Impostor Among 'Em

Yet again, on a rather pompous walk towards an introduction—a new team with a brand-new leader!—exciting, isn't it? Excitement was overflowing through my face—it was showing on the way, but I was ready at a moment's notice to suppress it to the very depths.

"Sir Dantes, please promptly go to room C6 on this very own floor," stated the lady by the reception desk.

This is different—last time I had to wait to be picked up by the team captain. I wonder what kind of man he'll be—and what kind of teammates I'll have this time; going to need to keep my expectations low, this time around. I smirked upon this short inner dialogue and then proceeded to walk towards my destination.

Opened the door and they were all already there—why am I always the last one? I glanced and... a guy with a bunny mask and messy black hair was leaning over onto the wall—right away, decided, that I was going to operate under the assumption that that's our leader; his MANA, though, it feels dense, but something about it is strangely off to me—his mask also has MANA imbued into it, I can feel it tangibly but I'm not sure about its nuances.

Then I glanced at the other two, for just a second—the moment following that, my eyes crashed to the floor because I c— couldn't help but want to laugh…

Proceeded to cover my face with my palm.

Both of my teammates are asian this time, huh? Not gonna lie, they both look really nice—and I don't mean it in a way that I plan to eat them or anything, I just think they look very handsome as human beings.

"Okay, since all of you are here now… I'm Nemo, a Level 7 Player assigned to be your team lea—" then he got rudely interrupted by one of the two; didn't expect such hotheadedness, so early on.

"Yes, yes, Nemo, can you hurry? We know already," to make it worse, the girl that said it had such a bratty tone; I wouldn't take such disrespect, if I were Nemo; he glanced at her silently, I couldn't tell what he was feeling or looking as, given that the mask was covering his face.

Afterwards, he quit looking at her direction and began looking directly at me. "Sorry you had to see that, Dantes—I was their captain for a little while now, but their last teammate died so you're going to be repl—" again, he got disrespectfully cut off—this time by the guy rather than the girl.

"Don't! He's not replacing anyone, let alone Milo—don't use words like that please," said the guy; he has a rather aesthetic scar from his lip to neck, I must say—I wonder whether it's old or if he got it recently on a mission.

Nemo sighed and answered, "yes, my apologies—anyhow, you'll be joining our team, so please let's get the introductions started," his tone waved the flag of desire to keep everything peaceful, "why don't you start, Dantes?"

What kind of image should I put on, hmm? "I'm Dantes W. Reaper, a Level 1 Player with 2 ELO that doesn't even have a System!! I was kind of a joke in my last team because of it, but jokes on them since all of them died except for me!!" I put my hands on my hips and started sarcastically laughing like a cartoon villain.

None of them laughed—everyone, including Nemo, were clearly bewildered by what they had just witnessed; did I go a little too far? In the process, internally, I thought to myself, that the joke is on my new team as well—they will never see the light of day when it comes to my power, I'll let them look down on me in spite of me secretly being much stronger than they'll ever be.

Nemo, subsequently, with slight awkwardness asked the girl, "a— anyway, you want to introduce yourself, S— Soyeon?" All while holding out his hand in a way you'd do for some princess.

"Umm… so… uh… I'm Soyeon Spring, Level 4 with 443 ELO, I became a Player to explore the world because I love writing!! I want to write stories about the world outside!!"

Wow! Such a wholesome introduction! I also wanted to explore the world outside at first… strange how I have no desire to do that anymore. Hmm… I wonder what her blood tastes like—I bet it would be a bit sweet!! I thought to myself while accidentally staring at her; took my eyes off her the moment I realized.

Suddenly, remembering how introductions went the last time, I decided to change things up a small bit—went and replied to her introduction, "nice meeting you, Soyeon," I smiled and walked up to her in the already-crammed room—holding my hand out for a handshake, she awkwardly raised her hand for me; I backed off to my corner upon the interaction.

"I'm Ku, Level 5 with ELO that I don't remember—" instantly, Soyeon began barking, "it's 589 ELO, dummy!"

He, apologetically, glanced at her and replied, "oh, right! Thank you," looked away from her and then continued, "I kinda just exist, and I'm 19, and I don't know what else to say"; he put his hand on his head and scratched his hair upon that awkward end; he's strangely much more goofy than I took him for at first, based on the way he initially acted.

"Nice meeting you," I quickly said without moving closer to him—I did put on a small silly smile just in case, however—had to keep the terms all friendly for now.

They seem to have vibrant personalities—and their Levels are rather delicious; it's going to be difficult to keep these *slightly* intrusive cravings in check, especially if I end up alone with them. I let out a mildly troubled exhale upon these thoughts; resembling a faint moan, if you will; I wanted to devour them, man, what can I say!

After the introductions were done, Nemo took the initiative and stated, "now that we're a bit familiar with each other, team, what about this—let's go outside and introduce each other our abilities and whatnot as well? Could boost the teamwork and stuff!" His tone was filled with blind optimism—is it going to be fruitful, I wonder.

We all got up and began our short walk outside… I'm sure they're so excited to see the abilities of someone that doesn't even have a System!!