"Dude, add some sugar in it!" Alice, sitting on the kitchen's counter shouted at Ian who was beating some eggs for omelette.
"Who the fuck puts sugar in an omelette?" Ian gave her a look meant for idiots.
"Trust me. It was on the reel." Alice nodded confidently.
"No."
"Tsk," Alice clicked her tongue when she saw Ian didn't fall for her prank.
Ian ignored her and continued cooking, though his first omelette looked much better than Alice's first omelette.
He dished it into a plate and seasoned it with a few chopped onions and toast.
"Will you work today too?" Alice asked out of nowhere.
"Yeah. Uni from tomorrow. Why?"
A text appeared in front of his eyes again.
[ Decently self-cooked breakfast: +10 GP ]
"Uhm, nothing. I wanted to visit the malls and explore the city, but it would be awkward alone."
"I thought about it as well." Ian nodded, "But I delayed it a little for now."
"Huh, why?"
"What do we need the most when we start in a new university in a completely different continent?"
"Books?" Alice guessed.
"Nah. Friends." Ian explained while eating, "We will explore the city with a few localites that live in Gangtok. Easier to make friends that way."
"Ah, that's smart!" Alice nodded.
"I will visit a pawn shop today to sell the watch." she said.
Ian hummed, "Don't go alone for it. You might get scammed."
Though, that was strong coming from a guy who was scammed recently as well.
"Then what do I do today?!"
"...Find a job or something."
"No. I will install Delaygram and make a new account since mom deleted the previous one. I might even earn from it."
Ian was going to give another lecture to her, but then he realized she wasn't speaking completely out of her ass.
Online influencers do get paid a lot, and they have various other uses to them as well.
Such as free testing products that companies send for advertisement.
'Haa, if only I was decent at gaming too. I could have been a streamer.'
Alas, Ian was shit at games. And he wasn't particularly funny either, so that was out of the question.
"Well, do what you like." Ian shrugged, "You can clean the dishes while you make your account. Hubby's going to work."
"..." Alice gave him a deadpanned look, "Okay, hubby dearest. I will ready a tea for you when you come back! You will love~ it."
Shivers crawled over Ian's body after hearing her chilly tone.
"No thanks. Imma go."
"Good." Alice scoffed but then she realized something and instantly turned back.
But Ian was gone already.
"I didn't agree to clean the dishes, jerk!" she stomped her foot, "Bastard!!!"
***
On the streets, Ian ran out of the house laughing.
"Disappear. Geez it was getting annoying to look at continuously." Ian said, dismissing the +10 GP message from earlier.
But since he couldn't have done it in front of Alice, he just acted normal.
He looked at the time and it was already 9.30 am in the morning.
"Ah I forgot to bathe… well, whatever." He made his way back to the general store, where the elderly lady was standing at the counter.
"You're so early today." The lady looked at Ian with a smile.
And for the first time, Ian was able to find out the lady's name, by her nametag.
'Hilda Christen.'
"Yeah, I was free." Ian shrugged, wearing his work apron, "Might as well earn."
"Hahaha, I like your dedication. It's rare these days." Hilda laughed heartily and moved away from the counter.
"It's 9.40, let's just say you started at 9:30 today." She smiled.
"That's nice of you." Ian shrugged, not feeling much about it, "Why isn't there any other cashier when this store is so busy?"
Hilda looked out of the store, seeing a few customers walking towards the store, while a few that were already inside, were beginning to queue on the desk.
"I will tell you some other day, child. When we are more free."
Ian nodded casually.
He had only asked out of mild curiosity; he wasn't that interested in knowing anyway.
Ian worked lazily for the next few hours before taking a break at 1pm, for lunch.
He decided to head back to his apartment and maybe eat some ramen.
'I think most of youngsters here are students of Sauff University.' Ian thought as he roamed his eyes around the campus.
He could see many people walking in casual clothes while some appeared over dressed. Most of the people he could see had black-ish hair and brown-ish eyes, unlike the northern continent.
The foreigners were present in the university, but they weren't common.
'Hmm, I have blonde hair while Alice has dirty blonde hair, they aren't common around here so would it be an issue?'
He thought but then shrugged it off.
After all, he didn't know a single bit about the partial treatment and racism that locals can show to foreigners.
That kind of thing didn't happen in their posh neighbourhood, since everyone there was someone not to be messed with.
Alas, life was going to teach him a new lesson.
"Hey buddy, where are you from?" A tall, black haired man who was walking close to Ian, asked while putting his hand around Ian's shoulder.
"You don't look like you are from here." another man joined the tall man, walking beside Ian menacingly.
Ian glanced at the tall man and calmly removed his hand from his shoulder.
"I'm from Pearl City, North."
"Aren't they the latest La Vista sneakers," the tall man's lackey asked, looking at Ian's shoes.
"Indeed! I didn't think someone would actually recognize them properly!" Ian said excitedly.
"Haha, we are in the shoe business. It's our job to know." tall man laughed and offered a handshake, "Jardin."
"Ian." Ian shook his hand, "Business? You don't look much older than me, but you have a business of yours!?"
"Well, shit happened." the tall man shrugged off the question.
"Yeah, never mind about all that," the lackey waved, "The reason we disturbed you was maybe, are you interested in selling those?"
The lackey pointed at Ian's shoes.
"Oh?" Ian's eyes lit up, "How much?"
But unlike the houses, he knew exactly how much his shoes are worth.