There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 241 - 234. New Prospects

Chapter 241: Chapter 234. New Prospects

"Alright, let me get this straight once again," Zein looked at the list of applicants in front of him. "We’re going to label these applicants into level?"

"Yes," Abel flipped through the papers.

It was the first stage of their job; putting the applicants into categories based on their prospects. They would look into the portfolios and motivational essays, before deciding whether or not those people would pass the initial screening.

"I’m so glad I have you now," Abel grinned. "I had to do this alone before."

"Do we have to read all of this?" Zein arched his brow. For some reason, these people wrote such long essays for their personal branding and motivation. "What would happen to the esper’s department?"

"Eh--espers usually don’t write long flowery word. They ended it in one or two concise sentences," Abel shrugged. "Alright, let’s put the good prospect here, the bad there, and the rest in the middle for further perusal."

"Hmm,"

Zein let out a sigh. Again, he did not think before that most of his work would be done behind the desk. Especially since now he could only dove into dungeons with Bassena. All he did these days were making schedules and monitoring the kids’ progress.

But whining wouldn’t decrease the number of documents he needed to peruse, so he stretched his neck and started to read the applications.

Just like Abel had said, many came from the yellow and orange zone. Of course, the basic threshold was still C-class, but this only made things even more incredible. In lower zones, C-class was a sought-after level, because they were good enough to take care of a small or medium guild, and the minimum salary stated by the government and association was still affordable. A lot of C-class guides had reputable status in those zones, and those in B or A class were basically a treasure for how rare they were. So, for the ones with enough experience to throw that stability and come to Trinity was something.

While they might be seduced by the nice condition and working environment, Trinity never stated how many they would take, or if they would take any at all. There was also the risk of being sent to the Deathzone. Looking at this many applicants felt surreal but also...rather suspicious.

Who could say no one registering for a bad purpose, like a spy.

"Once we submitted the final candidates, the HR Department will conduct a thorough screening, looking at their past and hidden dirt," Abel said when he saw Zein frown, correctly guessing what the other man was thinking about.

"That’s not illegal?"

"As long as we don’t breach any law while doing it," Abel shrugged. "Better than having unknown offenders in the midst."

"Mm," Zein nodded in agreement, putting the document in his hand to a pile. "What happened after this? Do we have interview first, or the practical assessment?"

"Interview," Abel replied without shifting his gaze from the paper. As someone who had been doing it twice already, he got the hang of it now, so he could peruse them while talking. "We do the practical assessment together with the Esper Department, so we have to make sure we at least pass people with decent intention."

"Ah, so that’s why we schedule the guide’s interview before the Esper’s practical,"

"Yep."

The guides would be tasked with guiding the esper candidates that had already finished their practical assessment. If the one they sent for practical assessment was malicious, they could mentally cripple the esper or caused trauma for guiding. And if that were to happen, the guild might face lawsuits.

Honestly, Zein could actually ’assess’ them with his probing skill, but it couldn’t be explained in the paper, and people might accuse him of being partial. The old method worked well, and it could also show chemistry between future members, if an esper candidate and a guide candidates found themselves to be highly compatible.

"Make sense," Zein nodded, underlining some sentences in the application form before sending the papers to the middle pile. "In that case, the practical could be done in one day, right?"

"Uh-huh,"

"Good,"

Abel raised his brow, looking at the guide in front of him who was just letting out a relieved sigh. "Impatience much?"

"I have somewhere else I need to be, I don’t know if I can make a round trip in one day, so I might need to stay a night," Zein replied with a shrug.

"Oh, where?"

"Araka."

"Ah, right," Abel snapped his fingers, recalling Zein and the Guildmaster’s conversation during the last executive meeting. And then he paused for a bit before adding carefully. "Your...hometown?"

Zein hummed as he took another unchecked form from the side. "Hmm...you could say that."

"...sorry," Abel said quietly, prompting Zein to look up from the papers in his hand.

"Why?"

"Ah, no," the shorter guide twisted his lips and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I don’t think people like it much if their designated hometown is a red-zone, so..."

Pfft--Zein let out a chuckle and, after thinking about it more, decided to retract his mask. He might seem offended because his normal gaze was sharp and cold, so even when he was being nonchalant, they easily misunderstood--even Abel. Some of the kids from his division could read his eyes pretty well, though.

