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—!

right cheeks sting, and after the dream cleared up a bit, he realized he had not been dreaming, and Ren had

Smack—! Smack—!

"S…stop!" "Stop!"

"You're awake!"

voice as the slapping

"…Yeah."

relieved voice, but for a different

god the

They really hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

his body up, he realized he couldn't move

"Ugk."

groan escaped from his lips

"Stay down."

down on his chest as

dehydrated to move. Fortunately, I've given you enough water to hydrate you,

he could see Ren's face

'I guess he cares…'

cared for him, but seeing how worried he was for him, Smallsnake

too much of an

turned his gaze away from Ren

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

take a genius to understand that his current condition was

barely being able to move his body,

Smallsnake could tell.

the verge of

'This sucks.'

uttered inside of his mind as his eyelids grew

don't want

wanted to do before dying. Something

die

Yet…

He didn't know what was

thing he could see at the moment was Ren's blurry figure. He could also faintly hear something, but his mind was too out of it to properly process what he was trying

slowly overtook his

to make out the last

"Have..a..rest."

curl spread on his lips

'Okay.'

***

"This is bad."

stood up as I stared at Smallsnake, who was passed out

was quite frankly terrible. If something wasn't done soon, I couldn't guarantee

do

said, they

I

my head snapped back and I saw two demons standing behind the door of

"Who goes there?"

there that I caught sight

the ground staring at me with their eyes open, I realized that they were probably responsible for

my question, one of the demons slowly

so you

tried to shield Smallsnake away

was critical, and if anything happened at the moment, I

'Shit.'

the thought made my heart

can't let

but because he was one of the people I knew for

Amanda, Kevin,

highs and lows. I

to how you humans managed to get into

He had a rather bulky figure and two large horns on his head that circled inwardly. The darkish red tone of his skin and the aura

take note of, but since my mana was currently

way to teleport

demon spoke up. Unlike the bulky demon, he had a rather lanky build and his horns were sharp rather