The words 'Sleepers' was something that Dairen didn’t understand. The way they looked at him threw him off guard, hoping that he didn’t see things. He raised his glasses a bit closer to his eyes. He had trouble seeing as his eyes were strained from overuse in the darkness at his work.

"That's not funny, Tommy." Heather broke the silence.

"Come on. You know just as well as there must be some fault in the system." Tommy replied with a snort.

"Oh, like hell, there is."

Snow cut them off quickly. "That's enough, you two. We got a problem we need to solve." She motioned her head towards the body bag, which right now looked like a crime scene for anyone who stepped through the front door.

The others instantly realized what she meant, and quickly seemed to change their demeanor of the whole situation. The loud humming sound of the fan turned on, initiating the air conditioner. Sudden flows of air pushed forward the metallic smell of iron. They stood rooted in place as Dairen watched with a bit of curiosity, wondering why there was some kind of monster on the ground in a body bag. He couldn’t help but think the game was finally starting as it took him so long to find any abnormalities. He almost gave up.

Dairen took a step forward. The door behind clanged as it closed.

"Um…." Dairen spoke, he was trying to find words to start a conversation, but the tense atmosphere between them was making it complicated. His gaze went from left to right, beginning from Tommy and eventually landing on Snow, causing her to jerk.

"Who are you?" Snow asked.

The question was something Dairen wasn’t sure how to answer. It wasn’t like he could say, Oh, I'm from another world. A heavy silence lingered in the air until Tommy broke the silence with a bark of laughter.

"This guy must have balls of steel." Tommy bellowed out loud with glee, slapping his stomach. With a loud thunk, the bulletproof vest echoed inside the room.

"Excuse me?" Dairen asked, confused. There was something about the man named Tommy that raised hairs on his arms. He couldn’t quite tell what it was, but his sense of danger was rising exponentially. He used this ability whenever he went to work, and for it to sound off, its alarm here was worrisome.

"I do not understand what you are talking about…." Dairen's voice trailed off, looking at each of them for an answer that no one seemed to give until Tommy continued to respond.

"You walked into a crime scene. That's what." Tommy barked out, laughing with a mischievous grin.

Dairen gulped; he could feel the heated glare of Tommy’s gaze that screamed that he wasn’t as welcome here as he thought. He faltered backward, hitting the door.

"And now,…..you're next,” said Tommy.

Unconsciously, Dairen shrunk in size, making him look smaller than before in his baggy clothes. He didn’t have many clothes to wear, but the ones he had on as most of the money was spent on the hospital bills.

"For Christ's sake." Heather backhands him on his head, annoyed at Tommy's response. "Are you trying to scare the Sleeper?"

That word again? Darien thought. It was a word he couldn’t get rid of even if he wanted too. Was it a derogatory word? He wasn’t sure.

The backhand against Tommy caused him to stumble forward. Snow broke out in laughter.

Dairen stares at her. He didn’t expect the lady to laugh in the middle of the fight, making the tense air around them a bit more manageable to breathe. He felt a bit more confident, knowing that he wasn’t the only odd one here.

Heather, Tommy, Tamaki, and the man stared at her in complete disbelief at her sudden laughter and was silent.

Suddenly, Snow stepped forward towards Dairen with a gentle smile.

Dairen could hear his heart beating, stiff and unsure if he should move. The way she stepped forward made him want to stay as there was a calm air around her that he doesn’t meet very often around people. The closer she got, the harder his heartbeat.

"Hello." Her smile stunned Dairen, making him blush as his gazed cast downwards for a brief moment embarrassed. He fidgeted a bit and stared back at her as if he was dumbstruck in awe.

"May I ask who you are? And what brings you here?" Snow took another step, getting closer and closer.

Dairen didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have much interaction with females in his world, so it was odd for someone like her to come forward. To him, it felt too fantastical, almost like a dream. He wanted to reach out and pinch his cheeks just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Blushing harder, the closer she got, he gulped. Words were getting harder to form every step she took.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"D-D-Dairen," Dairen replied in a soft voice, turning redder. "I just stumbled through, wondering if this was some Chinese food place….Apparently, I was wrong."

"Well," Snow half-heartedly chuckled. "This isn't a Chinese dining place. If you wanted to go to one, there is one down the strip mall five blocks down." Another step was taken, now she was an arm's length away from touching him.

"Ah…." Dairen nodded. "That would be very helpful."

"Is…..there anything else that you would like to know about?" This time, Snow hands faced upwards in a welcoming manner.

Dairen opened and closed his mouth a soft scent of lavender like the smell drifted in the air. He gulped.

