Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

“You know that it’s not so easy to join my hunting dogs, don’t you? Yet you are so confident that I’ll let you in even after you’ve turned me down once.”

“I know it, sir. I’m merely invited there because of my special power. I just thought that the commander wouldn’t want to give up on my power yet so I tried my luck.”

Kairen nodded his head. He fully knew that someone like him wouldn’t ever be able to even think of joining that team, let alone receiving an invitation from the commander. The opportunity given to him was only because the commander wanted to hold Kairen’s power in his hands.

“How about we do the rest of the things later?”

“The rest of the things?”

“You can’t join the unit only by walking into my office and telling me that you are willing to do what I asked. There are a lot of procedures that need to be... Well, I’ll do the troublesome works for you so things would end faster.”

“...Thank you.”

“Still...”

.....

The commander raised one finger.

“I’ll need to do this right now before you leave.”

“Pardon-”

Kairen couldn’t finish his words. The atmosphere in the room got so cold and suffocating all of a sudden that Kairen even forgot to breathe for a moment.

Snap

The commander snapped his fingers.

“Gasp!”

Curling forward, Kairen clenched his chest from the sharp pain he felt in his heart.

“W...h...at?”

He glared at the commander and spat those words through gritted teeth.

“I just gave you a long explanation about how I make sure about my subordinates’ royalty! How could you forget it so soon?”

“Gasp!”

Kairen gripped the armchair with one hand while he was still curled up and kept glaring at the commander.

‘This bastard just used his power on me without even a warning, seriously?’

“Pant... Pant...”

The intense pain in his chest calmed down after a few seconds, but Kairen still felt annoyed by the commander’s action.

‘Couldn’t just warn me before? Do you like to act so mysterious all the time?’

The commander shrugged.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve already made a lot of exceptions for you, but I can’t skip the most important part.”

“....”

Kairen took a deep breath and nodded his head.

“...I understand, sir.”

The commander smiled brightly once again.

“Then, I assume there is nothing more left to discuss?”

“There are actually a few things that I want, sir.”

The man was slightly taken back by Kairen’s quick and cold response, but he still calmly listened to his words.

“First, I don’t want to work as... your hunting dog full time. I still want to keep working at my unit and only take the missions that really need my help.”

“....”

“Also, I need a little bit of time before I start my missions. There are a few things that I need to take care of.”

“....”

“And I also don’t want my job as... your hunting dog... to be known by the others.”

“....”

“Also, the fact that I don’t want to work full time doesn’t mean you should cut my salary. It might sound rude but I want the whole money.”

“....”

“You know about the man who is in a coma in SMF’s hospital, right? I’ve been told that they will stop supporting his life with the machines in the hospital if he doesn’t wake up in a few weeks? I don’t want such a thing to happen. Please take care of that as well and let him stay in the hospital like that until he wakes up.”

“....”

“I know it’s asking for too much, but I also like that you’d let me choose some of the missions I want to go to myself. I don’t want this new job to interrupt me working in unit 5, so I’d like my missions in the two units not to be on the same date if possible.”

“....”

“As, and the last, please talk with team leader Dains yourself and inform him of the changes in my job.”

“....”

“That was all, sir.”

Kairen closed his mouth and waited for the commander’s answer.

“....”

“....”

“Pffffttttttt!!!”

The commander looked at Kairen’s serious face, then he once again, burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha! Haha! Boy!”

SLAM

He slammed the armchair with his palm.

“Who do you think you are?”

“....”

The atmosphere in the room was once again, cold and eerie. The man’s eyes were cold and fierce as if he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Kairen if he said one more word.

“You think you can act and talk as you like because of your power? Do you think you are invincible because you have a slightly different power than the others? You think you are a special shit?”

Kairen had goosebumps all over his body and his back was wet with sweat. It was scary. He wanted to run away from this place.

But he couldn’t do that.

“Did I ask for too much?”

SLAM

“You still dare to talk so boldly, huh?”

“....”

Kairen stood up from the sofa.

“Then I guess I’ll go join Philomns instead.”

“....”

The commander froze for a second.

“What?”

Kairen just walked to the door.

“I’ll go work for Philomns.”

“You!”

The commander also jolted up from his seat.

“Do you take me for a kid? Do you think you can trick me with such lies?”

“...”

Kairen grabbed the door handle.

“You can use your ability to see if I’m bluffing or not.”

.....

Kairen was bluffing. It was the biggest bluff of his entire life, and probably the most dangerous one. He was so scared at the moment that his soul has already left his body and was wandering around in the heavens. He wanted to run away.

‘Gah, what if he really uses his ability!?’

Kairen shivered inwardly, but he still did his best to keep a straight face.

Seeing Kairen’s confident face, the commander started to rethink things.

“Hah! Hahaha! Do you think you can do such a thing? My law is already on you. You will die the moment you ever go near Philomns.”

“Is that so?”

Kairen tilted his head.

“Will joining Phlomns really count as betraying you?”

“Of course, it will-”

“But then, why didn’t the team leader of unit 6 get punished after joining Philomns? You said you only felt your law starting to work when he was about to blow things up with the bomb, right?”

Kairen gave the commander a smile. A smile out of nervousness.

“Then I guess I will be fine until I blow the capital up.”

“....”

Blink Blink Blink

The commander opened and closed his eyes several times.

“Oh!”

His eyes then widened.

“You are right... Why didn’t my law work back then...”

He mumbled those words under his lips. He stared at a spot in the air for a moment, thinking about something, before turning to Kairen.

“For real? You want to join Philomns?”

His angry face was all of a sudden replaced by disbelief.

“No.”

Kairen spat out the truth right away.

“Living as a runaway criminal doesn’t seem such a comfortable life.”

“.....”

“.....”

“THEN WHAT??? WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM???”

The commander looked like he was about to lose it once again.

‘He changes moods so quickly!’

Tsk Tsk

Is he really suitable to be the commander?

“I’ve changed my mind. I won’t work for you anymore my own job is hard enough.”

“You brat-”

The commander took one step back, wary that he would actually punch the young man in the face if he was too close to him.

“I’m leaving then! Have a nice day, sir-”

“ALRIGHT!!”

Kairen stopped moving after hearing the commander’s shout which contained a huge amount of repressed anger and hatred in it.

“I. Accept. Them. All.”

The commander took another step back as he clenched his fist.

“I’ll. Do. As. You. Say!”

Looking at the commander’s clenched fists and repressed anger, Kairen did his best not to smile after hearing that he would do the things Kairen wanted.

“Now, get lost!”

The man pointed at the door.

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

Kairen was waiting for his chance to run away all this time. He almost immediately opened the door and jumped out of the room.

“Have a nice day, sir!”

He peeked through the door to say his goodbyes. He had to be on good terms with his boss after all.

“Get lost already!”

But that didn’t seem a good idea right now.

“Ah, sure, sir. Goodbye, sir!”

SLAM

Kairen closed the door.

‘Ah, man! Why did I even say I would join Phliomn?’

He shook his head.

‘I would be damned if he really used his ability! Gah, scary!’

Whipping his arms that had goosebumps all over, he hastily walked away from the commander’s office.

‘I’ve got to meet captain Neal as well...’

He needed to hurry to the training ground and finish his sparring if he didn’t want to hear Ariyan’s naggings about Kairen picking him up late.