Doing Things for the Sweet Child

Even if he said that—he even had his hands held up to his face; June had no idea where to start. Simply quitting wouldn't do much, and if he failed to take any action that would damage the agency in the next month, the effect would be very little. He might even be ridiculed.

Also, the rumors… June was even very scared to know what those rumors were. Well, he didn't have to think much as everything would never be the truth. The worse it could do was to get him blacklisted by some production studios. How laughable. Wasn't he already secretly blacklisted for reasons he couldn't tell?

June then leaned on the chair, subsequently leaning his head against Lantis's shoulder. "Does your help include helping me where to start? Tomorrow, I would have to formally turn in my notice, and after that… I don't have a clue."

"We still have enough time to set everything. In fact, that's so much time if I only have to make phone calls in the middle of the night." Lantis chuckled, liking the fact that June was not even pulling away from him. "Worry not, I won't leave you to fight this alone."

"You're not going to suddenly snap and make me famous, are you?" June hummed before sitting properly and remembering that there was a feast in front of him. "How does your magic work, anyway? Are the monks tossing themselves at your feet, so you would avert disasters?"

Lantis glanced at him first before straightening his back, letting June eat in peace. He walked back to his seat and pulled the chair to put it back to its spot. It skidded earlier when he rushed to June's side. He sat down and used a hand to take the wine bottle from June. "Not really. Just like humans, a demon cannot work when it's hungry. They merely meant to feed me, but I killed them instead."

June's hand trembled, but he continued eating nonetheless. He just threw a glance at Lantis before taking the whole bowl of baked potatoes. "Okay, so… any idea where we should head from here? I know it's coming out again—I'm supposed to be a bit hesitant, but I'm at the end of my wits."

"…the Castelli has a lot of businesses in this part of the country. I might be able to find a suitable one to serve as the point of attack." Lantis only rang for the waiter for more wine. "If you want to kill someone, it's fairly easy. To make them suffer and be sent to a living hell requires more sophisticated steps. It even has the tendency to backfire at you, so we must be very careful."

"The Castelli? So, it's not just a front? I thought you just made everyone believe that you exist…"

"My brethren had been staying here in the world of men far longer than recorded by human history. There are those who prefer this paradise to the free world we have down there." Lantis drank the last bit he had in his glass. "To blend well and influence more humans, my brethren had to establish human identities and even bargain with the Dominions watching over this place."

Words were about to flow out of June's mouth, but Lantis held out his hand. The waitress then knocked on the door and delivered three more bottles as asked. She made a quick sweep across the meals and asked if they needed something else. After making sure she had left, Lantis gestured for June to continue.

June cleared his throat. "So, you do have an identity prepared for you?"

"Yes, but don't take advantage of it too much for now. I am yet to be properly integrated into the human society for the last two weeks. After all, I have to recover my power that was damaged by the breaking of the seal and my general hunger and weakness." Lantis only chuckled as he leaned on the chair. "I have not finished taking in the events of the thousand years that I was bound."

"It's good that you can talk like a normal human, even if it's a little strange from time to time." June only chuckled, making Lantis sharpen his eyes at the actor. "Guess I'll just see you again tomorrow. Are we going to meet each other tomorrow?"

"Would you like me to be around you tomorrow?"

June took a look at the demon. Even if it was strange for Lantis to be not omnipresent, he figured it was because the demon was still weak at this point. Being bound for a thousand years must be very hard even if he was conscious.

The actor just sighed before picking up his phone and waving it. "I'll just call you when shit hits the fan. Recovering more of your power is also a priority."

"Then, I shall do it for you, sweet child."

…

Even if June managed to slip out from the media men waiting for him to leave with Lantis Castelli, he didn't make it far before getting spotted. He had to run around for an hour before losing all the stupid paparazzi that wanted a piece of him. When June arrived home, it was already past midnight. He just took another shower to wash off sweat before tucking himself to sleep.

Needless to say, his phone was exploding with messages at this point. However, he left it in airplane mode, so he was not going to receive any of them—more with calls that the agency was frantically making after he made his announcement to his manager.

With the comforting silence of the night, June fell asleep quite easily. It wasn't from exhaustion or stress; it was purely a good night's sleep.

As the relentless sunlight shone down on the city, June knew that his nightmare just entered a whole new level. He got up early to make breakfast for himself, and he casually turned off his phone's airplane mode. It didn't help that his phone even froze from all the updates and messages.

"Whew, they had a heyday last night." June skimmed through the posts about him and Lantis, but he was pretty satisfied. He saw no news about Reed's movie premiere, and the sweet gloating feeling just made June smile through his breakfast.

Soon enough, his phone rang again. He took a look, and it was Brent. With a shrug, the actor just answered the call: "Don't say Castelli."