There was a huge tension built in the room as the chairman sat down on his seat, the vice chairman at the other end of the table, while his assistant was standing next to the door with a clipboard in her hand.

The chairman looked around, from his left, which was where Julius was seated, the characteristics guild master, then to, Charlotte, guild master of the starlight guild.

Afterwards, he moved to Raymond, guild master of the mages guild. Both Raymond and Charlotte are A-rank top stage awakeners, they are one of the best in their ranks making them fit to run a guild.

The chairman passed the vice chairman who was seated at the other end of the table, then his eyes landed on Quincy, who now had clear and bright eyes. His once sleepy eyes had gone, now replayed with a vigilant one.

After Quincy, the chairman’s eyes landed on George, the person who was displaying an intimidating aura among all the guild masters here, but couldn’t disturb the chairman.

The chairman could feel it, then again it wasn’t as if he was going to be intimidated since he, himself, is a S-rank awakener.

He is still in his prime having a strength that surpassed all the guild masters combined, even surpassing that of an S-rank.

During his awakening, at the early days, he awakened as a S-rank from the start among a few others and showed incredible strength in the abyss and the fight against grand monsters at the time of the catastrophic storm in the real world.

He is a good leader, managing and coordinating the awakeners’ attacks and defenses during the battle, even his own peers at the time; other S-rank awakeners.

He quickly grew to be famous among all, recognized and respected for his strength and leadership, prompting him to start the association and creation of guilds.

All these happened during the first year, but now, he no longer went into the abyss as his presence in the association is well needed than anyway else.

Looking at George, the chairman asked, "So, what is this meeting about? What are we here to discuss?"

George leaned forward, his eyes for a moment, landing on Julius, then back at the chairman, his fingers clasped together.

"I have gotten a whole lot of information from my guild members, on the activities going on in the abyss." George began.

Hearing this, the chairman adjusted himself, "Let’s hear it!"

George leaned backwards, resting his back on the chair, his gaze scanning all the other guild masters, their own eyes on him in anticipation, as if he was going to call them out.

They were holding their breaths, they didn’t actually know why he had summoned them here.

What was it he wanted to say? How important is it that he even called the chairman, and the association’s attention.

In their hearts, if they had done something wrong, they would probably be feeling anxious, by the thought they were probably found out, and are being reported.

However, nevertheless, none of them showed any signs of discomfort or anxiety. They all had their gaze at George unfazed, waiting for his response.

Removing his gaze and landing it back at the chairman, he uttered, "It is about the recent disappearance of the awakeners. I know you all know about this, it’s a situation that most of us have faced and continue facing."

He removed his eyes from looking only at the chairman, his back relaxed on the chair, eyes straight at Julius, then at the chairman again, and back.

He alternated his eyes movement while continuing to speak.

While he was looking at Julius he said, "We have all lost a couple of members. And I know that you might not really notice because everyday more awakeners join your guilds, so you barely notice."

"But I tell you, it is happening, and we are very much affected. It doesn’t matter if the majority of the missing awakeners are those not in a guild, they are still awakeners regardless and registered in the association."

At this moment, he had shifted his gaze to the chairman, who was looking at him, taking in all his words, but with no surprised expressions.

It was as if this wasn’t the first time he was hearing this news, and had probably gotten so used to the topic, he no longer felt it when it was spoken about.

Yet, it was a large matter on his table that he needed to handle, but it had been pushed aside by many other matters, and now forgotten.

However, for the fact that a guild master was bringing it up in a meeting like this, it meant the topic was more than just a large matter.

It was delicate, and needed to be threatened urgently.

"-"

The Chairman is a very well known and busy person. His face is on almost all the media platforms, as the one who was controlling the association.

The founder and the bringer of all the awakeners into one single place as a family, although not everyone decided to join a guild.

However, there were rules that were implemented after the creation of the association.

Every awakener had to come and register in the association headquarters. It doesn’t matter if you want to be entering the abyss, or just wanting to be living a normal life.

Regardless, it was important that all awakeners were documented and known.

The creation of the association over the past years, had led to a sudden increase in the job role in the market.

The association has contributed a lot to the country’s gdp rate, and the numbers are doing very much good.

Jobs for awakeners increase every day, taking about 24% of the job market in the entire country.

It was said that more people want to become an awakener and enter the Abyss, mostly for the benefits or the act of getting stronger.

Regardless, they would still bring profit to the association and it would continue to grow.

The motto of the association goes ’keep humanity safe.’ These were the words the chairman had used the first time he spoke in a conference as the chairman of the association in its early days upon creation.

Currently, it wasn’t that the matter of missing awakeners didn’t matter at all, it was just that before it would be attended to, more matters come into hand,

and the new ones push the old down, the next set of new ones push the last set down, and it goes on and on like that.

It was the daily life of a worker, especially someone who was in this kind of industry.

"I see, so it is about this matter?" the chairman asked, looking directly at the vice chairman who was sitting in front of him at the other end of the table.

"The thing-" The chairman was about to speak but got cut by George.

"I have more!" George uttered, his gaze turning to the vice chairman who also wanted to speak. "I still have something to include, I am not done yet."

The Chairman was surprised at this moment hearing George say it. In his heart, he wondered what else he would still want to add that is more important than the last one.

So he gave the go ahead if he wanted to get an answer, "Let’s hear it."

George leaned forward, "I know of this matter well because my own guild members were a victim of this. And, and, before you say anything, yes we all have victims, but you see, mine came back to me and told me all that had happened."

Upon hearing this statement from George, all the guild masters adjusted themselves, sitting upright, perplexed, while feeling uneasy.

The vice chairman asked "Your missing guild members, returned? How’s that possible? I’ve never heard of that before,..."

George replied, looking at him, "Yeah that’s because it wasn’t possible."

The vice chairman looked confused at the sudden words, his eyes on George, trying to make sense of his words.

He asked again, "So how is it that your missing guild members were able to return, when the odds were very low?*

George hated being the one answering questions, he liked to be the one asking, and getting replied to, not the other way around. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

However, since he was the one who called the meeting he had to participate, even if it meant replying to the questions thrown at him.

"Well, I wouldn’t say they were missing, at least not for that long." He began, and the entire table became confused by his words.

"These members of mine were only gone for like a week before they returned, so it wasn’t like they were gone for too long."

"Isn’t that just the same time as entering the Abyss, spending time there, and coming out?" The vice chairman asked.

"No!" George answered.

"What is it then?" The vice chairman asked, and George replied with a stern expression.

"Because they gave me the report on how they were captured, who did it, how it’s related to us, and how they got out safe."

His words hit hard, everyone now curious of the hidden story that lies behind those words.