"Uwahh!! You should try this mead. I still cannot believe that our little Ko@$a- here is the first among us to become the general manager of our department. I always thought it would be M?s?-!+ here becoming the general manager first."

A heavily built man with dark brown eyes and hair that matched his brown skin sighed and laughed loudly. He then downed a glass of sweet wine and exclaimed, "Aah! That hit the spot!" 

A frail pockmarked man glared at the man angrily and scolded him. "You! Always saying things which will start fights. No wonder you are always scolded by the chairman. That is enough drink for you today."

"N-no way M?s?-!+, Ko@$a- is buying today. I can do at least three more." Boasted the man.

"Then I won't take you home because I didn't bring my car to work today," M?s?-!+ said mockingly. The man immediately stopped drinking and looked heartbroken.

"Don't worry. I will drop you home," said another man earnestly. He was blond with deep, piercing blue eyes and a slightly boyish face compared to the other two, considering he was only a year younger than them.

"Heh. I can always depend on you. " smirked R#^a*k. They left the bar and went towards Ko@$a-'s car when they saw an eerie statue near it.

R#^a*k grinned and wavered towards the statue while the others followed. It was around 2 metres tall, made entirely out of coarse stone. The statue's face was like a stork's, while the body was that of a plump man from neck down. The statue seemed to murmur a tune.

'The voice of heaven they call me, Man-guan. Telling stories of eternity, I travel. Like the silent shivers of the passie bug, my mind is always tranquil and just as all flowers eventually bloom, I have risen.'

All three men laughed upon hearing the song. Their hearts became lighter and they felt like a huge burden had left them. The statue suddenly shone and a translucent body of the same figure as the statue was present. It had a white stork head and a plump humanoid body. It adorned a sky blue robe, holding a black staff with golden ends in one hand.

Even upon this eerie sight, the men were without fear or nervousness. The stork cleared its throat and stated, "I am Man-guan, the storkman immortal. I had set my eyes upon you three for my plans to advance. I have already crossed the threshold of participating in the man beast war. It is of no concern to me anymore. Unfortunately, promises have to be kept. Therefore, you three shall be my puppets for controlling the war."

The scene of euphoria washed over and M?s?-!+ asked in a low voice, "Who are you? What are you talking about?"

Man-guan took a deep breath and patiently answered, "There exists another world than the one you are living in, or to be more precise, infinite worlds exist. I am from Draksamin while this world is referred to as Suaramin. I shall be transporting you to Draksamin for my purposes, effective immediately. Do not worry, for I shall be granting you a wish at the end, so be a good pup and work hard. Your instructions will be given as soon as you land there."

"Sir, we do not want to have any trouble with you. We have to go home now, as it is late." Ko@$a- answered carefully in a polite tone.

"You creatures are quite stupid. I was not asking your permission to tag along." Man-guan chuckled.

R#^a*k vomited due to the alcohol and confusion while M?s?-!+'s face flushed and he got angry and shouted at the creature, "I have my wife waiting for me at home and I am happy with my life, so go back to whatever hole you creeped out of, you disfigured beast."

Man-guan frowned and answered, "I don't see the part where that is my problem. You can have a new wife in Draksamin, and you will refer to me as immortal stork lord!" Suddenly, M?s?-!+ started clutching his throat as though trying to free a hand that was choking him. "Now, let us begin with your names," continued Man-guan.

"This is M?s?-!+ and this is R#^a*k while I am Ko@$a-, Immortal stork lord," answered Ko@$a- while pointing at each person.

Man-guan was speechless. He thought, 'Impossible! That censor guy found me so soon. I have been compromised, so I better leave to Draksamin immediately.'

"We are leaving right now."

The men showed reluctant gazes, which greatly annoyed the Man-guan. It continued, "Why do I even bother to deal with mortals, Hazy Memories!"

Suddenly the world distorted in front of their eyes. Their heads felt like it was getting crushed. They were crawling on the ground while screaming. They were unconscious.

Suddenly, a group of black and white strips appeared. They circled Man-guan and he gritted his teeth and shouted, "You are too late, Pingbiloka. I have already removed their Suaramin identities. They are worldless beings now. To save them, you can only help me move them to Draksamin."

An ancient bear-faced humanoid appeared. It was wearing a white robe with black sleeves. It grunted and spoke in an angry tone, "Stork-boy, you dare interfere in other worldly matters! Simply courting death. I will ban your race from even accessing the immemorial realm while destroying your body and soul entirely."

Man-guan laughed and said, "Stupid bear, if you try to punish me instead of sending the mortals to Draksamin, they will die a horrible death. Even worse, since a worldless creature was killed under your jurisdiction, you will face consequences."

Pingbiloka hesitated.

He thought, 'Shit, he caught me. I cannot lose this job. I might even get sent back to my clan as a supreme elder.'

Pingbiloka cleared his throat and said, "How did you enter Suaramin anyway? I had safeguarded the passage well enough to keep the likes of you out of it."

"I developed a divine soul intervention statue."

"Good. It will be easy to transport them out of here then. I want 15 pots of clarified flame bee honey wine in my estate by next week, or else I am reporting you." Pingbiloka snickered.

Man-guan waved his hand and casually said, "Yeah, I will take care of it. Activate white lotus seclusion illusion so that no one sees the mortals leaving."

Pingbiloka snapped his finger and a white veil appeared upon the sky in the shape of a lotus and he disappeared.

Man-guan laughed lightly due to his luck and left with the mortals.