Kaizen stared at the door. It was five feet away.
'I need to leave. I need to leave right now.'
It was only 2:00 PM. The sun was shining. The campus was huge. There were plenty of empty benches, hidden alcoves, or janitor closets where he could hide for the next forty-eight hours.
He didn't need to be locked in this mausoleum with the Prince of Darkness.
He slowly, agonizingly slowly, shifted his weight to stand up.
'Just walk out casually. Say you're going to buy... milk. Humans love milk. He'll buy it.'
But then he paused.
He looked at the back of the black-clad figure hunched over the desk.
The realization hit him like a wet towel to the face.
'I can run now... but I have to come back to sleep. I live here. My toothbrush is next to his toothbrush. My socks are in the same dresser as his... demon capes.'
Avoiding the Plot was his number one rule.
But how do you avoid the Plot when you are legally contract-bound to share a bathroom with it?
'My life is over. I'm going to die of stress before finals week.'
BAM!
A fist slammed onto the mahogany desk.
The sound was like a gunshot in the quiet room.
Kaizen didn't just jump; he ascended. His soul briefly left his body, looked down at his pathetic form, and decided to go back in just to panic.
He didn't scream. He didn't run.
His survival instinct—honed by years of playing horror games—took over.
Kaizen dropped to the floor and rolled under his bed in one fluid, terrified motion.
Whoosh. Slide.
He lay there in the dust bunnies, trembling, his hands clamped over his mouth.
'He triggered! He triggered! I breathed too loud and now he's entered his Enrage Phase!'
"Insolent... stubborn... two-dimensional trash!"
Klaus was cursing. But he wasn't cursing like a sailor. He was cursing like a disappointed Victorian vampire.
"Why?!" Klaus hissed, grabbing a handful of his own hair. "I have consulted the Codex of Shadows. I have accessed the ancestral memories of the Third Circle! So why?! Why does the mana not align?!"
He aggressively flipped a page of a book. Rip.
"This author is a charlatan! A fool! How can the output exceed the input without a catalyst?! It defies the Laws of Equivalent Ruin!"
Under the bed, Kaizen was sweating bullets. The sweat was pooling on the floorboards.
'He's furious. He's failing a spell. This is bad. When a Demon King fails a spell, usually a city block explodes to vent the excess mana.'
Kaizen squeezed his eyes shut.
'I'm F-Rank. My defense is zero. My HP is 15. If he sneezes, I die.'
He peered out from under the bed frame, just catching a glimpse of Klaus's boots pacing back and forth angrily.
'And he's a D-Ranker. But not just a normal D-Ranker. He has the [Candidate] Title.'
Kaizen knew the game mechanics.
Titles gave hidden buffs.
[ Title: Demon King Candidate ]
Buff: +50% Magic Power.
Buff: +200% Intimidation.
Passive: [Aura of Despair] - Causes low-level mobs to faint in his presence.
'I am the low-level mob!' Kaizen screamed internally. 'I'm fainting! I'm literally fainting right now!'
"Is it the angle?" Klaus muttered, grabbing his quill and stabbing it into the inkwell. "Is it the curvature of the planet? Do I need to account for the humidity?"
He leaned over his paper, his aura flaring up. Black/Purple smoke started to rise from his shoulders.
The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.
Kaizen's teeth started chattering.
'He's charging up! He's going to blast the desk! And I'm right next to the desk!'
"Unacceptable!" Klaus roared. "I, Klaus Silver, cannot be defeated by mere paper!"
He raised his hand. Dark energy crackled around his fingers. He was about to obliterate his homework.
Kaizen knew he had two choices:
Stay under the bed and get vaporized.
Say something and probably get vaporized, but maybe get a quick death.
"P-please don't kill me!" Kaizen squeaked from under the mattress.
The dark energy vanished instantly.
Klaus spun around. His red eyes scanned the room.
"Human?" Klaus asked, confused. "Where... where are you?"
"Down here," Kaizen whispered. "In the dust."
Klaus looked at the bed. He slowly crouched down, tilting his head to see Kaizen's terrified face peering out from the darkness.
"Why..." Klaus paused, genuinely baffled. "Why have you retreated to the sub-floor?"
Kaizen's mind raced. He couldn't say 'Because you look like you're about to nuke the room.' He needed an excuse. A cultural excuse that a Demon wouldn't question.
"It's... a ritual!" Kaizen blurted out. "A human prayer ritual!"
Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Under the bed?"
"Y-yes! Under the bed!" Kaizen stammered, sweat stinging his eyes. "We... we do it to prove that no amount of humanly comfort is above the gods! By lying in the dust, we show humility!"
'I am literally pulling this out of my ass,' Kaizen screamed internally. 'Please buy it. Please be gullible.'
Klaus paused. He stared at Kaizen for a long, uncomfortable moment.
'Strange creatures,' Klaus thought, stroking his chin. 'To reject comfort to appease their deities... primitive, yet fascinating. This "Kaizen" is a perfect specimen of the common folk. With his pitiful power level, he represents the baseline of humanity.'
Klaus nodded to himself.
'I shall make him my test subject. I must document these behaviors to better rule over them one day.'
But then, a new thought crossed the Demon Prince's mind. He looked at the failed magic circle on his desk, then back at the trembling human.
'Humans have short lifespans. Because of this, they are known for their terrifying adaptability. They learn quickly to survive. Could this little human... be taught?'
Klaus's eyes bored into Kaizen.
'If I teach him the basics of runic language... could a fresh pair of eyes spot the error in my calculation? It is a gamble, but a worthy experiment.'
While Klaus was having this profound internal monologue, he was staring blankly at Kaizen, nodding slowly.
To Kaizen, this was pure horror.
'He's nodding,' Kaizen thought, tears welling up. 'He's looking at my ribs and nodding. He's thinking about how to season me. He's deciding if I would taste better grilled or stewed!'
Klaus stood up, brushing the dust off his pristine trousers.
"Come out," Klaus commanded. "Finish your 'prayers.' I require... a second opinion."
Kaizen's heart stopped.
'A second opinion?! On what? My meat quality?! Or does he want me to judge his torture instruments?!'
"C-coming," Kaizen squeaked.
He dragged himself out from under the bed, covered in dust bunnies. He stood up, legs shaking like jelly.
'If I give the wrong answer, I die. If I give the right answer, I probably still die because I know too much.'
He looked at the door. It felt miles away.
'I can't run. If I run, he'll hunt me down. I'm trapped. I am literally trapped in a room with a bored Demon King who wants to play a game.'
"Come here," Klaus said, pointing to the desk covered in ominous scribbles. "Tell me... what do you see?"