Ian had come to class today
largely because he wanted to find a backup plan here. Yes, he had remembered who this boy from the cafeteria actually was last night.
Sam.
A crossover character on the same level as Homelander or Hannibal.
He was probably from that old American TV series Supernatural. Its many seasons could be summed up pretty simply: Sam and his older brother Dean started out hunting ghosts, then moved on to demons, then angels, and when they got bored of that, they eventually went after God Himself.
Maybe the two brothers in this world were not that outrageous, but Ian was sure their family had the knowledge he needed, the ultimate answer for how to solve the problem at its source and keep his old man from dying.
"I suggest that if you've got a fever, you go take some cold medicine." Sam finally snapped out of his shock and looked at Ian with the kind of expression people used for a lunatic.
The still-too-young Sam clearly had not yet developed enough nerve.
"I'm sincerely asking for help."
Ian looked toward a girl in the distance who was chatting and laughing with her friends. "If you help me find the answer I want, then I'll tell you how to get what you want."
He had come prepared.
A real top student never took a test without preparation.
"I... I don't know what you're talking about." Sam's eyes immediately started dodging around. His face reddened all the way to his ears. This really was the kind of blush that said more than a confession ever could.
"You're smart enough that you obviously know what I mean. And you should also know what I can do."
Ian tried to imitate the kind of carrot-and-stick negotiation he had seen used by powerful people in TV dramas.
Unfortunately,
the cup he was idly shaking contained Coke, and there were still a few streaks of sweet-and-sour ketchup on the corner of his mouth. The result was not exactly the aura of a big shot.
Still,
Sam was not that old either, so he was genuinely rattled.
"You... you can't do that!" He slammed a hand onto the table, looking like there was fire in his eyes. His knuckles turned white, though his whole posture looked more panicked than intimidating.
"Why not? This is the land of the free."
Ian lifted his chin slightly. What he had meant was that he also had the right to pursue the girl Sam liked.
However,
"My dad's a man! You can't accuse him of molesting you! The cops would never believe you!"
Sam's thought process was somehow even more deranged than Ian's.
"..."
Even Ian was stunned by that leap of logic.
After a long pause,
"That's... actually not impossible. Could be worth trying." Ian gave Sam's "suggestion" a silent thumbs-up in his heart. He felt he really was not cut out to be a villain who threatened people.
"You're shameless!"
Sam instantly got even more flustered. He had managed to defeat himself with his own idea. "I'll go home and ask around for you! Just don't drag my family into this!"
"They're innocent!"
For some reason, Sam's reaction was absurdly intense. He stormed off, leaving Ian sitting there alone, feeling like the situation had spun far beyond anything he had predicted.
Gulp.
Ian took a sip of his Coke.
Now he understood why Sam could not get the girl he liked.
"They're both family-first types. No wonder he reacted so hard... at minimum, this guy's definitely a fellow patient."
As Ian swirled his cup, he let out a heartfelt sigh.
At the same time, he speared the untouched chicken leg from Sam's abandoned tray and moved it onto his own plate.
Food was innocent.
...
The afternoon classes were as dull as always. The teacher droned on and on, while Ian lay slumped over his desk, one hand rubbing the pendant Madison had given him as he kept staring at her.
"What?"
Madison shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and raised her textbook to block his eyes.
"Don't tell me you actually want to date me?" Her tone was suspicious. She felt Ian had been strange today, stranger than on any other day before.
"You can't make seven figures a year, you're not a 36D, you're not devoted to me, you're not hopelessly clingy, and you can't buy me a Lamborghini. Why would you think I want to date you?" Ian sounded completely baffled. He had been furious earlier when his leveling session got interrupted, but now that he was fed and calm again, his mood had stabilized.
Still,
"??????"
Madison was completely stunned.
Seeing that Ian was not joking, she went silent for a moment, then raised her thumb in sincere admiration.
So when a man truly abandoned all shame, women really had no chance at all.
"Can we act normal for once? What are you actually staring at me for?" Madison sighed helplessly. Around Ian, she felt like some clueless rookie.
"I'm just wondering whether you might be a superhero in the middle of awakening, and I'm just an ordinary NPC in your origin story who got forced into taking massive losses."
Ian spoke with emotion as he looked at his personal panel.
Honestly, running into a Lucifer wandering around the mortal world as soon as he stepped out, then picking up a mysterious pendant from a roadside stall on the way home, none of that felt like the kind of thing that happened to ordinary people.
"Greenwave Girl... no, Miracle Nurse... damn it, I'm obviously so talented at writing."
Ian wanted to come up with a codename for Madison, but discovered he could not think of a good one.
If just touching people could heal everything, then what was she supposed to be called? Touch Girl? Miracle Touch? For nearly the whole class period, Ian was mentally exhausted over the fact that his literary genius had still not found its proper outlet.
Madison had endured Ian's harassment in silence all morning, while Ian had spent that same morning trying to figure her out.
"First, I don't have superpowers. Second, my dream is to go to Hollywood and become a star, not fly around in tights. In your fantasy story, I'm someone who can fly like Superman too, right?" Madison denied Ian's theory while also showing off a strangely competitive streak.
"Being a star and being a superhero don't conflict. Conveniently enough, my dream is to become a major capitalist and someday build a company where superheroes run around doing heroic deeds to make money for me."
"Come work for my company. You can be both a star and a hero... the two of us would turn that into a three-way win." Ian was just running his mouth. In truth, he was wondering whether he should create a comic version of The Boys. Ever since returning from that nightmare world, he had been thinking about how to awaken the dormant class connected to Homelander.
"A company that makes superheroes work for it?" Madison had a hard time imagining such a niche dream. Still, she had to admit it was exactly the kind of thinking a capitalist ought to have.
"And why is it three wins?"
She was genuinely curious now.
"Obviously because you win once, I win twice, and together that makes three wins." Ian's answer was flawless. His utter confidence silenced Madison once again.
"Oh, right. How about your codename being Wonder Girl?" Ian suddenly perked up again and tried to name her, only to be answered by Madison in a dry voice.
"If you're copying that openly, did you ask Wonder Woman whether she agreed to it?"
Which only proved Madison had gotten pulled into the logic too, since she had somehow gone from discussing nonsense to thinking about copyright infringement.
"Well, I could always go ask."
"Hah. If you know Wonder Woman, then I'm sleeping with Superman."
"Uh, that one's really not okay."
The two of them kept whispering,
arguing intensely.
Because they were keeping their voices low and not disturbing anyone else, the teacher once again acted as though he saw nothing. Then, just as the bell was about to ring for the end of class,
ding.
The bell sounded once,
then abruptly cut off.
Ian noticed that everything around him seemed to freeze again, just like it had last night. His classmates, the classroom, everything. The world before his eyes began fading, like someone had splashed makeup remover across reality itself.
This time,
Ian was not surprised. Instead, he quietly let out a breath of relief.
The God of Gambling of Metropolis had struck again, allowing him to confirm another detail from the strange events of last night.
If he did not panic,
then sooner or later someone else always would.
(End of Chapter)
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