There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 153 - 148. The Bane of Great Power

Chapter 153: Chapter 148. The Bane of Great Power

"But do you know your commlink had been blinking for a while now?"

Bassena almost cursed out loud. "I know," he said with a subdued frustration. It had been blinking and vibrating since Zein threw the paper cup into the trash bin.

"So why do you ignore it?" the guide raised his brow, glancing at the device in Bassena’s wrist.

Smiling his way to ignore the rising fury, Bassena leaned his upper body to block the guide’s gaze to his commlink. "Because I don’t want this nice little date to be ruined," he said in the calmest tone he could muster, emphasizing the word ’date’ for a bit.

It hadn’t even been fifteen minutes since he dragged Zein to this quiet little corner, and already something was trying to obstruct him. Again. Was the universe truly hating the notion of giving him a little chance on wooing his crush?

Zein smiled a little bit. But not that sweet smile he gave once in a blue moon when Bassena managed to step forward, but the usual nonchalant smile he gave in casual conversation. The window of chance had gone down, and Bassena wanted to curse the whole world because of that--and whoever made the call.

"Just take it, it might be important," Zein shook his head and pressed his palm against Bassena’s chest, pushing him back slightly. "We can continue that nice little date after that."

Bassena, who was in the middle of making a sulking face, froze, making it easier for Zein to push him back. Blinking his widened eyes, Bassena frowned and spoke in a serious tone. "No takes back!"

"Just take it," Zein shooed the esper away with a nonchalant tone, but there was a rare, playful smile on his pretty face.

Bassena almost wanted to just lunge for a kiss and ignored the call altogether, but in the end, he just sighed and walked to the corner to look at his commlink.

Once he did, however, and saw the caller id, he was filled with bad premonition. "Yeah, what?"

[You need to come here] Radia’s voice came in mercilessly like a mischievous fairy who made bad feelings come true.

"What?!" was the only response Bassena could possibly give, in a loud exclaim that filled the room. "I’m being summoned too? Why? They have you! They have all of my written and recorded statements!" his voice was filled with the frustration of a child trying to avoid getting dragged to a family meeting.

[They still want you. They summoned all of the Federation Rankers]

Bassena frowned deeper at that. He thought he could already wash his hand from the outbreak matter because Radia was there. But if the Rankers were to be called...Bassena had not much excuse to refuse it.

Rankers, as it sounds, was a title given to the 32 most influential espers. It wasn’t just determined by one’s star rank, but also by achievement through many things; from contribution to dungeon clearing, to cooperation with the government and association. The one who gave the assessment was a committee consisting of representatives from both the world government and the sentinel association.

Going by the star rank, Bassena would have been easily a number one just by his youngest saint-class title alone. But his official career as an esper only amounted to eight years, so his achievement and contribution points were overshadowed by the veteran espers. Still, he managed to be the youngest person to gain a Ranker title, and as of now, he was ranked fourth in the Federation and seventh in the Continent.

It was by this Ranker’s number that Bassena measured himself as to whether or not he was the ’best’ as per Zein’s decree in that cave nearly five years ago.

Calling the Rankers to the meeting meant the government had taken the matter more seriously than he thought. But right now, he truly didn’t want to go.

"Can’t you just give them some excuses? I was taking care of the outbreak yesterday," Bassena groaned, although he was clearly in peak condition with Zein’s guiding last night. Not to mention the good night’s sleep because of the guide’s presence. "Hell, tell them I just got back from the tower last week!"

[You don’t think I did? But there’s not much I could do this time]

"What? You told them but they want me there still?" Baseena clicked his tongue. He could always depend on Radia to dodge any official summons before. "Who are they to tell you that? The President?" he asked with a sarcastic tone.

[Yeah] the answer came dryly.

"...what?"

[Yeah, it’s the President that summoned you, so get your ass here]

Bassena blinked, didn’t think that his careless remark was on point. "Wait..."

[They want Zein too, but I settled for just you, so don’t make a fuss now] the barrage of flat, irritated tones flying through the speaker.

"But..."

[I’m sending a chopper to the nearest helipad from your position, so get ready and moving]

"..."

Bassena stood dumbfounded with parted lips as a disconnection tone filled the room. He stared unblinking at the incoming notification about the helicopter’s route and an instruction to go to the designated point.

