Zeke talked with Natalie for a while before Hullo eventually called him again. Apparently, a barista doesn't just make drinks; they also handle the cleaning part. When liquor was in the equation, things rarely turned out clean.
'This isn't in the job description, though…'
Zeke mused inwardly. He wasn't actually complaining, merely surprised. He had never worked before, so he didn't know if this was reasonable or not. But even if it was unreasonable, he wouldn't be so stupid as to complain about it. The last thing he'd want was to lose this convenient job.
Even if he was asked to clean the toilet, he'd clean it without another word.
Time quickly passed, and he watched many customers enter and leave, some refreshed while others were utterly wasted. Natalie also left when midnight fell, seemingly in a hurry. She even called him specifically to say goodbye, leading Zeke to wonder if that counted as the 'connection to customers' that Hullo mentioned before.
Aside from Natalie, he also saw Sam talk with a strange masked figure, and judging from the intense-looking men surrounding their table, he had a feeling that something shady was taking place at that table.
Maybe his curiosity was obvious, but Hullo approached him personally and warned him not to approach that table under any circumstances.
Zeke didn't need Hullo to tell him that. He wasn't a busybody to begin with, nor was he stupid enough to butt into something that clearly looked shady. It took him a while to clean the mess made by other customers. One thing he learned this night was that drunk people get messy—really messy.
After cleaning for a while, he returned to the underbar and was instructed by Hullo to keep practicing making drinks. Zeke inwardly wondered if that was okay. He wasn't familiar with the Solace Bar's financial situation yet, but wasn't it wasteful to let a rookie like him practice with wine directly from the bar?
When he asked about this, Hullo simply smiled and told him, "Don't think too much about it."
With his confirmation, Zeke focused on making drinks. It was obvious that nothing about this place was simple, and he didn't want to get involved too deeply. As long as he could make money while keeping himself safe, then he could maintain a level of ignorance about certain things. He wasn't the person he used to be.
As he practiced silently, he struggled to follow Hullo's advice of imbuing a 'soul' to his drinks. Whenever he held the equipment, Hullo's precise operations immediately appeared in his mind, leading him to follow the man's step with accuracy. It was unfortunate, but there was no proficiency panel for making drinks or for socializing, maybe Zeke would turn into a barista master.
When the bar's traffic finally slowed down, Hullo went back to him and guided him again through the ins and outs of being a barista.
By the time his shift concluded, Zeke could confidently say he learned a lot from Hullo. For a job he initially assumed was merely about making drinks, there was a lot to pay attention to, and more than half of it wasn't even about making drinks.
Apparently, a huge chunk of being a barista was about entertaining a certain type of customer. From Hullo's words, there were two types of customers in a bar: those who had their own agendas and those who had no agendas.
Zeke didn't need to do anything for the former but simply keep an eye on them, but the latter were those who needed to be paid "extra care" to, as Hullo mused out loud. In short, they were people who came into the bar for release from pent-up pressure.
This was honestly quite enlightening to him since he thought all those who frequented the bar were alcoholics, but when he listened to some of their conversations, that was actually far from the case.
Most of them were simply people who were being challenged by fate time and time again, yet had no choice but to continue moving forward.
'I guess this is what ordinary people go through every day…'
Zeke thought, sighing quietly. He shifted his gaze to the stage on the bar, seeing an empty hall. Most of the customers had already left along with members of the Jazz band. Hullo stepped out of the staff room and looked at the time.
"You're free to go, kid," Hullo said, gesturing at the clock. He continued. "Word of advice. Be careful on the streets."
Zeke raised his brows, then took the opportunity to ask.
"From what?"
Hullo hesitated slightly, but still answered in the end.
"…The Wolves have been hunting people lately, but their activities shouldn't reach this far. Just be careful. Try to avoid shortcuts or dark alleyways."
Zeke noted down the term 'Wolves' in his mind. He didn't know if it referred to a monster or a type of people. Feeling unnerved, he was just about to ask further, but Hullo quickly shooed him away.
Judging from the man's expressions, he was clearly unwilling to elaborate further.
Left with no choice, Zeke left the bar with an added weight on his shoulders. His eyes scanned over his surroundings like a hawk, and he deliberately went on the open road to return to his apartment.
Thankfully, nothing happened on his way.
When Zeke reached his apartment, he suddenly realized something strange. Hullo had mentioned that there were a couple of baristas working in the bar besides him, but Zeke hadn't seen anyone come in during his shift or even after his shift.
'Hmm…'
Zeke opened the door to his unit and put down his stuff, clearing away unnecessary thoughts. He locked the door from behind and crashed onto his mattress afterward.
… He still had to wake up later for his classes.
'How busy.'
He thought as he nestled against the bed. Despite being physically and mentally tired, an odd sense of accomplishment sprouted inside him.
***
Morning made its presence known every time it appeared in Red Land, like hope shining towards remnants of despair.
Sunlight glazed the academy buildings, adoring them with a soft, gentle glow. Students who walked around campus all wore solemn expressions, the complete opposite of the tranquil sunlight. A new month had already arrived, and that meant a lot of things for a student at Herta Rankers Academy.
Zeke entered his classroom half an hour before class started. Aside from some curious stares, nobody outright bothered him anymore. He wasn't sure if it was because of Andrei's warning, his change of hair color, or maybe both.
He walked to his desk and sat down, noticing that everyone was quieter than usual. Even his talkative deskmate seemed out of it, making Zeke frown slightly. Did something happen that he wasn't aware of?
"Morning, Zeke." Andrei suddenly yawned, glancing at him. He saw Zeke's frown and couldn't help muse. "What's rubbing you off this time?"
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He held up his hand, stopping Zeke from answering. "Oh wait, I know. I just remembered… I guess you're curious why everyone seems out of it on campus right now, like the rest in this class. It's the start of a new month. For those in the academy, a new month basically means that a class exam is coming soon, maybe next week at latest."
Zeke furrowed his brows. "A class exam?"
"Yeah," Andrei sighed. He continued, "A class exam is a practical exam that involves all of the classes in the year. As first-year students, we need a lot of merit points to improve quickly, right? But that also means we have to increase our personal value to get more merit points every month. But as first-years, unless one has a specialized awakened class, we can only improve our personal value by performing well in exams."
He paused, then continued.
"Here's the kicker. If you perform well in theoretical exams, your personal value will only increase slightly, that's unless you're in the 1st percentile in the whole year, which is crazy difficult. But practical exams are different. If you perform well, your personal value can get a huge boost, even surpassing more than ten ranks in the leaderboards."
"But conversely, if you perform poorly, your personal value can also tank."
Zeke narrowed his eyes, finally understanding where the solemn faces were coming from.
'Personal value is everything in this academy, huh…'
"We only have one practical subject, which is Combat class, and Professor Vander doesn't give out exams until the end of the year. So realistically… the only way we can increase our personal value is through the class exam, where everyone is judged fairly."
Andrei paused, realizing another important benefit.
"Oh yeah, it's called a class exam because it also decides the placement of our class in the class leaderboard. Though I doubt anyone in our class cares about that."