Looking at the rows of text in the papers, Zein decided to take a small break and leaned back on his seat, staring at Abel again. "Where’s yours?"

Abel looked up in surprise. "Huh?"

"Hometown,"

"Ah--it’s Shiroin."

"Up north, huh..." Zein drummed his fingers on the armrest.

Shiroin is the green-zone located in the Federation’s northmost Area, which bordered the territory of Northern Alliance. He looked up, feeling something tingling in the back of his head, rummaging through his flimsy memory. "Is it near Eiyuta?"

"Hmm...yeah, I think," following Zein, Abel leaned back in his seat. He wasn’t really well-versed in geography, honestly. "It’s not our satellite city, but it’s not too far," he nodded and answered more certainly after thinking about it more. "Why?"

"It’s where my mother used to live,"

Abel blinked at the sudden turn of conversation. Zein never talked about his parents before, except for the time he reveal his surname. Abel only knew that she had long passed away--perhaps Zein never even saw her. But hearing the nonchalant tone of the taller guide, all he could say was; "Oh..."

It was awkward and flimsy, since Abel had no idea how to react. Zein didn’t have much facial expression to begin with, and he was quite dry and flat when he told the other guide that piece of information.

"I wonder if her friends are still there," Zein, however, continued light-heartedly. "I might need to go there one of these days..."

Huh? Isn’t that good--Abel thought. Zein didn’t seem to bore any hard feelings toward the town or the possibly painful past. Abel certainly did not sense the spike that usually came out when Zein had to talk about sensitive topics.

Tapping his pen on the table, Abel made a suggestion carefully. "You can make a detour on my wedding."

Zein raised his brows--confused at first, before the comprehension filled him. "Ah--so you’ll have it there?"

"Yeah, since we came from the same Area," Abel said, revealing his fiancee’s background more. "Closer to families, you know."

Zein didn’t know, since he never attended a wedding before, nor involved in one. But he chuckle while looking at the other guide’s face. "No wonder you looked so tired, commuting back and forth."

Abel groaned and threw his head back against the headrest. Depite being a guide, he had dark circles these days. "I think I need to start appointing a sub like what you do with Nadine."

"The question is; why haven’t you for the past three years?" Zein snickered. With more or less thirty guides under him, the man should have appointed someone to help him with the department affairs--aside from his regular assistant. But Abel somehow operated for three--four--years now, alone.

Although, to be fair, the idea of appointing a sub for Zein came from Radia.

"There’s no big project and wedding plan in the last three years," Abel pursed his lips. Even after half of the guides went to Zein’s division, it was still hard to fix a schedule. For some reason, rather than the high-tension strike division, the normal division had even more internal conflict.

Perhaps because there was no clique inside the strike division. The division was very much Zein-centric after all; the only clique there was the Captain-worshipper.

Zein smirked at Abel’s exhaustive display, and decided to talk about something that might be more uplifting. "Will you both stay here after the wedding?"

"Of course?" Abel replied with a tilted head, as if Zein was asking for something blatantly obvious. "We’ve been living together anyway,"

"Right..."

He recalled Abel mentioned it when he first moved here; that the man no longer lived in the dorm because his fiancee wanted them to live together.

Living together...

Zein tapped on the armrest slowly, thinking deeply to himself. He had never been in a relationship before, so he had no idea what a couple should do. Things were also culturally different between the green-zone and the red-zone, so he was confused about a lot of things.

Hell--they barely navigate being jealous and insecure in their relationship.

But he suddenly thought about the topic when Abel said it earlier; that the man had been living together with his fiancee. It was something that had been there in the back of his mind too, ever since they talked about building a house overlooking the sea. Perhaps even since they checked on the damaged lakeside cabin that first time.

Was it something people do when they were in relationship? He thought about Abel, but then he also recalled that Han Shin did not live with Reina--the healer sometimes stayed over, but never permanently. But then again, perhaps it was because Reina still lived with her family.

Zein usually came to Radia if he needed some advice, but for this matter, Radia would be the last person he asked.

"What’s with that face?" Abel narrowed his eyes when Zein was suddenly deep in thought. He smiled deeply and asked in a teasing tone. "Are you thinking of living together with him?"

"Hmm..." Zein, surprisingly, was replying in a rather serious tone. "We...haven’t talked about it."

Abel blinked--once, twice--and then exclaimed loudly. "Really?"