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—!

a bit, he realized he had not been

Smack—! Smack—!

"S…stop!" "Stop!"

"You're awake!"

heard Ren's relieved voice as

"…Yeah."

relieved voice, but for a

god the slapping

They really hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

moment Smallsnake tried to move his body up, he realized he couldn't move a single

"Ugk."

escaped from his lips as his

"Stay down."

on his chest as Ren

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

Smallsnake couldn't see clearly, at the moment, he could see Ren's face turn

'I guess he cares…'

Sometimes, Smallsnake really doubted that Ren cared for him, but seeing how worried he was for him, Smallsnake realized that he indeed

just too much of an ass to

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

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

genius to understand that his current condition

barely being able to move his body, to

Smallsnake could tell.

the verge of

'This sucks.'

his mind

don't want to die

dying. Something that he promised himself to

die just

Yet…

became heavier. 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

slowly overtook his vision and

make out the

"Have..a..rest."

a faint curl spread on his lips before

'Okay.'

***

"This is bad."

carefully stood up as I stared at Smallsnake, who

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

do

like you said,

I

as my head snapped back and I saw two

"Who goes there?"

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

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

one of the demons slowly walked in

you know

step forward, I tried to shield Smallsnake away from

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

'Shit.'

the thought made my heart palpitate with

can't

safety was my responsibility, but because he

before Amanda, Kevin, and the

through my highs and lows. I couldn't for the love of god let anything happen to

quite curious as to how you humans

rather bulky figure and two large horns on his head that circled inwardly. The darkish red tone of his skin and the aura he exuded were similar to those of

I would take note of, but since my mana was currently sealed, it certainly felt like I was staring at a huge

Have the humans perhaps figured out a way to teleport to other

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