CHAPTER 07

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 while walking with Myles who just stopped in front of a pet store. His eyes were especially on the cages with birds inside, and an old memory flashed in his mind.

“My love,” his wife, Vreka, caught his shirt and crumpled it with her fingers, and asked him shyly on their first night after marriage, “I want you to catch a dragon for me… alive.”

And he had. Not only did he catch a fire dragon alive, he also imprisoned it in a magical ice cage that kept the creature in a weakened state. It was unheard of! Vreka’s mother used to have a public display of the dragon to her friends and other important personnel and boasted before them. He had done so much more for them, only to receive a dagger in his heart.

At the moment, Myles fought the urge to break open the bird cages and kept walking.

“Are you perhaps interested in buying a pet?” asked Justin. “They are really costly, both to buy and to maintain, so I advise you to wait until you have a home and earn enough to hire workers.”

“I used to have one,” Myles thought of his pet dragonfly.

“How was it? Having a pet?” Justin was curious. “Is it worth it?”

Myles thought about his pet, and his expression turned somewhat sad. “More than worth it,” he spoke in a gentle voice. “Buzz taught me how to be patient, and I also learned from watching him that I should be smooth in my actions and that I shouldn’t readily make decisions by how I feel.”

“Haha, most people do make most of their decisions by how they feel,” Justin’s smiling face was soon taken over by gloom. It was because he strongly felt like living with a beauty, he had ended up marrying Casey. “Feelings… we should control them. Not the other way around. But it’s not easy.”

They were at the zoo zone right now, where pets could be bought, or wild animals could be tamed. Justin was wondering if he should become a zookeeper without realizing that he was again letting his feelings change his decisions rather quickly.

Myles was watching the monkeys and tigers dancing together in the circus. These beasts existed in his world, too, though there were a lot more dangerous ones back in his world.

“I want to find out how I transmigrated. I didn’t do it, but is it a fluke?” Myles mumbled. “Something like this can’t happen on a whim. I must make preparations to go back to my world, but in order to do that, I have to move back in time so that my body still exists by the time I get there. I have to get my original body back, as those created with magic will have their limits. This borrowed body is no good, either.” He could feel the body resisting as he tried to clench his fists. “I can’t control time, so I hope this world has something that can push me in the right direction. Otherwise…” he shook his head slightly. “No. I don’t want to resort to that magic.”

Someone bumped into Justin from behind, so hard Justin tumbled forward. Justin got angry, but then he realized that the one hit him was a big bald guy, wielding flaming knuckle dusters. “Knuckle Kong!” This guy was Justin’s neighbor.

“You look pathetic as usual,” Kong snorted at him. “While I got promoted to an expert delta mage, you lost your job… AND YOUR WIFE. Pathetic. Really pathetic, indeed. But because of that…'' he licked his lips. “I got to sleep with Casey after you got kicked out of the city. I introduced her to one of my friends. He works as a florist, and they work together at the shop. He keeps her really happy now and also lets me into the house ‘whenever’ I want, kehehe.”

Justin’s blood boiled. “You bastard!” he threw his fist at Kong who was a foot-and-half taller.

Kong struck Justin’s fist with the knuckle duster and broke his bones. “Know your place, bitch!” He didn’t stop there and viciously threw punches in Justin’s place. “Knuckle Buffet!”

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.