"Aaagh!" Bassena crouched on the ground and screamed to his hands, the sound muffled but the frustration didn’t. Again. Again! "Why the fuck can’t they let me in peace?!" he continued to curse into his palm, voice almost growling and jaw clenched hard.

He wanted to cry at this point. But it felt quite immature and unbecoming to cry of frustration just because he couldn’t get a decent date with Zein--which made it even more frustrating. It was in this kind of moment that he wished he was just a heartless asshole that couldn’t care less about doing whatever he wanted, and could just easily give his middle finger to the President or whatever.

But he reckoned Zein wouldn’t like him then, since it would just be the attitude of an immature brat.

Still, he couldn’t help but lament, looking up at the approaching guide. "I just want one little peaceful date! Is that too much to ask?"

"The bane of great power, I guessed," Zein replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"Urk--" Bassena gritted his teeth and buried his head in his hands again, only for a finger to lift his chin and a pair of lips to grace his own. Sweet, sugary, the taste of instant coffee and affection. It was brief and soft, and ended too soon. "Oh..." Bassena muttered dreamily as Zein retreated with a subtle smile.

"There, be satisfied with that."

Instead of looking happy, Bassena looked even sadder now, lips pursed, and brows dipped downward as he muttered in lament. "...but that just makes it harder to leave..."

* * *

Bassena did leave, begrudgingly, while saying he’d tell Radia about the construction company, and promised Zein he’d check on the Golden Viper’s logs.

Zein watched the helicopter fly to Rexon wordlessly, and couldn’t help but feel it was a shame. He was quite serious about continuing that ’nice little date’ Bassena talked about. He was originally about to ask if they should drive around the city and visited some places, before the whole event with the fighting espers.

So he felt rather disappointed too, although he didn’t show it.

At least, he didn’t show it blatantly. But he told the old man and Jock they’d go back to Althrea immediately, and didn’t say anything throughout the two hours journey--just staring outside the window in silence. He felt better once he was back in his dorm though; between the greenery and the sounds of trickling water.

Immediately, he wrote a letter to Alma, and ordered a bunch of skincare and bath products--which he only pick from recommendation page--as well as a big package of candies and alcohol. Weird combination, he knew, but it should work as a little bribe for the berserker. The express expedition he had to pay to send the letter and the box of gifts to the red-zone was almost as much as the money he used to purchase the goods, and Zein finally knew why it was so hard to have decent things in the red-zone.

It was while he was finishing the matter of publication regarding his book that Zein finally caught on to how great the outbreak event affected the city.

Zein had only read the news briefly on Sunday morning, and it was only the headline title. So he had no idea that people here had been talking nonstop about it. During the weekend, society had been making its own theory and speculation, and with the government pulling Protocol Aspen, the tension had been escalating, especially in places where the outbreak happened.

He watched the government’s press release to explain the theory behind the simultaneous instant outbreak from the executive’s lounge on the twelfth floor, simply because Han Shin whined that the guide had been too busy to hang out with him nowadays.

"It’s not like we have time to play, anyway," Zein said while gesturing toward the screen, prompting the healer to purse his lips in response. But he did quiet down after that, and watched the press release together.

It seemed like the government decided to go with what Radia suggested, that it was caused by increased activity in the Deathzone. Zein had no idea the extent of the information that Radia shared, but at least they managed to convince them that the two were related.

"They used Bassena’s theory too," Zein murmured, as the spokesman told the public to not worry too much about another outbreak, telling them about how the perpetrator wouldn’t have enough energy to repeat the same event, as well as listing more policies that the government would take to prevent such things.

"Well, they need to lower the public anxiety for now," Han Shin commented while eating his own batch of the limited edition chocolate. "But I see they still decided not to announce the reclamation act,"

That was true--the spokesman just talk about things like tightening patrols and establishing better communication lines with the borderland. There was no mention of stronger measures against the Deathzone itself.

"Hmm...so what are they doing in that emergency meeting?" Zein tilted his head. "Why does it take so long? Are they still talking about countermeasures until now?"

It was Tuesday already, and he still hadn’t heard anything from Bassena. His messaging account, which was usually filled with Bassena’s text, felt rather deserted with only Han Shin and Trinity’s staff messages. Bassena had never been absent from texting him in the morning and night, sometimes in between, even though they were just separated by five floors. And so, just like how it was when the esper was on the Tower, the absence felt quite jarring.

"Umm...Zein?" Han Shin, however, looked at the guide strangely. "The meeting had concluded since yesterday, you know..."

Huh...