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—!

after the dream cleared up a bit, he realized he had not been dreaming,

Smack—! Smack—!

"S…stop!" "Stop!"

"You're awake!"

relieved voice

"…Yeah."

replied in a relieved voice, but for

the

They really hurt.

"Are you okay?"

"…Yeah."

move his body up,

"Ugk."

groan escaped from his lips as his

"Stay down."

on his chest as Ren

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

moment, he could see Ren's

'I guess he cares…'

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

much of an ass

his gaze away from Ren and he stared at the

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

to understand that his current

his body, to feel little

Smallsnake could tell.

on the

'This sucks.'

mind as his eyelids grew

want to

something that he wanted to do before dying. Something that he promised

die just

Yet…

know what was happening, but the incoming

the moment was Ren's blurry figure. He could also faintly hear something, but his mind was too out of it to properly

slowly overtook his vision and his consciousness

able to make out the

"Have..a..rest."

on his lips

'Okay.'

***

"This is bad."

I stared at Smallsnake, who was passed out before

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

to do something about this

like you said, they

I

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

"Who goes there?"

behind them. It was there that I caught sight of the

their eyes open, I realized that they were probably responsible for beating me up and trapping

one of the

you know

tried to shield Smallsnake away from the

if anything happened

'Shit.'

made my heart

matter what, I can't let anything

because he was one of the

Amanda, Kevin, and

I couldn't for the love of god let anything happen to

how you humans

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

of, but since

figured out a way to teleport to other planets? If so,

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