“I understand. Thanks, kiddo. I’ll handle things from here. Let me show you the power of an adult.”

Jason cringed at his words. Ezekiel laughed, which did not help. The man’s name is Jeremiah. And the tone of his words, his sheer confidence, made the air feel a bit safer. 

Jeremiah raised his voice and gathered everyone’s attention. Once again, the stragglers in this safe room huddled together for another talk, save for those who literally cried their hearts out while hugging the wall. Seeing that not everyone was going to participate made Ezekiel waver even before he introduced himself. Jeremiah, on the other hand, was unfazed. His eyes seemed tired but unwavering. It was not as though he did not care about the others; Jason believed that Jeremiah just understood that they could do nothing about it just yet.

Jason shared everything they knew with Jeremiah. Sure, they had to backpedal a bit and try to explain some gamer terms to the old man, but his attention never left them. Jeremiah asked more questions, basically begging for them to share their thoughts, even their farthest guesses. They talked until both Jason and Ezekiel felt like every stone was turned.

“Thank you for coming, everyone,” Jeremiah’s voice boomed and dragged all of their attention to him. “This has been a busy day, so I’ll be quick so everyone can get some sleep.”

Jason grinned. Ezekiel did the same. Both of them stood behind Jeremiah, acting as bodyguards. They both kept their silence and gave the man enough space to hog the spotlight. To be honest, Jeremiah deserved it. This man has fourteen points in charisma. So, this is the air of a corporate manager.

Jeremiah raised his hand. “Who, among you, would not mind being in charge?”

The crowd started to murmur. Some froze. Jeremiah kept his dignified smile as he waited for someone to respond. The man just kept staring down at them like a hawk. Jason was sure that he and Ezekiel could not do that, not in a million years. Soon, three people raised their hands.

“Nice. Thank you for your participation. Would you please stand with me and introduce yourselves?”

A fat man in a lab coat walked beside Jeremiah and bowed. He brushed his hair and gave a stiff smile to everyone. “My name is Alexander. I was a head nurse at a public hospital before I got here. As you can see, I am not exactly fit to fight and go toe to toe with monsters. I hope I can be helpful with whatever this is. Thank you.”

Everyone clapped, and it was the signal for the second person to present herself on the “stage.” It was a tall woman, possibly in her late fifties. She has curly brown hair, with some streaks of gray. “My name is Tanya. I am also rather too old, but I am a professor of history at a local college from where I was. I feel that it would be rude and unnecessary to bring up my expertise, but I hope that my general knowledge would be of help to everyone. Thank you as well.”

The third one entered. It is another old man. He wore a bandana over his head. So, he’s probably bald. Ezekiel called Jason’s attention to point out that he thought that this old man was cool. This old man seemed to be too happy to be here. It was a breath of fresh air.

“Hey everyone,” he chuckled and waved his hand, grinning from ear to ear. “You can call me Bob. I am a builder. My grandkid taught me that joke, I hope you think that’s funny. I am one of the old folks here. I hope you treat us with respect. My bones ain’t too old to do any other heavy lifting besides fighting, so I’ll help you guys out in any way I can.”

“I am so glad that we got ourselves pretty amazing people here. I’m Jeremiah. I work in marketing, but my job is really pushing my subordinates to be the best they can be!” Jeremiah clapped for himself, urging others to follow along. “So, if anyone else is not happy with these people taking charge, we’d love for you to join us. If not, then I’ll assume that you will cooperate with us for the sake of our survival.”

Jason and Ezekiel glanced at each other. The crowd murmured once again. Jason believes that their lineup is not bad either. Jason cannot know for sure. However, if he was sure about something, it was the thought of Jeremiah being in control. Jason feels that Jeremiah got the situation covered no matter who appeared before them. Scary thought.

Jeremiah waited, but no one disagreed with the current lineup. And so, he invited these newly appointed leaders to sit beside him. Both Tanya and Alexander seemed worried. Bob waved his hand again, bowed, and gave flying kisses to everyone before sitting down. Terrific. Jason and Ezekiel, on the other hand, remained to pose as bodyguards. Ezekiel was giddy about being in a position of authority, which is concerning.

“So, moving forward. We already know that we are trapped inside a game, no? If we are to trust the rules, meaning if someone were to find the floor boss and kill them, we all get to go home. This means one thing. There is no need for everyone to fight, we just need a strong group of fighters to do the fighting for us.” Jeremiah paused to let his words sink in. “With that in mind, here comes the main problem. We cannot clear one hundred floors in a single day. And at the same time, we will start to starve in three days, maybe ten if we ration. If we are to survive this, we must create a community able to support itself and those that are strong enough to face against the floor bosses.”

Jason smiled. He remembered Jeremiah’s words. His eyes immediately fell onto the crowd and he was thrilled to see that everyone seemed to agree. With just this small interaction, Jeremiah introduced some level of potential to those who cannot fight. Now, they can feel safer and would actually contribute to a single cause. Home. Jason felt a rush of peace and safety. Home. He will have a home to return to.

“So, I want to establish this with all of you. I am going to hope for your cooperation. I’d like to say that in this setup, we will never be equals. Some will bear much heavier burdens, but I truly believe that now that we have a single cause, we will be able to carry our own weight to make it easier for everyone involved.” Jeremiah met their eyes and gave them a measured confident smile. “So, if you guys are good to go… let’s talk about our assignments, shall we?”