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

Kairen muttered under his lips.

“Maybe they will kick me out...”

He, who sprawled on his bed as soon as he came back home and took a shower, brushed his wet hair with one hand as he stared at the air.

“Un?”

The kid, who was hugging his teddy bear while also lying on the bed with his head on Kairen’s stomach, looked up at Kairen’s eyes.

“I fucked up!”

Kairen said while clenching one fist.

“....”

.....

Poke Poke

“Uncle, what does fucked up mean?”

“....”

Kairen glanced down at the kid. Once he did, he met the round and big curious eyes of a little kid.

“Huh? What Are you talking about? I never said such a thing.”

He then went back to staring at the air. He made a slip of a tongue in front of the kid, now he had to wrap things up somehow.

“But uncle said he fucked up-”

“Messed!”

Kairen raised his voice a little bit as he said that word with a lot of emphases.

“I said I messed up!”

“Uh!”

The kid nodded his head.

“What does messed up mean, uncle?”

“It means I ruined things.”

“Uh!”

Ariyan nodded his head as if he understood Kairen’s words now and went back to staring at his teddy bear.

After a few minutes of silence, Kairen started to mutter to himself again.

“But there is no way, right? They wouldn’t kick me out only because of that...”

“Uncle, what does kick out mean?”

“It means they will no longer let me work there.”

“Uh!”

Once again, Ariyan looked away from Kairen after nodding once.

“After all, I did complete the mission! And I also brought them information even when they didn’t ask me for it- Ouch!”

His mumbles were cut out by the stinging pain he felt on his arm.

“Ariyan what are you-”

Once he looked to the side, he could see the kid poking a swelled injury on his arm.

“Uh! It was red so I...”

Ariyan looked at Kairen’s pained face before lowering his gaze.

“Sorry!”

He then buried his face in his teddy bear.

“Sigh!”

Pat Pat Pat

Patting the kid with one hand, Kairen rubbed his eyes with the other. He really was sleepy and exhausted. He wanted to sleep for two days in a row right here right now.

‘I should do something about these first.’

His body ached. He was injured all over. He didn’t even know where and how exactly he got injured. He was surrounded by his cracks the whole time so he was pretty sure that nothing could harm him. They were only some minor scratches but it was still surprising that some attacks could pass through the cracks.

Even if they were only some scratches, they still hurt. Kairen thought he needed to do something about them, but didn’t know exactly what as he had never had to deal with such situations.

‘Ugh, but will they really kick me out or not?’

He couldn’t stop thinking about it.

“Tsk! It’s their fault for not explaining things properly!”

Ariyan flinched and raised his head a little bit as Kairen suddenly raised his voice. He looked at his uncle who was yelling for himself and cutely tilted his head.

“What do you mean by ‘there was no need to explain’? Of course, you should explain things properly to a newcomer- cough!”

Once again, Kairen’s word was cut off. This time not because of Ariyan poking his injury but due to something else.

“Ugh, cough cough.”

Kairen moved his body while coughing, now lying on one side.

“Cough.”

Tap Tap

He patted his chest as he coughed a few times more.

“Is uncle sick?”

Ariyan, now worriedly squeezing his teddy bear with both hands, remarked as he stared at his uncle.

“No, I’m fine.”

Kairen put his head on the pillow.

‘Though there is an annoying tingling feeling in my chest.’

It’s probably nothing important.

Kairen, feeling even more sleepy now, gradually closed his eyes. He was hungry but apparently, sleepiness was stronger than hunger.

“Is uncle going to sleep?”

“Mmm.”

“Can I sleep with uncle?”

“Mmm.”

Plop

A small body lay on the bed beside him. Ariyan put his head on his uncle’s arm. The injured arm hurt, but Kairen didn’t say anything.

“Can I pull the blanket?”

“Mmm.”

“Can I hug uncle?”

“Mmm.”

It was obvious that the kid was deliberately keeping up the conversation. Whatever the reason was, whether he was not sleepy yet or he felt upset that his uncle was going to sleep as soon as he came back after not being home for a whole day, Kairen didn’t stop him. He was already half-sleep and didn’t give Ariyan proper answers, but the kid seemed satisfied by only those.

