“Excuse me, is Casey inside?” Justin asked politely, his eyes filled with mild excitement.
“Yes, what do you need my wife for?” asked the man licking the pink ice cream.
Justin’s expression froze at once. Something in his chest sank down into his stomach and swam in the gastric juices virulently.
“Who is it, honey?” Casey’s voice came from the inside and stirred Justin’s heart. Her familiar voice sounded sweet, and for a second, he thought she was calling him. The reality, however, was utterly opposite.
Justin turned around and walked away without looking back. Myles silently followed him, leaving the man at the door to ‘seemingly’ wonder what this was all about. By the time Casey, a beautiful blonde, came to the doorstep, they were gone. “Who was it?”
“No idea, dear.”
A few minutes later.
Justin sat at an open cafe, fighting his tears.
“You should have at least talked with her,” Myles said, taking a seat.
Justin took an electronic wristlet from the worker and video-called his lawyer. When his lawyer gave the details through an aerial projection, Justin was shocked.
Myles already overheard the details, and he pitied Justin. After Justin was bitten by a crazy black dolphin, Casey filed cases of domestic violence against him and not only acquired his house but also all of his savings, even though he was still alive and suffering from a disease.
When the call ended, Justin’s heart felt rock hard. He was already heartbroken to see a stranger claiming to be Casey’s husband, but after hearing that Casey had stolen all of his property, his heart ached like it never did before. Moreover, it would be next to impossible to get his job back as there were always a lot of applicants for the guard posts, and he had to give bribes the first time in order to become a border guard. Now, without any savings, getting his job back was impossible. And without the job, how could even face Casey after what she had done to him?
The waiter came to their table and asked, “Orders, sir.”
Justin forced out a smile and said, “Give us a minute.”
The waiter also forced out a smile and said ‘sure’ before going to another table.
Justin needed some money right now. He didn’t want to ask for money from his savior, so he audio-dialed his childhood friend and went to the side of the shop to talk alone. “Biskie, it’s me, Justin.”
“Huh?” she sounded shocked. “You’re still alive?”
“Yeah. I will talk to you later, but can you send some money to my account? I’ll pay you back with interest, I swear.”
“Huh, if only you had married me when I proposed to you…” she clicked her tongue a few times. “You broke my heart back then and now you call me to ask for money. You know, I wouldn’t have answered if the call had come from your number.”
“I’m sorry for everything. I really am, so please send me some money,” he begged. “Just this once. I’ll never forget your favo—”
Biskie hung up.
Justin’s heart turned sour, not just because she didn’t give him money, but also because she was right. If only he had married the chubby Biskie, he wouldn’t have married a smiling snake in the name of Casey. But since Casey was a beautiful woman, he was naturally attracted by her smile and charm and married her even though she came from a piss-poor family. Now, he didn’t feel like blaming Casey, either, because it was his own stupidity that had made him choose Casey instead of Biskie.
Justin returned to the table with his head lowered. He sat down and struggled to look into Myles’ eyes. “Uh, I’m sorry, but I don’t have money. I can’t afford even a single meal.”
“It’s okay,” Myles replied rather casually. “By the way, I don’t have money, either, so we probably shouldn’t be sitting here.”
Justin’s expression turned into that of a confused chicken. “Huh?”
