Dinner was a masterclass in acting.
Silas was back to his "perfect brother" persona, gesturing for me to sit with a smile that made my skin crawl. Two can play this game, I thought, returning his smile with one just as fake. As long as he had no proof, I was just a lucky orphan.
We ate in a heavy silence until Pete spoke up. "I heard the registration went well, Jayden. It is an honor to have you officially in the Dominic household."
"Thank you, sir," I said, playing the grateful son. Jamie scoffed into his soup, but I ignored him. I had bigger problems.
"While I was at work," Pete continued, his expression hardening, "I received a disturbing report from Lara regarding that orphanage director. I launched an immediate investigation."
So that's who Lara was calling at the Bureau, I realized.
"It turns out this isn't just a local scandal," Pete said, his voice dropping an octave. "The director has been involved in large-scale human trafficking for years. He owns multiple orphanages across the city, all heavily guarded by mages. He wasn't working alone."
"Let them finish eating first," Lara interrupted, giving Pete a sharp, protective glance. Pete immediately subsided. It was clear who really ran the house.
After dinner, the atmosphere shifted from a family meal to a war council. Pete spread a pile of reports and photographs across the petrified-wood table.
"We can't find the records for the other children," Pete explained. "He erased every name and identity. But my men followed him to a private facility. We found... this."
I leaned forward, my eyes scanning the photos of guarded warehouses and shackled children. Then, my heart stopped.
I lunged across the table, grabbing a specific photo from the pile. My hands trembled, the paper crinkling under my grip.
It can't be. Not yet.
In the photo was a close-up of a tattoo on the director's neck. To a normal person, it looked like a random, jagged ink blot. But to me, it was a nightmare in ink.
"Where did you see this symbol?" I demanded. My voice was louder than I intended, sharp and commanding. The entire room went silent. Silas's eyes narrowed, tracking the sudden change in my posture.
"It was a mark on the director's body," Pete said, his brow furrowing. "Jayden, what's wrong? It's just a gang tattoo."
A gang tattoo? I wanted to scream. No, it's a death sentence.
In the novel, this was an Ancient Soul-Binding Array. It was a forbidden ritual created by the Demon King to fuse human and demon souls together, creating "Sleepers" who would eventually tear humanity apart from the inside.
But there was a problem. A huge, terrifying problem.
This symbol wasn't supposed to appear for another year. In the original story, the Demon King's influence started slowly. Now? It was already here.
My existence, I realized, a cold sweat breaking out on my neck. The moment I took over this body, I changed the flow of time. The plot is moving faster. The 'Bad Ending' is coming early.
"Jayden?" Pete asked again, his voice suspicious. "You seem to know this mark. Talk to me."
I looked at the four S-Class mages sitting around me. How could I explain this? If I told them the truth, they'd think I was insane—or a demon myself. But if I said nothing, the world would burn before I even turned sixteen.
Shit, I thought, staring at the jagged black symbol. Talk about a crappy gacha pull. I didn't just get a doomed world; I got one on fast-forward.