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

Three people sat around a table in a fairly large room. 

The three of them stared at each other for a few minutes in silence, before one of them finally started to talk.

"I am surprised they found out about the temples after all these years."

Said the woman but her voice didn't seem surprised at all.

"I know right? I wonder how they found out about the monster generation rate..."

The second person in the room, who was sitting in front of the woman, replied to her. The man and woman continued to talk about that subject.

"I heard it was unit 5 again. They've been quite active these days. First attack out hideout and now this. They were also the ones who interrupted us in that village."

"It seemed like they had some people there before us."

"Yeah. They must've started to find out some stuff."

"Still, that doesn't make sense that they could suddenly find out about the monster generation rate and even visit the temple. Don't you think that it's a little bit suspicious?"

"Hmmm..."

The woman moved back and folded her arms.

"Yeah. They started acting so suddenly it seems like they got their hands on the information in one night."

She glanced at the one sitting on the other end of the table while saying those.

"Some other stuff happened here at the same time that makes me really suspicious of some stuff... And some people..."

She intentionally made her voice trail off at the end of her sentence to make it sound more like she was thinking about it at the moment.

"You called me here to inform me of my first mission as one of the ranks if I'm not mistaken?"

Finally, the one sitting at the other end of the table also started to talk.

"Oh?"

The woman raised one eyebrow.

"Seems like you were an impatient one, huh, newcomer?"

"I simply don't like to waste time in idle chitchatting like some people."

The woman's eyebrows twitched.

"You dare openly insult me?"

"I didn't insult anyone. But if you, yourself, think that you are one of those 'people who like to waste time in idle chitchatting', that is not my problem."

"You-"

BAM

The other man in the room who was sitting beside the woman slammed the table with his fist.

"Enough!"

Both the woman and the other person shut their mouths. It was because of the threatening aura emanating from the man.

"Alright so-"

The man that had just punched the table with a serious face moved his hand back and took out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"Our job is to keep watch."

"Keep watch?"

The woman tilted her head.

"That's right. You also heard what happened at the Stlinct Mountain range when those folks visited the temple, right?"

"Pfft! Yeah! They tried so hard to remain unnoticed, but then they went there and started fireworks!"

The man smiled slightly at her words. Although the wound on his cheek was unsightly, his gentle face still became more handsome with the smile on his lips.

"That's right. And you know, Master was about to go crazy after hearing about that."

"He was?"

The man chuckled.

"Yes. Apparently, he had been trying to activate that 'fireworks' for a while now but failed. After hearing the news, he was about to jump at SMF's headquarters right away. Good thing I was there to stop him."

"...."

"...."

The woman and the other person present in the room both looked at the man's smiling face in silence.

"But that would also be interesting to see him go rampage and destroy the capital... Ahem, anyway."

He mumbled under his lips with the same smile.

"So, what do we have to do?"

The man stopped smiling and threw the papers he was holding to the table.

"We will have to stay put in the other remaining locations and wait for those guys to come. We've been ordered to just observe from afar and not to engage with them. Just see how they had activated that ancient mechanism."

After hearing his words, the other two nodded their heads without saying anything. 

"There are two remaining places in the country so we will split in two.", the man said while pointing at the map. "You go here and we two will go here." 

"Huh? Why are you going with the newcomer?"

The woman frowned heavily as she protested.

"As you just said, he is a 'newcomer' and needs someone to accompany him for his first missions. What? Do you think you can't handle the mission alone?"

"That's not it!"

She glared at the newcomer with a hateful gaze.

"Tsk, whatever!"

She picked up the papers that were in front of her and stood up.

"I'm leaving if there is nothing more to say!"

"Nope. There is none."

She clicked her tongue again and left the room without even looking back. She also didn't forget to close the door with a loud THUD.

"....."

"....."

The two men stared at the closed door for a few seconds before turning to each other.

"So, newcomer, we will be working with each other for now."

"....."

"Oops! I guess I should've called you Mr. Hey? Sorry, I don't really feel comfortable calling you like that... You know the name is a little bit... Let's just go with 'newcomer'."

"....."

Mr. Hey picked up the papers and the map and nodded his head. The room was silent again for the next ten minutes or so.

"Oh, by the way, how about bringing that girl who accompanied you on your other missions with you?"

Mr. Hey raised his head and looked at the man.

"Why would I bring her?"

He asked in a tone as if he had just heard the dumbest question in his life.

