Hubert is uninjured or anything like that; he is still intact, and he is still not dead yet. However, he felt like his survival was not a worthwhile one due to the operation's ending.
The driver perked up when someone went out from the portal and saw Hubert walking out with Number 3's body on his back. It is unclear whether Number 3 is still alive, but Hubert could not hope to leave him behind.
"This is Alpha One. Reporting the rookie results, I got a visual of one alive operator. He is carrying someone, presumably a second operator, but I don't sense any movement from the second one, over."
"Copy that, Alpha One. Try to confirm the status of the other operators and leave the site. Ensure the portal is properly closed."
"Understood. Alpha One, over and out."
By the time he is done talking on the radio, Hubert is already on the van.
"Please, help him! He was hit by the finger of one of the monsters that appeared on the dimension crack!"
The driver's eyebrow twitched when Hubert said "dimension crack."
"Did you say you came out alive from a dimension crack?" his eyes staring deep into Hubert's eyes.
"Y-yes. But please, save him. He should still be alive!"
The driver took a glance at the guy on Hubert's back. He is still breathing, but he has long pauses in between each breath. He is dying.
"Understood. What about your other companions when you entered the portal?"
"Dead. One was decapitated while the other was eaten whole."
"Alright. Make sure to fill out the report and submit your report. If you have an anomalous object with you, please put it inside this box," the driver then pulls out a small box that has a strange blue glow on it.
Hubert remembered the knife that was labeled as an anomaly and put it inside the box. The light inside the box turned red and the driver quickly closed the box without saying a word. He then looked at Hubert and closed the door of the van.
"Make sure to make him in a stable position while he is wearing a seatbelt. Don't mind the blood spilling, just make surehe won't ragdoll around the van. We will go full throttle. You also need to make sure your seatbelt is fully tightened. Don't want you to go flying around as well."
"Y-you got it..." Hubert nodded and put on his seatbelt.
Once he have secured his seatbelt and Number 3's seatbelt, the driver quickly steps into the gas and before Hubert can prepare, he felt like his soul has been pulled away from his body at that moment.
...
...
...
Upon arrival back at the headquarters, the driver quickly snaps his fingers and multiple paramedics appeared and carried Number 3 via stretcher. Hubert wanted to go to where Number 3 is going but the driver stops him.
"You still have to report your end results, rookie. If you are going to leave, then your pay for this mission will be forfeit immediately. You don't want that, yes? Then stop right there and follow me."
Hearing the consequences for leaving will be the payment getting forfeited in the process, he decided to not follow Number 3 and instead follow behind the driver.
Hubert has a lot of questions in his mind right now. Just thinking about it made his head hurt. Those things he experienced is something he wished something he wouldn't have finished. Now that he knows his job is like this, he is now determined to quit early and preserve his life. He can't afford to keep on doing the same job while also taking care for his daughter who is dying. What if he dies in the process? Who would take care of his daughter who is waiting for his return?
Not only that, but the job is obviously so risky that this is basically a do or die job. Something he has not expected. No wonder the pay is so good, the job was hellish enough that no amount of money can even be considered a good salary for that environment. One would go crazy and only the people insane enough will survive.
Soon, they arrived over in a room where other employees who also wears the same clothes as him. Now Hubert understood why most of the employees doesn't seem to look happy nor enthusiastic. The job is hell incarnate enough that happiness will not be easily converted from getting paid.
"Sit on one of the terminals there and remove the watch in your hand. Put it on the container beside the keyboard and let it do its job afterwards," the driver explained.
Hubert already assumed that the watch does something similar. Just didn't think that it does work what he assumed it would actually do. The watch was a tracker, as well as record keeper on what happened inside the portal. Because it cannot be tampered and easily breached to modify data, anything it records and put out will reflect there. In short, it records surveillance data of every participants and details the casualty and feats of the group.
As soon as he put the watch, Hubert saw the monitor flare up to life and a document indicating his experience inside the portal begun to display all of what happened, what anomaly is being dealt with, as well as how they dealt with it. It also gives detailed reports to the casualty of each operator left behind. It gives the most detailed and gruesome description of each death that one can imagine what happened to these people before and after their death.
