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—!

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

Smack—! Smack—!

"S…stop!" "Stop!"

"You're awake!"

heard Ren's relieved voice as

"…Yeah."

similarly replied in a relieved voice, but for

god the slapping

They really hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

tried to move his body up,

"Ugk."

from his lips as his

"Stay down."

pressed down on his

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

at the moment, he could see Ren's face turn bitter

'I guess he cares…'

cared for him, but seeing how worried he was for him, Smallsnake realized that he indeed

was just too much of an ass

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

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

a genius to understand that his current condition was

his body, to feel little

Smallsnake could tell.

the verge of

'This sucks.'

his mind as

don't want to die

still something that he wanted to do before dying. Something

couldn't die just

Yet…

heavier. He didn't know what was happening, but

the moment was Ren's blurry figure. He could also faintly hear something, but his

end, darkness slowly overtook his vision

out the

"Have..a..rest."

on

'Okay.'

***

"This is bad."

up as I stared at Smallsnake,

frankly terrible. If something wasn't done

do something about this

said, they know

did I tell

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

"Who goes there?"

was there that I caught sight of

ground staring at me with their eyes open, I realized that they

my question, one of the demons slowly

so you know

I tried to shield Smallsnake away

and if anything happened

'Shit.'

my heart palpitate with

matter what, I can't

but because he was one of the people I knew for the

before Amanda, Kevin,

been with me through my highs and lows. I couldn't for the love of

how you humans managed to get into this

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

such level of strength wasn't anything that I would take note of, but since my mana

also quite curious. Have the humans perhaps figured out a way to teleport to other

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