Kairen rubbed his eyes and looked at the screen again.

“….”

Tap Tap Tap

He reloaded the page and scrolled down again.

“….”

It was the same. No matter how much he looked, the site didn’t change.

‘Why is there… so many…’

Kain who was sitting in front of Kairen asked in a hesitant voice.

“Are the results… bad?”

Kairen looked at the man’s dark green eyes once before looking at his phone’s screen again.

“No, It’s just…”

“Just?”

“Look yourself.”

Kairen leaned forward and held the phone in front of Kain’s face.

“No, I don’t w…hat the fuck?”

Kain’s eyes widened as he looked at the screen. He looked at Kairen, then at the screen, then again at Kairen.

“H-how is that even possible?”

“…I don’t know.”

Kairen looked at the website again. He had opened it since he heard that the results of the entrance exam had been announced. He had passed the exam. That was really nice news. However, all his happiness was replaced by surprise when he scrolled down to see which divisions he was allowed to work in.

“How did you receive a request from almost every unit and division? What the hell did you do there?”

Really, Kairen was thinking the same. All he had done back then was create some shields and cast some not-really-impressive spells. What were those guys thinking?

“Is it… Is it a prank?”

“How can this be a prank? You must have… done something impressive…?”

Kain hesitantly looked at Kaire while saying that, as if he himself didn’t believe that Kairen could do such an impressive thing.

“Oh, wow! Look! I can’t believe it! There is a request from unit 5 of the Special Units. What the fuck man!?”

Kain pointed at one of the names on the list with wide eyes. Kairen had seen that request as well, there were also requests from units 6 and 4 and some others on the list.

“Why are you so shocked about unit 5’s request?”

“Why you say… You know team leader Dains right? The man that brought you to that rescue mission.”

Kairen nodded his head. He clearly remembered that cool-ahem, that strong man.

“He is well-known in SMF as one of strictest leaders, especially in recruiting new members. This… this is the first time in the last five years that he is interested in newbies…”

“….”

Kairen scratched his nose and blinked a few times. Was it really that impressive?

“But… why would he choose me?”

“I don’t know. It’s right that you have great talents. That rescue mission might be related as well, as well as what happened in your first mission a few months ago.”

“Hmm… Then, I can select anyone that I want to join?”

Kain nodded his head.

“Yes, so you have to think carefully before selecting one.”

Kairen looked at the long list and thought about his future job.

He would’ve never imagined that he would get a job like this. He was still somehow scared when he was in battles, but he was getting used to it little by little. He preferred to avoid any kind of fight if possible, be it fighting monsters or humans.

He liked magic a lot. He enjoyed learning and using something that didn’t exist in his life before, but he didn’t like using that impressive magic in killing other people or monsters.

His life here was nice. He had friends that he felt comfortable around, had people to call family, and now a guaranteed hob for himself. It was nice, he was happy, but nothing here could fill the empty hole in his heart.

He wanted to go back home. He wanted to meet his brother again. He wanted to tell everything that has happened to him here even if he didn’t believe it. The only thing and the only one that he missed from his previous life was his brother, not like he had anyone else on earth besides him. He even missed the trash foods that he would cook. And in order to see him again, he had to stick to this SMF that probably had any information that he needed.

“OY! Don’t doze off.”

“I’m not…”

Kairen pushed his thought to the back of his head and concentrated on the list again.

“You were in unit 6 right? Then I’ll join that unit as well.”

Kairen didn’t have that much information about units and divisions and he knew that he would act like an idiot again if he was left alone in a new place, so he decided to stick to someone who had the knowledge and could help him.

“What? No! That’s absolutely not allowed!”

Kain’s reaction wasn’t what Kairen expected to see. He frowned almost instantly after hearing that.

“What?”

“Don’t join unit 6 no matter what! Its team leader is trash! Literally a stupid bastard!”

“…Aren’t you also in the same unit?”