Once the record is done, the watch was retrieved by the computer and a card appeared on it's place.
The driver went to Hubert's side and tap his shoulder. "Good. Looks like things are done now, now let's go and collect your pay. Pull the card and we will give that to the treasurer for you to collect what you get."
Hubert would have been excited to receive the pay if it was just a regular job at first...but now that he experienced something more hellish than he thought, he couldn't feel any happiness about it. More like despair and disappointment. The money he will receive from this is spilled with blood. He might not be directly involved by their deaths, their deaths are part of their collective actions when they did the job.
With the driver's help, they soon arrived at the room where the Treasurer is currently located. Hubert was surprised when he found out that the "Treasurer" wasn't a human at all...but a piece of metal chamber. It looks like a booth used by tellers in many offices, except that it wasn't manned by any person. However, it seems that the driver is telling that this piece of equipment is "alive".
"The Treasurer is the one that cashes out the payment for all the jobs done by the operators. Now that you have survived your first job, you can get your payout from the Treasurer. Just put the card on the entrance of Treasurer and let the guy do the job."
Hubert is confused at first but he did as he was told and put the card like he would hand it over to a clerk or teller. Once he put it in, a large tentacle appear on the entrance and picks up the card on the table. Before Hubert can react, the metallic metal chamber that he thought to be similar to the booths opens up, revealing it to be some kind of mouth and eating up the card in the process.
Once the card was devoured, it then vomits out a bunch of items out from its mouth. Stacks of cash and a few items that Hubert is not sure what.
"Oh, would you look at that...even the treasurer seems to favor you, rookie. It seems you got an extra reward from your efforts."
"Extra reward?" Hubert was confused.
"Yes. If you did too well in your job, the treasurer will issue an extra reward appropriate to your accomplishments. Just like this liquid here. We call it the panacea. It is a medicine that is well sought out by many operators due to the fact that this medicine is capable of curing any kind of wounds, diseases or any curses suffered throughout an operation. This thing is a great boon for everyone and for you to receive it in your first salary is something else."
Hubert's eyes lit up. "Hey, is this exclusive for the employees only use? Does it cure illnesses like leukemia and cancer?"
"Panacea's effects is top tier. It is a secret medicine that only a handful of people have used. And yes, it cures anything including those diseases, deleting them from the body like they don't exist in the first place. As for your other question whether this medicine is only used for employees? Not really. This medicine is for exclusive use for the employee who receives it, but it doesn't matter who consumes it as long as the employee supervised them to consume it. Whether it was a family member, a stranger, an animal, or anything else that needed healing, it doesn't matter as long as the receiver does it."
Hubert smiled in relief. "Finally, I can cure my daughter's illness...then I can resign on this job as soon as possible and live a quiet life..."
The driver then turned to look at Hubert and frowned.
"Huh? Resign? What do you mean, you will resign?"
"Why are you asking that? I almost died and my teammates are either dead or dying. We barely survived there and escaped death. I don't think I can continue this job any further and survive more times than that. I think my survival on this first job is already enough to consume all of my luck this year."
Hearing this, the Driver started laughing in a fit, causing Hubert to be confused.
"Ah, man. That was the best joke I have heard so far. Hahaha, you give me a good laugh there."
"What? Joke? Why would I be joking?"
When the driver realized this, he frowned and looked at Hubert seriously.
"Hey, you didn't read the contract when you signed it up, right?"
"Contract? The one that the employers made me sign my name?"
"The one and only. Have you read the whole thing, up to the very last page?"
"Just...skimmed it..." Hubert was guilty when he said that. After all, he didn't read it at all.
"Well, no wonder you would think of that. Rookie, that is your mistake. You have signed up on a contract that is hard to break. Let me tell you now. This job will be your final resting place. Your only way to retire from this job is if you reached the retirement age where you are unable to work anymore, or if you die on the job. If you think you can resign or hide, think again. You will not be able to escape. Our agents will hunt you down and throw you inside an operation area and execute you silently, without anyone knowing you have died. Would you like that to happen?"
"What...? What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I mean. If you want to retire early, then you will need to die. Simple as that."