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

Smack—! Smack—!

"S…stop!" "Stop!"

"You're awake!"

voice as the slapping

"…Yeah."

in a relieved

god the

They really hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

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

"Ugk."

his lips as his mind

"Stay down."

pressed down on his chest as Ren shook

given you

moment, he could see Ren's face

'I guess he cares…'

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

was just too much of an ass to

on his face as he turned his gaze away from Ren and

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

a genius to understand that his current condition was

his

Smallsnake could tell.

on the verge

'This sucks.'

of his mind as his eyelids

don't want

wanted to do before dying. Something that he promised himself

die

Yet…

didn't know what was

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

the end, darkness slowly overtook his vision and his

make out the last words that Ren had said to

"Have..a..rest."

faint curl spread on his lips before his

'Okay.'

***

"This is bad."

stared at Smallsnake, who

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

do something about this

just like you said, they know each

I tell

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 the others on

others on the ground staring at me with their eyes open, I realized

than answering my question, one of the demons slowly

you know

forward, I tried to shield

if anything happened at the

'Shit.'

thought made my heart palpitate

I can't let anything happen to

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

Amanda, Kevin,

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

quite curious as to how you humans managed to

inwardly. The darkish red

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

a way to teleport to other

bulky demon, he had a rather lanky build and