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—!

bit,

Smack—! Smack—!

"S…stop!" "Stop!"

"You're awake!"

Ren's relieved voice as

"…Yeah."

similarly replied in a relieved voice, but for

god the

They really hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

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

"Ugk."

from his

"Stay down."

pressed down on his chest as Ren

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

he could

'I guess he cares…'

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

too much of an ass

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

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

take a genius to understand

move his body, to feel

Smallsnake could tell.

on the verge

'This sucks.'

of his mind as his eyelids

want to

to do before dying.

couldn't die

Yet…

progressively became heavier. He didn't know what was

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

slowly overtook

he was able to make out the last words that Ren

"Have..a..rest."

curl spread on his lips before

'Okay.'

***

"This is bad."

at Smallsnake, who

something

to do something about this

said, they know each

I

as my head

"Who goes there?"

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

Jin and the others on the ground staring at me with their eyes open, I realized that they

answering my question, one of the demons

so you

taking a step forward, I tried to shield Smallsnake away from

happened at

'Shit.'

the thought made my heart palpitate

what, I can't let anything happen to

just because his safety was my responsibility, but because he was

before Amanda, Kevin,

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

to how you humans managed to get into

the two demons asked. 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 he exuded were similar to those of a Viscount ranked

that I would take note of, but since

a way

the bulky demon, he had a rather lanky build and his horns were sharp