The Author's POV

"This will do for now."

Brian carefully combed his hair and adjusted his clothes in front of the mirror. In addition to his white shirt, he wore a black pair of pants that seemed a bit too big for his body.

His shirt was slightly wrinkled, but given his current living conditions, it was all he could do.

It was still nevertheless a good look for him. He looked sharp.

"Haaa…"

As Brian exhaled, he leaned forward and placed both hands on the side of the sink.

Softly mumbling under his breath, he gazed at his reflection, particularly his green eyes.

"You can do it. You can defiantly do it, Brian!"

This was the first day of his new job, and he couldn't screw it up. Brian's resolve hardened as he thought about his mother's condition.

"I can definitely do it."

As Brian turned around, he slapped his cheeks and closed the faucet.

As he carefully opened the bathroom door, he felt his previous nervousness disappear completely.

Upon exiting the bathroom, Brian was greeted by a blast of cold air coming from the air conditioner of the building.

"You must be the newbie."

A young man in his mid-20s greeted him near the entrance to the bathroom. With long black hair that flowed down his shoulders, he had a face that mesmerized everyone who looked at him. Especially his eyes that made one fall into a trance with just a glimpse.

'Handsome.'

As he stared at the man in front of him for a moment, even Brian was mesmerized for a short couple of seconds.

"Eh..ah."

He fumbled with his words.

As he extended a hand, the man carefully scrutinized Brian's face.

"Nice to meet you, newbie."

A bright smile adorned his face.

"My name is Hemlock. Hemlock Feyner...and I'll be your supervisor."

***

"Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!"

Suddenly, he was awakened by a familiar voice. After slowly coming to his senses, Smallsnake spotted a familiar face.

'…Ren.'

He silently thought to himself as he struggled to open his mouth.

He could feel water dripping inside of his mouth as some of the water began spilling all over his face. He didn't know for how long this had been going, but he no longer felt as thirsty as before.

Even so, his body and mind remained numb.

"Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!"

He heard Ren's voice calling out for him.

'Why is it him out of all people?'

When Smallsnake thought about how someone would hallucinate near death, he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

If there was a face that he didn't want to see when he was close to death, it would definitely be Ren's.

He had been traumatized enough by him.

"Smallsnake!" "Smallsnake!"

Smack—! Smack—!

sting, and after the dream cleared up a bit, he realized he

Smack—! Smack—!

"S…stop!" "Stop!"

"You're awake!"

voice

"…Yeah."

relieved

the slapping

They really hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

Smallsnake tried to move his body up,

"Ugk."

from his lips as his mind

"Stay down."

his chest as Ren

still far too dehydrated to move. Fortunately, I've given you enough water to

the moment, he could see Ren's face turn

'I guess he cares…'

really doubted that Ren cared for him, but seeing how worried he was

of an ass

face as he turned his gaze away from Ren and he stared at

"..it's..b..ad, isn't it?"

understand

to move his body,

Smallsnake could tell.

was on the verge

'This sucks.'

of his mind

want

that he wanted to do before dying. Something that

die

Yet…

eyelids progressively became heavier. He didn't know what was happening, but the incoming

was Ren's blurry figure. He could also faintly hear something, but his mind was too out of it to properly process

slowly overtook his vision and his

was able to make out the last words that Ren

"Have..a..rest."

spread on his

'Okay.'

***

"This is bad."

I stared at Smallsnake, who

frankly terrible. If something wasn't done

do something about this

said,

did I

voices filled with malice echoed throughout the room as my head snapped back and I saw two demons standing

"Who goes there?"

asked while taking a glimpse behind them. It was there that I caught sight of the

and the others on the ground staring at me with their eyes open, I realized that they were probably responsible for beating me up

one of

you

step forward, I tried to shield Smallsnake away from the

if anything happened at the moment,

'Shit.'

the thought made my heart

matter what, I can't let

responsibility, but because he was one of the people I knew

before Amanda, Kevin, and

I couldn't for the

to how you humans managed to get

large horns on his head that circled inwardly. The darkish red

such level of strength wasn't anything that I would take note of, but since my mana was currently sealed, it certainly felt like I was staring

Have the humans perhaps figured out a way to

bulky demon, he had a rather lanky build and his horns