Cobra city was known for its snaky roads as well as for the eccentric job opportunities it provided.Justin had heard many citizens say along the lines of: “I scratch pimples for a living.”There were always people who would hire other people to keep their ugly houses clean, keep their rebellious brats quiet, to mourn at funerals, to taste the beta-food they made, and to bring their runaway pets home and what not.There was always someone hungry and jobless in the city, so there were plenty of people gravitating toward even the strangest of jobs like moths to a flame.Justin was also thinking of being a street cleaner. He would then get to officially clean the streets at night, and he was hoping, maybe, he would find some valuables. In the mornings, however, he could look for better career opportunities. Since every city block had its own street cleaner, the chances of him getting a job were not low. He just needed to find the one with openings.Justin thought of all these things whil
Many of Justin’s bones broke in the face as he got utterly knocked out of his senses. Kong was still going, even though blood was flying everywhere.“Hey,” a chilling voice entered through Kong’s ears and penetrated his heart like the sharpest needle out there. Even his bones felt the sting and shivered a little. Before he realized, he had already stopped punching.“What the—” he looked to his left, and there was this young man in shitty clothes staring at him with not-so-friendly eyes. “Who the fuck are you?”“The water of a river is for everyone to drink,” Myles stated calmly.“What?” Kong looked more annoyed than puzzled.“The cheek of a crook is for everyone to slap,” the moment the words flowed out of his mouth, Kong felt a slap that shook his brain. His feet moved a couple of steps back, and his hand touched his cheek in response. His ear made a nonstop buzzing noise. He looked at Myles who was standing still. He knew for sure Myles just slapped him, but he couldn’t even see the
A heavy truck fully loaded with second-hand clothes stopped in the outskirts of the city. Children and adults swarmed in and emptied the truck in a matter of seconds.Among those who obtained clothes for themselves, Justin was also there. He managed to snatch three pairs of clothes, but one was a woman's, so he gave it away to a needy lady.They asked the same woman for towels before putting on the remaining two pairs. They were just simple T-shirts and jeans. Nothing too fancy.Myles had removed his underwear and tossed it away.“Why did you throw it away?” asked Justin, unable to control his curiosity.“Isn’t it obvious?”“No, it’s not.”“These pants are too tight,” Myles complained after putting the jeans on. “How’s air going to pass through the pants at this rate?”“Heh, why do you need air to pass through your pants?” Justin chortled.“To keep your hair and skin healthy,” Myles replied. “And this is also highly uncomfortable. It’s too tight for me.”“Well, if you call this tight,
Utter decimation.That would be an appropriate way to describe what the explosion resulted in. Even the metal frames of the palanquin melted away.It looked like there was no chance of anyone surviving that grand explosion.At the ground level, Kong was laughing. “Haha, you are superb, Defender of Fire!”Standing close by Kong was an old man in his sixties, with a cannon barrel for an arm. He was Sukazu, a Veteran Beta mage. His face was full of dark spots, and he breathed fire through his nostrils.“I expected some fight, but it was boring,” Sukazu said, walking away. “I’ve got a meeting with Aqua Double, so I’m leaving.”“A-Aqua Double?” Kong was slack-jawed. “Aren’t they Alpha mages? C-Can I come along? I will disappear once I get their autographs, I swear!”“I don’t mind, but watch your manners around them.”“Sure, sure.” Kong excitedly tagged along and reached a public stage where a lot of people were gathering. “As expected of alphas from Liger city. They are attracting quite so
Justin lost all hope of living to see another day after the vines bound him and squeezed his bones and the breath out of him.It wasn’t just him but everyone else there struggled the same.Myles was also no exception. He even bled from the mouth due to the pressure. (Damn it. My body…)“A trash like you killed my son?” Amir growled at Myles. “I don’t believe it!” The vines squeezed the people some more and broke some of their bones and killed them then and there.Cutting water attacks sliced through the vines and freed the rest of the people before worse happened. “What the hell do you think you’re doing at our event?”Maria and Rosie stood in between the crowd and Amir.“Aqua Double,” Amir’s tone was serious. “You have nothing to do with this. Get lost if you don’t want to lose your lives!” He waved his hands and sent forth vines out of his fingers.Maria constructed a water spear and a shield. Rosie constructed a water sword, and they cut off all the vines that attacked them before
“R-R-Rosie Waters is your wife?!” Justin gaped at Myles in disbelief. “W-Why didn’t you tell me? W-Wait,” he briefly glanced at Maria, “does this mean Maria Waters is your mother-in-law?” he started gasping. It was too much for him to take. One alpha was his wife, and the other was his mother-in-law? It felt so unbelievable, then again, having seen Myles’ strength with his own eyes, it was also understandable to an extent.“What happened after you took the A-rank escort mission and went to the sea?” Rosie asked, stepping closer. “It’s been over three months, and we’ve been looking for you everywhere. I thought you were…” she came closer and hugged him tightly, shedding silent tears. “I’m glad you’re still alive.”Myles didn’t know how to respond. Should he tell her he wasn’t Phil but Myles? He wanted to, but she seemed too emotional right now.“I told you he’d be alive,” Maria wiped the corners of her eyes with her knuckles, though she didn’t really shed any tears.Rosie grabbed Myles
