There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 351 - 343. Welcome to the Club

Chapter 351: Chapter 343. Welcome to the Club

"He’s not coming?" Bassena raised his brow when Zein exited the empty guildmaster’s office.

"Well, he’s not there," the guide shrugged. "Maybe he’s in Mortix?"

Bassena shook his head as he turned back to his office. "I asked the people there, but they said he is scheduled to be in the guild today."

"Hmm..." Zein followed Bassena with a slight frown, looking up at the ceiling in ponder. "Maybe...he just wants to get away for a bit."

"Well, I can imagine him avoiding all of the birthday messages," the esper threw himself to the couch, and his commlink lit up just then. "Hmm? What is this..." he stared at the screen and raised his brow. "...Protocol Iris?"

Zein tilted his head, canceling his intention to sit down. "What’s that?"

"Means he took an impromptu day off for a personal reason..." Bassena paused, and then groaned when he realized he was the vice-guildmaster and it would mean he was the one who should take over in Radia’s absence now. Before that though...

"An impromptu day off...for personal reason..." Zein muttered with tension in his voice, representing the worry in both of their mind. "He’s not going on a holiday, for sure?"

"At this time when we’re busy with dozens of things at once?" Bassena shrugged. "Doubt it."

He bid goodbye to the couch and walked to his desk instead; a piece of furniture he hadn’t used for quite some time. In fact, the last time he used it was to rail Zein on its surface. But Lex would come shortly with a set of tasks he would need to do today in place of Radia, so...

"Should I go over and check his mansion?" Zein asked. When the amber eyes flicked up beneath a knitted brow, he raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, I won’t."

"I’m not saying you couldn’t, but..."

"I know," Zein smiled. "You don’t want me leaving the compound without you, I get it."

Bassena smiled as the frown disappeared slowly from his brows. "Thanks," he said with a sigh. As long as the case with House Horin hadn’t been solved, he couldn’t leave Zein’s safety in anyone else’s hand--not even if the whole [Anzus] was mobilized.

"Let’s try and ask him first if we can visit him later," Bassena added. "There’s a possibility that he’s not at home too."

Or so Bassena said, before Han Shin came barging inside his office with a single message in his commlink from someone called Mom--and no, it wasn’t his mother, for obvious reason.

[Would you like to come for dinner?]

And that was how they ended up going to Radia’s mansion in Bassena’s car in the evening.

"I hate desk work..." the driver grumbled along the way.

As an active esper, Bassena’s prowess lay in field jobs; raiding dungeons, training rookies, or even advertising the guild’s impression through screen appearances. The most ’desk work’ he did was reviewing the Strike Department performance report and policy, and instructing Lex for the rest.

Well, Zein could vouch for that. If he didn’t have Alice, he would really go crazy from administrative work.

But this gave them even more insight into half of what Radia had to face in a day, and it was...well, let’s just say it made them dizzy--and all they did was review reports that came in, from the update on reclamation project’s logistic, to end of the month financial report, and all kinds of statistics about the guild’s overall performance across all Departments.

Bassena shuddered thinking about what kind of mush his brain would be if he had to take care of Mortix Group on top of that. Now that he thought about it, Protocol Iris was meant to be enacted when Radia suddenly got sick.

"Is it okay to come empty-handed?" Han Shin stared at his hands, feeling itchy that there were no gifts there when they came to the house of someone who was having a birthday.

"Aunt Laurel said not to bring anything," Bassena shrugged.

"Is that Radia’s mother?" Zein asked, feeling somewhat...nervous, he realized. Perhaps it wasn’t nervous as much as throbbing curiosity.

"Yep," Han Shin and Bassena replied at the same time. "She said Uncle Calix is making barbeque in the backyard," the healer added as he checked on the newest message.

Bassena chuckled. "At the end of February?"

"Barbeque is for the whole year!" Han Shin argued. "I think they confiscated Radia’s commlink for today."

Zein rubbed his lips, feeling them stretched slightly in relief. If Radia’s parents went as far as confiscating the man’s commlink, then it was highly likely that Radia finally talked about his emotional turmoil with them.

That was good. If there was a day the man deserved to rest, then it would be on his birthday. And well, if there were people who could tell Radia to take a rest aside from Han Joon, it would be his parents.

