"This...I couldn't believe it...just what kind of sorcery happened last night, just what happened?!" The doctor glanced at Diane's records multiple times. No matter how many tests he takes, the results remain the same.
"Does that mean she is fine now? Her leukemia is officially gone?"
"I..." The doctor is speechless as he is holding the results of Diane's latest records.
Since she was about to undergo chemotherapy soon, blood tests were very frequent as a way to monitor her condition and to also adjust her diet and medicine intake to accommodate the upcoming treatment slowly, and that day, Diane received another blood test to check her situation. But that is also how they discovered that Diane's leukemia had been cured overnight without even undergoing chemotherapy just yet.
Hubert and Diane hugged each other, crying. For Hubert, this is a huge relief him. Not only is his beloved daughter safe and healthy, but he doesn't even need to pay the hospital an exorbitant amount of money just to pay for her chemotherapy. Diane, on the other hand, is also happy that her disease is gone for good, and she is happy that her father will now stop worrying about her. But most of all, she is no longer needed to undergo chemotherapy with the leukemia in her blood finally gone for good.
As a result, despite the many test that she have taken to double check her condition, all of them turned out as what was expected. Diane has finally recovered from her illness.
Many of the doctors and nurses who have known Diane as a patient thinks that her instantaneous recovery is a miracle and even though they wanted to say that the medicine they gave was the main reason she recovered, they are also sure that won't easily work. With how many people who have leukemia nowadays, if they said that, they would be doing a false advertising and might even be sued in the process.
In the end, Diane got the discharge approval and Hubert only has to pay the amount that piled up during Diane's stay and since it wasn't as expensive compared to the amount needed to have Diane do chemotherapy, Hubert didn't have a crying wallet in the end and still managed to bring back her child home.
Hubert packed their belongings and Diane has finally been free from the apparatuses that was stuck on her body for quite some time. Despite her body have just recovered from leukemia, it was like she didn't suffer from that disease due to her energetic behavior. Even the nurses that tended on her found it surprising that she is as energetic as she can be despite just recently recovering from Leukemia.
Of course, everyone think it was some kind of miracle that healed Diane, but it was none other than the effects of the Panacea he received as a reward from his job. It was a secret between Hubert and Diane, something that no one will know no matter how much they might pry. Since Diane is grateful for the sacrifices that her father did, she is also going to keep the promise that she have given after receiving the elixir.
"Do you trust me on this one, my dear? We can't tell anyone about this medicine and there is no way for me to reobtain a medicine like that. There might be a chance, but the chances are low and I just lucked out on obtaining this medicine in the first place."
"I promise, Dad. But may I ask, how did you get this in the first place? This medicine is so effective, I doubt that this medicine cost only small amount of price to pay?"
Although Hubert want to keep his job a secret to Diane, he decided to tell her vaguely about it. He made sure to say it that won't reveal that his main job is something else entirely.
"I work as a handyman for my company forever and thanks to their jobs, there are some life-threatening jobs that I will have to undertake myself. So, I traded my little freedom just to help you survive this, my dear. It is a small price to pay for your full recovery and living continuously."
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Although what he said is half-truth and half-lie, he didn't practically say any direct mention about his real job. However, now that he works there, he needed to ensure he will survive each mission no matter what the cost.
Before they returned home, Hubert bought Diane her favorite food, bought some groceries and whatever Diane wanted before they went home that day.
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Around 6 when the sun is setting, Hubert said goodbye to Diane after they had an early dinner so that he can go to his job. Diane understood that her father has to do his job now as a way to pay for the medicine he got for her and wished him a safe trip. Hubert made sure to remind her daughter to take care of the house while he is on duty and lock the house before she goes to sleep. As much as Hubert doesn't want to leave her alone right now, the job has to come first and considering that he cannot leave this job at all, there is no point hiding at all.
Returning to the company, Hubert joined with the other operators are waiting for their turn to time in and receive their missions. Now, he is one of the people he thought to have been tired and listless. He now understand why these other people looked like that as well.
As soon as he timed in, the clerk that is handling and updating the systems of the clocking in device noticed Hubert and said something to him.
"Sir Hubert, you are being called at the Briefing station. It seems that you are now going to be assigned to your permanent team and your actual teammates starting today."
Hubert remembered in the briefing video about the assigning of teams and how he will receive his permanent team members the moment he passes the initiation mission which was the first mission. Since he survived and returned home unscathed, he is now distributed by the company to other operators and that also means that he will have to dive into another dimension and deal with anomalies soon. He heard from the driver that the official missions won't be as short as the previous missions and won't be as easy either. It is a long operation and also means that this new missions will be much more dangerous and will be much more nightmare fuel too.
Thanking the clerk, he immediately heads over to the briefing room, the same room where they briefed missions during the initiation mission. There, instead of the usual 3 people, he saw more of them this time around. 12 of them to be exact. One of them is someone he saw before and helped with his employment. Her name was Mendez if he remembered correctly.
"Oh? Looks like our 13th member is finally here," a guy with a squinty eye grinned as he enters noticed Hubert's entry to the room.
The others also eyed him like he was some new species who just entered inside the room and yet their eyes are also kind of judging that their stares seems to be getting a bit more awkward for Hubert.
"Am I the last person to come?" Hubert asked nervously.
An energetic and seems to be sociable guy approached Hubert and smiled. "Don't worry, you are not yet late since the main quest giver has yet to arrive. But considering that you are sent here, that also means you are going to be the new member of this ragtag group."
"Ragtag group?"
"Indeed. After all, this group is known to be constantly replacing members most of the time and now, you just replaced our 13th member who recently just died not too long ago."
"W-what?" Hubert wasn't expecting that.
A woman with a big axe on her hand quickly stops the energetic guy from speaking further. "Don't worry about it, rookie. You might have replaced someone who died from the mission, but as long as you perform well, then there is no need for us to suffer senseless deaths? Welcome to the group, rookie. Welcome to the team that we call Team X, please, enjoy your stay."
As he was about to answer her about their greeting, the door opened once again and this time, a middle aged man appeared while holding a few papers on his hand. He looked at everyone and sighed.
"Attention everyone, we shall start the briefing. Team X will be undertaking this mission soon."
Miss Mendez who noticed Hubert's confused face, approaches and quickly tap his shoulder. "This is how Team X role come in. You better be prepared about it yourself."
Despite the confusion, the briefing did not give further instructions to help himself out of it. Now, Hubert has to adapt to survive soon.