Justin was sitting next to a patient’s bed. The patient looked weak and terrible. Black scales began to appear on his arms.“Is he poisoned?” Justin’s countenance turned dull. “He healed my disease, so why can’t he heal whatever that is plaguing him?”Rosie walked into the room with a sad expression. Her mother had already explained Phil's situation. She just stood by the wall and kept watching him in silence.Justin could feel her sadness, and so he couldn’t even say a word for a long time.“What did the doctor say?” he asked, but Rosie didn’t respond. (Is it that serious?) Rosie looked dull, so he wanted to say something to better her mood. “How did you two meet each other?”Rosie briefly glanced at him. “What’s your name?”“Justin,” he quickly responded. “Justin Alves.”“Justin Alves… why don’t you mind your own business?” she bluntly said.The smile on Justin’s face vanished. He was hurt by her words, but he didn’t take it to heart. He could understand that she wasn’t in a good mo
“What do you mean you’re not Phil? Did a screw go loose in your head?” Rosie asked him, her brows furrowing together.“Why would there be screws in my head?” Myles was a little confused. “I’m not a puppet. I’m a human, and I have free will.”Rosie raised her eyebrows. “Okay?” (He definitely hurt his head somewhere. Now it explains why he didn’t return to me. At least he remembers me, so that’s a good thing.)“Your Phil is gone. What you are seeing is a different person. Do you still want me?”Rosie paused for a little before speaking, “Of course I do.” She hugged him again.Myles’ lips slowly bloomed into a simple smile. It felt good to be hugged by a woman who was worried for him. Her vibes soothed his soul. Her scent was so comforting probably because he was in Phil’s body. According to Myles, winning a woman’s heart was much more difficult than winning over the world. So he felt a bit lucky for receiving such love, though he also felt sad for Phil who had died.“By the way, Phil,
Aero’s attack was deadly enough to easily kill a group of individuals without them even realizing what happened.The table where Myles and others were sitting was utterly destroyed.However, nobody was harmed because Myles had warped them a few meters away at the last moment. The only being he didn’t warp was Dusty.Dusty took the attack head on and was injured just a little. “This is…” he didn’t take more than a second to understand who it was. “Don’t say anything and just run away!” he shouted in ant language.“What nonsense are you talking about!” Aero attacked him with his spear-like limbs. “Her Majesty trusted you and sent you on a mission, but here you are, eating sugary things!”“You idiot! I didn't have any other choice!” Dusty defended himself. “I was forced to work for these humans!”“Shame on you! How can you work for humans?” Aero grew all the more aggressive. “You surely deserve to die!”“Who is that bastard?” Sercy asked angrily because part of the cafe was destroyed by
General Aero of the Battle Ants leaped toward the two old timers and used his jelly-like body to set himself on fire, causing a nasty explosion that covered almost a hundred feet in every direction.It was so hot the ground cracked and the metal melted.Aero used this opportunity to fly away fast. Some automated machine guns recognized this intruder and shot at it, but Aero was able to easily slip past the bullets and flew away into the distance, covering a mile per second.Wise Servant and Sweet Beggar stepped out of the explosion, and Wise Servant sucked in the explosion and contained it in her single hand and squashed it into nothing. The compressed flames no longer existed as a candle light would turn off.“Are you going to go after that thing, or do you want me to go instead?” she asked him.“You’re the wiser one,” Sweet Beggar picked his teeth. “So you should go, since you decided to let that little ant go.”“I thought he might lead us to the one that escaped last time,” she rep
Outside the forever S-rank dungeon where the Battle Ants were present, Wise Servant and Sweet Beggar stopped playing chess and started drinking a strong tea made out of boiling many potent green herbs.And both of them felt energized and relaxed right now as they sat laid back in their chairs.Wise Servant lost in chess once again. She had been trying to win just one game of chess against him for so long. She grew experienced enough to be easily called a grandmaster of chess, but still, she was not able to win against Sweet Beggar just one more time. All she wanted was for him to forgive her and say ‘I love you’ just once more.Both of them had long crossed 100 years of age. So, they weren’t thinking of sex or anything like that. They were purely thinking about each other’s souls.Wise Servant had already beaten him 999,999 times, but she really wanted to win another game; however, Sweet Beggar didn’t make it any easier for her. He remained ruthless all the time so that she couldn’t e