“Can I also hug my teddy while hugging uncle?”

“Mmm.”

“Does uncle’s arm hurt when I put my head on it?”

“Mmm.”

“Should I use a pillow as well?”

“...”

There was no answer.

.....

“I’ll put my head on the mattress.”

“...”

No answer again.

“Is uncle asleep?”

“....”

Poke

He poked his uncle’s cheek with his tiny finger.

“He is asleep.”

He said that to the teddy bear he was hugging.

“Ariyan will sleep as well~”

The kid clutched his uncle’s clothes and closed his eyes. Soon enough, he too was in a deep sleep.

. . . .

“Hey~”

Someone jumped on him as soon as he left the elevator.

“Where were you yesterday?”

Kairen’s face distorted from pain. He brushed Serria aside and strode towards the desk where a blonde guy was sitting at.

“I had things to take care of.”

“But you said you were done just a few days ago.”

“I said I’m almost done.”

“Tsk!”

Serria clicked her tongue and sat on a chair. Kairen too plopped down on the chair beside Reyan.

‘Why do they sting more now?’

Seriously, he had only gotten some scratches. He was also fine yesterday, but now they were annoyingly bothering him since morning.

‘I should’ve listened to Glenn’s advice.’

Glenn had once advised him to always stand back and if there is danger, throw someone else forward so that he wouldn’t get injured. He said that it would take a lot of time for him to recover, so he had to stand back and use others as a shield.

Although the advice seemed kinda unhuman, now Kairen really hoped he could actually do that.

Ah, Glenn was such a wise man. Kairen promised to listen to his every word from now on.

“You look pale.”

Kairen pretended to not hear Reyan and started to talk to Serria instead.

“Anyway, I didn’t know you’d returned from your mission. Did you return yesterday?”

“Nah, we came back the night before.”

Serria said while shrugging.

“What was the mission?”

“Why should I tell it to someone who wasn’t in the mission?”

“Come on! I’m curious!”

“Hmmm~”

Serria pretended to think about Kairen’s question. She turned her head to Reyan in order to see if he was willing to answer Kairen in her stead. Seeing how seriously he was observing Kairen’s face, she also turned to Kairen with narrowed eyes.

“You look pale!”

She remarked as soon as he looked at his face.

“What was the mission?”

Kairen once again ignored those words. Seeing him deliberately ignore their remarks, Reyan and Serria exchanged glances before Reyan started to explain the mission.

“It was a simple mission. We had to infiltrate two of Bordkly’s small military bases around the borders.”

“Ooh!”

That sounded pretty cool.

“Could you do that?”

“Of course!”

Serria puffed her chest.

“The mission was more than easy. Such missions wouldn’t be given to unit 5 usually though, we are supposed to deal with more serious subjects.”

Reyan answered her confusion.

“Since unit 6 has literally collapsed, we have to take care of their missions as well.”

“Is that so?”

She didn’t seem happy about the news.

“Anyway, the mission was easy peasy and when really smooth- Uh, but of course, there was that commotion over that camp. We were almost revealed.”

“Commotion... about a base?”

Kairen asked, somehow feeling a little bit uneasy.

“Yeah! Guess what? Exactly when we were about to infiltrate the bases, one of their main camps was blown up somewhere!”

“...”

“Those guys were going crazy! They didn’t know the details, but apparently, a freak had suddenly jumped to the camp and set the whole place on fire! Gosh! What the hell!”

“....”

Kairen, unable to say anything, took his eyes off of Serria and looked at Reyan. He too was shaking his head with a somewhat annoyed face.

“Things got dangerous for a moment, but we managed to control things in the end.”

“....”

The two sides of Kairen’s lips moved up, the smile looking like it was forcefully shaped on a piece of dough.

“That... It must’ve been... tough... I’m glad you are all fine...”

While uttering those words, Kairen was sweating so much that his back was completely wet.

‘I’m sorry guys...’