Slowly lifting her right hand, Snow reached over towards Dairen's face. Dairen saw a white glow appear on her hand. He was curious about what she was going to do.

A blaring message appeared in front of his face.

Warning! Warning! Mind Manipulation is in effect! Warning! Warning! Please leave the area in the next five minutes, or you will have a complete memory wipe.

-1 increase in mental suppression

-1 increase in mental suppression.

In alarm, Dairen's eyes sparked with dread, realizing what was happening before him. Did he really come to the right place? He tried his best to hide his surprise and change his question, knowing that he couldn’t stay too long any longer.

"T-the dead body," Dairen spoke, causing Snow to halt her movement. She swallowed, her eyes darted quickly once to the body bag and then back at him. "W-why is there a monster in there?"

"Monster?" Snow asked, perplexed.

"Yes." Dairen shook his head up and down slowly, watching Snow's reaction. He was fishing for answers, hoping that what he was seeing was a lie.

Heather hiccupped. Tamaki and Tommy were tense. Even the loud clicking sound of Lily's typing rung out.

Dairen tried to divert the uncomfortable atmosphere around.

"Why is your hand glowing?" Dairen replied, snapping Snow out of stupor.

"Shit!" Heather yelled. "He knows! Get him!" The sudden shout from Heather caused Dairen to quickly stumble backward, hitting the door with a thump.

Snow's hand missed in grabbing Dairen by the shoulder, which caused her to temporarily lose her balance.

Dairen scrambled, pushing the door behind him in a rush to get away. He sprinted out the door as Snow followed behind him, trying to catch him before he slipped away.

"Damn it! We can't let him get away!" The shrill scream of Heather caused everyone to react quickly.

"Someone stop him!" Heather was shouting nonstop. Her body partially out of the door. "He's a thief!" People started to stop and turn around to see what all the ruckus was about. Some people moved away to let the four through without hindrance. While the majority was too slow to run out the way and had caused some collision.

Dairen didn’t look back. He couldn’t. Only one thing raced in his mind. It was to run away as far as he could so he wouldn’t be caught in their trap.

He zipped through the dense crowd, trying to lose them as best as he could. He could still hear their shouting and cursing behind him.

Taking a sharp left, he caught a glimpse of the man named Tamaki, and right behind him was Snow.

Dairen purposely squeezed in between two people. His cheeks brushed against their body as he smelled leftover food of hamburger on them. He heard something falling on the ground with a loud clatter.

"Hey!" The man with McD's yelled in anger. A loud crash could be heard as his tray landed on the ground. His fries scattered while his half-eaten burger was trampled.

"Sorry!" Snow cried out.

Dairen glanced up, he saw the store Pennywick on the left and Gatabie on the right. He instantly made his choice and went straight through the Pennywick store. Breaking through and coming out the other end. He pushed open the door, his heart beating in his ears.

Dairen stumbled into someone. They both crashed, his heart fluttering in his chest.

“Hey?!” The man shouted in outrage that he was run over. His golden hair was disheveled, and he was holding his chest from the rough impact.

Dairen frantically pushed himself up. “I’m so sorry.”

“Whatever man, watch where you are going. Sheesh.”

Dairen was temporarily stunned by the man’s gaze. It had a hint of a reptilian look that reminded him of a predator. He wasn’t sure what else to say but apologized a couple more times.

“Levian!” A girl with black hair and a seductive body ran over to help him up. She glared up at Dairen for his rude behavior. “Sorry is not enough; you should compensate for your actions!”

Dairen was about to apologize once again, but he heard Tamaki's voice, “Did you see a man with glasses and messy hair run by here?” not too far away from him.

Dairen bolted away without looking back.

He ran.

He ran until he couldn’t anymore.

Taking a sharp turn to the right, he went into an alleyway as he hid behind many crates. His heart was pounding; he didn’t know what he did wrong. Dairen thought he could just talk his way through, but their sudden unexpected turn of events made him wonder if that was even possible.

+3 magical defense has increased. Your temporary novice period will end in under a week. Please be advised that all magical attacks on your mind would revert to your normal status.

Dairen sighed, closing his eyes. Happy that he was protected by a system that he least expected. He wrapped his hand around his head, folding his leg closer to him. Snow's intense burning gaze was still present in his mind asking him why he hadn’t fallen into her mental attack. He wanted to know why. Why he was attacked, and why they were so hostile against him. The answer was only a few words away, but he couldn’t ask without meeting them head-on. A glimmer of perseverance echoed in his eyes, but fatigued washed over him. His world ran black as he took a quick rest.