In the dungeon swarming with ants of all kinds numbered in trillions, with more of them joining the ranks as seconds passed by, this dungeon was becoming more and more of a threat to the very existence of not just the Venture city but the very existence of humanity.The queen of all ants, Queen Wiggles, was currently crunching on wafers and looked to be in bliss.“Mm… these are the best things I’ve eaten in a while,” Wiggles looked at the captain ant that brought her a single packet of wafers. “What are these things called?”“Wafter, Your Majesty,” the captain ant kept his head and antennae lowered.“Water… it’s crispy, sweet, and easily melts in your mouth,” Wiggles was drooling. “I think I can eat a mountain of these. Why did you bring only one of these?”“The guy that entered the dungeon had only one of these in his bag,” the captain ant replied.“Oh, I thought you managed to leave the dungeon and then come back inside,” Wiggles said. “But some fool entered the dungeon, huh. Did you
Sercy found an A-rank healer, but he asked for a lot of gold in order to heal Judas and Glint because it wouldn’t be an easy task.“Instead of money, I’ll give you the spoils of an A-rank dungeon we’ll clear,” Sercy told him.“That’s even better,” the healer happily agreed to it.After forming a contract, he came to the Dawn guild to heal Judas and Glint. However, when he approached Judas, Judas attacked him by grabbing his throat and lifting him up.“Who do you think you are…” Judas coldly said. “Did I give you the permission to heal me?”“Judas!” Sercy unleashed a flaming punch and struck his face, sending him flying into the wall right next to him. His head went halfway through the wall. “How drunk are you to attack a guest who came to help you!”Judas pulled his head out of the wall and spat a few pieces of bricks out. “I’m not drunk, Sercy. And I don’t want to get healed because I’m perfectly fine.”“No, you’re not fine. You are mentally disturbed,” Sercy blurted.“Hmph, you thi
In Basil District.Sercy and Ria were heading toward a certain address.“Why did we have to travel so far?” Ria expressed discomfort without hesitation. “Couldn’t you find any healer near our district?”“I could, but I doubt they can fully heal Judas and Master Glint,” Sercy replied. “Judas has been drinking a lot. I’m sure his liver and other organs are not healthy. We need a proper health potion that can improve his health significantly. And Master Glint also needs to drink a health potion because he’s not eating properly.”“His daughter died long ago, so why is he still depressed?” Ria asked.Sercy glanced at her with a bit of a surprised look. “You lack emotional depth. Were you not raised by your parents?”Ria frowned. “Do I have to be raised by my parents to know a father’s love?”“...Not really,” Sercy said. “Some lives can be explained by pen, but some… only by pain. By emotion. If we haven’t experienced the same emotions ourselves, it’ll be hard for us to put ourselves in oth
The glass cube was torn open like it was jelly, which genuinely dropped Sercy’s jaw for a second.Dusty was also not expecting that at all, but he grinned as he unsheathed his sword, ready to attack Myles. However, just when his eyes looked up and his gaze was set on Myles, he suddenly felt invisible pressure crushing him down from every direction.Myles was not even moving his eyelids, but Dusty couldn’t move. In fact, his body was trembling slightly. (What’s this feeling?) He looked very anxious. (This regal aura he’s giving… It’s as if I’m looking at Her Majesty. No, perhaps, dare I say… he’s even greater than Her Majesty Wiggles?)“Myles!” Sercy yelled. “How did you do that? I mean, how could you do that!” She quickly caught Dusty with her hand. “What if this little monster is more dangerous than we think?”“Then why are you holding it in your hand?” Ria asked.“B-Because he’s like a little doll,” Sercy said. “I feel like squeezing him to death.”“Eeek!” Dusty was terrified by her
Myles and Ria came to the canteen while Biskie and Casey were so tired and beaten they had to take rest in the basement training grounds. Myles wasn’t the one who fought them, but they fought each other to the extreme just to test them and so wounded themselves a bit too much.“Our guild has good core fighters now,” Sercy told them while they were eating crunchy leaf burgers. “We only lack a good healer. If we can get someone who can not just heal the wounds but also boost our skills, it’d be wonderful.”“Someone who can do those things will be in high demand,” Ria opined. “Do we have enough money to recruit such a person?”“Money? Screw that,” Sercy snorted. “I want someone who will willingly work with us and share our burdens and not expect too much in return. I don’t want those types that go after money and fame as they cannot fit into anything. They are only going to abandon you when a better opportunity knocks on their door.” She then looked at Myles. “You explored some districts
Dusty stealthily entered the guild building, expecting there to be tight security. However, all he found was an old man mumbling something in his sleep.“What’s this? They have the dragon king’s item, and they’re this relaxed?” Dusty frowned. “Are they that confident in their abilities, or are they just that stupid?”Nevertheless, he kept his guard on and traveled in the hall while using the objects as his cover.He saw Sercy who was loudly talking at her reception desk.“I’m telling you that I will buy those lands!” Sercy was shouting. “Sell me those infested lands, you bastards! If you do that, We’ll become ghost-venerers for you and clear three dungeons of your choice in the next year. How does that sound?”“Five dungeons for three years is okay for me.”“Three years is too long, and five dungeons is too much,” Sercy said. “Three dungeons and one year is final.”When a dungeon breaks, the nearby lands and environment get corrupted. This would cause the value of that land to drop, e