Kain sighed and massaged his forehead.

“I am, but he wasn’t the team leader when I joined the unit. I really want to switch units but it’s really hard and risky. Don’t even think of accepting that request.”

“…Okay…”

Kairen swallowed his saliva and looked at the list again. He had no idea which one he was supposed to choose. He kinda wanted to choose unit 5. Not because its team leader was cool-ahem strong. No, just because it was an offer that was hard to get.

“Then, what about unit 5?”

“I also recommend unit 5. Well, it will be a lot harder to work under team leader Dains, but it’s definitely worth it. Unit 5 has the best performance among the other units. You can say it is one of the best teams in SMF. That also means that you have to work really hard. There are tens of people who want to join that unit, now that you’ve gotten the opportunity, then accept it.”

“Hmm…”

That seemed reasonable. Kairen thought for a moment and opened a chat group.

“What are you doing?”

“Asking Reyan and Serria…”

He wanted to know what his friends wanted to choose. He didn’t want to follow them blindly, but he didn’t want to get separated from those two if possible. It wouldn’t hurt to just check out, would it?

Ding

Their answers came almost immediately.

“What did they say?”

“They have gotten the same list as me…”

Kairen read the messages in the group.

Reyan’s answer came first. It was short and brief.

Reyan: [It’s the same list. I’ll choose unit 5.]

Then came Serria’s flood of messages.

Serria: [OMG]

Serria: [I can’t believe it!]

Serria: [I got so many requests!]

Serria: [o(*≧□≦)o o(≧∇≦o) o(*≧□≦)o o(≧∇≦o)]

Serria: [You guys are the same? IAODOPAWD]

Serria: [“”o(≧◇≦)o””]

Serria: [AWDAOWJDAPWD AAAA]

Serria: [So excited]

Serria: [Unit 5! Unit 5 for sure! That’s the best one there! OMG AAJISEFSE]

Serria: [AOWODAAOWD]

Reyan: [….]

Kairen: [….]

Serria: [OOASDAWODAW (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ]

“They’ll choose unit 5.”

“I see.”

‘Unit 5…’

He himself liked that unit, and after hearing his friends and Kain’s words he was convinced to join that place. It was the best unit, it had a good team leader and it was safer than the others, that unit seemed really ideal. But he was still hesitant.

Kairen wasn’t the type that liked to be the best. It wasn’t that important to him to be on top or study at the best university or have the best job. He preferred to have a peaceful and quiet life, being on the top and trying hard wasn’t his thing. What if he studied hard to become the top student? It would just increase people’s expectations of him. It would just give him more stress.

It was the same now. What if he worked at the best unit? It would just give him more stress. He had to try hard and try to be the best. And that was really annoying.

So he was really hesitant now. Unit 5? The best unit? He wasn’t someone to take such a risk because of other people’s words or change his decision because he wanted to be with his friends. He just wanted some information, did he really need to go that far to find them? No, it was definitely not necessary. Unit 5 or unit 1, what was the difference? He could achieve what he wanted no matter which one he choose.

‘Do I really need to go to unit 5?’

If he was to act as he always did, he would probably choose a small and quiet unit no matter how much he was interested in unit 5. However, there was something different this time.

Was it because he was in another world? Was it because he had a different life now? He didn’t know the reason. He never had a desire to gain others’ attention or respect in his life. He was living for himself, not for others after all. But he wanted to try himself once. He wanted to do his best now that he had the opportunity to. Not for others, but for himself.

Even if it was hard and annoying, he felt that he had to do his best if he didn’t want to regret anything later.

‘Besides all that, that bastard would probably want to join unit 5 as well.’

Yes, there was also Kairen 1 to consider.

“Then, I’ll accept unit 5.”

“Don’t decide so fast, think about it properly for a while.”

“Yes.”

But his mind was set, he knew what he was doing to do for the first time in his life.. He would probably regret it later, but he decided not to care about the unknown future now.