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

Smack—! Smack—!

"S…stop!" "Stop!"

"You're awake!"

relieved voice

"…Yeah."

relieved voice,

god the

They really hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

up, he realized he couldn't

"Ugk."

pained groan escaped from his

"Stay down."

his chest as Ren shook

you enough water to hydrate you,

at the moment, he could

'I guess he cares…'

somewhat happy to see this. Sometimes, Smallsnake really doubted that Ren cared for him, but seeing how worried he was for him, Smallsnake realized that

was just too much of an ass to show

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

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

take a genius to understand that his current

his body,

Smallsnake could tell.

the

'This sucks.'

mind as his

want to

was still something that he wanted to do before dying. Something that

couldn't die just

Yet…

progressively became heavier. He didn't know what was

he could see at the moment was Ren's blurry figure. He could also faintly hear

overtook his vision and

for him, he was able to make out the last words

"Have..a..rest."

on his lips before

'Okay.'

***

"This is bad."

stood up as I stared at Smallsnake,

something wasn't done soon, I

do something about

said, they know each

I

room as my head

"Who goes there?"

was there that I caught sight of

at me with their eyes open, I realized that they were probably responsible for beating me

than answering my question, one of the

so you

forward, I tried to shield

current state was critical, and if anything happened at

'Shit.'

the thought made my heart

can't let anything

was my responsibility, but because he was one of

before Amanda, Kevin,

and lows. I couldn't for the love of god let anything happen

quite curious as to how you humans managed

and two large horns on his head that circled inwardly. The darkish red tone of his skin

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

figured out a way to teleport to

demon, he had a rather lanky build and his horns were sharp rather than curly like the