Ding!
That sound scared Hun: he quickly looks around, to see if something dangerous or suspicious is getting near him. However, only the door opens up, much to the boy's surprise. He noticed how the other side was different: now the place feels more clean and organized.
A long red carpet covered the entire ground, numerous doors leading probably to small/medium rooms, some pictures depicting a superior-looking Stingling and other accessories that Hun couldn't notice well. In fact, he got out of the elevator as fast as he could, before the door closed again.
Luckily, no one was in sight… except for an incoming sound of footsteps! Hun looks around, trying desperately to find another hiding spot. The footstep noise was louder and louder and eventually turning near the elevator, there were 2 middle-aged Stinglings. They didn't see any trace of the intruder.
"Hear that…! The ruckus is even reaching the First Floor."
"I say… most disgraceful."
"Oooh, I can't wait to pull some ears to those younglings."
"I'd be certainly glad to teach some manners, to those meddling kids…"
Ding!
No one said anything… and Hun peeks through a large plant pot, to see if someone else was coming: the way is clear. The boy comes out of it, while dusting off the topsoil that got on his clothes and shoes. He now had more time to look around the area: unfortunately there were many corridors around, making the decision process more difficult than before.
Hun started to quickly set up his primary objective: find Fara. After that, he thought to look inside the rooms, in hope to find any trace of his sister. He got near one, with his right ear close to it: no sound was coming from the room. For safety measures, he knocked on it and quickly hides back into the large pot.
No one answered or opened the door: that creates an occasion! Hun sneaks near the door, while opening it very slowly. The room itself seems to be an office, with a big amount of papers posed on the desk. The boy didn't hesitate to read all of them, since he knows how to do it!
Unfortunately, all the documents happen to be unrelated to his objective. He took a bit fo time, examining everything and felt the urge to get out of here, before someone would
Click.
Oh no! Someone was entering in the office: it appears to be a female Stingling, judging by her outfit.
"Oh my!" The voice confirms that is a she.
Hun hided under the desk and was getting really scared, since now there's nothing he can do about this.
"The documents… WHO TOUCHED THEM?!" She becomes mad, after seeing a disorder of papers all over the desk, while some of them had fallen on the ground.
SLAM!
Complete silence… it seems that the woman got out of the room. The boy did a sigh of relief, but he was still a bit shaky. Without thinking about it twice, he got out of the room as fast as he could! Once outside, he heard voices coming in this way. Back to that large pot, he goes…
"Hey, look at that topsoil on the ground."
"Drat! Who goes around playing with that plant?!"
"Probably a moron that loves bathing inside plant pots…"
"You must be a real idiot, if you do that!"
"And also a jerk."
"An imbecile!"
"Now, let's stop wasting time here: I'm hungry and the Cafeteria is going to close soon."
"Oh, before I forget to mention: where are the Administrative rooms again?"
"Check on the map near the…"
The voices were too far away now, to be properly heard. Hun got out of the pot, feeling really bad about himself. However, he did catch that last thing one of the Stinglings said: there's a map somewhere. Thankfully, the boy knows what a map is and decided to look for it.
Aside from its existence, the map appears to be near somewhere. Hun chooses to ignore the rooms and look through the corridors. After a quick peek, he walks on tiptoe into the safest one possible at the moment.
As Hun was getting near the end of the corridor, a whistling was heard. Desperate, he runs inside a room doing a suspicious and loud noise.
"Uhm?"
The Stingling stopped the song and starts approaching towards a door, which was left semi-open. The creature opens it: the room is just a small storage room with nothing but cleaning tools. With nothing remotely interesting, the Stingling closed the door.
He didn't have any idea that Hun was on the ceiling, while holding the walls with both his arms and legs. Good thing that the he's all alone now: the boy quickly fell down, getting a bit hurt in the process. After a quick recovery, Hun took a peek from behind the door: another Stingling was passing by.
At this point, the boy was getting really pessimistic: no matter where he'd get, there were always people walking around! And the corridors didn't have any reliable hiding spots, getting things even worse. He knew that if he keeps using this strategy, someone will spot him! So, Hun decided to think about a solution…
While thinking, he couldn't help to notice a weird mask that protects both the eyes and the mouth. Also a weird cap and very big clothes. Getting a bit curious, Hun tried the mask on himself and looks through a small mirror: like he thought, that thing covers his face!