Zein thought he was going to see Radia’s parents right away, but they were welcomed by the usual butler and were ushered to the drawing room; the same room they spent drinking during Han Shin’s birthday party. Only, this time they didn’t see any drink, just Radia plopping on the ground fiddling with a box of jigsaw puzzles.

Not the kind of scenery they expected, certainly.

"Oh, you’re here," Radia glanced at them briefly, before getting back to his puzzle.

That short glance, however, told them a lot of things. Particularly on how much better Radia’s complexion was. They didn’t truly realize it before, but now that they saw the brighter crimson and the pinkish complexion, they could see that Radia was actually not alright at all during the past week--no, month.

"Why are you doing puzzles?" Han Shin tilted his head, plopping down on the other side of the puzzle.

"I don’t know what to do without my link," Radia shrugged. "I admire you for living without one for twenty-eight years, Zein."

"You can’t miss what you never have in the first place," Zein replied nonchalantly. Besides, there was no time for him to do anything aside from working when he was in the red-zone and the borderland. If he had any free time, he would use it to train his body or just sleep. "I have to say this is a better distraction than before."

After all, working until he was losing sleep and smoking golden needles wasn’t a very healthy distraction.

"That’s right," a voice Zein had never heard before gave an agreement. "There are all kinds of distractions out there; reading books, playing games, painting--to name a few. This is why people need to have a hobby, sweety."

Zein blinked at the petite, brown-haired lady who just sauntered through the door, with a condescending smile that very much resembled Radia’s. There was no question about who she was, especially because Han Shin immediately stood up and threw himself at her.

"Sorry for not having any hobby," Radia grumbled uncharacteristically. His hobby used to be wreaking havoc and spreading chaos, but he reckoned it wasn’t something he should keep past his juvenile days.

"Auntie!" Han Shin hugged the woman he named ’Mom’ in his contact with the fervor of a child.

"Look at you not growing at all," the lady stroked Han Shin’s hair, before shifting her gaze toward Zein. "And this must be the guide I had been hearing a lot."

Zein raised his brow, glancing at Radia inquisitively. But the lady chuckled in response immediately. "Not from him," she said, pointing his chin toward the bashful Bassena.

Again, Zein raised his brow--purely for the fact that Bassena actually talked about him to someone else. But just like how Han Shin saw the lady as his mother figure, Bassena probably did the same. During his academy days when he was all alone in his clan, Radia’s mansion would be the respite helping him maintain his sanity. Especially since he hadn’t met his nanny again at that time.

"Is that so?" Zein looked at Bassena, who averted his gaze and mumbled.

"I need courting advice sometimes."

"Evidently, it worked!" the lady clapped her hands and smirked proudly, walking toward Zein to offer her hand. "Laurel Mallarc."

"Luzein Ishtera."

Zein took her hand, and she looked at Bassena with a smirk. "I got it."

"Right?" Bassena grinned cheekily.

What is? Zein held back from rolling his eyes, because Laurel proceeded to hold his elbow while addressing her three boys. "Let’s go and eat. Your father brought crabs and lobsters right from the south, so it’s still fresh."

At that, Zein perked up visibly. Seafood was a rarity in the Eastern Federation which sea was still engulfed in miasma, so there was no way Zein wouldn’t get excited. Radia stretched his body languidly, almost like a cat, which they wouldn’t be able to see in a regular setting. The summoner got up, leaving a complete puzzle and took his mother’s outstretched hand.

It was quite fascinating seeing this side of Radia; the side of him just being a normal son instead of a high-profile authoritative figure.

"Mm, I have a lot of sons tonight," she laughed and walked out of the room with Radia and Zein in her arms.

"Welcome to the club," Bassena chuckled and patted Zein’s shoulder, the newest addition.

And as if it was already a tradition, Radia’s father--a man of average stature and a gentle face, with deep red hair and crimson eyes Radia inherited--glanced at his wife and scoffed. "Are you collecting another one?"

"Isn’t it nice? I feel like a queen," Laurel laughed, and her husband threw the tongs in his hand to Bassena, before walking toward Zein.

"Luzein Ishtera?" he smiled, and Zein felt his heart beating a little bit faster, with both the wife and husband in front of him. "I’m Celix."

The firm grip on his hand reminded Zein of the dream he had, of being held by a sturdy figure that radiated strength and warmth.

Oh...

This is how having parents feel?

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