8 Under the clock

Deciding not to waste any more time, Ensen began jogging on the side-walk at a decent place, trying to conserve his stamina. 'Does it look like I dressed for running?!' He yelled in his head, trying to gain sympathy from the system.

Ensesn's shoes were simple grey slip-on shoes, not meant for running in the slightest. Not to mention the clothes, he wore today. He dressed to impress, not to sweat after all.

In reality, while the system's one-hour requirement seemed like quite a tight window it wasn't. If he could properly manage his stamina then he wouldn't have much trouble completing the mission.

After running for a few minutes, Ensen arrived at a small park with a bunch of toys and equipment for kids to play with. A bright yellow slide, weird spinny chairs in the shapes of animals that rotated at a gentle slope when pushed, a swing with seats made to hold toddlers and lots of other things. There were also quite a bit of people around the area, both children and their parents were happily playing.

'Why couldn't it be this park?' Ensen questioned in his mind. This park was just around the corner of the block from the coffee shop he was at earlier. Without paying the children much attention, he lightly jogged directly through the park, his feet stomping on the small gravel path with each step.

Suddenly, Ensen saw something quickly appear at the very left of his vision and it was zooming towards where he was running. He instantaneously decided to be cautious and stop running, nearly falling over after forcing his momentum to a standstill. But it was no use, Ensen felt a heavy impact on both his left leg and the left side of his waist.

Unable to stand upright after the sudden impact, Ensen tumbled forward towards the gravel path below. Fortunately, he managed to hastily thrust his hands outwards towards the ground, holding his body firmly before he hit the ground.

Nearly letting out a cry in pain, Ensen hurried to his feet wanting to get the pressure off of his hands as soon as he could. He held his hands in front of his face, looking at them closely. There were little indentations from where small pieces of the gravel pathway had previously been, as well as some little pebbles still gently pressed onto his hand firmly.

Ensen quickly rubbed his hands together softly in a circular fashion, attempting to get the pebbles unstuck from his hands. After several seconds he managed to get rid of most of the pebbles.

He mostly came out unharmed, with only his hands mildly aching and his pride heavily wounded.

Looking behind him where the collision occurred, Ensen was preparing to let out a stern lecture towards... whatever ran into him. However, when he turned around, he was immediately caught off-guard by what he saw.

Ensen saw a little girl, most likely no older than seven with light brown hair. She wore a checkered shirt and sweat pants dirty from playing in the playground. She was looking downcast while a middle-aged woman with similar hair and an intense glare was heavily lecturing her. She was wearing a simple grey shirt with bright blue jeans.

'Well looks like my job is done.' Ensen muttered, still slightly annoyed.

While Ensen was annoyed, he didn't plan on making a big deal about it. After all, he was completely fine.

'Wait, what is she doing? Is she pointing at me?' Ensen said confused.

Ensen soon saw the little girl look at him. She began slowly walking over shyly with hesitation in her step. After a few seconds, the girl was now standing before him.

She stood there for a few seconds, twiddling her thumbs slowly as if trying to work up the courage.

Ensen decided to help her out, after all, he was a teacher. Even if she wasn't his student, there was no harm. But right as he began to open his mouth to speak, he noticed the person who was lecturing the girl before to hold a finger against her mouth, as if asking him to not speak.

He quickly analyzed her action and inferred that she wanted to turn this into a learning experience for her daughter, so it wouldn't happen again. Silently agreeing with her plan, Ensen decided to wait a little longer.

After a few more seconds, he heard a timid voice from the girl. "I-I'm very sorry mister. I didn't mean to hurt you." She said, sounding as if she was about to burst into tears. Her gaze did not move from the ground below Ensen's feet the whole time.

Ensen's remaining annoyance was instantly melted away by her sincere apology. Deciding to try to cheer her up a bit, he slowly bent his knees down until they were resting on the gravel pathway. Now he was near her eye-level. She slowly raised her head to look at Ensen. Her dark green eyes were slightly puffy from trying to hold back her tears. He smiled kindly towards her. "It's okay, I know you didn't mean it. And look!" Ensen said, showing off both of his hands to the girl.

"It barely left a mark! I'll be better in no time at all." He said, trying to be as cheerful as possible, even moving his hands around in a silly way with his speech to try to get her to laugh.

"You really mean it?" She said with a big pout on her face.

"Of course I do! Just try to be more careful next time, okay?" Ensen said, finishing his little attempt at cheering her up. And it seemed to work quite well. After she had heard his last sentence, her frown slowly went away. After a barely audible "Thank you" from the little girl she quickly returned to her mother's side.

Well, that was nicer then I thought. With a small nod towards the mother, Ensen slowly began walking along the path. The ride side of the path was lined with newly planted trees, most likely an activity from his old academy nearby for the younger kids.

After ensuring his leg was finer, he began walking before he noticed an odd little flashing light at the top-right of his vision. Turning his attention there, he saw a blue box that appeared right as he was body-checked by the little girl.

[Unexpected event, pausing timer.]

Looking semi-shocked, Ensen thought in his mind 'Maybe this system isn't so mean after all.'

Immediately after as if responding to his statement, the words on the already existing blue box faded out of existence, with a new message replacing it.

[Starting timer. Time remaining: 52:48]

'Goddammit!' Ensen yelled in his mind, thinking about going on a protest from the system. But realizing that it would be basically meaningless, he quickly gave up on the idea and continued jogging.

After a long and excruciating 45 minutes, the end was in sight. Ensen could finally see Crystal Gardens.

Crystal Gardens was also known as the central Gardens, because of its relative position in the town. It's was used frequently by various organizations hosting events. It was a relatively large Garden, full of various types of trees, flowers, bushes, and many other types of plants as well. It was basically a gathering spot for the local plants to congregate.

In the middle of the Garden was a decently sized lake that commonly had small birds, such as ducks, tadpoles, crayfish, and some other miscellaneous small animals around the area.

Seeing that the end was near, Ensen began pushing his aching, exhausted body even further. His speed quickly gained momentum, and after a few more minutes he finally arrived inside Crystal Gardens.

[Mission Complete: To the park]

[Rewards]

[One EP]

[Access to next chain mission]

Unable to stand upright, Ensen hurried over to a nearby plot of grass, where he promptly collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Looking up into the sky, he was tired but satisfied. He knew he pushed his body to the limits today.

He laid there, peacefully laying, enjoying the nice cold ground. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he first checked the time. Upon seeing it wasn't too late, he didn't worry about getting up soon. He went on a fun little game on his phone, rewarding himself for his hard work.

After playing for around 15 minutes he grew bored of the game. Right as he decided to get up, his phone vibrated. Curious, Ensen looked at his notification center and noticed an email from the real-estate site, notifying him that he had a new message on their website.

Growing excited, Ensen quickly went onto the website and checked his messages, to see a reply from the land-owner of the plot he wanted. After reading the full contents of the message, he was full of mixed feelings.

His request of having an inspection done was granted, but the owner required a small deposit to show his intention on purchasing the property. He also added that while the lake-side area was not included with the plot, it could be added on with a bit of money.

While it was concerning how much he was demanding money, the plot should go down quite a bit after the inspection due to safety concerns. Because of this, Ensen was not too worried. After swiftly replying with his intent to put the deposit, he put away his phone.

Thankfully, deposits were done online by the real-estate website for a small fee. This ensured that neither party would be scammed.

After sorting out those issues, Ensen slowly got up from the ground, only to come to a sudden realization. 'Wait, how am I going to get back?'