assistance from 'you'." Shen Jiang then walked towards the office from earlier before knocking on the door and then entering.

Kirou watched all of this happen while with a confused expression on his face. While Kirou cared little about Shen Jiang, he was curious as to why the man is being hostile towards him. Kirou stared at the office door for another few seconds before shrugging and continuing his patrol. If the man wanted to be hostile, Kirou had no problem putting him in his place.

***************

It was currently past 2 in the afternoon. Kirou had just finished his hour of surveillance duty and was on his way to lunch when he walked past an open door to the studio's meeting room. As usual, Kirou went up to the door to close it when he, once again, overheard the conversation going on inside.

"...Our craftsmen are in severe need of those items. With the amount we need, we'll have to kill that boss a few times to gather enough materials for the crafters," said one person in the meeting room.

"What's worse is that we now have to compete with the other studios for this boss as they too have use for the materials dropped from this boss," said another person in the room.

"If only we had claimed that area for ourselves when we first found it, we wouldn't be going through all these troubles now," said the first voice from before.

"Oh, how I wish we could gather more materials per kill. Maybe then we wouldn't have to be starting a conflict with other studios looking for an excuse to start a fight now," said a third voice from the room.

After listening up to here, Kirou closed the door and walked away from the meeting room. Based on their words, Kirou had a vague idea of what was causing them trouble but that had nothing to do with him. Just because he can help doesn't mean that he should, especially when he's trying to remain under the radar as much as possible right now.

Kirou had just turned the corner when he ran into Shen Jiang, Secretary Yin, and a man wearing a navy blue suit between them walking at the front with a group of people behind them. Within this group, a few members were currently arguing and Kirou had a front-row seat to the whole thing.

"It shouldn't be possible for you to be able to farm so many materials from any creature. I refuse to believe that video isn't fake," said one man in the group. This man was well-built and looked like a professional athlete.

"That's right. Since when has it been possible for someone to be moving that fluently while harvesting materials from monster corpses. As a member of the crafting branch myself, I find that hard to believe," said a woman within the group. This woman was fairly young with dark eyes and has shoulder-length brown hair.

"Did you guys forget who brought in this info? Do you think Secretary Yin is the kind of person to come forward with such information at this point in time? I'm sure she's verified the info for herself. Also, didn't she already say that she saw the person do it with her own eyes? Why don't you trust her judgment?" This time, it was a woman with tall, blonde hair that spoke up. Her looks portray her as an active college student.

"Now, now people. We'll find out for ourselves as soon as we run the tests later. I'm sure Secretary Yin wouldn't mind that, right?" The one to speak up here was Shen Jiang. His words made it seem that he wanted to stop the argument but anyone paying attention would realize that he too didn't believe Secretary Yin's words.

Secretary Yin heard the hidden message and her eyes turned frosty as she stared at Shen Jiang. When he saw this, Shen Jiang just smiled, pretending to be clueless. Eventually, the group of people noticed Kirou's presence as they got closer to the corner. Kirou stepped back and gave the group space to pass.

Most of the group ignored Kirou as they thought that he was just another security guard working for the studio. A smile was on Shen Jiang's face as he passed Kirou, but Kirou could see the contempt in Shen Jiang's eyes as he passed. Secretary Yin looked a bit startled to see Kirou before she gave him a nod, one in which he returned to her. As for the man in the navy blue suit, he gazed at Kirou for a few moments before carrying on. Kirou noticed his lingering gaze but kept quiet as he wasn't sure of the man's thoughts.

It was only after the group had passed him and entered the meeting room from earlier did Kirou finally continue on his trip to acquire lunch. By now, it was obvious to Kirou what was going on but the same as before, just because he can help doesn't mean that he should.

He wasn't sure how they found out but they were talking about his method for harvesting materials earlier. It seems that those two elves either belong to Sanming and told the secret to the guild to help or Secretary Yin is an observant player to have noticed that gimmick. Either way, it had nothing to do with him as he wasn't a member of the Sanming's gaming staff nor does he had an obligation to help them.

Like that, Kirou went on to have lunch, not knowing that the talk about his gimmick caused a clash within that meeting room. Well, even if he did know, he wouldn't care as it's the people themselves who decide if they want to follow advice.

**************

Kirou was now doing his last patrol for the gaming studio for the day. It was another peaceful day at Sanming and it was about to come to an end. As his final patrol for the day, Kirou wanted to be thorough as he won't be in for a few days as this was a Friday.

With the weekend to himself off, Kirou planned on finishing that world quest that was forced onto him before finding a quiet place to relax and craft to his heart's content.

'I wonder if I'm able to make a secret base with Immortal Era, as is? I should check that out after I visit Old Wolf.' As those thoughts went through Kirou's mind, Kirou was once again greeted to the sight of an open door. This time, it leads to the secretarial offices on the fourth floor.

Kirou looked at the slightly open door with suspicion. This was his third time for the day walking up to something like this. He didn't even need to guess what would happen next if he went to the door. Kirou decided to turn around and walk away, only for his sensitive hearing to pick up on the conversation going on in the room now that he was conscious of it.

"You should get in touch with that player and have him demonstrate to us how he's able to harvest materials like that," was the rough voice of a male. Kirou remembered this to be the voice of the man Secretary Yin was talking to in the office earlier that day.

"That...Sir, I cannot guarantee that I'll be able to get him to agree to that. He's made it very clear to me and the young miss that he wants to relax in this game. Even if you wanted to pay him for his services, I doubt we have anything he wants as he harvests the best materials in the game at the moment. Besides, he's currently stuck on a quest that has him on the other side of the continent from us at the moment so he probably won't be able to help tonight." This was a feminine voice. Kirou recognized this as Secretary Yin's voice.

The man was quiet after Secretary Yin's words. It seems like he was pondering something. This went on for another minute before the man eventually spoke up, "How about this? Set up a meeting for Sunday night at around ten. That'll give you both enough time to finish your quests and travel back to SC Pier City."

Secretary Yin hesitated for a moment before she answered with a, "Yes, Sir." Kirou, at this point, had given up on escaping and had already made it to the door and closed it just as Secretary Yin spoke. As for what happens next, Kirou walked to the corner and stepped to the side, giving a whole lot of space in the corridor.

As if on cue, someone did indeed fly by the area Kirou had just left empty. The girl was dressed in a casual blue top with blue jeans. She had brown hair that extended all the way to the middle of her back, tied in one large ponytail. As she passed by Kirou, there was a look of confusion on her face for a moment before she shrugged it off and entered the secretarial department.

Kirou watched as this happened and could only shake his head as a result. It seems he truly should be wary of open doors and corners from now on. This day was a true eye-opener for him. As for the matter of how Sanming obtained that method to harvest more materials, he was now sure about their method.

'This world truly is smaller than it appears. To think that both of them are members of this gaming studio. What are the odds of that?' As those thoughts went through Kirou's mind, he finished his patrol before heading back to the security office. After changing back into casual clothes, Kirou clocked out and left the gaming studio for the weekend.