"As a means of transportation?"

"...."

"You know teleporting with mana and such is a pain in the ass!"

"...."

Mr. Hey shrugged.

"You are the boss here, do whatever you want."

The man nodded his head with a smile like he was really satisfied with the answer he got back. 

Leaning back, he started to observe Mr. Hey with interested eyes. 

He looked at the newcomer from head to toe while thinking about the reason why his master would make such a nameless guy one of the ranks. 

He kept staring at him like that for a long while. 

"Don't stare at me."

Mr. Hey said in a sharp voice.

"Pardon?"

Mr. Hey talked again, annoyed.

"I don't care if you are The First or whatever else, staring at the others is rude so don't stare."

"....."

The First was visibly dumbfounded.

"I thought you were old enough to know such things already! Sigh!"

"...."

Mr. Hey shook his head with disappointment as he stood up.

"I will be here tomorrow at the designed time. Have a nice day."

And without waiting for The First's answer, he left the room.

"....."

The First just stared at the door in silence.

"All of these people are weirdoes!"

He said while chuckling.

. . . . . .

Kairen held the spoon in hand, but instead of eating his soup, he stared at one spot in the air and continued to mumble.

"He said I healed on my own what the hell is that supposed to mean he literally called me a cockroach in my face how can a doctor be like that you are the one who can't find out the problem with me and then call me a weirdo!"

CLACK

He put the spoon on the plate.

"Oh, so it wasn't that Asa couldn't heal me it was me being all weird and mysterious again. Yeah, I'm a fucking weirdo maybe the doctor had the right to call me a cockroach."

"...."

Kain on his side slowly picked up the spoon and put it back in Kairen's hand while looking at his red and hot face with worry.

"Man, what if I really am a cockroach! Just think about it I also have brown hair like roaches I also enjoyed using flight spells!"

CLACK

The spoon fell down again.

"I knew it! I always knew that I had a mysterious past so it was it. I must've been the subject for the human experiment done for the purpose of combining the genes of bugs and humans so that they could create Bugmans with superhuman powers and use them against monsters. But I ran away on a dark and rainy night and since then I was hiding my true identity as a cockroach!"

"...."

Kain's mouth subconsciously opened wide.

"But now, my true identity is exposed! They will come! They will come to get me back! They-"

"Kairen."

Kairen was interrupted by a soft and pitting voice.

"Let's forget about eating and just sleep, okay?" 

Kain touched Kairen's forehead which was burning with fever.

"I was in the middle of a dramatic flashback, how dare you?"

"Sorry sorry!"

Kain put the plate of soup aside and slowly pushed Kairen backward, laying him down on the bed again.

"It's only because of the fever. You'll become fine soon enough."

"...."

Kairen stared at Kain with a deadly serious face.

"But I was telling my life story."

"Yeah, I've been listening to your life stories for two hours now."

"No, this one was different."

Kain covered Kairen with a blanket.

"Yes. The one about you being the king of monsters was also said to be different."

He said in a soft voice as if soothing a kid.

"You think I was babbling bullshit?"

"..."

"You do, right? You think I've been babbling bullshit because I'm in fever."

"..."

"Shame on you!"

Kairen frowned as if his pride was greatly hurt.

"You've been looking down on me all this time! Babbling bullshit because I have a fever? I can babble bullshit even when I don't have a fever!"

"...."

Kain didn't know if he was supposed to laugh or cry. Thinking a little bit about Kairen's words, he nodded his head. 

"Right."

Pat Pat

And patted the overgrown kid's head.

"Now just sleep."

"Did you just... admit that I talk bullshit all the time? You- cough cough."

Kairen pushed Kain's hand away.

"I... You still- cough."

"I know I know you are still mad at me."

"Huuu!"

Kairen took a deep breath with difficulty.

"Let's talk about it later, okay?"

Kain was asking that, but it almost sounded like pleading. 

Even while they were in the hospital, Kairen refused to let go of the matter with Kain. He would act like normal for hours, then suddenly start glaring at Kain as if he just remembered that he was supposed to be mad at him, but his anger didn't seem even a little bit scary to Kain. Instead, Kairen was scared of Kain who didn't leave him alone even for a moment. 

Pat Pat Pat

"Sleep. Please sleep."

"....."

While thinking about the ending of his dramatic flashback as the Bugman, Kairen gradually closed his eyes and fell asleep.