"Boss! Boss! Another malice was again sighted within the periphery of Looc. Based on the witness narration, the malice grade should be no lower than Cold-Blooded!"
Hearing the loud, panicked voice of the employee beyond the thick door, a man in his mid-forties, facing a desk filled with envelopes, unfolds a tired expression on his face.
His brown eyes, flickering with faint light, closed slightly, taking a deep breath to regain his composure before finally allowing the employee outside to enter the room.
"Those beasts, why can't they just live happily within the underworld?!'
Cursing inwardly, feeling stressed about the sudden spike of beasts spawning all over the city, the man, upon calming, couldn't help but heave a sigh of helplessness, gazing at the employee that entered the room before asking in a calm voice.
Huff~
"How's Adrian? Did he recover already? If he did, you can give this task to him."
"This..."
Hearing the deep voice of his boss, the employee unfolds a clear hesitation on his face. Opening his mouth with unease, yet not a single sound escaped his throat.
"Just said it; if he still hasn't recovered, I will transfer this task to those newbies."
"Boss. Sir Adrian was embarrassed to show his face in front of you, so he gave me this resignation letter to deliver it to you on his behalf."
Clang-
Hearing this, the hands of the middle-aged man, holding a thick folder, suddenly tremble.
His face suddenly seemed to age by years as he weakly reached his hands toward the letter within the hands of the staff; with their current lack of members, losing one of their key members would greatly weaken them, to the point that it might endanger countless lives of the city.
However, although that was the case, the middle-aged man with an expressionless face didn't feel any ounce of anger toward Adrian.
With their line of jobs filled with indescribable danger; unknown if they would survive the next day to see another light, it's reasonable that some employees would immediately resign upon experiencing life-threatening risk...
Sigh-
"Increase the salary and benefits of the new chaos awakener by 25% and give Adrian an advance payment of 3 months. As for the sighted Malice, I will handle it myself."
Still not done, the middle-aged man closed his eyes, pondering deeply before speaking in a decisive tone.
"Send a message to Melody in the main city and tell her to come back.
"Moreover, scout for those who accidentally become "Chaos Awakener" within the city. Although this city was small, there should be some unfortunate fellows who become Chaos Awakener."
***
Beep- Beep-
Inside the cramped dormitory of a school, a young man at the age of early twenties, sitting in a chair while facing the open window in front of the wooden desk filled with papers, could be seen absentmindedly staring at the gloomy clouds within the firmament...
Watching them slowly form a gloomy spiral—signifying the impending storm.
Following that, the faint howling of the wind carrying a soul-chilling temperature began to sweep around, entering the cramped room through the open window, which caressed the sharp face of the young man—causing the man's pale eyelids, due to the lack of sleep, to drop slightly due to the coldness, making him sleepy.
However, before the young man could successfully close his eyes, finally entering the long-longed desire of slumber, the familiar yet annoying sounds of notification, coming from the old phone on top of the bed beside him, suddenly rang loudly, causing his half-closed eyes to jolt open, revealing the dark eyes filled with red blood vessels within.
"It's weekend; please give me some time to rest!"
Cursing weakly, the man instinctively reaches out the old mobile phone, touching its cold surface before gazing at the fully lit screen with clear annoyance on his face...
However, the incoming call that he had expected or the message coming from the unknown abomination didn't reflect to his eyes; instead, an unknown gloomy app with a profile of pure darkness and a name filled with deep meaning reflected to his tired yet blinking eyes, causing him to mutter weakly in confusion as he read the app name with uncertainty.
"Descent of Malice? I couldn't remember that I uploaded a new app."
Surprisingly, as Clark Lorica dragged the app to uninstall it, the app remained immovable, as if it had become part of the phone's function, making his attempt to uninstall it in vain.
"Weird, did my phone catch a virus? Sigh, I shouldn't have watched those videos from pirated websites."
Tossing the old phone back into the bed, Clark wrapped the thick blanket around his body before continuing to stare at the gloomy sky within the firmament, letting the cold breeze caress his face as his eyes finally shut closed—entering the longed slumber.
As for the old phone's well-being, it's not as important as his sleep.
***
Slowly, time passed by.
Splash~
Tap- Tap-
Soon, the sounds of water droplets began to unceasingly fall from the high ground, splashing the dry concrete beneath—drenching them slowly.
The sky, still filled with whirling clouds, began to release a howling wind that continuously reverberated within the serene surroundings, bringing forth unprecedented coldness to the beings below.
In the familiar dormitory, the snoring Clark suddenly shivered, instantly feeling a chilling coldness drilling toward his very existence... as the droplets of rain hit his face.
Groan-
Still feeling tired, the young man slowly opened his eyes, only to see the dark churning clouds and the intense wind that consistently swayed the trees outside; the countless raindrops being carried by wind entered through the opened windows, hitting his drenched face at a hurried speed, deepening the coldness he was experiencing.
Cough~
Getting a glimpse of the paper within the desk being slightly drenched by the rain, Clark's sleepiness instantly vanished, reaching the window with a swift speed before closing it.
"Cough! Fortunately, they could still be saved; if not, I would again spend money just to print them."
Sighing in relief, Clark separated the slightly wet paper from the dry one... Wiping them with dry clothes before setting them aside.
After that, he weakly goes to the narrow bathroom, splashing some water on his face before gazing at the dim mirror in front.
"Still handsome as ever."
He lightly commented upon seeing his tired yet somewhat pale complexion in the mirror.
The dark eyebags under his eyes filled with red blood vessels were prominent, likely to attract attention, while his thin pinkish lips add a perfect combination with his pale face...
Although he looks drained and his body somewhat malnourished due to lack of sleep and combining school with work, his appearance could still be graded as above average.
It didn't stand up, but it also couldn't be easily neglected.
...