Usually, the boy doesn't like to take risks… but once again, he had to trust into Lady Luck and starts dressing up. If it wasn't for the oversized clothes, Hun would have a pretty good disguise! He didn't have any idea, what does were needed for…
In that moment, the corridor was empty: the right time for Hun to exit the storage room and walking around normally. He was very nervous: what he's gonna do, if someone would see him? Does he have to greet him or saying something he'll never know? Those were the questions tormenting his mind.
Suddenly, a Stingling was approaching! Hun froze on the spot: he was too scared to even move a finger! The Stingling looks at Hun… but he didn't seem very interested and keeps walking on the corridor. The disguise was a success! The results gave major confidence to the boy, letting him have the control of the situation.
For a while, Hun walked through many corridors, getting easily lost! Everything felt like a huge maze, since there weren't many distinctive elements that differentiate the numerous sections. Exhausted, the boy sat down on the floor, catching some breath and resting a little bit. He was feeling very hungry, too.
"Over there, you!"
Hun did a jumpscare, looking at a Stingling with the hands on the hips.
"Slacking off, I see you. Getting a warning, you want?" The female Stingling said.
The boy didn't understand much about that…
"The tools, where they are? With you, they must be!"
"Uhm… w-what tools?"
"Understand, did you not?! Suspicious, you must be…" The woman was getting a bit upset.
He starts to sweat a lot: what she was thinking right now?
"With me, you come. No complains, you tell."
The Stingling did a familiar gesture: she wants Hun to follow her. He accepted unintentionally and starts following the woman around. Both entered inside a weird room: only a table and two chairs were sitting in the middle of it and the walls were composed by cushion-like materials.
"Stay here, you must."
The woman left the room, closing the door and locking it. Hun got a bad feeling about this: if he doesn't escape from that closed room soon, who knows what other unpredictable things will happen! He quickly inspects the room: the only thing worth mentioning, was another air duct grate located on the ceiling.
While not seeing any alternative, Hun becomes a Squid and starts sliding on the walls: his Ink didn't stay on them and he was unable to climb up! Luckily, the floor didn't keep his Ink too, so he got the possibility to screw around a bit more.
He got the idea of jumping right under the grate, but his jumps weren't near as high as he hopes them to be. The boy tried again and again, still getting no results. Hun was getting really desperate and starts building up the biggest jump he ever did in his life!
He squats down as much as he could, trembling from all that effort he's putting within that incoming jump…
BOING!
He jumps so high, that surpasses the grate and bonks inside the air duct! He becomes humanoid, unconsciously and fainted on the grate, solid enough to maintain his weight. Meanwhile, the door got unlocked from the outside.
"The Janitor, is AAAAH!"
The woman found nobody in the room.
"Miss Stingret, something wrong?" An old Stingling with odd mustaches, looks inside the room.
"Escaped! Vanished!"
"Who?"
"The Janitor, he was! Brought here, I did!"
"I don't see anyone…" The man looks around.
"Was he! Me trust!"
"Uhm… maybe it was just a hallucination?"
"Impossible! Believe, you must! Shorty, he was! Tools, he didn't have!"
"I wish to believe, Miss Stingret… but there's no way to escape the Interrogation room. I fail to see any evidence to certificate the presence of someone else, too."
"Man old, you! Saying nonsense, you must not! Searching around, we have!"
"You will: unlike your profession, mine requires dedication and responsibility. Now, I must go. You'll get a warning soon, for making an Officer wasting his time."
The man leaves Miss Stingret alone: she screamed from the anger and got out the room, slamming the door and locking it. No one was heard anymore: not even Hun since he was still unconscious. The time starts passing by… and eventually the boy starts waking up.
A huge pain in the head was the first thing Hun noticed: so painful, that was making him a bit dizzy. Luckily, this air duct is a bit larger than the other one, so the boy didn't sleep uncomfortably. Recovering was becoming a bit harder, since fatigue and hunger were much more prominent than before.
Nonetheless, he didn't give up… not after all that pandemonium he had to suffer before! He becomes a Squid and starts sliding around the air duct: once again in a dark and dusty one. Coughing and sneezing were more common this time, since his immune system was affected by all those negative status.
His emotions were affected too: fear and sadness keeps running through him. He starts thinking about his sister, imagining her inside a cage all alone, asking for help by her brother. This and other thoughts were hitting hard on Hun's mood. He starts crying in despair, while sliding through the long air duct.