After the last mission, I thought I would get scolded, or the boss would be disappointed with me for letting the item fall into the hands of The Demonic Organization. But it turns out Eret was quite happy. He said that it was great that I made it out alive with no major injuries. He said that it meant that I must be more skilled than he thought I was if I managed to survive Badboyhalo. Though I bet he wouldn't be thinking that if he found out that I was mostly dodging the whole time...

The best news for him, though, is that they finally had someone to describe Badboyhalo's appearance to them. So when I was asked, I told them what I saw when he was wearing the mask, not mentioning that his eyes were green as I claimed that it wasn't very noticeable due to his mask. Not once did I mention that I managed to take off his mask or that I knew his true identity... I couldn't. I don't know why, but I just couldn't get myself to do it.

Right now, I'm at the cafeteria with Sapnap. (We know how this goes by now) We're at a table eating, and he is praising me for our latest mission. He says, "It's still sinking in that you managed to come out mostly unharmed by Badboyhalo! That's just- I- I'm just speechless at that... I think that's great! It's probably one of the best things to happen to the agency for a while now."

Before I get to respond, from another table, Livia says, "Don't exaggerate. It's not THAT impressive. He just managed to SURVIVE Badboyhalo. He didn't kill him or anything. He never will, considering how experienced Badboyhalo is with fighting by now. Skeppy barely did anything that mission. May I remind you that he actually FAILED THE MISSION? He wasn't even able to successfully capture the item. It's in the hands of The Demons. Who knows what they'll do now that they have it!? If anything, that mission just proved how incompetent Skeppy is."

The words didn't even sting because it's true. Everything she said is true. I've already to accept things like this. There's no point in denying the obvious. I'm hopeless. Sapnap scoffs and says, "You're that as if you yourself can kill Badboyhalo."

"Don't twist my words! I never said that I would manage to actually kill Badboyhalo, but I would still at least make myself USEFUL and capture the item. I wouldn't have failed the mission. I swear- you and the boss are too soft on Skeppy. Praising him for meaningless things isn't going to make him any better if an agent. It'll just add to his ego and make him ignorant. Not like he is akready..."

She said the last part in a lower tone and shifted her head towards her friends, who just snickered at the comment. She acted as if it was meant to be whispered to them, but she made it loud enough for us to hear, clearly wanting us to hear. I just sigh in annoyance at the comment. I must keep up ny act. Sapnap is about to start saying something to Livia. But I block it out as soon as an agent approaches. They say, "Skeppy, the boss wants to talk to you."

I nod my head at them, and they leave. I look over at Sapnap and Livia to see them still yapping at each other. I'll just leave them be... I sigh and stand up to take my leave and make my way to Eret's office. Once I get there and go inside of the room, I am greeted with Eret smiling brightly at me. He says, "Hello, Skeppy! Go ahead and sit down. I'm not giving you a new mission, but I want to talk to you about your last mission."

I raise an eyebrow and go to sit down at the chair in front of his desk. He is sitting in his own chair. I say, "But I already told you what I knew about the mission? Including Badboyhalo's appearance."

He chuckles and says, "Oh, I know. But I thought it would still be good to chat a bit. Plus, I wanted to formerly congratulate you on the mission. It's not every day that someone gets to survive Badboyhalo AND provide us information about him."

Though, it's really not something worth congratulating that much... but whatever. I questioningly say, "But I failed the mission?"

"Oh, that isn't important. It's not like that was a crucial mission or something. It was more of a test for you to see where you're at. Whether you succeeded or failed doesn't matter. What I'm focusing more on is what you did during that mission."

"Alright... so how did I do?"

"Well, considering that you did something different than what you normally do, I would say you did quite well. Although you are always trying to blend into the crowd, this time you were a bit rushed. Considering that, you did a good job blending in at the masquerade ball and slipping out of the party without being noticed. You successfully got into the room where the item was kept, and from what you told me, you even got the item out of the container it was being kept in. Though it got soon taken from you by Badboyhalo during your fight. But yet, you somehow managed to come out almost completely unharmed with no major injuries! Considering everything, you did a good job, Skeppy! You should be proud of yourself."

I'm not. I muster a confident smile and say, "I know, I am. You won't need to worry about that."

"Well, even though you did a pretty good job, the mission was still quite considerably easy... other than the fact that Badboyhalo showed up. Hopefully, we get to work on some more things in the future before you get to be sent on an important mission where it is certain that you'll succeed. We want all our agents to be as good as they can be in all different kinds of technologies, fighting styles, techniques, missions, and experiences, after all. But for now, we would just continue on the regular kind of missions that you go on."

Good... I don't want to do something like that again anytime soon. I'll just end up failing, being blamed, teased, criticized, and will make others disappointed in me. I say, "Understood."

"Alright then, this has been a lovely chat, Skeppy. You may go now."

"Yes, sir."

I quickly get up and take my leave.