The boss was a kind hearted man. Even though he was very harsh to say the least, his heart rested alongside the children. He may criticize and sometimes even beat up the kids, but ultimately it was due to the children's good.
He wanted to separate the right from the wrong in their eyes.
What he is doing could perhaps be considered damage control, since most of the children have gone through inhumane hell already.
If they didn't fix their attitudes and keep their noses low, they might anger the dangerous type of guy in the slums.
If that happened, then only one fate could await their future.
Irwiz could look through this facade of a tough guy almost immediately after going under his wing.
After all, such a situation already seemed too good to be true. At first he had even suspected of somehow being roped into a child trafficking place.
No one would want to run a charity in such a desperate place.
Although there may still be a curtain he couldn't open and a catch he couldn't figure out, the fact that he had to rely on the boss and his two brothers was the truth after all.
Without them, things would look much more grim for this body he got in this world.
This new body looked just like the old Irwiz, except only if he had been a preteenager. Black eyes, black hair, and a brown complexion with sharp eyes that seemed to place everyone on the same pedestal.
It didn't take long before they reached the boss's shelter.
It was a ragged and dilapidated building. It was as if not only the building had a bad foundation and a starting point, it also suffered from the test of time.
As for the shelter, it was located underground that building, where it could be reached through some shabby stairs, and then turning left.
It was perhaps only around the size of a bedroom. Yet, before boss started sheltering the kids, this room was shared by 3 adults.
It already would've felt populated then, but now, with nine more kids added into the fray every night, everyone had to sleep side by side and barely fit in.
It was too warm and uncomfortable too. Since it was still late summer, from what Irwiz could assume, the sweaty atmosphere was very much to his dislike.
However, he didn't have anything to complain about. This kind of environment was better than the first night he had spent in the slums.
At that time, he could almost feel the rats' breath on his ears. The moment he slept, he might have become a meal for those guys.
It really was a stroke of luck that he met the boss.
Drip
Irwiz felt something hitting his head. As he looked upwards, there was nothing but the moisty ceramic ceiling.
It seems like the water from outside had found itself underground, right outside the shelter.
'Oh, we arrived' Irwiz thought inside his mind. It didn't take that long to reach here after all.
Knock knock
The boy that was accompanying Irwiz knocked on the wooden door.
From inside, a clearly childish voice of a girl could be heard through.
"Who is it?" the voice was fragile and hoarse.
"It's me, the new guy and I caught one more rat" Erti, the boy accompanying Irwiz replied.
"Oh, that's great!" the voice immediately livened up as the wooden door creaked open.
The inside was a tad brighter, but not too bright.
After all, there was only one candle lit up inside.
"Come in, today's the day we get to eat!" the girl jumped up and down in joy as the two boys made their way in.
Inside the small room were a total of 5 kids, now 7 including the two of them. No adults could be seen, as they were still outside. As for the other kids, they seemed yet to have finished their hunts too.
"Erti!" one boy stood up and greeted the boy.
"Ulysis!" Erti responded back.
They were both happy to see each other.
They were the only ones who were together when the boss recruited them. Except for them, no one among the children knew each other before coming here.
Hence, the children weren't that close with each other. Well, the first kid that got recruited has only been under the boss' wing for 2 months after all.
It was nothing surprising.
While Erti and Ulysis greeted each other, Irwiz quickly went besides the fire and placed the rat they hunted among a pile of rats. Almost all of their tails had been cut off leaving a bloody gash on their bottoms.
The scene of this many rats reminded Irwiz of the rat kings he saw before. A truly disgusting sight indeed. Except here, the rats only missed their tails.
After placing down their hunt, Irwiz found his seat between a girl and a boy; his position faced the candle, after all, the children all sat in that way.
He didn't make any extra noises, only sitting down and observing the others.
This behavior should be expected of a newcomer after all. However, sooner or later, he had to blend into his environment; after all, this whole isekai thing didn't give him any more instructions except this weird code name of LCEF-707.
He decided to throw his thoughts away and turn his attention to the current children inside.
Except Erti and Ulysis, he only knew the name of the girl that answered the door.
She was called Rera and had this grayish black hair with pale sickly skin. Irwiz estimated her age to be around 11, younger than him who seemed to be around 13 or so.
As for the other three, one was girl while the rest were boys. They didn't have much of a standout feature just like Irwiz himself. The girl too, had a long and dirty brown hair.
Maybe it wasn't so justified to single her out as having dirty hair - after all, everyone here did.
These children neither had the water nor the luxury to wash their hair; even with unsafe water they would rather keep them to drink later; as long as it wasn't that muddy.
Knock Knock
Just as Irwiz was contemplating a few things, a few knocks sounded at the door.
'Right now, only one of two could come. Either the adults or the remaining duo' Irwiz thought as he bit especially hard at the rat tail he just tore off.
"Who is it?" Rera's voice resounded throughout the room as her body inched closer to the door.
As Irwiz watched, the deep voice behind the door made it clear who came.
It was the boss.
"Oh, boss! All of us had finished our tasks except for Weyl and Podin. Do you have today's food with you??" Rera asked in anticipation and joy quickly after opening the door.
At the mention of food, everyone inside the room could feel their stomach grumbling.
It was an expected response, since they could eat one meal only once every three days. For the two other days, they had to resort to rat tails and the water the adults brought.
Irwiz himself was also one of them.
Then as they all watched in excitement, the boss stepped in.
The boss was a middle aged man with brown skin and a messy beard that didn't connect fully. Although his body wasn't shaped like a dumpling, it couldn't be described to be lean and athletic either.
He was more of the definition of skinny fat, although there were some muscles hiding behind his hairy body.
As he walked through the door, there was a huge grin plastered on his face as his hands held a large oaf of black bread. It was perhaps the size of his head. His other hands held this large wooden bucket that contained water.
This was it. The meal they had the opportunity to eat once every three days.
As everyone's gaze fell into that beautiful piece of oaf, and drooled inside their minds, Irwiz also had the same thoughts.
This piece of bread was just as beautiful to him as it was to the others.
However, Irwiz's expression soon couldn't help but change, only one thought inside his mind.
'Huh?'
In front of his eyes, the mysterious blue screen had appeared once again. Except this time, it wasn't above his head.
It was above the boss' head.
[Mission: Kill the target 'Boss'
Reward: 10 fate points
Time limit: One week]